Lasana Harris - Flexible Social Cognition

Mind & Life

In this episode, Wendy speaks with social neuroscientist Lasana Harris about his work on flexible social cognition—the variable ways that we perceive others. This conversation covers many topics, including:

• his accidental entry into psychology;
• what flexible social cognition is;
• schemas and predictions about others' minds;
• dehumanization and why we do it;
• the role of propaganda and implications for the war in Ukraine;
• how these processes scale up from individuals to societies;
• bias and prejudice, and the key roles of threat and safety;
• the inseparability of cognition and emotion;
• how contemplative practice might help reduce dehumanization;
• information overload and echo chambers, and what to do about them;
• and looking at the concept of self to change social bias.

Full show notes and resources