Aug
3
Fri
Philosophy of Psychology Workshop @ Columbia University Philosophy Dept. 716
Aug 3 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

PoPRocks (formerly known as ‘WoPoP’) is an ongoing series in the NYC area for early career researchers – typically grad students and postdocs – working on philosophy of psychology/mind/perception/cognitive science/neuroscience/… . We usually meet roughly once every 2 weeks to informally discuss a draft paper by one of our members. Typically presenters send a copy of their paper around 1 week in advance, so do join the mailing list (by emailing poprocksworkshop@gmail.com or one of the organizers) or email to ask for a copy of the paper. We aim for a friendly, constructive discussion with the understanding that the drafts discussed are typically work in progress.

Summer Program:

Friday May 25th – Stephan Pohl (NYU)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

Friday July 13th – Kate Pendoley (CUNY)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

 “What’s So Special About Cognitive Reappraisal? Problems with the empirical work on emotion regulation”

If you find that you are despondent over a minor rejection, or excessively guilty about making an inconsequential mistake, you might try to reduce the intensity of your emotion by ‘looking on the bright side’ and taking a different perspective on the situation at hand. The empirical literature calls this strategy of emotion regulation cognitive reappraisal, and it is the most studied form of emotion regulation. Cognitive reappraisal is also widely lauded in the empirical literature as the most effective strategy for regulating emotions, and enjoys a foundational role in cognitive behavioral therapy partially on this basis. However, my paper argues that the experimental design of most of these studies is ecologically invalid: Experimenters prompt and train subjects such that the subjects are not performing the kind of cognitive reappraisal that we use outside the laboratory. Hence these studies fail to illuminate the target phenomenon. Moreover, the empirical literature’s notion of effectiveness is overly narrow and fails to appreciate the important relationship between effectiveness, ecological validity, and healthiness in the domain of emotion regulation. In light of these concerns I suggest improvements to experimental design and propose a more nuanced notion of effectiveness. 

Friday August 3rd – Nicolas Porot (CUNY)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

Friday August 24th – Olivia Odoffin (Rutgers)

 Room TBA

Friday August 31st – David Barack (Columbia)

 Room TBA

Aug
24
Fri
Philosophy of Psychology Workshop @ Columbia University Philosophy Dept. 716
Aug 24 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

PoPRocks (formerly known as ‘WoPoP’) is an ongoing series in the NYC area for early career researchers – typically grad students and postdocs – working on philosophy of psychology/mind/perception/cognitive science/neuroscience/… . We usually meet roughly once every 2 weeks to informally discuss a draft paper by one of our members. Typically presenters send a copy of their paper around 1 week in advance, so do join the mailing list (by emailing poprocksworkshop@gmail.com or one of the organizers) or email to ask for a copy of the paper. We aim for a friendly, constructive discussion with the understanding that the drafts discussed are typically work in progress.

Summer Program:

Friday May 25th – Stephan Pohl (NYU)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

Friday July 13th – Kate Pendoley (CUNY)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

 “What’s So Special About Cognitive Reappraisal? Problems with the empirical work on emotion regulation”

If you find that you are despondent over a minor rejection, or excessively guilty about making an inconsequential mistake, you might try to reduce the intensity of your emotion by ‘looking on the bright side’ and taking a different perspective on the situation at hand. The empirical literature calls this strategy of emotion regulation cognitive reappraisal, and it is the most studied form of emotion regulation. Cognitive reappraisal is also widely lauded in the empirical literature as the most effective strategy for regulating emotions, and enjoys a foundational role in cognitive behavioral therapy partially on this basis. However, my paper argues that the experimental design of most of these studies is ecologically invalid: Experimenters prompt and train subjects such that the subjects are not performing the kind of cognitive reappraisal that we use outside the laboratory. Hence these studies fail to illuminate the target phenomenon. Moreover, the empirical literature’s notion of effectiveness is overly narrow and fails to appreciate the important relationship between effectiveness, ecological validity, and healthiness in the domain of emotion regulation. In light of these concerns I suggest improvements to experimental design and propose a more nuanced notion of effectiveness. 

Friday August 3rd – Nicolas Porot (CUNY)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

Friday August 24th – Olivia Odoffin (Rutgers)

 Room TBA

Friday August 31st – David Barack (Columbia)

 Room TBA

Aug
31
Fri
Philosophy of Psychology Workshop @ Columbia University Philosophy Dept. 716
Aug 31 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

PoPRocks (formerly known as ‘WoPoP’) is an ongoing series in the NYC area for early career researchers – typically grad students and postdocs – working on philosophy of psychology/mind/perception/cognitive science/neuroscience/… . We usually meet roughly once every 2 weeks to informally discuss a draft paper by one of our members. Typically presenters send a copy of their paper around 1 week in advance, so do join the mailing list (by emailing poprocksworkshop@gmail.com or one of the organizers) or email to ask for a copy of the paper. We aim for a friendly, constructive discussion with the understanding that the drafts discussed are typically work in progress.

Summer Program:

Friday May 25th – Stephan Pohl (NYU)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

Friday July 13th – Kate Pendoley (CUNY)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

 “What’s So Special About Cognitive Reappraisal? Problems with the empirical work on emotion regulation”

If you find that you are despondent over a minor rejection, or excessively guilty about making an inconsequential mistake, you might try to reduce the intensity of your emotion by ‘looking on the bright side’ and taking a different perspective on the situation at hand. The empirical literature calls this strategy of emotion regulation cognitive reappraisal, and it is the most studied form of emotion regulation. Cognitive reappraisal is also widely lauded in the empirical literature as the most effective strategy for regulating emotions, and enjoys a foundational role in cognitive behavioral therapy partially on this basis. However, my paper argues that the experimental design of most of these studies is ecologically invalid: Experimenters prompt and train subjects such that the subjects are not performing the kind of cognitive reappraisal that we use outside the laboratory. Hence these studies fail to illuminate the target phenomenon. Moreover, the empirical literature’s notion of effectiveness is overly narrow and fails to appreciate the important relationship between effectiveness, ecological validity, and healthiness in the domain of emotion regulation. In light of these concerns I suggest improvements to experimental design and propose a more nuanced notion of effectiveness. 

Friday August 3rd – Nicolas Porot (CUNY)

 716 Philosophy Hall, Columbia (Morningside Heights Campus)

Friday August 24th – Olivia Odoffin (Rutgers)

 Room TBA

Friday August 31st – David Barack (Columbia)

 Room TBA

Sep
15
Sat
BPP Onscreen: Ex Machina at the Flatbush Library @ Flatbush Library
Sep 15 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Brooklyn Public Philosophers is excited to announce a new program that we’ve put together for the fall! In addition to the Philosophy in the Library speaker series (stay tuned), we’re also starting a philosophy screening and discussion series that I’m calling Onscreen until I come up with a better name.

On Saturday, September 15th at 1:00 PM at the Flatbush Library (22 Linden Blvd.), we’ll be screening Ex Machina, a very good, very creepy movie about hubris, relationships, and what it takes to have a mind. Ian Olasov (CUNY), a.k.a. the person writing this post, will lead a brief discussion of it afterwards.

The screening is free. There will be free popcorn. It will be fun.

Sep
18
Tue
Debate: Do Split Brain Patients Have Two Minds? @ Jurow Lecture Hall, Silver Center
Sep 18 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

In split-brain patients, the cerebral hemispheres have been separated by severing the corpus collosum. These patients sometimes behave as if they have one mind and sometimes as if they have two. Do these patients have a single consciousness that is in some respects fragmented? Or does each hemisphere support a distinct experiencing subject with a separate mind?

Joseph LeDoux (Center for Neural Science, NYU)
Yaïr Pinto (Psychology, University of Amsterdam)
Elizabeth Schechter (Philosophy, Washington University in St. Louis)

Elizabeth Schechter, author of the recent book Self-consciousness and ‘Split-brains’: The Mind’s I, will argue for the two-minds view. Yair Pinto, author of the recent article “The Split Brain Phenomenon Revisited: A Single Conscious Agent with Split Perception”, will argue for the one-mind view. Joseph Ledoux, author of the 1977 article “A Divided Mind: Observations on the Conscious Properties of the Separated Hemispheres”, will argue for an intermediate position.

Sep
21
Fri
Cognitive Science Speaker Series @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 7102
Sep 21 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
September 21:  Andreas Keller
Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University
“The Structure of Olfactory Appearance”

 

September 28 Cristina Borgoni
Philosophy, University of Bayreuth
“Persons, First-Person Authority, and Self-Knowledge”

 

October 5 Antonia Peacocke
Philosophy and the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness
New York University
“Content Plurality in Mental Action”

 

October 12 Çağlan Çinar Dilek
Philosophy, Central European University and
Visiting Scholar, CUNY Graduate Center
“On the Nature of Representational Relation in the
Higher-Order Thought Theory:  Extrinsicality,
Directness and Transitivity”

 

October 19 Chad Kidd
Philosophy, City College of New York, CUNY
“Transparency and Cognitive Phenomenology”
 **NOTE DIFFERENT ROOM THIS ONE DAY:  9-206**

 

October 26 Kathryn Pendoley
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA

 

November 2 Umrao Sethi
Philosophy, Lehman College, CUNY
“Sensible Over-Determination”

 

November 9 Stephen Andrew Spencer
Music, CUNY Graduate Center
“Graphical Representations of Timbre Similarity:
Problems and Prospects”

 

November 16 Rachel Denison
Psychology and the Center for Neural Science,
New York University
“The Dynamics of Temporal Attention”

November 23No talk—Thanksgiving

November 30: Joseph Bendaña
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA
Sep
27
Thu
David Barack ‘Stream of Thought’ @ Columbia University Philosophy Dept. 716
Sep 27 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Many cognitive processes rely on the preservation of contents across mental transitions or processes. Inference, for example, is a certain sort of content preserving mental transition from premises to conclusions. Content preservation is also important in communicating the contents of perception for further processing and for the influence of desires and belief on action. But what is content preservation? …

Sep
28
Fri
Cognitive Science Speaker Series @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 7102
Sep 28 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
September 21:  Andreas Keller
Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University
“The Structure of Olfactory Appearance”

 

September 28 Cristina Borgoni
Philosophy, University of Bayreuth
“Persons, First-Person Authority, and Self-Knowledge”

 

October 5 Antonia Peacocke
Philosophy and the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness
New York University
“Content Plurality in Mental Action”

 

October 12 Çağlan Çinar Dilek
Philosophy, Central European University and
Visiting Scholar, CUNY Graduate Center
“On the Nature of Representational Relation in the
Higher-Order Thought Theory:  Extrinsicality,
Directness and Transitivity”

 

October 19 Chad Kidd
Philosophy, City College of New York, CUNY
“Transparency and Cognitive Phenomenology”
 **NOTE DIFFERENT ROOM THIS ONE DAY:  9-206**

 

October 26 Kathryn Pendoley
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA

 

November 2 Umrao Sethi
Philosophy, Lehman College, CUNY
“Sensible Over-Determination”

 

November 9 Stephen Andrew Spencer
Music, CUNY Graduate Center
“Graphical Representations of Timbre Similarity:
Problems and Prospects”

 

November 16 Rachel Denison
Psychology and the Center for Neural Science,
New York University
“The Dynamics of Temporal Attention”

November 23No talk—Thanksgiving

November 30: Joseph Bendaña
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA
Oct
5
Fri
Cognitive Science Speaker Series @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 7102
Oct 5 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
September 21:  Andreas Keller
Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University
“The Structure of Olfactory Appearance”

 

September 28 Cristina Borgoni
Philosophy, University of Bayreuth
“Persons, First-Person Authority, and Self-Knowledge”

 

October 5 Antonia Peacocke
Philosophy and the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness
New York University
“Content Plurality in Mental Action”

 

October 12 Çağlan Çinar Dilek
Philosophy, Central European University and
Visiting Scholar, CUNY Graduate Center
“On the Nature of Representational Relation in the
Higher-Order Thought Theory:  Extrinsicality,
Directness and Transitivity”

 

October 19 Chad Kidd
Philosophy, City College of New York, CUNY
“Transparency and Cognitive Phenomenology”
 **NOTE DIFFERENT ROOM THIS ONE DAY:  9-206**

 

October 26 Kathryn Pendoley
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA

 

November 2 Umrao Sethi
Philosophy, Lehman College, CUNY
“Sensible Over-Determination”

 

November 9 Stephen Andrew Spencer
Music, CUNY Graduate Center
“Graphical Representations of Timbre Similarity:
Problems and Prospects”

 

November 16 Rachel Denison
Psychology and the Center for Neural Science,
New York University
“The Dynamics of Temporal Attention”

November 23No talk—Thanksgiving

November 30: Joseph Bendaña
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA
Oct
12
Fri
Cognitive Science Speaker Series @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 7102
Oct 12 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
September 21:  Andreas Keller
Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University
“The Structure of Olfactory Appearance”

 

September 28 Cristina Borgoni
Philosophy, University of Bayreuth
“Persons, First-Person Authority, and Self-Knowledge”

 

October 5 Antonia Peacocke
Philosophy and the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness
New York University
“Content Plurality in Mental Action”

 

October 12 Çağlan Çinar Dilek
Philosophy, Central European University and
Visiting Scholar, CUNY Graduate Center
“On the Nature of Representational Relation in the
Higher-Order Thought Theory:  Extrinsicality,
Directness and Transitivity”

 

October 19 Chad Kidd
Philosophy, City College of New York, CUNY
“Transparency and Cognitive Phenomenology”
 **NOTE DIFFERENT ROOM THIS ONE DAY:  9-206**

 

October 26 Kathryn Pendoley
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA

 

November 2 Umrao Sethi
Philosophy, Lehman College, CUNY
“Sensible Over-Determination”

 

November 9 Stephen Andrew Spencer
Music, CUNY Graduate Center
“Graphical Representations of Timbre Similarity:
Problems and Prospects”

 

November 16 Rachel Denison
Psychology and the Center for Neural Science,
New York University
“The Dynamics of Temporal Attention”

November 23No talk—Thanksgiving

November 30: Joseph Bendaña
Cognitive Science and Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Title TBA