Calling the Socially Shared Hive Mind!

April 11, 2016 6:18 PM

Is socially shared cognition still in favor in psychology or was it a mid 1990's fad?

I'm reading a book that makes several references to socially shared cognition and a move to methodological collectivism. I'm not a psychology major though and I'm having a hard time finding something that places this theory into the general realm of psychology as a whole.

I've gotten that it follows from a more cognitive (computer based) approach to the mind. I've also gotten that it seeks to place the individual within a more holistic, community based mind set. I'm just not finding what came next. Or if it is still cutting edge.

Websites, books, or journal articles are welcome.

Thanks!

posted by aetg to Education (2 answers total)

To the best of my knowledge, it's still a thing -- I'm familiar with it from grad school circa 2007, where I was introduced to Edwin Hutchins' Cognition in the Wild. Not sure if it's still accepted today, but Google Scholar indicates Hutchins has continued co-authoring publications on similar themes. Unsure what came next, if anything -- my grad school exposure was HCI/UX-focused, and we didn't really discuss it outside that context.
posted by Alterscape at 7:39 PM on April 11, 2016

There was a multidisciplinary edited volume on Collective Emotions published in 2014 by Oxford University Press. You can read my review of it here.

This is an area where philosophy, sociology and psychology interact. If you are interested in philosophical discussions, a key term to search for is 'collective intentionality'. There is also a big interdisciplinary conference on this subject every 2 years.
posted by leibniz at 9:16 AM on April 12, 2016 [1 favorite]