Blogs

The Natural Unconscious

Automaticity in cognition, motivation, and emotion.
by John A. Bargh, Ph.D.
John Bargh is Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University. See full bio
September 18, 2009

Does Kanye West believe in free will? Yes and no...

it sure seemed like he meant to do it at the time... Read More

July 21, 2009

New study: TV food ads provoke automatic eating in adults as well as children

Big Mac Attack: Is this behavior freely chosen? Read More

July 10, 2009

Roy Baumeister and Some Misunderstandings about John Bargh

What I think of what he thinks I think Read More

June 29, 2009

Behind the Scenes at the Tampa Free Will Debate

Our Moderator (arrr!)  Read More

June 23, 2009

The Will is Caused, not "Free"

Note: The following is a summary of our side of a recent debate with Roy Baumeister on free will, held at the annual convention of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology last February in Tampa, Florida. Read More

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Books by John A. Bargh, Ph.D.

Image of Social Psychology and the Unconscious: The Automaticity of Higher Mental Processes (Frontiers of Social Psychology)
Social Psychology and the Unconscious: The Automaticity of Higher Mental Processes (Frontiers of Social Psychology)
Image of Oxford Handbook of Human Action (Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience)
Oxford Handbook of Human Action (Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience)
Image of The New Unconscious (Oxford Series in Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience)
The New Unconscious (Oxford Series in Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience)

Cognition Basics

brain cognition

Quite simply, cognition refers to thinking. There are the obvious applications of conscious reasoning—doing taxes, playing chess, deconstructing Macbeth—but thought takes many subtler forms, such as interpreting sensory input, guiding physical actions, and empathizing with others. The old metaphor for human cognition was the computer—a logical information-processing machine.

Go to the Cognition Basics page for more on Cognition including:
  • Attention
  • Reasoning and Decision Making
  • Learning and Memory
  • Intelligence and Creativity
  • Social Cognition
  • Embodied Cognition
  • Sensory Perception
  • Language and Communication
Go to Cognition Basics

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