Center For Mind, Brain, And Culture

Some things are easier to mix together than others.  There is the proverbial problem of mixing oil and water, but then there is also the smooth blending of coffee and cream.  Bringing together students from film studies and psychology in order to study theory of mind might best be described as midway between these extremes—for us the best metaphor is peanut butter and chocolate—not always easy to integrate, but the result is well worth it (as the Reese’s candy folks have shown). In recent years, there has been a significant increase in collaboration between the social sciences and the humanities.  Venerable humanities journals such as Style now publish reports on digital analyses of modern and classic texts as well as writings discussing the evolutionary significance of fiction.  Publications such as The Scientific Study of Literature and The Journal of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts have appeared.   It should come as no surprise that there is controversy surrounding these new "Reese’s Peanut Butter