The Psychology of Ignorance: Missing in Action?

Speaker: Emeritus Professor Mike Smithson

Abstract

The field of ignorance studies has matured and is flourishing, but psychology is notably absent from it. Psychology seldom refers directly to "ignorance", and a full and critical account of what psychology has had to say about ignorance never has been crafted.  This seminar focuses on the biases and limitations of psychological perspectives on ignorance and related concepts, how psychology would benefit by connecting with ignorance studies in other disciplines, and how they would benefit from connecting with psychology.

Biography

Michael Smithson is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Medicine and Psychology at The ANU, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. He has contributed to research and theory on judgment and decision-making under uncertainty and ignorance, statistical methods for the social sciences, and applications of fuzzy set theory to the social sciences. He is the author of 7 books and co-editor of 2 books, and his other publications include more than 200 refereed journal articles and book chapters.