Thought Studies

Thought must be studied, observed, and understood.

Thought is the instrument through which human beings approach knowledge, relationship, culture, conflict, and the future itself. Yet our understanding of thought’s actual operation remains limited: how it forms images, defends conclusions, binds itself to emotion, divides people into opposing camps, and then tries to solve the very problems it has helped create. Thought Studies collects work that can make this process more visible, because understanding thought is not a narrow academic question; it is essential to the well-being and survival of our species.

  1. Imagined otherness fuels blatant dehumanization of outgroups Paper: May 6, 2024Posted:
    Social Cognition & Group IdentityPolarization, Conflict & Division
  2. Exploring the Relationship Between Need for Closure, Religious Ideology, and Identity Fusion Paper: 2025Posted:
    Belief Formation & Belief RevisionMyth, Spirituality, & ReligionSocial Cognition & Group Identity
  3. Significant PaperOn Self-Deception in the Individual, in Groups, and in Society as a Whole Paper: UnknownPosted:
    Self-Deception & Collective DeceptionSelf, Identity & Ego ProcessesAdvanced Metacognition
  4. Ideology: Psychological Similarities and Differences Across the Ideological Spectrum Reexamined Paper: October 31, 2024Posted:
    Cognitive Bias & Motivated ReasoningMeaning, Worldviews & IdeologyThought-Emotion Connection
  5. Modeling the emergence of affective polarization in the social media society Paper: October 11, 2021Posted:
    Social Cognition & Group IdentityPolarization, Conflict & DivisionTechnology, Media & Cognitive Amplification
  6. A Threat to Cohesion: Intragroup Affective Polarization in the Context of Intractable Intergroup Conflict Paper: 2025Posted:
    Polarization, Conflict & DivisionSelf, Identity & Ego ProcessesFragmentation
  7. Intergroup threat and affective polarization in a multi-party system Paper: 2021Posted:
    Polarization, Conflict & DivisionSocial Cognition & Group IdentitySelf, Identity & Ego Processes
  8. “Be Nice or Leave Me Alone”: An Intergroup Perspective on Affective Polarization in Online Political Discussions Paper: 2022Posted:
    Social Cognition & Group IdentityPolarization, Conflict & DivisionCognitive Bias & Motivated Reasoning
  9. Intergroup Hostility in the Public Sphere: Systematizing the Rising Concern for Affective Polarization Beyond Partisan Lines Paper: 2025Posted:
    Social Cognition & Group IdentityPolarization, Conflict & DivisionSelf, Identity & Ego Processes
  10. Identity concerns drive belief: The impact of partisan identity on the belief and dissemination of true and false news Paper: 2023Posted:
    Social Cognition & Group IdentityBelief Formation & Belief RevisionCognitive Bias & Motivated Reasoning
  11. Intellectual humility as a tool to combat false beliefs: An individual‐based approach to belief revision Paper: February 29, 2024Posted:
    Advanced Metacognition
  12. Threats, Emotions, and Affective Polarization Paper: May 24, 2023Posted:
    Social Cognition & Group IdentityPolarization, Conflict & DivisionCognitive Bias & Motivated Reasoning
  13. We love, they hate: Emotions in affective polarization and how partisans may use them Paper: January 19, 2024Posted:
    Thought-Emotion ConnectionCognitive Bias & Motivated ReasoningSocial Cognition & Group Identity
  14. What drives people to prefer health-related misinformation? The viewpoint of motivated reasoning Paper: 2022Posted:
    Cognitive Bias & Motivated ReasoningBelief Formation & Belief RevisionThought-Emotion Connection
  15. Tracking politically motivated reasoning in the brain: the role of mentalizing, value-encoding, and error detection networks Paper: 2024Posted:
    Cognitive Neuroscience & Neural MechanismsCognitive Bias & Motivated ReasoningBelief Formation & Belief Revision