Slurs and Stereotypes
Throughout this course we will draw upon theoretical and experimental research articles to study a variety of important topics in the slurs and stereotypes literature including the brain and cognitive components involved in processing slurs and stereotypes, the relationship between the content of slurs and stereotypical attributes of their targets, the semantics and pragmatics of slurs, classical and prototype theories of concepts, negative and positive stereotypes, derogatory and non-derogatory uses of slurs, contextual factors that influence the interpretation of slurs, social communication of power and status, and slur reclamation or appropriation. Philosophical, experimental, corpus-based, and computational methods will be explored.
Topics
- Students will develop their understanding of cognitive science by reading a collection of original research articles focusing on slurs and stereotypes. Becoming proficient with this literature will help students understand the current state of the field so that they can evaluate strengths and weaknesses of different views about slurs and stereotypes, formulate new research questions, and develop original ideas for further studying slurs and stereotypes on their own. By reading original articles about slurs and stereotypes from different subfields of cognitive science, including linguistics, psychology, philosophy, and cognitive neuroscience, students will also improve their ability to evaluate and prepare arguments, understand experimental design, collect data, read tables and figures, and interpret results. By completing two quizzes over the course of the semester, students will gain a foundational understanding about the literature on slurs and stereotypes.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027