This Colloquium is postponed to the fall 2024 series ~ Specifics announced soon.

 Paul Bloom, Ph.D., Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University and Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

Topic: "PERVERSE ACTIONS"

Abstract: We occasionally act in ways that are wrong—morally or otherwise—at least partially because of the wrongness, as when we break a rule just for the sake of breaking it. I explore theories of such perverse actions, including failures of thought suppression, signalling, strategic behaviour, expressions of autonomy, and “hopeful monsters”. Some of these fail to adequately explain perversity, but others are more successful. I suggest that studying perverse actions can tell us interesting things about human nature.