Culture, Cognition and Communication (Fakultet) 500-KS1-3XFCCA

How does culture shape the way we think — and how does communication make culture possible in the first place? This course explores the dynamic triangle connecting cultural context, cognitive processes, and human communication, offering cognitive science students a rich, interdisciplinary perspective on what makes us distinctly human.
Language is far more than a tool for exchanging information. It structures thought, encodes cultural values, and enables the transmission of shared knowledge across individuals and generations. In this course, you will examine how meaning is constructed and negotiated in social interaction, how gesture, metaphor, and narrative reflect underlying cognitive patterns, and how communication both reflects and reproduces cultural norms.
Drawing on cognitive linguistics, anthropology, and communication studies, the course bridges the gap between the individual mind and the social world. You will come away with a richer understanding of how cognition is never purely internal — it is always shaped by the communicative and cultural environments we inhabit.