Is a hotdog a sandwich?

Well, that depends on your definition of a sandwich (and a hotdog), and according to the most recent research in cognitive science, the odds that your concept of a sandwich is the same as another person's concept are shockingly low.

In this episode we explore how understanding why that question became a world-spanning argument in the mid 2010s helps us understand some of the world-spanning arguments vexing us today.

Our guest is psychologist Celeste Kidd who studies how we acquire and conceptualize information, form beliefs around those concepts, and, in general, make sense of the torrent of information blasting our brains each and every second. Her most recent paper examines how conceptual misalignment can lead to semantic disagreements, which can lead us to talk past each other (and get into arguments about things like whether hotdogs are sandwiches).

Previous Episodes

Why can’t we settle the “is a hot dog a sandwich?” debate?

How Minds Change

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Latent Diversity in Human Concepts

285 - What Do You Mean? - Celeste Kidd (rebroadcast) 48:50 Share

You Are Not So Smart

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285 - What Do You Mean? - Celeste Kidd (rebroadcast)