Jay Malarcher

“Comedy and Cognitive Dissonance” will work to show that the arts and sciences are more often than not after the same end: What makes people tick? How do creative artists frame the discourse and how do scientists? Students will use many kinds of comedy as their “laboratory” to examine several facets of the problem of cognition, cognitive dissonance and how the arts (specifically comedy) exploit the machinery of thought and reason for their own purposes. This interdisciplinary course will provide students from a variety of disciplines with an alternative take on the psychological/neurological framework through the lens of the arts and creativity.