I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton's University Center for Human Values. I'm primarily interested in belief, bounded rationality, and the interaction of cognition with computational and environmental constraints. My research aims to understand the mechanisms of belief formation and how beliefs are updated (or not) in response to evidence.My work on belief integrates research across several disciplines, including Cognitive Science (judgment and decision-making, learning, memory, and reasoning), Social Psychology (attitudes, persuasion, social influence), Philosophy (philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, mental representation, epistemology), and AI (reason maintenance, belief revision, case-based learning).

Email: joseph.sommer@princeton.edu

Research

Selected Publications:

BeliefSommer, J. (2024) In the Mind or In the World? Types of Beliefs and the Locality of Evidence. PsyArxiv. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/utrzvSommer, J., Musolino, J., & Hemmer, P. (2024). Updating, Evidence Evaluation, and Operator Availability: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Belief. Psychological Review. 131(2), 373–401. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000444Sommer, J., Musolino, J., & Hemmer, P. (2022). Toward a Cognitive Science of Belief. In J. Musolino, J. Sommer, & P. Hemmer (Eds). The Cognitive Science of Belief: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Cambridge University Press.Sommer, J., Musolino, J., & Hemmer, P. (2022). A hobgoblin of large minds: Troubles
with consistency in belief. WIREs Cognitive Science, e1639.
https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1

Minimally Counterintuitive ConceptsSommer, J., Spencer, C., Musolino, J., & Hemmer, P. (2023). A new methodological tool for research on supernatural concepts. Behavior Research Methods, 55(1), 220-235.Sommer, J., Musolino, J., & Hemmer, P. (2022). The Memorability of Supernatural Concepts: Some Puzzles and New Theoretical Directions, Journal of Cognition and Culture, 22(1-2), 90-135.

Recent News:

I presented some new research empirically testing my belief framework (Sommer, Musolino, & Hemmer, 2023) at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making. The poster can be found here: Cognitive Processes and Judgmental Strategies in Belief Updating

Misc:

I read a lot of books, and track those I finish on Goodreads here: