The groupthink that can emerge within the cognitive science and psychology communities, where a specific model of the mind (e.g., the brain as a computer, or the hegemony of dual-process theory) becomes so dominant that it blinds researchers to alternative models or contradictory data. Criticism of the dominant model is often pathologized as a failure to understand the "hard science."
Example: During the heyday of strict computationalism, researchers exhibiting Cognitivothinking dismissed embodied cognition and enactivist approaches as "unscientific" soft-minded philosophy. Grant money, conference slots, and tenure flowed to projects fitting the computer metaphor, creating a feedback loop that marginalized other valid ways of understanding intelligence and consciousness for years.
by Dumuabzu February 5, 2026
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