The Human Element: What Makes Some Things Compelling and Others Boring?

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What do religion, television shows, and sporting events all have in common? They are all very interesting to people. Why do we find them so? You'd think that such a variety of phenomena would require a wide variety of explanations--but it turns out that the things people find compelling play on the same few psychological foundations in all of us. In this talk, Dr. Jim Davies will describe Compellingness Foundations Theory, a unified theory of why we find things interesting.

Please join us for a thought-provoking evening. As usual, we'll provide pizza, including gluten-free crust, salad, and drinks. Please RSVP so that we can make sure to get the right amount!

About Jim:

Jim Davies is an associate professor in the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University, where he has won several teaching awards. He has degrees in philosophy, computer science, and cognitive psychology. As director of the Science of Imagination Laboratory, he explores processes of imagination in humans and machines, and specializes in artificial intelligence, analogy, problem-solving, and the psychology of art, religion, and creativity. His work has shown how people use visual thinking to solve problems, and how they visualize imagined situations and worlds.

He is author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of cognitive science, artificial intelligence, philosophy, and psychology. He is a regular contributor to Nautilus magazine, and wrote the popular science book Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make us Laugh, Movies Make us Cry, and Religion Makes us Feel One with the Universe. He has been asked to speak at three TEDx events, and his work was featured on the Brain Games television program.

In his spare time, he is a published poet, an internationally-produced playwright, and a professional painter, calligrapher, and swing dancer.

http://www.jimdavies.org/