Cognitive conflicts are ubiquitous in our everyday (social) lives. They can range from minor conflicts such as deciding what to have for lunch and who to have it with, to more complex conflicts such as being ambivalent about a person’s character. Unsurprisingly then, Social Cognition researchers have long been interested in the social, motivational and emotional underpinnings and consequences of conflict. The theoretical and empirical development within this field of research has greatly benefitted from insights on conflict produced by research in Cognitive Psychology. In turn, research on conflict originating from Cognitive Psychology has begun to acknowledge the importance of social and motivational factors (such as context) in the operation and resolution of conflicts. As a result, there have recently been growing attempts to integrate these different approaches.

The purpose of this small group meeting is to further promote this integration by bringing together Social and Cognitive Psychology researchers who share an interest in taking a multiple perspective approach to studying different forms of cognitive conflicts (e.g., motivational, attitudinal, behavioral, decisional conflicts). The main goals of the meeting are to get an overview of, and discuss ongoing research in which basic level cognitive processes are integrated with higher level social phenomena, and to develop new research ideas and collaborations across labs, which could form the basis for a new network within Social Cognition. We aim to achieve these goals through balancing scientific presentations, discussion sessions, and shared social time.

The meeting will take place on July 3-6, 2019 at the Max Planck House in Tübingen (Germany).

We invite junior and senior researchers to attend and submit presentations. Participants will have the opportunity to present their work in full-length talks or shorter blitz talks. Both presentation formats can cover empirical data and/or theoretical ideas. If you are interested in participating, please send an email including an abstract (max. 250 words) and your preferred talk format to Roland Deutsch (roland.deutsch@uni-wuerzburg.de) before January 20, 2019.

Practical information: A small conference fee will apply (with a discount for PhD students). This fee will cover costs for accommodation and meals.

Tübingen is a lively historic town, surrounded by beautiful nature (the Black Forest to the west and Swabian Albs to the east), and is easy to get to either by plane via Stuttgart International Airport or by train.

Organisers: Daniela Becker (IWM Tübingen), Roland Deutsch (University of Würzburg), Christina Heitmann (University of Würzburg), Tali Kleiman (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), and Kevin Winter (IWM Tübingen)