International Relations Researches

International Relations Researches

Study and analysis of the intersection and connection between political science and cognitive science

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Gholamali Soleimani
Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Revolution and Political Thought in Islam, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/irr.2026.543188.2755
Abstract
Cognitive science is a new science that studies the mind and mental processes. Despite the increasing expansion of cognitive science and the formation of interdisciplinary study areas between cognitive science and other disciplines, the relationship between cognitive science and political science has received less attention from researchers so far. However, the issue of the present research is how to establish a connection and intersection between political science and cognitive science? In other words, how can the achievements and findings of cognitive science be helpful in our understanding of politics? It seems that there are areas and territories in the field of political science that can be studied and examined with the findings of cognitive science; If we consider politics as “judgment and choice among different options before individuals”, we can say that the focal point that is actually the intersection and connection between these two sciences is the category of “reasoning, choosing and decision-making”, which, like political science, is at the center of attention of cognitive sciences, and the aim of this research is to examine the relationship between the two and discover the various and numerous angles of this relationship. In this research, to show the relationship between political science and cognitive science, the intersection of these two sciences, namely “reasoning, choosing and decision-making”, has been discussed and examined in four important interdisciplinary categories: cognitive map, environmental barriers, cognitive biases and the role of feelings and emotions.
Keywords
Cognitive science
Political science
Reasoning
Choice
Decision making
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