Visiting Assistant Professor, Lafayette College, Easton, PA
Website: https://anthrosoc.lafayette.edu/people/karen-danna/
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I am an interdisciplinary scholar who conducts research at the intersection of culture and cognition, as well as the mother of three children. I received a B.A. in Sociology and Philosophy at Rutgers University, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology (also from Rutgers). I completed a postdoctoral appointment at the School of Cognitive Science at Hampshire College as well as postdoctoral training at the Center for Social Neuroscience at the University Pennsylvania. I joined the faculty at Lafayette College as a Visiting Assistant Professor in August, 2012. I specialize in the areas of culture, cognition, symbolic interaction, and sociological theory. My research interests also include the sociology of everyday life, gender and family studies, mass media, and humor. I am currently writing my first book (entitled The Social Brain and the Situated Self: A Sociocognitive View of Role Performance), as well as a number of articles that further explore the interrelationship among culture, thought, and action (“Making Mental Errors: Cognitive Systems and Cultural Mismatches”; “Downfalls: The Subtraction of Social Charisma”; “Punchlines: The Sociology of Humor”). I teach courses on culture, social problems, interpersonal behavior (microsociology/symbolic interaction), classical and contemporary sociological theory, cognition, and humor.