Leonard Shedletsky

Leonard J. Shedletsky, PhD., Professor of Communication, has been teaching in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Southern Maine since 1979. He teaches a range of courses in communication with cognition, discourse, and meaning as underlying themes. He regularly teaches Introduction to Communication, Research Methods, Intrapersonal Communication, Meaning and Communication, and Theories of Communication. He has taught numerous other courses, Discussion, Internet for Seniors (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), and offered an undergraduate course in tandem on Intergenerational Communication and the Internet, and many more. He recently taught a course titled, On Bullshit, and another titled, Dissecting Bullshit. He co-authored and edited a number of books, Meaning and Mind, Human Communication on the Internet, Cases on Online Discussion and Interaction: Experiences and Outcomes, and Cases on Teaching Critical Thinking through Visual Representation Strategies. He has published numerous journal articles. He wrote the entry, "Cognition," for the International Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008. He was awarded recognition by his colleagues and the administration at USM for Stellar scholarship and teaching, 2003, 2007 & 2011 and was awarded the Russell Chair in philosophy and education for 2009-2011. He was recognized for teaching excellence in 2018. He has been working with social intuition theory to explore intuition in human communication. Based on this work, he published “Seeing bullshit rhetorically: Human encounters and cultural values” in Res Rhetorica (2018). For the past eight years he has worked with colleagues on two major projects: (1) to support underprivileged kids at Camp Susan Curtis; and (2) to build and teach a course to help college students transition into life after college, Launching into Life After College.

Publications

Rationalist Bias in Communication Theory
Rationalist Bias in Communication Theory
Leonard Shedletsky. © 2021. 355 pages.
While communication theory has not recognized the implications of the social intuitionist model, psychologists have gathered an impressive body of evidence to support the theory....
How Can We Respond to Complex Social Events Before We Are Aware of What We Think?
How Can We Respond to Complex Social Events Before We Are Aware of What We Think?
Leonard Shedletsky. © 2021. 17 pages.
This chapter asks, How can we respond to complex social events before we are aware of what we think? It answers that question by reviewing research studies that show that humans...
What Does Social Intuition Theory Have to Do With Communicating?
What Does Social Intuition Theory Have to Do With Communicating?
Leonard Shedletsky. © 2021. 31 pages.
Our theories of communication have assumed that we deliberate before we express our thoughts; this chapter points out that we implicitly and explicitly hold a rationalist view of...
“Calling Bullshit”: A Model of Social Intuitionist Reasoning
“Calling Bullshit”: A Model of Social Intuitionist Reasoning
Leonard Shedletsky, David F. Bantz, Jo Temah Gabrielski, Abou El-Makarim A. Aboueissa. © 2021. 19 pages.
This chapter reports an original experimental study that explores the idea that “calling bullshit” may shed light on how we reach a conclusion quickly, following Mercier and...
Can Mapping Improve the Quality of Critical Thinking in Essay Writing in an Introductory Level, Core Curriculum Class?
Can Mapping Improve the Quality of Critical Thinking in Essay Writing in an Introductory Level, Core Curriculum Class?
Leonard Shedletsky. © 2014. 17 pages.
This study began with the question: Can mapping improve the quality of critical thinking in essay writing in an introductory level, core curriculum class? Two sections of the...
Critical Thinking in Discussion: Online versus Face-to-Face1
Critical Thinking in Discussion: Online versus Face-to-Face1
Leonard Shedletsky. © 2010. 14 pages.
This chapter explores the question: does online discussion produce critical thinking? It presents a selective review of the literature concerned with critical thinking and/or...