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Attribute centrality and imaginative thought.

T B Ward1, R A Dodds, K N Saunders

  • 1Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. tbw@psyc.tamu.edu

Memory & Cognition
|February 28, 2001
PubMed
Summary
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Centrality of human attributes significantly influences imaginative thought. When attributes like intelligence are deemed central, people project more human-like features onto imagined beings.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Concept Representation
  • Human Attributes

Background:

  • Understanding how humans represent concepts and their attributes is crucial for cognitive science.
  • Previous research has explored attribute accessibility and instance accessibility, but the role of attribute centrality in imaginative thought requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To differentiate three types of concept-attribute associations: attribute accessibility, instance accessibility, and attribute centrality.
  • To investigate the impact of these associations, particularly attribute centrality, on guiding imaginative thought.
  • To explore how attribute centrality influences the projection of human form onto imagined entities.

Main Methods:

  • College students identified attributes distinguishing humans from animals and rated their centrality.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Participants listed animals possessing these attributes.
  • Other students created drawings and descriptions of extraterrestrials with specified human attributes.

    • Main Results:

    • Attribute centrality emerged as the most significant factor in imaginative generation.
    • Imagined extraterrestrials possessing highly central human attributes (e.g., intelligence, emotional complexity, opposable thumbs) led to greater projection of human form.
    • The impact on imaginative generation was less pronounced for less central attributes or when attributes were unspecified.

    Conclusions:

    • Attribute centrality plays a critical role in shaping imaginative thought and concept-based projections.
    • The findings illuminate the distinct functional roles of attribute accessibility, instance accessibility, and attribute centrality in cognitive processes.
    • This research provides insights into the concept of 'human' and the mechanisms underlying creative cognition.