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Social roles and utilities in reasoning with deontic conditionals
1Faculty of Arts and Social Studies, Sunderland Polytechnic, U.K.
Cognition
|May 1, 1991
Summary
People’s understanding of rules, particularly conditional permissions, is influenced by their perception of the social and personal benefits of following or breaking them. This suggests mental models, not just schemas, explain deontic reasoning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Decision Making
Background:
- Deontic reasoning, concerning rules and obligations, has been primarily explained by schema theories.
- Previous research often overlooks the subjective utilities and social dynamics influencing rule adherence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test a new formulation of deontic thinking that incorporates subjective utilities and social dynamics.
- To investigate how individuals represent and utilize these utilities when evaluating deontic statements, specifically conditional permissions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Wason's selection task, a standard tool for studying conditional reasoning.
- Conducted three experiments using familiar family scenarios and an imaginary business context to assess understanding of conditional permission.
Main Results:
- Participants' reasoning about permissions was significantly influenced by their assessment of utilities linked to the rule-maker (agent) and the individual subject to the rule (actor).
- This dependency on utility representation was observed across different contexts, including personal and business-related scenarios.
Conclusions:
- The findings support an explanation of deontic reasoning based on mental models.
- This mental model approach offers a more comprehensive account than traditional schema theories, particularly when considering the role of subjective utilities and social context.