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Grounding principles for inferring agency: Two cultural perspectives
Bethany L Ojalehto1, Douglas L Medin1, Salino G García2
1Psychology Department, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, 102 Swift Hall, Evanston, IL 60208-2710, United States.
Cognitive Psychology
|April 26, 2017
Summary
Cultural differences in agency attribution exist, with Ngöbe people viewing agency as relational and US participants seeing it as conscious. This suggests distinct cultural frameworks for folkpsychology and mind perception, not just universal principles.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Cultural Psychology
- Anthropology
Background:
- Debate on cultural variation in agency concepts: animistic overextension of universal folk psychology vs. alternative folk communication theory.
- Existing research often assumes universal folk psychology, overlooking potential cultural specificity.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate cultural variation in grounding principles for inferring agency.
- Determine if agency concepts reflect universal folk psychology or culture-specific folk communication.
- Compare agency attribution in Indigenous Ngöbe adults and US college students.
Main Methods:
- Adapted mind perception measures to assess beliefs about agency in non-animal kinds (plants, abiotic, artifacts).
- Conducted two experiments comparing Ngöbe and US participants' agency attributions and explanations.
- Utilized relational framing probes and Bayesian cultural consensus modeling.
Main Results:
- Ngöbe participants ascribed greater agency to natural kinds; US participants ascribed greater agency to artifacts.
- Divergent interpretations of agency: US (human capacity, consciousness) vs. Ngöbe (relational, directed interactions).
- Cultural consensus modeling revealed two distinct models of agency attribution, not variations of a single universal model.
Conclusions:
- Conceptual frameworks for agency differ significantly between US and Ngöbe communities.
- Ngöbe agency concepts stem from folk communication based on ecocentric prototypes, not anthropocentric folk psychology.
- Folk psychology and mind perception are culture-specific, impacting domain-specificity theory and understanding cognitive diversity.
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