Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective01:23

Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective

200
In a study where individuals posing as strangers offered compliments and proposed casual sex to students, the responses differed significantly based on gender. Not a single woman accepted the proposal, while 70% of the men agreed. This outcome provides a useful scenario to explore through the lens of evolutionary psychology and social learning theory, highlighting the diverse perspectives on human sexual behaviors.
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
200
Functionalism01:11

Functionalism

1.9K
William James, John Dewey, and Charles Sanders Peirce were instrumental in founding functional psychology, which draws heavily from Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. This theory suggests that individual traits, including behaviors, are adapted to their environments through natural selection. At the heart of functionalism is the concept of adaptation, meaning that a trait enhances an individual's chances of survival and reproduction.
James envisioned psychology's...
1.9K
Personal Choice and Fate Attributions01:19

Personal Choice and Fate Attributions

83
Some individuals interpret life events as a consequence of their personal choices and actions, while others believe that outcomes are dictated by fate or destiny. This divergence in perspective has been examined in psychological and cross-cultural studies, particularly in relation to religious faith and cultural beliefs about causality.Fate and Personal ResponsibilityPeople who emphasize personal responsibility view events as direct consequences of their decisions. For instance, breaking a leg...
83
The Evidence for Evolution02:55

The Evidence for Evolution

45.5K
Genetic variations accumulating within populations over generations give rise to biological evolution. Evolutionary changes can result in the formation of novel varieties and entire new species. These changes are responsible for the diverse forms of life inhabiting the planet. The evidence for evolution suggests that all living organisms descended from common ancestors.
45.5K
Cognitivism01:17

Cognitivism

2.4K
Cognitive psychology emerged as a significant field in the mid-20th century. It focused on understanding humans' internal mental processes. This approach emphasizes how people perceive, remember, think, and solve problems—elements critical to human cognition.
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process...
2.4K
Structuralism01:26

Structuralism

2.7K
Structuralism, an early psychological theory developed by Wilhelm Wundt and his student Edward Bradford Titchener, sought to dissect the human mind into its most fundamental components. Wundt's groundbreaking work in his laboratory set the stage for Titchener to define structuralism's goal as cataloging the "atoms" of the mind—sensations, images, and feelings—akin to how chemists identify elements of matter.
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He...
2.7K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Giving Generic Language Another Thought.

Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science·2025
Same journal

Pronoun Resolution in Turkish: The Interplay of Referential Form, Word Order, and Implicit Causality.

Cognitive science·2026
Same journal

What's in a Color?: Language, Synesthesia, and Categorical Perception.

Cognitive science·2026
Same journal

Reasoning Beyond Explicit Rules: Adults' and Children's Use of Closure Principles in Novel Cases.

Cognitive science·2026
Same journal

Intermediary Object States Are Activated by Sentences Describing Completed Events.

Cognitive science·2026
Same journal

Large Language Models Estimate Fine-Grained Human Color-Concept Associations.

Cognitive science·2026
Same journal

Computational Models of Causal Reasoning: Bayesian Accounts of Normative Violations.

Cognitive science·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 8, 2025

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency
08:01

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency

Published on: October 28, 2020

5.8K

Against Teleological Essentialism.

Eleonore Neufeld1

  • 1Department of Philosophy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Cognitive Science
|April 19, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Humans may understand categories by purpose (telos) rather than scientific essence. This study argues that observed reasoning about purpose actually reflects diagnostic reasoning about scientific essences, challenging recent interpretations.

Keywords:
Causal model theoryCausally structured conceptsDiagnostic reasoningPsychological essentialismScientific essentialismTeleological essentialismTelos

More Related Videos

Task Interruption and Resumption Paradigm for Testing the Activation and Pursuit of an Abstract Thinking Goal
06:45

Task Interruption and Resumption Paradigm for Testing the Activation and Pursuit of an Abstract Thinking Goal

Published on: April 18, 2017

6.4K
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
06:42

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Published on: September 28, 2018

11.8K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 8, 2025

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency
08:01

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency

Published on: October 28, 2020

5.8K
Task Interruption and Resumption Paradigm for Testing the Activation and Pursuit of an Abstract Thinking Goal
06:45

Task Interruption and Resumption Paradigm for Testing the Activation and Pursuit of an Abstract Thinking Goal

Published on: April 18, 2017

6.4K
Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
06:42

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Published on: September 28, 2018

11.8K

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Recent studies suggest humans conceptualize categories based on teleological properties (e.g., honey-making) over scientific essences (e.g., DNA).
  • This teleological view challenges established theories of conceptual representation.

Discussion:

  • This paper reinterprets the evidence presented by Rose and Nichols.
  • The author argues that the findings are consistent with diagnostic reasoning about scientific essences, not teleological representation.
  • This challenges the interpretation that purpose is the primary basis for category understanding.

Key Insights:

  • Evidence interpreted as supporting teleological essences can be explained by diagnostic reasoning about scientific essences.
  • The study suggests that apparent teleological reasoning may be a byproduct of deeper cognitive processes related to scientific categorization.
  • This provides an alternative explanation for observed human categorization behavior.

Outlook:

  • Further research is needed to differentiate between teleological and diagnostic reasoning in category representation.
  • Investigating the neural mechanisms underlying these reasoning processes could clarify conceptual representation.
  • This work contributes to ongoing debates in cognitive science regarding the nature of concepts.