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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Philosophy of Science

Background:

  • Adults and children frequently endorse teleological answers to 'why' questions.
  • This tendency is often attributed to intuitive theism and inherent unscientific reasoning.
  • The cognitive mechanisms underlying teleological answer endorsement remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the cognitive processes behind endorsing teleological answers.
  • To determine if teleological answer preference implies unscientific reasoning.
  • To explore the role of pragmatic expectations in explanation preferences.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted a series of experiments with 880 participants.
  • Analyzed how 'why' questions are interpreted as queries for specific information.
  • Tested whether teleological answers are preferred even when non-causal.

Main Results:

  • Teleological answer endorsement does not necessarily indicate unscientific reasoning.
  • 'Why' questions can be understood as implicit queries for purpose.
  • Participants endorsed teleological answers that addressed implicit purpose-related questions.
  • Preference for teleological answers can be explained by pragmatic expectations about question intent.

Conclusions:

  • Endorsement of teleological answers does not equate to endorsement of teleological explanations.
  • Explanation preferences reflect pragmatic understanding of question asking.
  • This reframes the study of explanation preferences and the pragmatics of inquiry.