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Tautological formal explanations: does prior knowledge affect their satisfiability?

Ivan Aslanov1, Ernesto Guerra1

  • 1Center for Advanced Research in Education, Institute of Education, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Formal explanations, even when tautological, are more convincing than explicit tautologies. This psychological phenomenon appears universal, unaffected by cultural or linguistic differences.

Keywords:
category labelsexplanationsformal explanationsprior knowledgetautology

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Philosophy of Science

Background:

  • Formal explanations with categorical labels are generally perceived as more satisfying than explicit tautologies.
  • The perceived satisfaction of implicitly tautological formal explanations remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the satisfaction derived from tautological formal explanations versus explicit tautologies and proper explanations.
  • To investigate the influence of prior knowledge of label definitions on explanation satisfaction.
  • To assess the role of cultural and linguistic factors in the reception of formal explanations.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted with Chilean (N=50) and Russian (N=51) student participants.
  • Participants rated the convincingness of different types of explanations: tautological formal, explicit tautological, and proper explanations.
  • Knowledge of label definitions and demographic information were collected.

Main Results:

  • Tautological formal explanations were rated as more convincing than explicit tautologies, though less so than proper explanations.
  • This effect persisted regardless of participants' prior knowledge of definitions.
  • No significant influence of cultural or linguistic background was observed.

Conclusions:

  • Formal explanations with categorical labels possess a convincingness effect even when inherently tautological.
  • This effect appears to be a robust psychological phenomenon, potentially universal across different cultural and linguistic groups.
  • Findings contribute to understanding the psychological underpinnings of formal explanation and its cross-cultural reception.