Conscious Thought Is for Facilitating Social and Cultural Interactions: How Mental Simulations Serve the Animal-Culture Interface
Conscious Thought Is for Facilitating Social and Cultural Interactions: How Mental Simulations Serve the Animal-Culture Interface
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DOI：
10.1037/a0019393
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发表时间：
2010-07-01
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
Masicampo, E. J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Baumeister, Roy F.;Masicampo, E. J.
五种基于经验的批评已经破坏了标准的假设，即有意识的思维主要是为了输入（从自然环境中获取信息）或输出（直接控制行动）。相反，我们认为有意识的思维是内部处理，以促进下游与社会和文化环境的互动。人类意识使有意义的、顺序的思维得以构建，如句子和叙述、逻辑推理、计数和量化、因果理解、叙述和事件模拟（包括不存在的事件）。有意识的思维序列类似于大脑为自己制作的短片，从而使大脑和心灵的不同部分能够共享信息。有意识思想的产生与言语的产生密切相关，因为随着文化成为人类的生物战略，人类的思维进化是为了促进社会沟通和信息共享。有意识的思维对行为的影响是非常有帮助的，但大多是间接的。有意识的模拟过程有助于理解社会互动伙伴的观点，探索复杂决策中的选择，重演过去的事件（无论是字面上的还是反事实的）以进行学习，并以其他方式促进文化参与。
Five empirically based critiques have undermined the standard assumption that conscious thought is primarily for input (obtaining information from the natural environment) or output (the direct control of action). Instead, we propose that conscious thought is for internal processing, to facilitate downstream interaction with the social and cultural environment. Human consciousness enables the construction of meaningful, sequential thought, as in sentences and narratives, logical reasoning, counting and quantification, causal understanding, narratives, and the simulation of events (including nonpresent ones). Conscious thought sequences resemble short films that the brain makes for itself, thereby enabling different parts of brain and mind to share information. The production of conscious thoughts is closely linked to the production of speech because the human mind evolved to facilitate social communication and information sharing, as culture became humankind's biological strategy. The influence of conscious thought on behavior can be vitally helpful but is mostly indirect. Conscious simulation processes are useful for understanding the perspectives of social interaction partners, for exploring options in complex decisions, for replaying past events (both literally and counterfactually) so as to learn, and for facilitating participation in culture in other ways.