The Role of Explanation in Causal Reasoning and Categorization

解释在因果推理和分类中的作用

• 批准号: 0819231
• 负责人: Tania Lombrozo
• 金额: $ 20.41万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-15 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0819231&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Explanation; Causal; Reasoning; Categorization

Children, adults, and scientists alike confront the world with a common question: Why? We wonder why people behave in particular ways, why objects have specific properties, and why events unfold as they do. Previous research suggests that there are different kinds of explanations with unique properties, among them mechanistic explanations that appeal to causal mechanisms, and functional explanations that appeal to functions and goals. For example, a tiger's stripes can be explained mechanistically by appeal to genes and development, or functionally by appeal to camouflage. The proposed project investigates the relationship between these kinds of explanations and basic cognitive processes. In particular, the investigators will ask the question of whether mechanistic and functional explanations lead to different ways of conceptualizing objects, and even to different ways of representing the causal structure of the world. Given the intimate relationship between explanation and understanding, explanations may have far-reaching effects on cognition. The proposed work will address contemporary issues in cognitive psychology concerning causal reasoning and categorization, and has the potential to resolve current controversies concerning the nature of causal representation and the role of causal beliefs and functions in categorization. The project is also of relevance to issues in philosophy regarding causation and explanation, and will foster interdisciplinary communication. Finally, by uncovering the characteristics and consequences of different kinds of explanations, the proposed work will lay the foundations for research concerning children and adults' understanding of scientific explanations, including why some scientific explanations are especially difficult to grasp and how this difficulty can be overcome.

儿童、成人和科学家都面临着一个共同的问题：为什么？我们想知道为什么人们会有特定的行为方式，为什么物体有特定的属性，为什么事件会以这样的方式展开。先前的研究表明，有不同类型的解释具有独特的属性，其中机械解释呼吁因果机制，功能解释呼吁功能和目标。例如，老虎的条纹可以用基因和发育的吸引力来解释，也可以用伪装的吸引力来解释。该项目旨在研究这些解释与基本认知过程之间的关系。特别是，研究者会问这样一个问题，即机械论和功能论的解释是否会导致对对象进行概念化的不同方式，甚至导致对世界因果结构的不同表示方式。由于解释与理解之间的密切关系，解释可能对认知产生深远的影响。 拟议中的工作将解决当代认知心理学中有关因果推理和分类的问题，并有可能解决目前有关因果表征的性质和因果信念和功能在分类中的作用的争议。该项目也与哲学中有关因果关系和解释的问题有关，并将促进跨学科的交流。最后，通过揭示不同类型解释的特征和后果，拟议的工作将为儿童和成人理解科学解释的研究奠定基础，包括为什么一些科学解释特别难以理解以及如何克服这一困难。