Reasoning Flashcards
Quote
“Human children possess abstract, coherent, rule-governed representations about the unobservable causal mechanisms at work in specific domains such as physics, biology, and psychology”
what is self-serving bias?
The self-serving bias is people’s tendency to attribute positive events to their own character but attribute negative events to external factors.
Your failings are environmental (caused by outside factors), others’ failings are personal.
Childrens understanding of causality?
An experiment testing 3-6 mos and 7-9.5 mos showed that when shown different cause and effect motions using different color blocks (direct launching, delayed reaction, launching without collision, no reaction, no prior movement, no collision and reaction.) They are able to tell between direct and delayed reactions, and are most surprised by a reaction without a stimulus.Shows this age can understand basic causal structure.
Experiment testing 9 mos showed they understand a refined understanding of causality with agents. An agent is anything that can be diagnosed to act on other things. Hand versus train throwing bean bags.
Experiment on preschoolers showed they can use causality for categorization, causality became a tool for higher understanding. When told two made up animals, one who was good at fighting and one good at fleeing, were asked to draw them and they drew the fighting one with horns, claws, and a weaponous tail and drew the fleeing one with wings.
Psychology and aging?
Psychology and aging: Violate my beliefs? Then you’re to blame! Belief content as an explanation for causal attribution biases.
Children and elderly people are the WORST.
Is it heritable?
There is some evidence that some of it at least is heritable (nature rather than nurture). In rhesus monkeys they demonstrate that they understand that material of an object is more important than color of an object for tools in trying to achieve a goal through causality. However, humans are the only species that can understand and use representations about abstract, non-physical things.
