Individual Differences in Cognition

1
Individual Differences in Cognition

• Effects of Culture Experience on
• Inductive Reasoning

2
Culture Cognition Big Questions

• Are there universals in human cognitive
  processes?
• Does culture shape cognitive processes?

3
Sources of Cognitive Differences

• Innate Biological Differences
• Sex Differences
• Differences based on Experience
• Culture
• Expertise

4
Cross-Cultural Comparisons

• Goal Examine generality of category-based
  induction phenomena (Lopez, Atran, Coley, Medin
  Smith, 1997)
• Similarity
• Typicality
• Diversity
• How do people from different cultures sort and
  reason about local mammals?
• Itza Maya (Petén, Guatemala)
• US College Undergraduates

5
Cross-Cultural ItemsSimilarity

• Michigan
• Dogs (disease A)
• Foxes (disease A)
• Cats (disease B)
• Foxes (disease B)

• Itza Maya
• Dogs (disease A)
• Foxes (disease A)
• Cats (disease B)
• Foxes (disease B)

6
Cross-Cultural ItemsSimilarity

• Michigan
• Dogs (disease A)
• Foxes (disease A)
• Cats (disease B)
• Foxes (disease B)

• Itza Maya
• Dogs (disease A)
• Foxes (disease A)
• Cats (disease B)
• Foxes (disease B)

7
Cross-Cultural ItemsTypicality

• Michigan
• Squirrel (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Porcupine (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

• Itza Maya
• Squirrel (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Porcupine (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

8
Cross-Cultural ItemsTypicality

• Michigan
• Squirrel (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Porcupine (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

• Itza Maya
• Squirrel (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Porcupine (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

9
Cross-Cultural ItemsDiversity

• Michigan
• Foxes (disease A)
• Deer (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Wolves (disease B)
• Coyotes (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

• Itza Maya
• Squirrel (disease A)
• Tapir (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Rats (disease B)
• Pocket mice (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

10
Cross-Cultural ItemsDiversity

• Michigan
• Foxes (disease A)
• Deer (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Wolves (disease B)
• Coyotes (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

• Itza Maya
• Squirrel (disease A)
• Tapir (disease A)
• Mammals (disease A)
• Rats (disease B)
• Pocket mice (disease B)
• Mammals (disease B)

11
Category-Based Induction
12
Itza Explanations

• Rat Pocket Mouse, because Only way squirrel
  and tapir could get the same disease is if they
  were both bitten by a bat.
• Squirrel Tapir, because R PM live only where
  there is corn, sleep above ground, and dont
  travel into other parts of the forest.

13
Itza Explanations

• NOT using similarity or coverage to solve
  diversity problems
• Ecological similarity/diversity
• Causal reasoning about disease transmission
• Why?

14
Triangulation
15
Triangulation
16
US Tree Experts

• Proffitt, Coley Medin (2000)
• Sorting and reasoning about trees
• Suppose we discovered two new diseases that
  affect trees. All you know about these diseases
  is that Disease A affects paper birch and river
  birch, and Disease B affects white pine and
  weeping willow. Which disease, A or B, is more
  likely to affect all trees?
• Paper Birch White Pine
• River Birch Weeping Willow
• All trees All trees

17
US Tree Experts

• Proffitt, Coley Medin (2000)
• Sorting and reasoning about trees
• Suppose we discovered two new diseases that
  affect trees. All you know about these diseases
  is that Disease A affects paper birch and river
  birch, and Disease B affects white pine and
  weeping willow. Which disease, A or B, is more
  likely to affect all trees?
• Paper Birch White Pine
• River Birch Weeping Willow
• All trees All trees

18
Triangulation
19
Triangulation
20
US Tree Experts
21
Tree Expert Justifications

• 35 Similarity-based
• Diversity
• Family size
• 50 Causal-Ecological
• Mechanism of transmission
• Distribution
• Susceptibility/Resistance

22
US Tree Experts

• NOT using taxonomic similarity for diversity
  problems
• Ecological similarity/diversity
• Causal reasoning about disease transmission
• Culture? Experience? Education? ...

23
Reasoning about Marine Creatures

• Shafto Coley (2003)
• Commercial Fishermen Northeastern
  Undergraduates
• Sorting and reasoning about marine creatures.
• Shown two marine creatures varying in similarity,
• Told that they had a disease, property in
  common called sarca,
• Then shown each member of the set in turn and
  asked if they thought it would also have the
  disease/property.

24
These two have a disease property called sarca
25
Does this one have sarca?
26
Does this one have sarca?
27
Does this one have sarca?
28
Research Questions

• Do experts and novices differ in the relative use
  of taxonomic vs causal reasoning?
• Does property influence the basis for induction?

29
Overall Projections
30
Taxonomic Inferences
If taxonomic similarity is guiding inferences,
then mean similarity should predict projections.
31
Taxonomic Inferences
If taxonomic similarity is guiding inferences,
then mean similarity should predict projections.
32
Projections Taxonomic Similarity
33
Projections Taxonomic Similarity
34
Causal Reasoning?

• Food chain relations
• A creature contracts a disease by eating another
  diseased creature.
• If important, disease should be projected from
  prey to predator.

35
Food Chain Projections

• Predator to Prey Inferences

• Prey to Predator Inferences

36
Marine Reasoning Conclusions

• Experts
• Selective decrease in use of taxonomic similarity
• Directional causal relations
• Disease moves up the food chain
• Novices
• Taxonomic similarity

37
Conclusions

• Taxonomic similarity guides projection of novel
  properties.
• Knowledge and experience change how we use
  categories in induction.
• Taxonomic Similarity gt default.
• Knowledge experience gt flexibility to consider
  other relations including causal and ecological
  relationships.

38
What about Culture?