3-129 - Explaining the Social and Natural World: Insights from Psychology and Philosophy on the Development of Explanations

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

How do we explain natural and social phenomena? This question has been of interest to philosophers, who have debated the extent to which explanations are realistic descriptions of objective reality (realist focus) versus descriptions that are useful for understanding our experience but do not necessarily provide accurate information about objectively true facts (epistemic focus). Recent work in philosophy has also sought to understand how laypeople explain phenomena. The current symposium brings empirical data to bear on this question, highlighting work examining how children and adults explain diverse phenomena.

Paper 1 investigates developmental shifts in explanations for moral transgressions that lead to incarceration, showing that children are more likely than adults to spontaneously draw on essentialist frameworks that place the cause of the transgression inside the person (e.g., “he’s a bad person”). Paper 2 asks how children understand others’ minds, demonstrating that explanations differ depending on whether children are discussing their own versus another person’s mental states. Paper 3 examines the consequences of different types of explanations (formal, causal, teleological) for children’s inductive reasoning.

Taken together, these papers highlight the antecedents and consequences of different forms of explanation. In addition to extending work in cognitive development on explanation, moral cognition, and pretense, these papers link to ongoing conversations in philosophy on how and why people explain the world around them. The discussant, an expert in cognitive development and experimental philosophy, will highlight connections among these papers and link this research with broader conversations in philosophy and psychology.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Larisa Heiphetz, Columbia University

Discussant

• Tamar Kushnir, Cornell University

Individual Presentations

• Developmental Shifts in Explanations of Incarceration - Presenting Author: Larisa Heiphetz, Columbia University

• Children’s Developing Explicit Knowledge of and Reflections on Pretending - Presenting Author: David M. Sobel, Brown University; Susan M. Letourneau, Brown University

• Development of Coordination Between Explanation and Generalization - Presenting Author: Nadya Vasilyeva, University of California, Berkeley; Azzurra Ruggeri, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin; John D Coley, Northeastern University; Tania Lombrozo, University of California at Berkeley