3-170 - Cultural variation in the development of folkecological knowledge

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The importance of resource conservation is increasing. Understanding how individuals think about natural resources is critical to motivating conservation efforts. Recent work in cognitive and developmental psychology provides insight into how folkecological knowledge develops and the way that cultural variation can influence children’s understanding of the natural world and its resources.

Data about the development of ecological knowledge from four communities, the Wichi in Argentina, the Ni-Vanuatu in Vanuatu, Urban non-Native Americans in the U.S., and the Ngöbe in Panama, are presented in three papers in this symposium. The first paper explores how categories are formed among the Wichi. This paper shows that adults endorse ecology-based and similarity-based models in their categorization of animals, and ongoing data analysis will provide insight into how these cultural forces shape children’s concepts into these two cultural models. The second paper examines justifications for resource conservation in the U.S. and Vanuatu. This research shows that endorsement of conservation is high in both communities but highlights differences in the endorsement of conservation with age across communities. Finally, the third paper examines the importance of teleological reasoning in children’s capacity to take an ecological perspective among the Ngöbe. These data support the proposal that teleology may scaffold children’s understanding of nature from a relational perspective. This symposium will conclude with the remarks of a discussant, an expert on children’s intuitive concepts about natural kinds. These three papers highlight the intricate way in which culture, over the course of ontogeny, shapes our understanding of the natural world.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Justin Busch, University of Texas at Austin

Discussant

• John D Coley, Northeastern University

Individual Presentations

• Animals of the forest (tshotoy): Universal folkbiological concepts are shaped by culture and experience - Presenting Author: Maria Baiocchi, National Research Council, Argentina; Andrea Sabina Taverna, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Sandra Waxman, Northwestern University

• Examining the development of conservation psychology across cultures - Presenting Author: Justin Busch, University of Texas at Austin; Rachel Watson-Jones, 3. The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Psychology; Cristine H Legare, University of Texas at Austin

• Purpose in perspective: Ngobe children's ecological reasoning - Presenting Author: bethany ojalehto, Northwestern University; Doug Medin, Northwestern University; Sandra Waxman, Northwestern University