PSY370H1 Lecture 12: LEC12 – Drawing it all Together Dec 3 09
PSY370: Thinking and Reasoning
LEC12 – Drawing it all Together
Dec, 3rd, 09
Exam
! cumulative, emphasis on second term
Social Contract Theory Model
Gigerenzir and Hug 1992
! originally formulated by Cosmides
! context independent formal system
! rationality is only truth preservation
! it is implausible for evolution to design such a machine
! what do we mean by rationality?
! human reasoning is for problem solving and not just for truth preservation and generation
! reasoning processes are properly designed to solve these problems are in effect rationality
! reasoning is content based and that content is specific
! content specific to adaptive problems
! thesis of the mechanism
! THESIS: Modular mechanism that is dedicated to go from specific content to specific results
! Fodar 1983
! modulated = a system that is restricted in terms of what can go in and what can go out
(domain specific), knowledge is encapsulated
ie. eyes, can only see in terms of natural colour spectrum
! we will create modules to solve problems, within the encapsulated space we can run
algorithms, this avoids combinatorial explosion but provides us with a very reliable machine
! Cheating Detection Module Theory
! we are hunter gathers during the time period in which evolution can have an effect
! our main advantage is the ability to coordinate in groups
! social contracts governing the exchange of goods is essential to our survival
! we need a way to recognize perceived benefits and perceived costs
! the main threat to our survival are the cheaters to the social contract
! therefore we would have evolved a module for detecting cheaters that uses Darwinian algorithm
! A receives the benefit, did he pay the cost?
! B does not receive the benefit, did he pay the cost?
! children are able to do cheater detection at young age so theory seems plausible
! how is this different than pragmatic reasoning schema?
! 2 specific differences
1. pragmatic reasoning schema does not use cheating detection, this is a crucial point in social
contract theory
2. notion of cheating implies 2 parties with 2 different perspectives (multiple perspectives) not
present in PRS
! Ex.
! present same bizzare rule in cheating and non-cheating context
! availability theory would say there is similar results
! CDM theory says there should be different in results
! “If a man eats a kaseverut then he must have a tatoo on his face”
! “Kassandra is an aphrodisiac, and only a married man eats severut” cheating
www.notesolution.com
Document Summary
context independent formal system rationality is only truth preservation it is implausible for evolution to design such a machine. human reasoning is for problem solving and not just for truth preservation and generation reasoning processes are properly designed to solve these problems are in effect rationality reasoning is content based and that content is specific. content specific to adaptive problems thesis of the mechanism. thesis: modular mechanism that is dedicated to go from specific content to specific results. modulated = a system that is restricted in terms of what can go in and what can go out (domain specific), knowledge is encapsulated ie. eyes, can only see in terms of natural colour spectrum. we will create modules to solve problems, within the encapsulated space we can run algorithms, this avoids combinatorial explosion but provides us with a very reliable machine.
