• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Behavioral Circumscription and the Folk Psychology of Belief : A Study in Ethno-Mentalizing : A Study in Ethno-Mentalizing
  • Contributor: Rose, David; Machery, Edouard; Stich, Stephen; Alai, Mario; Angelucci, Adriano; Berniūnas, Renatas
  • Published: Philosophy Documentation Center, 2017
  • Published in: Thought: A Journal of Philosophy
  • Extent: 193-203
  • Language: Not determined
  • DOI: 10.1002/tht3.248
  • ISSN: 2161-2234
  • Keywords: Philosophy
  • Abstract: <jats:p>Is behavioral integration (i.e., which occurs when a subject’s assertion that p matches her nonverbal behavior) a necessary feature of belief in folk psychology? Our data fromover 5,000 people across 26 samples, spanning 22 countries suggests that it is not. Given the surprising cross-cultural robustness of our findings, we argue that the types of evidence for the ascription of a belief are, at least in some circumstances, lexicographically ordered: assertions are first taken into account, and when an agent sincerely asserts that p, nonlinguistic behavioral evidence is disregarded. In light of this, we take ourselves to have discovered a universal principle governing the ascription of beliefs in folk psychology.</jats:p>
  • Description: <jats:p>Is behavioral integration (i.e., which occurs when a subject’s assertion that p matches her nonverbal behavior) a necessary feature of belief in folk psychology? Our data fromover 5,000 people across 26 samples, spanning 22 countries suggests that it is not. Given the surprising cross-cultural robustness of our findings, we argue that the types of evidence for the ascription of a belief are, at least in some circumstances, lexicographically ordered: assertions are first taken into account, and when an agent sincerely asserts that p, nonlinguistic behavioral evidence is disregarded. In light of this, we take ourselves to have discovered a universal principle governing the ascription of beliefs in folk psychology.</jats:p>
  • Footnote:
  • Access State: Open Access