Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T02:11:26.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can the inherence heuristic explain vitalistic reasoning?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2014

Brock Bastian
Brock Bastian*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Inherence is an important component of psychological essentialism. By drawing on vitalism as a way in which to explain this link, however, the authors appear to conflate causal explanations based on fixed features with those based on general causal forces. The disjuncture between these two types of explanatory principles highlights potential new avenues for the inherence heuristic.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 5 , October 2014 , pp. 482 - 483
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bastian, B. & Haslam, N. (2007) Psychological essentialism and attention allocation: Preferences for stereotype-consistent versus stereotype-inconsistent information. Journal of Social Psychology 147:531–41. doi:10.3200/SOCP.147.5.531-542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bastian, B. & Haslam, N. (2008) Immigration from the perspective of hosts and immigrants: Roles of psychological essentialism and social identity. Asian Journal of Social Psychology 11:127–40. doi:10.1111/j.1467-839X.2008.00250.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bastian, B., Bain, P., Buhrmester, M. D., Gómez, A., Vázquez, A., Knight, C. & Swann, W. B. (2013) Moral Vitalism: Seeing good and evil as real, agentic forces. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Bastian, B., Jetten, J. & Fasoli, F. (2011) Cleansing the soul by hurting the flesh: The guilt-reducing effect of pain. Psychological Science 22:334–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cashmore, A. R. (2010) The Lucretian swerve: The biological basis of human behavior and the criminal justice system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107:4499–504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, P. (2002) Reinventing vitalism. Homeopathy 91:61–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frazer, J. G. (1890/1959) The golden bough: A study in magic and religion, abridged edition, ed. Gaster, T. H.. Macmillan. (Original work published in 1890.)Google Scholar
Inagaki, K. & Hatano, G. (2004) Vitalistic causality in young children's naive biology. Trends in Cognitive Science 8:356–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindeman, M. & Saher, M. (2007) Vitalism, purpose and superstition. British Journal of Psychology 98:33–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mauss, M. (1902/1972) A general theory of magic, trans. Brain, R.. Norton, W. W.. (Original work published in 1902.)Google Scholar
Morris, S. C., Taplin, J. E. & Gelman, S. A. (2000) Vitalism in naive biological thinking. Developmental Psychology 36:582–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nemeroff, C. & Rozin, P. (1994) The contagion concept in adult thinking in the United States: Transmission of germs and of interpersonal influence. Ethos 22:158–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shea, D. (2010) Pat Robertson: Haiti “cursed” by “pact to the devil.” Huffington Post, March 18. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/13/pat-robertson-haiti-curse_n_422099.html.Google Scholar
Tylor, E. B. (1871/1974) Primitive culture: Researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom. Gordon Press. (Original work published in 1871.)Google Scholar
Zhong, C. B. & Liljenquist, K. (2006) Washing away your sins: Threatened morality and physical cleansing. Science 313:1451–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed