Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:07:48.313Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reversing figure and ground in the rationality debate: An evolutionary perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2001

W. Todd DeKay
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster PA 17604-3003 [email protected]
Martie G. Haselton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 [email protected]
Lee A. Kirkpatrick
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23188 [email protected]

Abstract

A broad evolutionary perspective is essential to fully reverse figure and ground in the rationality debate. Humans' evolved psychological architecture was designed to produce inferences that were adaptive, not normatively logical. This perspective points to several predictable sources of errors in modern laboratory reasoning tasks, including inherent, systematic biases in information-processing systems explained by Error Management Theory.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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.)