Humans and Other Animals - Are We Rational Enough to Know the Difference? | Dr. Daniel De Haan
Dec 13, 2019
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Dr. Daniel De Haan discusses the challenges in distinguishing human and animal behaviors, exploring theory of mind, affordances in psychology, thin vs. thick descriptions, and the debates between common sense and folk psychology.
Experimental definitions of human-animal differences are flawed, requiring alternative psychological concepts for exploration.
Theory of mind is not exclusive to humans; chimpanzee studies challenge this notion and spark decades of research.
Common sense psychology offers a new perspective, emphasizing observable behaviors over mental attributes in understanding psychological phenomena.
Deep dives
Deceptive Nature of Psychological Accounts: Challenging Experimental Debates
Psychologists often face challenges in operationalizing psychological concepts in experiments, leading to stalemates in debates about human-animal distinctions. Critical analysis suggests the need for alternative psychological concepts to explore differences between humans and animals, highlighting flawed experimental definitions rather than methodological issues.
Theory of Mind in Chimpanzees: Revisiting the Debate
The podcast delves into the theory of mind concept, discussing a seminal paper challenging the notion that only humans possess this ability. The study involving chimpanzees' inference of mental states questions the exclusivity of theory of mind to humans, sparking over 40 years of research and various objections regarding behavior reading versus mind reading interpretations.
Critical anthropocentrism is proposed as a nuanced approach to interpreting psychological discourse, acknowledging the limitations of human-centric concepts when applied to other species. The debate between folk psychology and common sense psychology unfolds, addressing issues such as the replication crisis in psychology, the impact of cultural diversity on research outcomes, and the inherent biases in studying human psychology.
A New Perspective: Common Sense Psychology vs. Folk Psychology
In the podcast episode, a comparison between common sense psychology and folk psychology unfolds. Common sense psychology challenges the entrenched beliefs of folk psychology by proposing a different understanding of psychological phenomena. Unlike folk psychology, which separates mental and physical attributes, common sense psychology argues that psychological behaviors are observable and intertwined with physical actions. This alternative view emphasizes that most psychological phenomena, including beliefs and desires, are manifested in observable behaviors of humans and animals. The distinction between thin and thick descriptions, as discussed in the episode, highlights how common sense psychology reinterprets psychological interactions as integrated with observable actions.
Mirror Neurons and Observing Psychological Behaviors
The podcast delves into the concept of mirror neurons and their implications in observing psychological behaviors. Mirror neurons, identified through brain activity patterns in response to actions observed in others, have been linked to empathetic responses. While simulation theory posits that mirror neurons play a critical role in understanding others' mental states, common sense psychology challenges this perspective. It questions the necessity of mental simulations in everyday interactions, arguing that understanding psychological behaviors does not solely rely on simulating internal states. The discussion raises doubts about the extent to which mirror neurons influence our perception of psychological attributes and accentuates the role of common sense psychology in reevaluating conventional theories of mind reading and psychological attribution.
This talk was given on November 20, 2019 at Baylor University.
For more events and info visit thomisticinstitute.org/events-1.
Dr. Daniel De Haan is a Research Fellow of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford. He is working on the Renewal of Natural Theology Project directed by Professor Alister McGrath. Before coming to Oxford, De Haan was a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge working on the neuroscience strand of the Templeton World Charity Foundation Fellowships in Theology, Philosophy of Religion, and the Sciences Project, directed by Sarah Coakley. During this postdoctoral fellowship, he conducted research on the intersections of theology, philosophy, and neuroscience in Lisa Saksida’s Translational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory in the Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge.
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