Date: Tuesday, Jan 28th at 9am Pacific Time (USA)
Guest Speaker: Eugene Subbotsky, Reader (Emeritus) Lancaster University, UK
Summary:
Dialectical thinking is often characterized as reconciling opposing ideas or points of view. In this presentation, we will consider how an individual reconciles contradictory beliefs that the individual holds. For example, research shows that even in adults, the belief in physical causality can coexist with the belief in magical causation.
In four experiments, children and adults were tested on their understanding and practical application of various phenomena, with phenomenalistic perception of these phenomena and understanding of scientific mechanisms underlying these phenomena competing for the government of participants’ verbal judgements and their practical actions.
Three models of the relations between old and new knowledge were revealed:
- Replacement: Knowledge replaces the phenomenalistic perception in judgements and behaviour.
- Merging: Knowledge mixes up with phenomenalistic perception.
- Conservation: Knowledge becomes a subdominant mode controlling people’s verbal judgements, with phenomenalistic perception being a dominant mode that controls people’s actions.
All three models run next to each other depending on the strength of phenomenalistic perception and mastery of educational efforts to install the rational understanding.
Recording:
Reading