Concreteness and abstraction in everyday explanation

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
Christos BechlivanidisSteven Sloman

Abstract

A number of philosophers argue for the value of abstraction in explanation. According to these prescriptive theories, an explanation becomes superior when it leaves out details that make no difference to the occurrence of the event one is trying to explain (the explanandum). Abstract explanations are not frugal placeholders for improved, detailed future explanations but are more valuable than their concrete counterparts because they highlight the factors that do the causal work, the factors in the absence of which the explanandum would not occur. We present several experiments that test whether people follow this prescription (i.e., whether people prefer explanations with abstract difference makers over explanations with concrete details and explanations that omit descriptively accurate but causally irrelevant information). Contrary to the prescription, we found a preference for concreteness and detail. Participants rated explanations with concrete details higher than their abstract counterparts and in many cases they did not penalize the presence of causally irrelevant details. Nevertheless, causality still constrained participants' preferences: They downgraded concrete explanations that did not communicate the critical causal...Continue Reading

References

May 1, 1989·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology·B E Bell, E F Loftus
Dec 1, 1985·Journal of Personality Assessment·B E Bell, E F Loftus
Nov 17, 2007·Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience·Deena Skolnick WeisbergJeremy R Gray
Jul 9, 2008·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·J D Trout
Nov 13, 2014·Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience·Diego Fernandez-DuqueSara D Hodges

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Citations

Mar 10, 2017·Psychonomic Bulletin & Review·Jeffrey C ZemlaDavid A Lagnado
Aug 3, 2019·Topics in Cognitive Science·Sara Aronowitz, Tania Lombrozo
Nov 18, 2020·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·Zachary Wojtowicz, Simon DeDeo

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