Rethinking people's conceptions of mental life

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Kara WeismanEllen M Markman

Abstract

How do people make sense of the emotions, sensations, and cognitive abilities that make up mental life? Pioneering work on the dimensions of mind perception has been interpreted as evidence that people consider mental life to have two core components-experience (e.g., hunger, joy) and agency (e.g., planning, self-control) [Gray HM, et al. (2007) Science 315:619]. We argue that this conclusion is premature: The experience-agency framework may capture people's understanding of the differences among different beings (e.g., dogs, humans, robots, God) but not how people parse mental life itself. Inspired by Gray et al.'s bottom-up approach, we conducted four large-scale studies designed to assess people's conceptions of mental life more directly. This led to the discovery of an organization that differs strikingly from the experience-agency framework: Instead of a broad distinction between experience and agency, our studies consistently revealed three fundamental components of mental life-suites of capacities related to the body, the heart, and the mind-with each component encompassing related aspects of both experience and agency. This body-heart-mind framework distinguishes itself from Gray et al.'s experience-agency framework by ...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Nov 10, 2018·Perception·Aleksandra Swiderska, Dennis Küster
Jan 15, 2020·Nature Human Behaviour·Ryan M StolierJonathan B Freeman
Oct 30, 2019·Nature Human Behaviour·Edmond AwadIyad Rahwan
Aug 30, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Lauri NummenmaaEnrico Glerean
Jan 17, 2019·Cognitive Science·Aiyana K Willard, Rita A McNamara
Oct 3, 2018·Autism Research : Official Journal of the International Society for Autism Research·Hironori AkechiToshikazu Hasegawa
Jan 28, 2021·Frontiers in Robotics and AI·Abdulaziz Abubshait, Agnieszka Wykowska
Apr 10, 2019·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·Yochanan E BigmanKurt Gray
May 22, 2021·Cognitive Science·Cai GuoEllen M Markman
Jul 28, 2021·Development and Psychopathology·Lucy S KingKathryn L Humphreys
Aug 28, 2021·Nature Human Behaviour·Bertram F Malle
Aug 28, 2021·Nature Human Behaviour·Kara WeismanTanya Marie Luhrmann
Oct 5, 2021·Cognitive Science·Teresa FlanaganLauren H Howard
Mar 8, 2021··Maartje M.A. de GraafFrank A. Hindriks

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