scholarly journals Can Comparative Psychology Crack its Toughest Nut?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-652
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Povinelli
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
Higher Order Thinking ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Step Method ◽  
Folk Physics ◽  
First Order ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient ◽  
Current Paradigm

What is the likelihood that humans will ever determine if other animals engage in higher-order thinking? In examining what has happened in the twenty years since the publication of our book, Folk Physics for Apes, I conclude that comparative psychologists, the academic stalwarts charged with making progress on this front, are stuck in a series of intractable, and largely unacknowledged, conceptual problems. Because higher-order mental states depend on the existence of first-order, perceptually-based representations of objects and events, and because those first-order representations are necessary and sufficient to explain current experimental and observational results, the approaches deployed by comparative psychologists are doomed to failure. I examine this Asymmetric Dependency Problem in detail and show how the failure to confront its implications leads to viciously circular arguments that cannot be fixed within the current paradigm of research. Next, I offer a seven-step method for isolating the common structural flaw in any given experiment, and work through several examples. Finally, I examine the central claims that my colleagues and I made in Folk Physics through the lens of the Asymmetric Dependency Problem and current research trends. Although the optimism we expressed that experimental approaches could implicate the presence of higher-order thinking in animals requires considerable dampening, the challenges we isolated remain as vital today as they were twenty years ago.

scholarly journals Higher-order awareness, misrepresentation and function

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1594) ◽  
pp. 1424-1438 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
First Order ◽  
Cognitive States ◽  
Considerable Benefit ◽  
And Function ◽  
Psychological Processing ◽  
In Virtue Of

Conscious mental states are states we are in some way aware of. I compare higher-order theories of consciousness, which explain consciousness by appeal to such higher-order awareness (HOA), and first-order theories, which do not, and I argue that higher-order theories have substantial explanatory advantages. The higher-order nature of our awareness of our conscious states suggests an analogy with the metacognition that figures in the regulation of psychological processes and behaviour. I argue that, although both consciousness and metacognition involve higher-order psychological states, they have little more in common. One thing they do share is the possibility of misrepresentation; just as metacognitive processing can misrepresent one's cognitive states and abilities, so the HOA in virtue of which one's mental states are conscious can, and sometimes does, misdescribe those states. A striking difference between the two, however, has to do with utility for psychological processing. Metacognition has considerable benefit for psychological processing; in contrast, it is unlikely that there is much, if any, utility to mental states' being conscious over and above the utility those states have when they are not conscious.

scholarly journals Expressivism, self-knowledge, and rational agency

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Blackwood
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Donald Davidson ◽  
Rational Agency ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
First Order ◽  
Special Character ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Present Tense

Abstract One family of thought about self-knowledge has argued that authoritative self-ascriptions express a form of higher-order knowledge whose special character is explained by the role that knowledge plays in rational agency. In contrast to this “regulative model”, according to Wittgenstein’s treatment of self-knowledge authoritative self-ascription of one’s present-tense mental states is explained by the fact that sincere self-ascriptions express the very states they self-ascribe. The Wittgensteinian account is epistemologically deflationary, and it makes no use of higher-order thought to account for the distinctive features of self-ascriptions. It is argued that the regulative model faces difficulties that both undermine it and reinforce the Wittgensteinian explanation. Making use of ideas from Donald Davidson and Richard Moran, an alternative first-order sketch of rational agency consistent with the expressivist view is offered.

scholarly journals The Misunderstood Higher-Order Approach to Consciousness

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Brown ◽  
Hakwan Lau ◽  
Joseph LeDoux
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Intermediate Position ◽  
First Order ◽  
Global Workspace ◽  
Episodic Memories ◽  
Higher Order Theory

Critics have often misunderstood the higher-order theory (HOT) of consciousness. Here we clarify its position on several issues, and distinguish it from other views such as the global workspace theory (GWT) and early sensory models, such as first-order local recurrency theory. The criticism that HOT overintellectualizes conscious experience is inaccurate because in reality the theory assumes minimal cognitive functions for consciousness; in this sense it is an intermediate position between GWT and early sensory views, and plausibly accounts for shortcomings of both. Further, compared to other existing theories, HOT can more readily account for complex everyday experiences, such as of emotions and episodic memories, and make HOT potentially useful as a framework for conceptualizing pathological mental states.

Dual systems for all: Higher-order, role-based relational reasoning as a uniquely derived feature of human cognition

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Povinelli ◽  
Gabrielle C. Glorioso ◽  
Shannon L. Kuznar ◽  
Mateja Pavlic
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Reasoning ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Important Case ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Relational Reasoning ◽  
Dual Systems ◽  
First Order ◽  
Reasoning System ◽  
Role Based

Abstract Hoerl and McCormack demonstrate that although animals possess a sophisticated temporal updating system, there is no evidence that they also possess a temporal reasoning system. This important case study is directly related to the broader claim that although animals are manifestly capable of first-order (perceptually-based) relational reasoning, they lack the capacity for higher-order, role-based relational reasoning. We argue this distinction applies to all domains of cognition.

Challenging the Multidimensional Conception of Perceived Person-Environment Fit

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Julian M. Etzel ◽  
Gabriel Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
University Students ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Substantial Proportion ◽  
Unique Variance ◽  
First Order ◽  
Person Environment Fit ◽  
Order Factor

Abstract. In the current study, we examined the viability of a multidimensional conception of perceived person-environment (P-E) fit in higher education. We introduce an optimized 12-item measure that distinguishes between four content dimensions of perceived P-E fit: interest-contents (I-C) fit, needs-supplies (N-S) fit, demands-abilities (D-A) fit, and values-culture (V-C) fit. The central aim of our study was to examine whether the relationships between different P-E fit dimensions and educational outcomes can be accounted for by a higher-order factor that captures the shared features of the four fit dimensions. Relying on a large sample of university students in Germany, we found that students distinguish between the proposed fit dimensions. The respective first-order factors shared a substantial proportion of variance and conformed to a higher-order factor model. Using a newly developed factor extension procedure, we found that the relationships between the first-order factors and most outcomes were not fully accounted for by the higher-order factor. Rather, with the exception of V-C fit, all specific P-E fit factors that represent the first-order factors’ unique variance showed reliable and theoretically plausible relationships with different outcomes. These findings support the viability of a multidimensional conceptualization of P-E fit and the validity of our adapted instrument.

Memberdayakan Keterampilan Mengembangkan Soal Hots pada Guru Biologi di Kabupaten Bekasi

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 151-159
Author(s):  
Mieke Miarsyah ◽  
Rizhal Hendi Ristanto
Keyword(s):  
Higher Order Thinking ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Thinking Skill

Kegiatan pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini bertujuan agar guru biologi SMA di Kabupaten Bekasi dapat terampil mengembangkan soal HOTS. Guru sebagai peserta kegiatan pelatihan yang diundang dalam kegiatan merupakan perwakilan dari anggota MGMP Biologi yang tersebar dari beberapa beberapa wilayah di Kabupaten Bekasi yang diwakili oleh guru pada masing-masing Kecamatan. Kegiatan ini diharapkan dapat memberikan manfaat kepada guru tentang pelatihan pengembangan soal HOTS yang sesuai dengan keterampilan abad 21. Model kegiatan pelatihan dilaksanakan melalui 10 (sepuluh) tahap, yaitu: (1) brain storming atau curah pendapat ceramah dan tanya jawab tentang konsep penulisan soal HOTs, (2) mengerjakan pekerjaan rumah berupa 1 soal subyektif dan 1 soal obyektif, (3) pendalaman konsep HOTs, (4) penulisan 1 soal obyektif dan 1 soal subyektif secara individual, (5) pembentukan kelompok yang terdiri dari 5-8 guru dan saling menukarkan soal, (6) masing-masing guru menelaah berdasarkan instrument yang telah disediakan, (7) kelompok memilih soal yang paling HOTs dan meranking mulai HOTs, MOTs, dan LOTs, (8) presentasi oleh masing-masing kelompok berdasarkan hasil telaahnya, (9) kelompok lain memberikan tanggapan berkaitan dengan HOTs atau tidaknya soal, (10) penguatan dari narasumber untuk masing-masing kelompok.Kata kunci: Higher order thinking skill, HOTS, guru biologi, kabupaten Bekasi.

திருக்குறள் கற்றலின் வழி படிவம் 2 மாணவர்களின் உயர்நிலைச் சிந்தனைத் திறனை மேம்படுத்துதல் [THIRUKKURAL KADRALIN VALI PADIVAM 2 MAANAVARKALIN UYARNILAIC SINTANAIT THIRANAI MEEMPADUTTUYAL] (IMPROVING THE LEVEL OF HOTS (HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS) OF FORM 2 STUDENTS BY LEARNING THIRUKKURAL)

2019 ◽  
pp. 96-110
Author(s):  
Renita Prera Winsen
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Higher Order Thinking ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Higher Order Thinking Skills ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Revised Bloom's Taxonomy ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Data Collections

பேராக் மாநிலத்தில் தைப்பிங் மாவட்டத்தில் அமைந்துள்ள ஓர் இடைநிலைப்பள்ளியில் திருக்குறள் கற்றலின் வழி படிவம் 2 மாணவர்களின் உயர்நிலைச் சிந்தனைத் திறனை மேம்படுத்தும் முயற்சியில் ஆய்வு மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டது. தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட 10 மாணவர்கள் இந்த ஆய்வில் உட்படுத்தப்பட்டனர். திருக்குறளில் மாணவர்களின் ஆளுமையைக் கண்டறிய அந்த இடைநிலைப்பள்ளியின் தமிழாசிரியரிடம் நேர்காணல் நடத்தப்பட்டது. மாணவர்களின் உயர்நிலைச் சிந்தனைத் திறனை மேம்படுத்த படிவம் 1 மற்றும் படிவம் 2-இல் வரையறுக்கப்பட்ட ஆறு திருக்குறள்கள் தேர்தெடுக்கப்பட்டன. தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட திருக்குறள்கள் யாவும் சீரமைக்கப்பட்ட புளூமின் அறிவுசார் முறைப்பாட்டியலின் துணைக்கொண்டு பலதரப்பட கேள்விகள் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டது. ஆறு வாரத் திருக்குறள் வகுப்பிற்குப் பின் இக்கேள்விகள் யாவும் மாணவர்களுக்கு வழங்கப்பட்டன. கேள்விக்கான பதில்களிலிருந்து மாணவர்களின் உயர்நிலைச் சிந்தனைத் திறனில் ஏற்பட்ட மாற்றங்கள் கண்டறியப்பட்டது. ஆய்வின் முடிவாக, முறையான திருக்குறள் கற்றலின் வழி மாணவர்களின் உயர்நிலைச் சிந்தனைத் திறனை மேம்படுத்த முடியும் என்பது உறுதிச் செய்யப்பட்டது. (This study has been conducted with the purpose of improving the level of HOTS (Higher order thinking skills) of Form 2 students through learning Thirukkural. For this study, the Thirukkural, a well-known literary work of Tamil Language was taken. Thus, this research was carried out in a secondary school which is located at Taiping, Perak. The research was carried out under the design of action research. The sample of this study consisted of ten Form 2 students. Besides that, a teacher also interviewed in order to know the students' personality in learning Thirukkural. In this research, the learning process of Thirukkural approach was implemented for 6 weeks. There are 6 couplets of Thirukkural selected according to the syllabus of Form 1 and Form 2. This six couplets of Thirukkural used to test the level of HOTS. The questions were created based on Thirukkural, according to Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. The data of the study was collected through pre-test, the questions asked in Thirukkural classes and post-test via qualitative and quantitative data collection tools. The findings obtained through qualitative and quantitative data collections showed that the level of HOTS through learning Thirukkural among Form 2 students has improved.)

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document