In the field of the conferences: “Modèles de la rationalité” organized by CHArt (Paris reasoning).
– 10H-11h30 Steven Sloman. Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences at Brown University (USA), associate member to Paris reasoning.
Title: Ignorance and the Community of Knowledge
Abstract: People typically know less about causal systems than they think they do. I report studies showing this illusion of explanatory depth holds in politics and that shattering the illusion leads to political moderation. This occurs only for consequentialist issues, not those governed by sacred values. The illusion is not present in those who tend to be more reflective. The more reflective prefer more detailed causal explanation and are more sensitive to what they don’t know. I provide evidence that the illusion of explanatory depth arises because we live in a community of knowledge: People fail to distinguish the knowledge inside their heads from the knowledge that resides in other people’s heads.
Bâtiment le France / Salle 114 de 10h à 11h30; 90 Avenue de France, 75013 Paris
(Métro : Quai de la Gare)