Difference between revisions of "OCT 31"

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===Dennett, Daniel. Chapter 4: "A Hearing for Libertarianism" Freedom Evolves.===
+
==20: OCT 31. Unit Five: Cultural Evolution==
  
:*Characterizes the traditional argument motivating libertarianism:
+
===Assigned===
::*If Det true, no FW.  If no FW, no MR.
 
::*If we think of states of affairs as causing other states of affairs (something he argued against in C2), then we need a break in the causal matrix, '''a GAP''', to own our action, saving FW and MR.
 
  
:*Mentions, but leaves aside "unrepentant dualists" (feel free to explore these), who try to give accounts of "agent causation" .  By contrast Kane is a naturalist like Dennett.   
+
:*Henrich Prelude and C1 – “WEIRD Psychology” (21-58; 37) – literacy and neuroplasticity, Protestantism and literacy, WEIRD cultural psychology, individualism complex, guilt and shame, conformity, patience, impersonal honesty, passenger dilemma, trust, impersonal prosociality, intentionality, analytic thinking.   
  
:*Kane's goal.  To show that we can be the "ultimate creator and sustainer of our ends and purposes"
+
===In-Class===
  
:*'''Where should we put the gap?
+
:*Joe Henrich  [https://heb.fas.harvard.edu/people/joseph-henrich]
'''
+
:*Cultural Evoluation as a layer of theory. What is culture?
::*i. desire
 
::*ii. rational will
 
::*iii. striving will
 
  
::*gap goes somewhere bt i and ii.  Case of Business woman, two neural clouds around "stay" or "go"
+
===Henrich, Prelude and C1 - "WEIRD Psychology," from The Weirdest People on Earth"===
  
::*105: a little background on chaos.  Old debate about AI.  Are  "hardware neural networks" (in which the indeterminacy is modelled physically v. virtually) non-algorithmic?  Yes, but this feature of hardware neural nets doesn't explain their powers since they can also be modelled in a computer, which is algorithmic (computational) at the physical level. 
+
:*'''Prelude: Your Brain has been modified by culture'''
  
::*Point: D is criticizing Kane for confusing chaos with indeterminism. The point about neural nets raises the question: Will the indeterminacy (non-computational moment) in Kane's theory really do any work?
+
::*Example of how reading alters brains.  "Literacy thus provides an example of how culture can change people biologically independent of any genetic differences."
 +
::*The ‘letterbox’ in your brain
 +
::*Literacy in Western Europe - a “cultural package” that includes abilities, but also attitudes toward education, technologies of literacy like printing. 
 +
::*Note how a “culture of literacy” can cut across other cultures.  Right hemisphere bias in facial recognition common to university students across cultures. 
 +
::*1517: Protestantism requires literacy.  "sola scriptura"
 +
::*Showing causal relationship with "quasi-experimental" method  "For every 100 km traveled from Wittenberg, percentage of Protestants dropped 10%. Like a "dosage".  Also drove female literacy and public education. 
 +
::*Also seen in literacy rates of Catholic and Prot missionaries to Africa: Protestant missions produce more literacy. 
 +
::*Point of his book, “The WEIRDEST People in the World,”: WEIRD psychology is the result of a set of cultural adaptations promoted by the Catholic church.
 +
::*The movement of “sola scriptura” led to an explosion of literacy, which had numerous cultural effects, but the bigger story of how we became WEIRD starts with the Catholic Churches’ “Marriage and Family Plan” (Chapter 1).
  
:*'''Kane's Model of Indeterministic Decision-making
+
:*'''Chapter 1: WEIRD Psychology'''
'''
 
::*Basic model: If we can introduce a gap of quantum indeterminacy into your decision making than we can say about some of your acts that at some moment "t" ''you could have done otherwise''.  Moreover, in the context of practical reasoning, it is plausible to think that these acts are "self-forming acts" and yours.
 
  
::*108: Input-Output model:  "striving will" is a kind of "resistance"Look at casesClarify notion of "clutch". weakness of the will. 
+
::*WEIRD: individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analyticalTends to look for universal categories, analyticpatient, takes plesure in hard work, sticks to imparial rules or principles, guilt vs. shame
  
::*Do we put the clutch inside or outside?  Memory inside or outside? Randomizer inside or outside?  If these outside us, then the are part of the input (or after the output in the case of deciding right and not doing it) and 'determining' us.  If inside, then they don't determine us?  But we just moved the boundary.   
+
::*Major Claim: WEIRD psychology is a product of 600-1000 years of the Catholic Church's modification of our psychology through its "Marriage and Family Plan".   
  
::*You could "send out" for randomness, but that's like flipping a coin. Would that make it not "determining"you?
+
:*'''Really, who are you?'''
 +
::*"Who Am I? task by culture
 +
::*Mapping the Individualism Complex vs. Kin-based institutions
 +
:::*Might be ''obligated'' to avenge a murder,
 +
:::*''Prohibited'' from marrying a stranger / ''privileged'' to marry mother’s brother’s daughters.
 +
:::*''Responsible'' to carry out expensive ancestor rituals.
 +
:::*''Liable'' for family members crimes.
 +
:::*Note the italicized moral terms.  Moral culture changes with sociocentrism/individualism, as in Haidt.   
 +
::*Contrast on p. 28.  In the Industrial World "everyone is shopping for better relationships."  Read specific contrasts. 
 +
::*Hofstede's scale for measuring individualism/sociocentrism -
 +
::*Economic prosperity and Individualism may be in two way causal relationship.
 +
::*Note caveats to this research on p. 31.  1. As with physio-politics, '''not''' say one cultural package is objectively better than another. [Arguably, individualism and markets got us to the crisi of climate change.] 2. As with physio-politics, the categories mask numerous continuous differences. 
  
::*115: Kane's model is focused on deliberative choice, but D raises questions about how to draw that lineA habit can be acquired deliberately. Case of strangling the dentist.   
+
:*'''Cultivating the WEIRD self'''
 +
::*Research showing individualists cultivate "consistency across relationships" vs. kin-based "consistency within relationships”.
 +
::*Dispositionalism - seeing people's behavior as anchored impersonal traits that influence actions across contexts. The Fundamental Attribution Error (33) is a bias of WEIRD people, not a universal cognitive biasWEIRD people suffer more from cognitive dissonance because of the type of consistency valued in WEIRD culture.
 +
::*Guilt vs. Shame
 +
::*Conformity - Solom Asch's experiments in which confederates give incorrect answers to test conformityWEIRD cultures show lowest conformity. 37-38.
  
::*Kane allows for some determinism in his model, which helps account for the case of Martin Luther.  
+
:*'''Marshmallows Come to Those Who Wait'''
 +
::*"Discounting" as a measure of '''patience''' - "temporal discounting" widely researched through "choice" studies: "Would you rather X now or X+Y later?"  Patience correlated with better socio-economic outcomes.  Larger construct: "self-control" "self-regulation - Marshmallow studies.  [https://youtu.be/QX_oy9614HQ]
 +
::*'''Impersonal Honesty''' --
 +
:::*UN Diplomats' parking violations research.  Natural experiment on existing parking violations.  Volume of tickets correlates with country's standing on "corruption index". 
 +
:::*Impersonal Honesty Game, like the Matrix research from Ariely, normed against probability of each die roll. Also correlates with corruption index. (results at p. 44).  "quintessentially WEIRD experiment as there is no person affected by the dishonesty.  In some cultures, you would be criticized for not taking advantage of the experiment to help your family.
 +
::*'''Universalism and Non-relationalism''' -- Research using the "Passengers Dilemma" -- does your friend have a right to expect you to lie to help him evade a parking fine?  related results: willingness to give insider information, lie about medical exam to lower insurance rates, write a fake review of a friend's restaurant. Measures also importance of '''impartial rules'''
 +
::*'''Trusting Strangers''' - "Generalized Trust Question" (GTQ) survey instrument.  measures impersonal trust vs. trust in relationship based networks.  Norway: 70% Trinidad 4-5% Interesting variation in the US.  Northern Italy 49% Sicily 26%.  [Interesting discussion of forms of trust.  Countries can report high trust on the GTQ, but it may not be impersonal trust.  To get at that you have to ask specifically about trusting strangers.]
 +
::*'''Impersonal Prosociality'''  roughly, "how we feel toward a person who is not tied into our social network" - correlated with national wealth, better government, less corruption, faster innovation. 
 +
::*'''Obsessed with intentions''' -- Bob/Rob and Andy vignette research.  The "Bob" condition involves intent.  Barrett and Laurence research.  Focus on intentional dishonesty correlates with WEIRD culture.  Independent research on Japanese (less focused on intentions), suggests that other factors about Japan's culture affect outcomes.
 +
::*'''Analytic vs. Holistic thinking'''.  Triad Task.  (read 53) Abstract rule-based vs. Functional relationship.  Analytics focus on rules, types, continuity. Example: Would you match "rabbit" with "carrot" or "cat"? Possible that even some of the Mapuche's "analytic" answers had holistic reasoning.  pig/dog pig/husks.  Also, attention and memory studies: East Asians remember background/context better that WEIRD people.  Americans track the center of attention. 
 +
::*WEIRD also have great '''endowment effect, overestimate our talents, self-enhance, enjoy making choices'''.
 +
::*Summary table on p. 56.
  
::*SFAs can enter into subsequent deterministic processes (such as one leading to Luther's statement) and still be "ours".  (Note how far we are from Strawson at this point! Ultimate Responsibility is weaker here.)
+
:*Henrich's larger argument:
 
+
::*The Catholic Church, through it "Marriage and Family Plan" (started around 600 a.d.), started the process that made us WEIRDSee Henrich, C14, "The Dark Matter of History" for summary of the book's argument.  (In shared folder.)
::*Kane's principle of alternative possibilities. (AP) and discussion of "t"  118-121
+
::*Movement from kin and clan based European culture, to "voluntary associations (guilds, charter towns, universities) drove the expansion of impersonal markets, and spurred the rapid growth of cities.
 
+
::*Key elements of the Church's "Marriage and Family Plan"
::*Kane's ultimacy requirement. (U). You can only be MR for something, if you are MR for everything that was a sufficient condition for that.  SFAs satisfy Uread at 122.  (I still don't have a clear way to say this.)
+
:::*Monogamous marriages only
 
+
:::*No kin marriage
:*'''If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything.
+
:::*No arranged marriage
'''
+
:::*Neolocal residence (married couples move out of parents' house)
::*How do you get the indeterminacy to be "inside" us?  Echoes of idea of "Cartesan theater" ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_theater#:~:text=%22Cartesian%20theater%22%20is%20a%20derisive,materialist%20theories%20of%20the%20mind. wiki note]from Consciousness Explained).  Doesn't exist, but philosophers invoke it in discussion of consciousness.  
+
:::*Inheritance by testament
 
+
:::*Individual property
::*Kane's solution: "plural rationality"  Imagine two sets of reasons around a decision, both of which you "own" or endorse.  (not sure about D's skepticism at 125).  K's intuition: in such cases we are working with potential choices that are "ours".  The indeterminancy doesn't imply that the outcome is a fluke. 
+
:::*No adoption
 
 
::*126: Big Criticism (made in next section): Kane's "incremental self-making" is a version of FW worth having, but you don't need indeterminacy to get it. 
 
 
 
:*'''Beware of Prime Mammals'''
 
 
 
::*Point of fallacy: result of a desire for a regress stopper, but that is only needed because you assume essentialism.  Kane thinks SFAs are regress stoppers because the gap breaks the chain of causation to the past.  You could have done otherwise and it still would be you. 
 
 
 
::*D: SFAs are prime mammals.  The key to stopping the regress, but not discernable or discoverable, possibly because there is no such thing.  127: no way to tell a real SFA from pseudo.  Oppenheimer: like speication events, only discernable retrospectively. Luther1 and Luther2.
 
 
 
::*Kane's defense might be that it is a problem in the world that it is hard to discern.  But then: Why should metaphysically unknowable features count more than discernable ones (upbringing, abuse, etc.)? 
 
 
 
::*As in the prime mammal fallacy, events in the distant past are not up to me, but events in the recent past might be and this gives me room to extend a self.  (This would apply to Strawson as well, I think.)
 

Latest revision as of 16:53, 31 October 2024

20: OCT 31. Unit Five: Cultural Evolution

Assigned

  • Henrich Prelude and C1 – “WEIRD Psychology” (21-58; 37) – literacy and neuroplasticity, Protestantism and literacy, WEIRD cultural psychology, individualism complex, guilt and shame, conformity, patience, impersonal honesty, passenger dilemma, trust, impersonal prosociality, intentionality, analytic thinking.

In-Class

  • Joe Henrich [1]
  • Cultural Evoluation as a layer of theory. What is culture?

Henrich, Prelude and C1 - "WEIRD Psychology," from The Weirdest People on Earth"

  • Prelude: Your Brain has been modified by culture
  • Example of how reading alters brains. "Literacy thus provides an example of how culture can change people biologically independent of any genetic differences."
  • The ‘letterbox’ in your brain
  • Literacy in Western Europe - a “cultural package” that includes abilities, but also attitudes toward education, technologies of literacy like printing.
  • Note how a “culture of literacy” can cut across other cultures. Right hemisphere bias in facial recognition common to university students across cultures.
  • 1517: Protestantism requires literacy. "sola scriptura"
  • Showing causal relationship with "quasi-experimental" method "For every 100 km traveled from Wittenberg, percentage of Protestants dropped 10%. Like a "dosage". Also drove female literacy and public education.
  • Also seen in literacy rates of Catholic and Prot missionaries to Africa: Protestant missions produce more literacy.
  • Point of his book, “The WEIRDEST People in the World,”: WEIRD psychology is the result of a set of cultural adaptations promoted by the Catholic church.
  • The movement of “sola scriptura” led to an explosion of literacy, which had numerous cultural effects, but the bigger story of how we became WEIRD starts with the Catholic Churches’ “Marriage and Family Plan” (Chapter 1).
  • Chapter 1: WEIRD Psychology
  • WEIRD: individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. Tends to look for universal categories, analytic. patient, takes plesure in hard work, sticks to imparial rules or principles, guilt vs. shame
  • Major Claim: WEIRD psychology is a product of 600-1000 years of the Catholic Church's modification of our psychology through its "Marriage and Family Plan".
  • Really, who are you?
  • "Who Am I? task by culture
  • Mapping the Individualism Complex vs. Kin-based institutions
  • Might be obligated to avenge a murder,
  • Prohibited from marrying a stranger / privileged to marry mother’s brother’s daughters.
  • Responsible to carry out expensive ancestor rituals.
  • Liable for family members crimes.
  • Note the italicized moral terms. Moral culture changes with sociocentrism/individualism, as in Haidt.
  • Contrast on p. 28. In the Industrial World "everyone is shopping for better relationships." Read specific contrasts.
  • Hofstede's scale for measuring individualism/sociocentrism -
  • Economic prosperity and Individualism may be in two way causal relationship.
  • Note caveats to this research on p. 31. 1. As with physio-politics, not say one cultural package is objectively better than another. [Arguably, individualism and markets got us to the crisi of climate change.] 2. As with physio-politics, the categories mask numerous continuous differences.
  • Cultivating the WEIRD self
  • Research showing individualists cultivate "consistency across relationships" vs. kin-based "consistency within relationships”.
  • Dispositionalism - seeing people's behavior as anchored impersonal traits that influence actions across contexts. The Fundamental Attribution Error (33) is a bias of WEIRD people, not a universal cognitive bias. WEIRD people suffer more from cognitive dissonance because of the type of consistency valued in WEIRD culture.
  • Guilt vs. Shame
  • Conformity - Solom Asch's experiments in which confederates give incorrect answers to test conformity. WEIRD cultures show lowest conformity. 37-38.
  • Marshmallows Come to Those Who Wait
  • "Discounting" as a measure of patience - "temporal discounting" widely researched through "choice" studies: "Would you rather X now or X+Y later?" Patience correlated with better socio-economic outcomes. Larger construct: "self-control" "self-regulation - Marshmallow studies. [2]
  • Impersonal Honesty --
  • UN Diplomats' parking violations research. Natural experiment on existing parking violations. Volume of tickets correlates with country's standing on "corruption index".
  • Impersonal Honesty Game, like the Matrix research from Ariely, normed against probability of each die roll. Also correlates with corruption index. (results at p. 44). "quintessentially WEIRD experiment as there is no person affected by the dishonesty. In some cultures, you would be criticized for not taking advantage of the experiment to help your family.
  • Universalism and Non-relationalism -- Research using the "Passengers Dilemma" -- does your friend have a right to expect you to lie to help him evade a parking fine? related results: willingness to give insider information, lie about medical exam to lower insurance rates, write a fake review of a friend's restaurant. Measures also importance of impartial rules
  • Trusting Strangers - "Generalized Trust Question" (GTQ) survey instrument. measures impersonal trust vs. trust in relationship based networks. Norway: 70% Trinidad 4-5% Interesting variation in the US. Northern Italy 49% Sicily 26%. [Interesting discussion of forms of trust. Countries can report high trust on the GTQ, but it may not be impersonal trust. To get at that you have to ask specifically about trusting strangers.]
  • Impersonal Prosociality roughly, "how we feel toward a person who is not tied into our social network" - correlated with national wealth, better government, less corruption, faster innovation.
  • Obsessed with intentions -- Bob/Rob and Andy vignette research. The "Bob" condition involves intent. Barrett and Laurence research. Focus on intentional dishonesty correlates with WEIRD culture. Independent research on Japanese (less focused on intentions), suggests that other factors about Japan's culture affect outcomes.
  • Analytic vs. Holistic thinking. Triad Task. (read 53) Abstract rule-based vs. Functional relationship. Analytics focus on rules, types, continuity. Example: Would you match "rabbit" with "carrot" or "cat"? Possible that even some of the Mapuche's "analytic" answers had holistic reasoning. pig/dog pig/husks. Also, attention and memory studies: East Asians remember background/context better that WEIRD people. Americans track the center of attention.
  • WEIRD also have great endowment effect, overestimate our talents, self-enhance, enjoy making choices.
  • Summary table on p. 56.
  • Henrich's larger argument:
  • The Catholic Church, through it "Marriage and Family Plan" (started around 600 a.d.), started the process that made us WEIRD. See Henrich, C14, "The Dark Matter of History" for summary of the book's argument. (In shared folder.)
  • Movement from kin and clan based European culture, to "voluntary associations (guilds, charter towns, universities) drove the expansion of impersonal markets, and spurred the rapid growth of cities.
  • Key elements of the Church's "Marriage and Family Plan"
  • Monogamous marriages only
  • No kin marriage
  • No arranged marriage
  • Neolocal residence (married couples move out of parents' house)
  • Inheritance by testament
  • Individual property
  • No adoption