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The Folk Psychology of Consciousness *
Author(s) -
ARICO ADAM,
FIALA BRIAN,
GOLDBERG ROBERT F.,
NICHOLS SHAUN
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2011.01420.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , folk psychology , agency (philosophy) , consciousness , cognitive psychology , mental state , disposition , object (grammar) , task (project management) , motion (physics) , simple (philosophy) , social psychology , test (biology) , cognitive science , epistemology , artificial intelligence , computer science , philosophy , paleontology , management , neuroscience , economics , biology
This paper proposes the ‘AGENCY model’ of conscious state attribution, according to which an entity's displaying certain relatively simple features (e.g. eyes, distinctive motions, interactive behavior) automatically triggers a disposition to attribute conscious states to that entity. To test the model's predictions, participants completed a speeded object/attribution task, in which they responded positively or negatively to attributions of mental properties (including conscious and non‐conscious states) to different sorts of entities (insects, plants, artifacts, etc.). As predicted, participants responded positively to conscious state attributions only for those entities that typically display the simple features identified in the AGENCY model (eyes, distinctive motion, interaction) and took longer to deny conscious states to those entities.