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Tania Lombrozo on Explanations (from http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/nov2013.html )
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11/5/13
1
What makes an explanation beautiful? And why does it matter?
Tania Lombrozo Department of Psychology
UC Berkeley
Richard Thaler
Alison Gopnik
Mazharin Banaji
Richard Dawkins
Eric Kandel
Alan Alda
Scott Atran
Gerd Gigerenzer
Daniel Dennett
Lisa Randall
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Explanatory beauty
Simplicity – “simplicity” 50+ – “simple” 100+
Scope – “…the hallmark of a
deep explanation is that it answers more than you ask.” (Max Tegmark)
Pickiness is universal “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.” (Newton, 1687)
"The aim of scientific explanation throughout the ages has been unification, i.e., the comprehending of a maximum of facts and regularities in terms of a minimum of theoretical concepts and assumptions" (Feigl, 1970).
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Three mysteries of explanation
1. Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?
2. Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?
3. Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?
We seek explanations about what we’ve already observed
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Three mysteries of explanation
1. Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?
2. Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?
3. Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?
Seeking explanations fosters learning
“… the hypotheses we seek in explanation of past observations serve again in the prediction of future ones. Curiosity thus has survival value, despite having killed a cat.” (Quine & Ullian, The Web of Belief, 1970)
W.V.O. Quine
“…explanation is to theory formation as orgasm is to reproduction — the phenomenological mark of
the fulfillment of an evolutionarily determined drive.” (Gopnik, 2000)
Alison Gopnik
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“Learning by thinking”
• The self-explanation effect: – Students who explain – even to themselves –
typically learn material more effectively and generalize more readily to novel contexts.
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Three mysteries of explanation
1. Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?
2. Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?
3. Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?
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Thought experiments
A demonstration
75% Body Pattern 100% Foot Pattern
Joseph Williams
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Design overview
Introduction
Explain vs
Control Study
Categorization Glorp or
Drent?
Explicit report Differences?
Exp 1: Explain vs. Describe Exp 2: Explain vs. Think Aloud Exp 3: Explain vs. Free Study
100% Foot Pattern 75% Body Pattern Other
Explanation promotes discovery of broad patterns
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Describe Think Aloud Free Study
Control
Explain
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N = 150 N = 240 N = 120
Williams & Lombrozo (2010), Cognitive Science
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What about young kids?
Blicket Detector
Caren Walker
Joseph Williams
Alison Gopnik
Blicket Detector
Training: What makes it go?
Green+ & Yellow- 100% pattern Red+ & White- 75% pattern
Explain: “Why did this one make my machine play music?”
Control: “What happened to my machine when I put this one on?”
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Testing: Pick a rule
Green+ & Yellow- 100% pattern Red+ & White- 75% pattern
GREEN versus RED. “Which one will make my machine turn on?”
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Explanation favors broader rules …even in preschool-aged children
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porti
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Control .
Walker, Williams, Lombrozo, & Gopnik (2012)
Explain.
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“Learning by thinking”
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F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
F6
F13 F12
F7
F10 F14
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F11 <
Three mysteries of explanation
1. Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?
2. Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?
3. Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?
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Explanation
These mysteries are related
Simplicity Scope
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Tania Lombrozo Department of Psychology
UC Berkeley cognition.berkeley.edu
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