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| Research article summary (published 30 Oct 2002): |
Do cultural factors affect causal beliefs? Rational and magical thinking in Britain and Mexico.
Full Abstract
In two experiments, unusual phenomena (spontaneous destruction of objects in an empty wooden box) were demonstrated to adult participants living in rural communities in Mexico. These were accompanied by actions which had no physical link to the destroyed object but could suggest either scientifically based (the effect of an unknown physical device) or non-scientifically based (the effect of a 'magic spell') causal explanations of the event. The results were compared to the results of the matching two experiments from the earlier study made in Britain. The expectation that scientifically based explanations would prevail in British participants' judgments and behaviours, whereas Mexican participants would be more tolerant toward magical explanations, received only partial support. The prevalence of scientific explanations over magical explanations was evident in British participants' verbal judgments but not in Mexican participants' judgments. In their behavioural responses under the low-risk condition, British participants rejected magical explanations more frequently than did Mexican participants. However, when the risk of disregarding the possible causal effect of magic was increased, participants in both samples showed an equal degree of credulity in the possible effect of magic. The data are interpreted in terms of the relationships between scientific and 'folk' representations of causality and object permanence.
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Author information
Author/s: Subbotsky, Eugene (E); Quinteros, Graciela (G);
Affiliation: Lancaster University, UK. E.Subbotsky(-atsign-)Lancaster.ac.uk
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article
Journal: British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953) (Br J Psychol), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-Nov; vol 93 (issue Pt 4) : pp 519-43
Dates: Created 2003/01/09; Completed 2003/04/04; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 12519532, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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