The Human Function Compunction: Teleological explanation in adults

“For example, from preschool, children attribute functions to entities like lions, mountains, and icebergs, viewing them as ‘‘made for something” (Kelemen, 1999a).”

“For example, when adults are required to respond quickly to questions about the purpose of inanimate objects, adults ascribe purposes and intentions to such objects (Kelemen and Rosset 2009).”

“…parents produce teleological explanations in conversations with their children, although past research supports that in response to why questions, children (and adults under cognitive load) frequently prefer teleological explanations over mechanistic ones (Kelemen, 1999; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“Recent research finds that even when people state scientifically accepted views, they may still hold naïve theories that exert an influence on their behavior and thought (Kelemen and Rosset, 2009; Shtulman and Valcarcel, 2012).”

“…assume that individuals who accept teleological explanations, also reason teleologically (Casler & Kelemen, 2008; Kelemen, 1999c, 1999b, 2003; Kelemen et al., 2013; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009; Richardson, 1990; Lombrozo et al., 2007; Rottman et al., 2017), whereas other authors are more sceptical.”

“…highly believable even after extensive high school and college level instruction in both the physical and life sciences (Kelemen et al. 2013; also Kelemen and Rosset 2009) Taken together, the best evidence suggests that telomentalism is the more accurate characterization of folk teleology.”

“Indeed, it has been empirically supported that the human default seems to be to judge actions as if they were intentionally caused (e.g., Kelemen & Rosset, 2009; Rosset, 2008).”

“However, when questioned under time pressure, adults too seem to revert to a teleological way of thinking (Kelemen and Rosset 2009).”

“A tendency to accept teleological (purposive) explanations of both biological and non-biological events is common among young children and persists in adults (Kelemen, 1999; Kelemen & DiYanni, 2005; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“…(commonly referred to as “speeded condition”) adults tend to endorse teleological incorrect explanations, e.g., “the sun radiates heat because warmth nurtures life,” but they still reject false mechanistic explanations, e.g., “hills form because floodwater freezes” (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“Other work suggests that even adults never fully outgrow their childhood tendencies toward promiscuous teleology (e.g., Kelemen and Rosset, 2009; Kelemen, Rottman and Seston, 2013; Lombrozo, Kelemen and Zaitchick, 2007).”

“Consequently, children are not expected to undergo any spontaneous conceptual change from teleological to non-teleological intuitions, as even adults tend to intuitively provide teleological explanations as well (e.g., Kelemen and Rosset 2009).”

“Stress, fatigue and cognitive pressure encourage reversion to naïve beliefs (Kelemen and Rosset, 2009; Shtulman and Valcarcel, 2012; Kelemen et al., 2013).”

“Both children and adults prefer to explain biological traits by appeal to functions or purpose (e.g., Kelemen, 1999; Lombrozo & Carey, 2006; Lombrozo, Kelemen, & Zaitchik, 2007), even when doing so is potentially unwarranted (e.g., Gould & Lewontin, 1979; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“We used a series of statements created by Kelemen and Rosset (2009) with levels of agreement on a 7-point Likert-type scale (e.g., Earthworms tunnel underground to aer-ate the soil; The sun makes light so that plants can photosynthe-size; a ¼ .92).”

“, 2012); 2) students’ nonscientific conceptual frameworks and ideas can persist even as they acquire scientific ideas (Kelemen and Rosset, 2009; Shtulman and Valcarcel, 2012; Evans, 2018); and 3) students’ nonscientific conceptual frameworks can both hinder and facilitate scientific reasoning (Hammer et al.”

“…in most adults in traditional societies (Guthrie, 1993; Woolley, 1997), for most educated adults in pre-Renaissance Europe (see Brainerd, 1978), as well as in both nonschooled and educated adults today (e.g., Casler and Kelemen, 2008; Goldberg and Thompson-Schill, 2009; Kelemen and Rosset, 2009).”

“More generally, we know that explanation quality judgments are based on a host of factors: simplicity (Bonawitz & Lombrozo, 2012; Lombrozo, 2007; Pacer & Lombrozo, 2017), scope (Johnson, Johnston, Toig, & Keil, 2014; Preston & Epley, 2005), explanatory power (Schupbach, 2011), and more (Zemla, Sloman, Bechlivanidis, &…”

“…provided explanations that propagated misconceptions about the causal mechanisms of evolutionary processes, such as the inaccurate idea that animals that share similar physical features are likely to share evolutionary ancestry (see also Kelemen and Rosset, 2009; Coley and Tanner, 2012, 2015).”

“We should be prepared to examine further teleological reasoning as a common, perhaps default cognitive pattern that contributes to the naturalizing error. order (Ayala 1970; Gonzalez Galli and Meinardi 2010; Kelemen and Rosset 2009).”

“This result is consistent with work that has not found effects of religious background (Heiphetz et al., 2013; Kelemen, 2004; Shariff & Norenzayan, 2007) and with work suggesting that atheists sometimes display theistic tendencies (Heiphetz et al., 2015; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“Knobe et al. (2013) suggest that, in thinking about this, we might think of the following features: developing theories, running experiments, considering opposing views, and conducting statistical analyses. The question then is whether there is some deeper thing that all of these features serve to realize. The Platoni…”

“Part of the explanation for this disconnect stems from the fact that people are inherently teleological creatures (Kelemen and Rosset 2009) who have a difficult time accepting change when it relates to the philosophical materialism offered by Darwin—with its unsettling consequences for our place in…”

“Moreover, the creative power of blind selection also conflicts with our teleological intuitions (in the sense of goal-directedness) about functional complexity, and our intuitive design stance (Kelemen and Rosset 2009; Reiss 2009).”

“…are natural teleologists, reasoning about natural phenomena in terms of purpose (Kelemen, 1999, 2004), but adults also provide more teleological explanations (even if they are scientifically unwarranted) when tasks are speeded and participants are put under time pressure (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“Behavioral studies show a tendency to endorse spontaneous conceptions in speeded response conditions designed to limit inhibi‐ tory control capacities (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009; Kelemen, Rottman, & Seston, 2013).”

“Kelemen et al. (2013; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009) interpreted the difference between adults' slow and speeded responses as an indication that intuitions present in childhood persist even in adulthood.”

“For example, some studies (eg Kelemen and Rosset 2009) show that even educated adults continue to make incorrect teleological inferences when put under time pressure, endorsing statements such as ‘Earthworms tunnel underground to aerate the soil’.”

“Some of the science-fiction ideas evidenced in the questions indicate that these participants are generating intuitive but inaccurate theories about the science of climate change (Carey, 2009), which may persist if they are not addressed (Kelemen and Rosset, 2009).”

“…in speeded judgment tasks, adults often endorse more homogeneous views of categories—similar to young children—about both familiar animal kinds (e.g., Kelemen & Rosset, 2009) and familiar social kinds (e.g., Eidson & Coley, 2014; but see also Roberts & Horii, 2019, for contrasting findings with…”

“In contrast, older children and adults are much less likely to provide teleological explanations for natural objects and organisms, although teleological explanations for biological parts persist (Coley & Tanner, 2015; Kelemen, 1999; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“In fact, our conceptual systems naturally make use of multiple modes of explanation (e.g., Keil, 1994; Kelemen, 1999; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009; Lombrozo, 2009; Lombrozo & Gwynne, 2014; Prasada & Dillingham, 2006).”

“Teleological ideas are widely documented challenges to understanding evolution (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009), and our sample of Chinese PBTs also displayed difficulty in this regard.”

“One of the fundamental difficulties in learning evolutionary biology is that human beings tend to see the world from a purpose-driven and goal-oriented perspective (Gregory 2009; Kelemen and Rosset 2009).”

“…to be sure), and it is plausible that the persistence of anti-evolutionary sentiments and the continuing appeal of the design argument is also a function of deeply rooted cognitive dispositions and hard-toshake teleological intuitions about the world (Kelemen 2004; Kelemen and Rosset 2009).”

“Kelemen and colleagues have argued that a teleological mode may be a “cognitive default” that emerges early in development and remains throughout the lifespan, re-emerging when alternative cognitive resources are taxed (Kelemen, Rottman, and Seston 2013; see also Shtulman & Lombrozo 2016).”

“…1992; Kampourakis & Zogza, 2008, 2009; Passmore & Stewart, 2002; Pedersen & Halldén, 1992; Prinou et al., 2008; Samarapungavan & Wiers, 1997; Settlage, 1994; Shtulman, 2006; Southerland et al., 2001; Tamir & Zohar, 1991) and even into postsecondary education (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“College-educated adults demonstrate a tendency toward teleological reasoning when they are uncertain or lack knowledge of an appropriate explanation and when they are under timed test conditions (Kelemen and Rosset 2009; Roberts et al.”

“…statements 31 response by intuition and to another response by careful reasoning, children tend to be drawn more toward the response that is characteristic of intuition in adults (e.g., Cimpian & Steinberg, 2014; Eidson & Coley, 2014; Epley, Morewedge, & Keysar, 2004; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“Eventually children learn to restrict this tendency, but even adults revert to PT under speeded conditions (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009) or This research was supported by NICHD Grant HD-36043 to Susan A. Gelman.”

“Moreover, adults err in the direction of accepting scientifically unwarranted teleological explanations when responding under time pressure (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009; Kelemen et al., 2013) or when cognitively impaired (Lombrozo, Kelemen, & Zaitchik, 2007), suggesting that a preference for…”

“Among school-aged children, Kelemen and Rosset (2009) observed that Bteleological intuitions explicitly link to beliefs about intentional causality in nature…with children’s ideas not straightforwardly explained by parental explanations…or ambient cultural religiosity^ (p. 138).”

“Since these explanations attribute intentions (or agency) to the diffusing molecules or to individuals in an adapting population they are teleological (Moore et al. 2002; Kelemen and Rosset 2009).”

“…we easily interpret intent and motive in all aspects of nature — in other humans we relate to socially, in other life forms, as well as in natural phenomena (storms, fi res, clouds) and even in inanimate objects (rocks, dolls, teddy bears; Kelemen and Rosset 2009; Mead and Scott 2010a, 2010b).”

“Furthermore, Kelemen and Rosset (2009) indicate that teleological thinking continues to adulthood including professional scientists (Kelemen et al., 2013).”

“For instance, facing unpredictable behaviour people tend to attribute more intentionality to agents under cognitive load 21 .”

“Similarly, Zaitchik and Solomon (2009) found that adults in the early stages of AD responded like young children on the Species Transformation task (Keil, 1989).”

“That core knowledge confusions are strongly related to paranormal beliefs, that paranormal believers make the same ontological mistakes as children do (Lindeman and Saher 2007; Kelemen and Rosset 2009 ), and that core knowledge confusions (Aarnio and Lindeman 2005; Lindeman and Aarnio 2007) and paranormal beliefs (Eps…”

“She has subsequently offered evidence of a similar tendency in adults (Kelemen and Rosset 2009), and even in scientists (Kelemen, Rottman, and Seston 2013).”

“Teleological bias was assessed by three items (e.g., Bacteria mutate to become resistant to antibiotics ) drawn from Kelemen & Rosset (2009).”

“…conception of Nature (i.e., the “Gaia” notion that earth or nature has intrinsic agency and is alive) has been found to relate to secular individuals’ intuitions that natural phenomena result from intentional design (Järnefelt et al., 2015; see also Kelemen & Rosset, 2009; Kelemen et al., 2013).”

“It emerges early in development (9, 10), persists into adulthood (2, 5), and is even evident in PhD-level scientists when responding under time pressure (11).”

“In the last study, we used speeded and non-speeded response conditions because responding very quickly increases cognitive load, decreases the possibility to engage in effortful processes, and brings out intuitive beliefs and heuristic reasoning (Evans, 2007; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”

“For instance, it has been argued that both undergraduate students and professional scientists persistently tend to endorse naive explanations when having to answer a question in a short amount of time (Kelemen and Rosset, 2009; Kelemen et al., 2013).”

“…with a growing body of evidence that scientific explanatory models do not necessarily replace prior intuitive theories but rather may co-exist (Kelemen & Rosset, 2009; Legare, Evans, Rosengren, & Harris, 2012; Legare & Gelman, 2008; Shtulman & Harrington, 2016; Shtulman & Legare, 2020;…”

“The authors also used a speeded responding method that has demonstrated higher acceptance of teleology when participants are rushed (Kelemen et al., 2013; Kelemen & Rosset, 2009).”