Paper short abstract:

In exploring cultural variability in causal cognition, the research group “Cultural Constitution of Causal Cognition” presents conceptual and methodological aspects to empirically explore the topic. In doing so, the talk will elaborate the gains of ethnography for the wider cognitive sciences.

Paper long abstract:

The topics of interest in the sub-disciplines of cognitive sciences differ fundamentally. While cognitive psychology has been addressing causal cognition in various ways, anthropology often conveys causal cognition more implicitly, while addressing other topics at hand.

In integrating conceptual and methodological differences in the comparative study of causal cognition the ZiF-Research Group "Cultural Constitution of Causal Cognition" addresses a central question in the field of cognitive anthropology. With differing aims and standards of empirical work, how can advantages of ethnography and particularly participant observation be communicated and also made accessible to non-anthropological counterparts?

Ethnographic fieldwork is centered on the appreciation and exploration of a chosen topic - causal cognition - and the wider context it is found in. This approach presupposes openness towards new and unexpected connections that can in totality not be anticipated in lab-based theorising before "the empirical phase" of data collection.

One critical juncture here may be the communication between ethnographer/investigator and informants/participants. It involves the negotiation of shared understandings of meanings between the ethnographer and the informants. Similar negotiations take place in a psychology lab, between the experimenter and the participant. While the ethnographer may be keen on making these negotiations part of (causal) cognition's analysis, the cognitive-science experimenter is often more reserved about explicating her impressions due to differing standards in the scientific communities. It is this process of interpretation that becomes central to a shared communication, both in fieldwork and to fully comprehend (cognitive) processes in a lab situation.