ABSTRACT

Laypeople prefer brain explanations of behavior (Weisberg, Keil, Goodstein, Rawson, & Gray, 2008). We suggest that this preference arises from ‘intuitive Dualism’. For the Dualist, mentalistic causation elicits a mind-body dissonance, as it suggests that the immaterial mind affects the body. Brain causation attributes behavior to the body, so it alleviates the dissonance, hence, preferred. We thus predict stronger brain preference for epistemic traits – those perceived as least material, even when no explanation is required. To test this prediction, participants diagnosed clinical conditions using matched brain- and behavioral tests. Experiments 1-2 showed that epistemic traits elicited stronger preference for brain tests. Experiment 3 confirmed that epistemic traits are perceived as immaterial. Experiment 4 showed that, the less material the trait seems, the stronger the surprise (possibly, dissonance) and brain preference. Results offer new insights into public perception of science, the role of intuitive Dualism, and the seductive allure of neuroscience.

摘要

外行更喜欢大脑对行为的解释（Weisberg、Keil、Goodstein、Rawson 和 Gray，2008 年）。我们认为这种偏好源于“直觉二元论”。对于二元论者来说，精神上的因果关系会引发身心失调，因为它表明非物质的精神会影响身体。大脑因果关系将行为归因于身体，因此它减轻了失调，因此是首选。因此，我们预测大脑更偏爱认知特征——那些被认为是最不重要的，即使不需要解释。为了测试这一预测，参与者使用匹配的大脑和行为测试来诊断临床状况。实验 1-2 表明认知特征引起了对大脑测试的更强偏好。实验 3 证实认知特征被认为是非物质的。实验 4 表明，特征似乎越不重要，惊喜（可能，不和谐）和大脑偏好就越强。结果为公众对科学的认知、直觉二元论的作用以及神经科学的诱人魅力提供了新的见解。