Interdisciplinary and Cross‐Cultural Perspectives on Explanatory Coexistence

Abstract

Natural and supernatural explanations are used to interpret the same events in a number of predictable and universal ways. Yet little is known about how variation in diverse cultural ecologies influences how people integrate natural and supernatural explanations. Here, we examine explanatory coexistence in three existentially arousing domains of human thought: illness, death, and human origins using qualitative data from interviews conducted in Tanna, Vanuatu. Vanuatu, a Melanesian archipelago, provides a cultural context ideal for examining variation in explanatory coexistence due to the lack of industrialization and the relatively recent introduction of Christianity and Western education. We argue for the integration of interdisciplinary methodologies from cognitive science and anthropology to inform research on explanatory coexistence.

Witchcraft and Biopsychosocial Causes of Mental Illness

“…As others have noted (Legare et al, 2012;Watson-Jones et al, 2015), biological and supernatural explanations can coexist in the interpretation of the same phenomena (in this case mental disorder) by the same person (Subbotsky, 2001) at the same time. This may be especially relevant for African countries where multiple explanatory frameworks exist.…”

Does the Body Survive Death? Cultural Variation in Beliefs About Life Everlasting

“…In a recent survey of national identity in Vanuatu, maintaining kastom, as well as being Christian were considered two of the most important aspects of what it means to be from Vanuatu (Clarke, Leach, & Scambary, 2013). Based on interview data conducted in Tanna (Watson-Jones, Busch, & Legare, 2015), participants in Vanuatu often adopt a literal interpretation of Christian scripture, a stance that is common in other parts of Melanesia, such as Papua New Guinea (Robbins, Schieffelin, & Vicala, 2014). For example, when asked about the origins of humans, many participants indicated, "God created everything," and "Because of Adam and Eve, God created first day, second day, and then animals" (Watson-Jones et al, 2015).…”

Diversity as Asset

“…The extent and proportion to which these mechanisms are recruited thus affect whether reasoning patterns are pushed toward cross‐cultural convergence or whether they diversify in line with culture‐specific norms (Moya, Boyd, & Henrich, ). While a coexistence of “natural” and “supernatural” explanations, especially for biological topics, is a generally observable trend, its extent still varies by domain and culture (Watson‐Jones, Busch, & Legare, ). And with regard to decision making and signaling, participants of different cultural background are similar in that they ascribe these abilities also to non‐human species, but the extent to which intentional communication and morality is ascribed is affected by culture‐specific epistemological orientations on interconnectedness.…”

“…In some cases, cultural influences may be quite explicit as when providing distinctively shaped cognitive tools for counting (Bender et al., ), linguistically defined taxonomies for partitioning the body into parts (Majid & van Staden, ), or explanatory frameworks for a psychological disorder (Luhrmann et al., ). In others, cultural influences appear to work rather indirectly, in providing an early learning environment for the acquisition of culture‐specific mental models (Watson‐Jones et al., ), by linking (potentially universal) cognitive mechanisms such as folkbiological and folksociological principles or principles of structured learning with specific belief contents (Moya et al., ; Ojalehto et al., ). And cultural influences can be fairly subtle, for instance in that culturally shared concepts and models encourage a certain perspective, orientation, or apprehension (Glaskin, ; Ojalehto et al., ).…”