Bering and colleagues (2004, 2005) reported that the expectation that conscious
mental states cease with the onset of death (discontinuity reasoning) emerges
developmentally, and discontinuity reasoning for some states (emotions, desire,
epistemic) remains lower than for others (psychobiological, perceptual). Cormier (2005)
reported very similar findings for the context of sleep and proposed a modular
explanation of these effects (“intentional persistence”) and suggested that intentional
persistence represents an evolved adaptation designed to maintain vigilance and
behavioral preparedness while in the presence of animals of ambiguous agency status
(e.g., death, sleep, hibernation, feigned death). The current study extended this line of
research to realistic animal characters. Although results revealed patterns of discontinuity
reasoning and intentional persistence that were consistent with those of previous studies,
the prediction that intentional persistence would be more pronounced for predators was not fulfilled. A newly proposed evolutionary product, “Cooptation,” was introduced to
further explain the results. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_13430 |
| Contributors | Cormier, Christopher A. (author), Bjorklund, David F. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 107 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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