Elsevier

New Ideas in Psychology

Volume 30, Issue 2, August 2012, Pages 179-189
New Ideas in Psychology

Conceptual agreement theory

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2011.09.001Get rights and content

Abstract

For some time now, psychological inquiry on reference has assumed that reference is achieved through causal links between words and entities (i.e., direct reference). In this view, meaning is not relevant for reference or co-reference. We argue that this view may be germane to concrete objects, but not to diffuse objects (that lack clear spatio-temporal limits, thus preventing the use of direct reference in interactions). Here, we propose that meaning is the relevant dimension when referring to diffuse entities, and introduce Conceptual Agreement Theory (CAT). CAT is a mathematized theory of meaning that specifies the conditions under which two individuals (or one individual at two points in time) will infer they share a diffuse referent. We present the theory, and use stereotype stability and public opinion as case studies to illustrate the theory’s use and scope.

Introduction

When using a concept to refer to something (e.g., please pass the jelly), we want the addressee to select the correct referent, though meaning and lexical entry may not completely coincide (e.g., understand the utterance as a request for the marmalade). Consistent with Putnam’s (1973) view that meaning and reference are separate, much research now shows that people use direct reference (e.g., pointing, gazing), rather than meaning, to develop agreement in situations like these. However, what happens when people talk about a diffuse referent? By this, we mean reference to process-like entities that lack well defined spatio-temporal limits and that generate intersubjective and even intrasubjective differences in the way they are construed (e.g., some abstract entities, social processes and institutions, emotional states, self identity). How can people agree, if they cannot point to a diffuse referent? The view we develop here is that agreeing about diffuse referents is all about meaning. We assume that when people agree about a diffuse something, the question people try to answer is how does someone else understand a diffuse something, which would explain her acting in such and such a way or saying such and such a thing.

Obviously, given our emphasis in meaning, we need to offer a theory of it. The reader will find it in a later section. In the next section, we develop in greater detail the idea of diffuse referents and their relation to reference in general.

Section snippets

Diffuse referents

For almost 40 years now, many philosophers have agreed that problems of meaning and problems of reference are separate. Following Quine’s (1951) point that meaning does not have a one to one correspondence to sense-data, and extending on views advanced by Kripke, 1980, Putnam, 1973 developed a causal theory of reference. In this theory, meaning cannot solve the problem of reference, which is achieved via causal relations between an object and the act of asserting it. Names and natural kinds, in

Property frequency distributions

Concepts can be defined by property frequency distributions. Perhaps the simplest task designed to study concepts is the property generation task3 (e.g., Hampton, 1979, Rosch and Mervis, 1975, Rosch et al., 1976, Exp. 1). In this task, people are required to list all

Conceptual formulation

As discussed earlier, there are several differences between referring to concrete objects versus diffuse entities. The following difference is the most important for us here. Of course, when utterances refer to concrete objects, reality will act as a kind of judge of whether agreement was achieved or not. However, when the referent is diffuse, the recourse to direct reference is either impractical or straightforwardly not possible (though people may operate as if it were).

CAT assumes that when

Applying CAT to thinking about reference to diffuse objects

To recapitulate, CAT is a theory about the conditions in which O experiences agreement with A in reference to a diffuse (and sometimes unstated) entity defined by a conceptualization. By manipulating different variables in the theory’s equations, CAT is able to make predictions and give novel accounts of apparently disparate phenomena. As an illustration of this, we will briefly discuss two different phenomena and how CAT handles them. Of course, much of this discussion is at this point

Conclusion

CAT is a theory about agreement, and the relevance of agreement for our social life is emphasized by many social philosophers such as Habermas (1989) and Searle (1995). The latter, for example, points out that agreement is a condition of possibility for the whole of social life, and that social objects like money, marriage and government are not independent from human agreement. In fact, there is a wide range of situations where agreement about diffuse entities is necessary for human action,

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