Sapiens Animalis. La pensée spécifie-t-elle l’humain ?

Les fonctions cognitives supérieures sont souvent considérées comme l’apanage de l’humain. Dans cet article, nous soutenons que les recherches en éthologie et en neurosciences nous montrent que l’on ne peut dénier aux animaux non humains ni la possession de représentations mentales, ni celle d’une intentionnalité et donc d’une agentivité. Nous montrons également que même si l’on ne peut avoir une définition rigoureuse de la conscience, les recherches en neuroscience et en éthologie nous permettent cependant de conclure d’ores et déjà que les animaux non humains sont dotés des structures cérébrales plausiblement associées à la conscience et que très probablement, la différence entre conscience animale et humaine est une différence de degré plutôt que de nature.Are some cognitive functions properly humans? In this article I argue that if we combine our best theories in ethology and in neuroscience, we can see that non-human animals have mental representations, exhibit intentionality and can plan an action with intermediary steps. Besides, even though neither scientists nor philosophers can say they have rigorously defined consciousness, our best theories can’t rule out its presence in non-human animals. We thus conclude that the difference between human and non-human cognition is, at best, a difference of degree rather than of natur

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (vol 13, 517, 2022) : National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9)

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic

Author Correction: National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Correction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9, published online 26 January 2022

L'interface Langage/Pensée

The aim of this dissertation is to say how the linguistic system of our mind interacts with its conceptual system. I argue for the thesis that the linguistic system embodies a set of rules applying directly to semantically loaded mental representations. I first consider proposals by the formalists of the 20th century (Frege, Russell), formal semanticists (Montague, Lewis) and Grice before developing my own account. I draw upon Chomsky's generative linguistics to give a unified theory of the language/thought interface. After showing that this theory could account for neuropsychological data concerning language processing, I apply it to the problem of the embedded implicatures and say how it could be used in Natural Language Processing, to clarify the Language of Thought Hypothesis and to study the semantics/pragmatics interface.Le but de cette thèse est de caractériser ce qui se passe à la jonction entre le système linguistique et le système conceptuel de notre esprit. Nous défendons la thèse selon laquelle le système linguistique de notre esprit encode des règles permettant de manipuler directement des représentations mentales dotées d'un contenu sémantique. Après avoir examiné les propositions des formalistes du début du XXe siècle (Frege, Russell), des sémanticiens formels (Montague, Lewis) et de la pragmatique de Grice, nous développons notre propre théorie. Nous nous servons des travaux de Chomsky pour développer une théorie unifiée de l'interface langage/pensée dont nous montrons qu'elle rend compte des données neuropsychologiques concernant le traitement linguistique. Nous testons alors notre théorie en l'appliquant au problème des implicatures enchâssées et terminons en signalant ses applications possibles en TALN, à la clarification de l'hypothèse du langage de la pensée et à la distinction sémantique/pragmatique

L'interface Langage/Pensée

Le but de cette thèse est de caractériser ce qui se passe à la jonction entre le système linguistique et le système conceptuel de notre esprit. Nous défendons la thèse selon laquelle le système linguistique de notre esprit encode des règles permettant de manipuler directement des représentations mentales dotées d un contenu sémantique. Après avoir examiné les propositions des formalistes du début du XXe siècle (Frege, Russell), des sémanticiens formels (Montague, Lewis) et de la pragmatique de Grice, nous développons notre propre théorie. Nous nous servons des travaux de Chomsky pour développer une théorie unifiée de l interface langage/pensée dont nous montrons qu elle rend compte des données neuropsychologiques concernant le traitement linguistique. Nous testons alors notre théorie en l appliquant au problème des implicatures enchâssées et terminons en signalant ses applications possibles en TALN, à la clarification de l hypothèse du langage de la pensée et à la distinction sémantique/pragmatique.The aim of this dissertation is to say how the linguistic system of our mind interacts with its conceptual system. I argue for the thesis that the linguistic system embodies a set of rules applying directly to semantically loaded mental representations. I first consider proposals by the formalists of the 20th century (Frege, Russell), formal semanticists (Montague, Lewis) and Grice before developing my own account. I draw upon Chomsky s generative linguistics to give a unified theory of the language/thought interface. After showing that this theory could account for neuropsychological data concerning language processing, I apply it to the problem of the embedded implicatures and say how it could be used in Natural Language Processing (NLP), to clarify the Language of Thought Hypothesis and to study the semantics/pragmatics interface.PARIS3-BU (751052102) / SudocSudocFranceF