TY - JOUR
T1 - Explanatory models of illness
T2 - A study of within-culture variation
AU - Lynch, Elizabeth
AU - Medin, Douglas
N1 - Funding Information:
The work in this paper would not have been possible without the generosity of the research participants, all of whom volunteered their time and wisdom. Gratitude is also due to Lance Rips, Scott Atran, Michael Bailey, the Medin lab, Joan Linsenmeier, Jonathan Cohen and four anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts. Work in this grant was supported by National Science Foundation Grant #998326 to Douglas Medin.
PY - 2006/12
Y1 - 2006/12
N2 - The current studies explore causal models of heart attack and depression generated from American healers whom use distinct explanatory frameworks. Causal chains leading to two illnesses, heart attack and depression, were elicited from participant groups: registered nurses (RNs), energy healers, RN energy healers, and undergraduates. The domain-specificity hypothesis predicted that psycho-social and physical causes would not interact in illness models. Across illnesses, RNs and undergraduates rarely cited interactions between mental and physical causes, consistent with the domain specificity hypothesis. In contrast, energy healers frequently mentioned interactions. Study 2 showed that these differences were not due to salience. These results suggest that domain-specificity theory is supported for groups with extensive exposure to western medicine but does not explain energy models of illness. Implications for other cultural models of illness are discussed.
AB - The current studies explore causal models of heart attack and depression generated from American healers whom use distinct explanatory frameworks. Causal chains leading to two illnesses, heart attack and depression, were elicited from participant groups: registered nurses (RNs), energy healers, RN energy healers, and undergraduates. The domain-specificity hypothesis predicted that psycho-social and physical causes would not interact in illness models. Across illnesses, RNs and undergraduates rarely cited interactions between mental and physical causes, consistent with the domain specificity hypothesis. In contrast, energy healers frequently mentioned interactions. Study 2 showed that these differences were not due to salience. These results suggest that domain-specificity theory is supported for groups with extensive exposure to western medicine but does not explain energy models of illness. Implications for other cultural models of illness are discussed.
KW - Causal reasoning
KW - Cultural differences
KW - Illness causal beliefs
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2006.02.001
DO - 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2006.02.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 16624275
AN - SCOPUS:33750209745
SN - 0010-0285
VL - 53
SP - 285
EP - 309
JO - Cognitive Psychology
JF - Cognitive Psychology
IS - 4
ER -