title: Seeing Cooperation or Competition: Ecological Interactions in Cultural Perspectives.
abstract: Do cultural models facilitate particular ways of perceiving interactions in nature? We explore variability in folkecological principles of reasoning about interspecies interactions (specifically, competitive or cooperative). In two studies, Indigenous Panamanian Ngöbe and U.S. participants interpreted an illustrated, wordless nonfiction book about the hunting relationship between a coyote and badger. Across both studies, the majority of Ngöbe interpreted the hunting relationship as cooperative and the majority of U.S. participants as competitive. Study 2 showed that this pattern may reflect different beliefs about, and perhaps different awareness of, plausible interspecies interactions. Further probes suggest that these models of ecological interaction correlate with recognition of social agency (e.g., communication, morality) in nonhuman animals. We interpret our results in terms of cultural models of nature and nonhuman agency.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Northwestern University.
authors.forename: Bethany L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Ojalehto
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Northwestern University.
authors.forename: Douglas L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Medin
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Northwestern University.
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.affiliation: Ngöbe Culture and Language Education Program, Bocas del Toro, Panama.
authors.forename: Salino G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Ngöbe Culture and Language Education Program, Bocas del Toro, Panama.
authors.forename: Estefano G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Kays
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003142:Communication; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003469:Culture; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010176:Panama; D014481:United States
keywords: Culture; Folkecology; Folkpsychology; Indigenous ecological knowledge; Nonhuman agency concepts