Studies in the mentality of literates: 2. Conceptual structure, cognitive inhibition and verbal regulation of behavior
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Studies in the mentality of literates: 2. Conceptual structure, cognitive inhibition and verbal regulation of behavior Aaro Toomela 1 & Delma Barros Filho 2 & Ana Cecília S. Bastos 3 & Antonio Marcos Chaves 3 & Marilena Ristum 3 & Sara Chaves 4 & Soraya Jesus Salomão 1 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract We studied cognitive inhibitory processes and verbal regulation of behavior of individuals with different levels of education (including adult illiterates) in Brazil (N = 136) and in Estonia (N = 560) with person-oriented methods of data analysis. Our aim was to discover whether dominant type of word meaning structure (WMS) can define the “Great Divide”, the single breaking point that universally defines certain direction of subsequent to it cultural evolution. We found that both cognitive inhibition of irrelevant for the task at hand information or actions as well as correct activation of relevant information or actions is significantly more common in individuals who rely predominantly on logical concepts in their thinking. The higher level of education was also associated with more efficient cognitive inhibition and activation. The patterns of test performance also suggest that there can be a qualitative difference in the efficiency of cognitive inhibition-activation processes between everyday conceptual and logical conceptual thinkers. The former group of individuals may achieve much higher performance levels than any individual in the former group. We also discuss cognitive similarities and differences between adults with low or no formal education on the one hand and children and educated adults with brain damage on the other. The results are in agreement with the theory of unilineal hierarchic cultural evolution. Individual psychic development and cultural evolution can be both understood in terms of the WMS development. Keywords Great Divide . word meaning structure . unilineal evolution . verbalregulation of
behavior . cognitive inhibition . level of education . illiteracy
* Aaro Toomela [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Integr Psych Behav
This paper is a second in a series of empirical papers dedicated to the question whether “Great Divide” (Goody 1977), the single breaking point that would universally define certain specific direction in subsequent to it cultural evolution can be defined in terms of the word meaning structure (WMS) development. Theoretical background of the whole study is provided elsewhere (Toomela 2020). This study focused on the differences between everyday and logical conceptual thought. Toomela suggested in the theoretical introduction that everyday conceptual thought, compared to logical conceptual thought, must be: (a) less coherent, more fragmented and contradictory; (b) occasionally less efficient for solving problems and occasionally insufficient to solve a problem at all; and (c) relying on everyday knowledge that can be directly constructed on the basis of sensory experiences
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