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What makes an explanation beautiful? And why does it matter?

Tania Lombrozo Department of Psychology

UC Berkeley

Richard Thaler

Alison Gopnik

Mazharin Banaji

Richard Dawkins

Eric Kandel

Alan Alda

Scott Atran

Gerd Gigerenzer

Daniel Dennett

Lisa Randall

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Explanatory beauty

Simplicity –  “simplicity” 50+ –  “simple” 100+

Scope –  “…the hallmark of a

deep explanation is that it answers more than you ask.” (Max Tegmark)

Pickiness is universal “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.” (Newton, 1687)

"The aim of scientific explanation throughout the ages has been unification, i.e., the comprehending of a maximum of facts and regularities in terms of a minimum of theoretical concepts and assumptions" (Feigl, 1970).

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Three mysteries of explanation

1.  Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?

2.  Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?

3.  Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?

We seek explanations about what we’ve already observed

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Three mysteries of explanation

1.  Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?

2.  Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?

3.  Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?

Seeking explanations fosters learning

“… the hypotheses we seek in explanation of past observations serve again in the prediction of future ones. Curiosity thus has survival value, despite having killed a cat.” (Quine & Ullian, The Web of Belief, 1970)

W.V.O. Quine

“…explanation is to theory formation as orgasm is to reproduction — the phenomenological mark of

the fulfillment of an evolutionarily determined drive.” (Gopnik, 2000)

Alison Gopnik

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“Learning by thinking”

•  The self-explanation effect: – Students who explain – even to themselves –

typically learn material more effectively and generalize more readily to novel contexts.

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

F6

F13 F12

F7

F10 F14

F8

F9

F11

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

Three mysteries of explanation

1.  Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?

2.  Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?

3.  Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?

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Thought experiments

A demonstration

75% Body Pattern 100% Foot Pattern

Joseph Williams

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Design overview

Introduction

Explain    vs    

Control  Study

Categorization Glorp  or    

Drent?  

Explicit report Differences?  

Exp 1: Explain vs. Describe Exp 2: Explain vs. Think Aloud Exp 3: Explain vs. Free Study

100% Foot Pattern 75% Body Pattern Other

Explanation promotes discovery of broad patterns

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Describe Think Aloud Free Study

Control

Explain

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ortio

n D

isco

verin

g 10

0% P

atte

rn

N = 150 N = 240 N = 120

Williams & Lombrozo (2010), Cognitive Science

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What about young kids?

Blicket Detector

Caren Walker

Joseph Williams

Alison Gopnik

Blicket Detector

Training: What makes it go?

Green+ & Yellow- 100% pattern Red+ & White- 75% pattern

Explain: “Why did this one make my machine play music?”

Control: “What happened to my machine when I put this one on?”

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Testing: Pick a rule

Green+ & Yellow- 100% pattern Red+ & White- 75% pattern

GREEN versus RED. “Which one will make my machine turn on?”

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Explanation favors broader rules …even in preschool-aged children

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porti

on o

f cho

ices

fa

vorin

g 10

0% p

atte

rn

Control .

Walker, Williams, Lombrozo, & Gopnik (2012)

Explain.

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“Learning by thinking”

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

F6

F13 F12

F7

F10 F14

F8

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F11

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

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F13 F12

F7

F10 F14

F8

F9

F11

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

F6

F13 F12

F7

F10 F14

F8

F9

F11 <

Three mysteries of explanation

1.  Pickiness. Why do we have systematic preferences for some explanations over others? In particular, why do we value simplicity and scope?

2.  Posthoc. Why do we bother explaining at all, especially what we’ve already observed?

3.  Productive. How can explanations support learning, even in the absence of new information?

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Explanation

These mysteries are related

Simplicity Scope

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Tania Lombrozo Department of Psychology

UC Berkeley cognition.berkeley.edu