entity

Ngöbe indigenous community

Also known as: Ngöbe indigenous community, Ngöbe

Facts (10)

Sources

The cross-cultural study of mind and behaviour: a word of caution link.springer.com Springer Apr 8, 2022 10 facts

claimThe Ngöbe people attribute agency to inanimate entities such as plants, oceans, and heavenly bodies, and believe communication can be entertained with them.

referencePsychologists Bethany Ojalehto and Douglas Medin and anthropologist Rebecca Seligman conducted comparative research on agency attribution between US college students and the Ngöbe indigenous community of Panama.

perspectiveThe author argues that the Ngöbe people are mistaken in attributing agency to inanimate entities like plants, oceans, and heavenly bodies, comparing this error to historical Western misconceptions such as the belief that the sun revolves around the earth or that acquired characteristics are inheritable.

quoteOjalehto et al. (2020: 19) state: 'The essential difference between Ngöbe and US stances on agency lies in their conceptual prototypes (using humans rather than ecological actors as the reference point for agency) and grounding principles (psychology or communication) rather than a difference in anthropomorphism, counterintuitive-ness, scientific compatibility, or supernaturalism.'

claimOjalehto and her collaborators argue that the Ngöbe people's beliefs regarding souls in animals or plants do not originate from misguided anthropomorphism, but from an ecocentric viewpoint.

claimThe Ngöbe indigenous community is more likely to attribute agency to plants and abiotic entities than US college students, while US college students are more likely to attribute agency to complex artifacts like computers.

claimThe Ngöbe indigenous community of Panama attributes agency based on communicative capacity, a framework labeled 'folk-communication' by researchers Bethany Ojalehto, Douglas Medin, and Rebecca Seligman.

accountNgöbe informants explain agency attributions by citing observable interactions, such as interpreting plants as thinking because they grow toward sunlight or the sun communicating with water.

claimThe Ngöbe indigenous community is more likely to perceive entities like the sun and the ocean as 'alive' compared to US college students, though this belief is not held unanimously within the Ngöbe community.

claimOjalehto and her collaborators claim that the Ngöbe way of relating to the world may align more closely with recent scientific discoveries that characterize plant behavior as 'agential' than Western folk models do.