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Dispositional Knowing from an Ecological Perspective

University of Connecticut

Stephen J. Misovich

University of Connecticut

A direct perception analysis of dispositional knozwng, based on an ecological approach that is grounded in the use of activity to get mind into the world, is presented. It is proposed that social dispositions such as dominance or cooperativeness can be directly perceived, as opposed to inferred, if they are embodied in relational activities that activate the disposition. The choice of the particular activity as a way of turning dispositions into perceivable social affordances is related to an evolutionarily oriented analysis of dispositions as evolved adaptive solutions for solving basic social problems such as mate selection and group formation. Objections to the possibility of direct perception that are based on claims of insufficient or deceptive information are countered by the introduction of event-activity tests, modeled after perturbation and bifurcation processes in dynamic systems formulations. Comparisons are then made between the ecological claims of realism, mutualism, and activity and aspects of current constructive models of dispositional knowing, such as Wright and Mischel's conditional hedge model and Trope's Bayesian inference approach.

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