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The mind of the market: Lay beliefs about the economy as a willful, goal-oriented agent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2018

Matthias Forstmann  and
Pascal Burgmer
Matthias Forstmann
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520. matthias.forstmann@yale.eduhttps://scholar.google.de/citations?user=9XhJHwQAAAAJ
Pascal Burgmer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, 50931 Köln, Germany. pascal.burgmer@uni-koeln.dehttps://scholar.google.de/citations?user=LrJnjP4AAAAJ
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Abstract

We propose an extension to Boyer & Petersen's (B&P's) framework for folk-economic beliefs, suggesting that certain evolutionarily acquired cognitive inference systems can cause modern humans to perceive abstract systems such as the economy as willful, goal-oriented agents. Such an anthropomorphized view, we argue, can have meaningful effects on people's moral evaluations of these agents, as well as on their political and economic behavior.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e169
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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