Abstract
Growing scientific fields often involve multidisciplinary investigations in which the same concepts may have different meanings. Here, we examine the case of ‘gesture’ in comparative research to depict how conceptual diversity hidden by the label ‘gesture’ can lead to consistently divergent interpretations in humans and nonhuman primates. We show that definitions of ‘gesture’ drastically differ regarding the forms of a gesture and the cognitive processes inferred from it, and that these differences emerge from implicit assumptions which have pervasive consequences on the interpretations claimed by researchers. We then demonstrate that implicit assumptions about scientific concepts can be made explicit using a finite set of operational criteria. We argue that developing theoretical definitions systematically associated with operational conceptual boundaries would allow to tackle both the challenges of maintaining high internal coherence within studies and of improving comparability and replicability of scientific results. We thus offer an easy-to-implement conceptual tool that should help ground valid comparisons between studies and serve scientific inquiry.
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Notes
Of January 23rd 2018.
References
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Acknowledgments
The core idea of this article stems from discussions with the researchers attending the seventh conference of the International Society of Gesture Study in July 2016 (Symposium title: What do we talk about when we talk about gestures? How to define gesture units in language development and evolution). We are particularly thankful to David Leavens, Adrien Meguerditchian and Katerina Fibigerova for stimulating discussions. Also, we would like to thank Stéphane Vautier and Jacques Vauclair for inspiring discussions and helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.
Funding
Sandra Molesti received a postdoctoral grant from the Foundation Fyssen and a research grant from the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB). Marie Bourjade received a research grant from the Maison des Sciences Humaines et Sociales of Toulouse (MSHS-T).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Funding was obtained by Marie Bourjade and Sandra Molesti; literature search was performed by Hélène Cochet and Marie Bourjade. Marie Bourjade and Hélène Cochet wrote the original draft. All authors contributed to critically revise the earlier versions of the manuscript.
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Bourjade, M., Cochet, H., Molesti, S. et al. Is Conceptual Diversity an Advantage for Scientific Inquiry? A Case Study on the Concept of ‘Gesture’ in Comparative Psychology. Integr. psych. behav. 54, 805–832 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-020-09516-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-020-09516-5