Esprits atypiques: les sciences cognitives de la différence et des potentialités

Cognitio 2015

Colloque jeunes chercheuses et chercheurs en sciences cognitives

Montréal, 8, 9, et 10 juin 2015

Narratives as generative models: Implications for an integrative model of personality

Maxwell Ramstead & Nabil Bouizegarène.

Our presentation aims to explore the intersections of “action-oriented predictive processing” (AOPP) approaches in cognitive neuroscience and “integrative personality psychology.”

AOPP approaches employ common computational principles to model cortical processing mechanisms. These models share a view of the brain as a “Helmholtz machine,” as a system whose main information-processing activity consists in predicting future events and comparing these predictions to current events. This “predictive processing” allows the agent to interpret itself and the world, as well as to act intelligently and adaptively. Cortical processes are modeled as bi-directional information-processing cascades, where top-down predictions of future events by “generative models,” conveyed through backwards connections, are continuously updated through (notably Bayesian forms of) inference, to “explain away” bottom-up “prediction error” signals. The latter signals, propagated through forward connections, convey discrepancies between predicted state and input, allowing for further prediction and action.

An emerging trend in personality psychology is the development of integrative frameworks to understand the whole person at multiple levels. McAdams’ (2006) integrative model posits five basic explanatory levels relevant to account for personality and mental well-being: (i) evolution and species-typical universals; (ii) stable dispositional traits; (iii) characteristic motivational, social-cognitive, and developmental adaptations to the environment; (iv) integrative life stories or personal narratives conspiring to produce meaning and identity; and (v) the influence that culture exerts on personality. In this approach, narrative processing is a crucial operating principle of personality that occupies a central role in an individual’s sense of his or her coherence and well-being.

Our presentation will build on the proposal by Hirsh, Mar & Peterson (2013), who suggest to understand personal narratives as the “highest” level of cognitive integration in the generative models employed by cortical processing. We agree with their equation between certain forms of predictive processing and narrative. However, we will propose a heterarchical, rather than hierarchical, view of narratives, now understood as structuring the generative model on many different levels, rather than solely at the most integrative one.

References

Clark, A. (2013). Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Brain and Behavioral Sciences 36, 181–253.

Block, J. (2002). Personality as an Affect-Processing System: Toward an Integrative Theory. New York: Psychology Press.

Epstein, S. (1991). Cognitive-experiential self-theory: An integrative theory of personality. In R. C. Curtis (Ed.), The relational self: Theoretical convergences in psychoanalysis and social psychology, pp. 111-137. New York: Guilford.

Friston, K. J. (2010). The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory? Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(2), 127–138.

Hirsh, J. B., Mar, R. A. & Peterson, J. B. (2013). Personal narratives as the highest level of cognitive integration. Brain and Behavioral Sciences 36, 216–217.

Hohwy, J. (2007). Functional integration and the mind. Synthese 159(3), 315–28.

Markon, K. E., Krueger, R. F., & Watson, D. (2005). Delineating the structure of normal and abnormal personality: an integrative hierarchical approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88(1), 139–157.

McAdams, D. P., & Pals, J. L. (2006). A new Big Five: fundamental principles for an integrative science of personality. American Psychologist 61(3), 204–217.