题 目：On Language and Meaning: An Experimental Analysis of Linguistic Relativity

报告人：乔治·梅森大学Daniel Houser教授经济科学跨学科中心（ICES）主任

报告时间：2018年5月21日(周一)下午3:30

地点：管理楼管阶二

报告摘要：

The linguistic relativity hypothesis (also referred to as the Whorfianist hypothesis) suggests that the structure of one’s language can influence one’s perceptions and interpretations of the environment. Although provocative, rigorous empirical evidence on this hypothesis has been elusive. An important reason is that previous empirical studies of linguistic relativity rely on naturally occurring languages, whose speakers generally differ systematically in ways that correlate with grammar differences. A second reason is that the mechanism underlying linguistic relativity has not yet been provided, leaving it unclear how to develop appropriate tests. Here we provide both theory and evidence from a controlled laboratory experiment on linguistic relativity. We show that linguistic relativity can emerge because language is a coordination device: language requires that people coordinate on the connection between words and meaning (Ashby, 1960; Clarke, 1960; Williamson, 1960). We test our theory using a laboratory game during which grammars emerge endogenously (Selten and Warglien, 2007; Hong et al, 2017). We show, first, that one can control the nature of the emergent grammar by varying the incentives of the environment. Then, consistent with our theory, we show that an object expected to have different interpretations across grammars in fact does so and in the way theory predicts. Our theory and laboratory evidence offer evidence on when linguistic relativity can emerge, and why it might not. Our insights promise to be a crucial step in improving shared understanding across human societies.

报告人简介：

Daniel Houser教授是美国乔治•梅森大学经济系系主任，同时也是乔治•梅森大学经济科学跨学科中心（ICES）的主任。与实验经济学的鼻祖、2002年经济学诺贝尔奖得主Vernon Smith合作紧密。1989年在威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校获得经济学和数学双学士学位，1998年在明尼苏达大学获得经济学博士学位。主要研究领域有：实验经济方法、神经经济学、政治经济学；当前在Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science、Department of Economics、Neuroscience Program、Center for Study of Neuroeconomics、School of Computational Sciences等学术机构任职；担任Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology and Economics、Frontiers in Neuroscience、Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization等杂志的主编、副主编，以及Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, National Science Foundation等二十多个杂志的审稿人；获得过多项国家科学基金会的支持，在PANS, American Economic Review, European Economic Review, Experimental Economics, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty ,European Journal of Political Economy等主流期刊上发表多篇论文。

2018.5 Schedule for Professor Daniel Houser’s Visiting to CSU

欢迎各位老师及相关研究团队参加！

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