Does Cognitive Psychology Presume Rationalism and Realism?
Most of the participants in the realist/relativist debate seem to assume cognitive studies will reproduce a kind of Feynman view of the scientist as rational seeker after objective truth. But in fact, one can study the cognitive processes of the Azande as easily as those of scientists. For example, Edwin Hutchins has done a superb study of the cognitive processes involved in traditional Micronesian navigation (Hutchins, 1983). A small group of expert navigators from the Central Caroline Islands routinely embark on ocean voyages of several days out of sight of land; they belong to a pre-literate culture and use none of the Western technology of navigation, not even a compass. Their navigation begins from the assumption that the boat is stationary and islands gradually move by it; the passage of reference islands is marked by the position of the stars. In most cases, these reference islands are imaginary constructs. The Micronesian navigator has a very different mental model from his mod
