A Formal Theory of Commonsense Psychology: How People Think People Think

584 Pages·2017·5.918 MB·English

by  Andrew S. Gordon, Jerry R. Hobbs

A Formal Theory of Commonsense Psychology
CommonsensePsychologyreferstotheimplicittheoriesthatwealluseto
makesenseofpeople’sbehaviorintermsoftheirbeliefs,goals,plans,and
emotions.Thesearealsothetheoriesweemploywhenweanthropomor-
phize complex machines and computers as if they had humanlike men-
tal lives.In order to cooperate and communicate successfully with peo-
ple,thesetheorieswillneedtoberepresentedexplicitlyinfutureartificial
intelligencesystems.
This book provides a large-scale logical formalization of common-
sense psychology in support of humanlike artificial intelligence. It uses
formallogictoencodethedeeplexicalsemanticsofthefullbreadthofpsy-
chologicalwordsandphrases,providing1,400axiomsoffirst-orderlogic
organizedinto29commonsensepsychologytheoriesand16background
theories.Thisin-depthexplorationofhumancommonsensereasoningfor
artificial intelligence researchers,linguists,and cognitive and social psy-
chologists will serve as a foundation for the development of humanlike
artificialintelligence.
AndrewS.GordonisResearchAssociateProfessorofComputerScience
and Director of Interactive Narrative Research at the Institute for Cre-
ativeTechnologiesattheUniversityofSouthernCalifornia.Hisresearch
advancestechnologiesforautomaticallyanalyzingandgeneratingnarra-
tive interpretations of experiences. A central aim of his research is the
large-scaleformalizationofcommonsenseknowledge,andreasoningwith
theseformalizationsusinglogicalabduction.Heistheauthorofthe2004
book,StrategyRepresentation:AnAnalysisofPlanningKnowledge.
JerryR.HobbsisChiefScientistforNaturalLanguageProcessingatthe
InformationSciencesInstituteandaresearchprofessorattheUniversity
of Southern California.He has numerous publications in computational
linguistics, artificial intelligence, knowledge representation, information
extraction,and discourse analysis.He was an editor of the book Formal
Theories of the Commonsense World and author of Literature and Cog-
nition.He is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artifi-
cialIntelligence,isapastpresidentoftheAssociationforComputational
Linguistics,andisarecipientofthatorganization’sLifetimeAchievement
Award.
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ToCynthiaandMargaret
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A FORMAL THEORY OF
COMMONSENSE
PSYCHOLOGY
How People Think People Think
ANDREW S. GORDON
UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
JERRY R. HOBBS
UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
09:37:07, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
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©AndrewS.GordonandJerryR.Hobbs2017
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
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Firstpublished2017
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabySheridanBooks,Inc.
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Gordon,AndrewS.,author.|Hobbs,JerryR.,author.
Title:Aformaltheoryofcommonsensepsychology:howpeoplethinkpeoplethink/
AndrewS.Gordon,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia,JerryR.Hobbs,Universityof
SouthernCalifornia.
Description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,2017.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2017020865|ISBN9781107151000(alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:Psychology.|Commonsense.|Reasoning.
Classification:LCCBF121.G6452017|DDC150–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017020865
ISBN978-1-107-15100-0Hardback
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Contents
Part I Commonsense Psychology
1 Commonsense Psychology and Psychology page3
1.1 ExplainingtheBehaviorofTriangles 3
1.2 Heider’sCommonsensePsychology 5
1.3 TheoryofMind 7
1.4 HistoricalChangeinCommonsensePsychology 10
1.5 ThePurposeofPsychologyasaScience 13
1.6 EliminativeMaterialism 15
2 Commonsense Psychology and Computers 17
2.1 AnthropomorphismIsEasyandFun 17
2.2 AnthropomorphicComputing 18
2.3 AlanTuringandtheDesktopBarrier 20
2.4 CopingwithDiscordantComputers 22
2.5 TheValueofaGoodModel(toaComputer) 24
2.6 ComputationalModelingofCognitiveProcesses 26
2.7 InferentialTheoriesinArtificialIntelligence 28
2.8 ModelsintheRightDirection 29
2.9 JanSmedslund’sPsychologic 31
3 Formalizing Commonsense Psychology 36
3.1 CoverageandCompetency 36
3.2 SuccessiveFormalization 38
3.3 StrategyRepresentation 39
3.4 PsychologicalExpressions 47
3.5 DraftFormalizations 53
3.6 FinalFormalizations 54
3.7 IntermediateApplications 56
3.8 Repeatability 58
v
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vi Contents
4 Commonsense Psychology and Language 60
4.1 KnowledgeManagement 61
4.2 SimilarityComparisons 62
4.3 Memory 63
4.4 Envisioning 64
4.5 Explanation 65
4.6 ManagingExpectations 66
4.7 Other-AgentReasoning 67
4.8 Goals 67
4.9 GoalThemes 68
4.10 ThreatsandThreatDetection 68
4.11 Plans 69
4.12 GoalManagement 71
4.13 ExecutionEnvisionment 71
4.14 CausesofFailure 72
4.15 PlanElements 72
4.16 PlanningModalities 73
4.17 PlanningGoals 74
4.18 PlanConstruction 75
4.19 PlanAdaptation 75
4.20 Design 76
4.21 Decisions 77
4.22 Scheduling 78
4.23 Monitoring 79
4.24 ExecutionModalities 79
4.25 ExecutionControl 80
4.26 RepetitiveExecution 82
4.27 Mind–BodyInteraction 82
4.28 ObservationofPlanExecutions 83
4.29 Emotions 84
Part II Background Theories
Introduction 91
5 Eventualities and Their Structure 93
5.1 EventualitiesandTheirIndividuation 93
5.2 TheStructureofEventualities 95
5.3 Generation 98
6 Traditional Set Theory 100
7 Substitution,Typical Elements,and Instances 105
7.1 Substitution 105
7.2 TypicalElements 106
7.3 HandlingSomeThornyIssues 108
7.4 FunctionalDependencies 111
7.5 Instances 113
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Contents vii
8 Logic Reified 116
8.1 Conjunction 116
8.2 Negation 117
8.3 DisjunctionandImplication 118
9 Functions and Sequences 121
9.1 PairsandFunctions 121
9.2 Sequences 123
10 Composite Entities 126
10.1 Definitions 126
10.2 SomeSimpleExamples 129
10.3 TheFigure–GroundRelation 130
10.4 PatternsandTheirInstances 132
11 Defeasibility 135
12 Scales 139
12.1 Basics 139
12.2 Scale-to-ScaleFunctions 143
12.3 ConstructingScales 143
12.4 QualitativeStructureonScales 145
13 Arithmetic 150
13.1 Integers 150
13.2 RationalNumbers 153
13.3 MeasuresandProportions 154
13.4 Half-OrdersofMagnitude 156
14 Change of State 158
14.1 ThechangePredicate 158
14.2 PredicatesDerivedfromchange 159
15 Causality 163
15.1 CausalComplexesandthePredicatecause 163
15.2 AgentsandAgenthood 165
15.3 OtherCausalPredicates 168
15.4 Ability 170
15.5 Executability 171
15.6 Difficulty 173
16 Time 177
16.1 TheTopologyofTime:Instants,Intervals,and
TemporalSequences 177
16.2 RelatingEventualitiesandTime 181
16.3 TemporalOrderingandIntervalRelations 183
16.4 Durations 187
16.5 Periodicity 190
16.6 RatesandFrequency 191
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viii Contents
17 Event Structure 196
17.1 EventsandSubevents 196
17.2 EventSequencesandConditionals 197
17.3 Iterations 199
18 Space 202
18.1 SpaceandSpatialAnalogies 202
18.2 SpatialSystemsandDistance 203
18.3 Location 205
19 Persons 207
20 Modality 211
20.1 ThePredicatesRexistandatTime 211
20.2 PositiveModalities 213
20.3 PossibilityandNecessity 213
20.4 Likelihood,orQualitativeProbability 215
Part III Commonsense Psychology Theories
21 Knowledge Management 223
21.1 ObjectsofBelief 223
21.2 Belief 224
21.3 BeliefRevision 228
21.4 DegreesofBelief 231
21.5 Assuming 235
21.6 HavingThingsinMindandinFocus 238
21.7 Inference 239
21.8 Justification 242
21.9 Knowledge 244
21.10 Intelligence 245
21.11 SentencesandKnowledgeDomains 246
21.12 Expertise 248
21.13 MutualBelief 250
22 Similarity Comparisons 256
22.1 Similarity 256
22.2 SimilarityofStructuredEntities 265
22.3 CognizingSimilarities 267
23 Memory 270
23.1 StoringandRetrieving 270
23.2 Accessibility 271
23.3 AssociationsandCausingtoRemember 273
23.4 TheMeaningsof“Remember”and“Forget” 274
23.5 RememberingToDo 277
23.6 Repressing 277
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Contents ix
24 Envisioning 280
24.1 ThinkingOf 280
24.2 CausalSystems 283
24.3 ContiguousCausalSystems 286
24.4 EnvisionedCausalSystems 289
24.5 EnvisionmentandBelief 291
24.6 OtherVarietiesofThinking 295
25 Explanation 299
25.1 ExplanationsandMysteries 299
25.2 TheExplanationProcess 301
25.3 ExplanationFailures 303
26 Managing Expectations 306
27 Other-Agent Reasoning 309
28 Goals 312
28.1 Goals,Subgoals,andPlans 312
28.2 TheContentofGoals 315
28.3 GoalsandMultipleAgents 317
28.4 Trying,Succeeding,andFailing 319
28.5 Functionality 320
28.6 GoodandBad 322
28.7 Value,Cost,andImportance 322
29 Goal Themes 332
29.1 Thriving 332
29.2 PleasureandPain 333
29.3 Short-TermversusLong-TermGoals 336
29.4 GoalThemes 338
30 Threats and Threat Detection 341
30.1 ThreatSituations 341
30.2 ThreatDetectionandManagement 343
30.3 Seriousness 345
31 Plans 348
31.1 PlansasMentalEntities 348
31.2 ThePlanningProcess 350
31.3 StrategiesandTactics 355
31.4 ExecutabilityandCompletePlans 356
31.5 TypesofPlans 358
31.6 Helping 362
32 Goal Management 366
32.1 Adding,Removing,andModifyingGoals 366
32.2 Priority 368
32.3 AssessingandPrioritizingGoals 370
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x Contents
33 Execution Envisionment 373
33.1 ExecutionsandTheirEnvisionment 373
33.2 EnvisioningSuccessandFailure 374
33.3 SpecificandArbitraryContextsofExecution 376
33.4 EnvisionedExecutionsandTime 378
34 Causes of Failure 380
34.1 Introduction 380
34.2 ContributingSourceTaxonomies 381
34.3 TaxonomyofPlanFailureExplanationPatterns 381
34.4 CausalComplexesandFailure 383
34.5 Applications 385
35 Plan Elements 387
36 Planning Modalities 392
36.1 TheActivityofPlanning 392
36.2 PlanningActivityandOtherAgents 393
36.3 CounterfactualPlanning 394
37 Planning Goals 397
37.1 ConstraintsandPreferences 397
37.2 IncludingandAvoiding 400
37.3 EnablingandBlocking 401
37.4 MinimizingandMaximizing 402
37.5 LocatingInstancesforPlans 403
37.6 MaintainingPlanProgress 404
38 Plan Construction 407
38.1 ThePlanningActivity 407
38.2 PlanningProcessControl 408
38.3 PlanningSubprocesses 409
38.4 PlanningProblems 411
38.5 SelectingamongCandidatePlans 412
39 Plan Adaptation 416
39.1 Tweaking 416
39.2 TypesofPlanAdaptation 418
39.3 OutcomesofPlanAdaptation 419
40 Design 421
40.1 Artifacts 421
40.2 Designs 423
40.3 Designing 424
41 Decisions 427
41.1 TheDecision-MakingProcess 427
41.2 ChoicesandChoiceSets 430
41.3 TheProcessofDeliberation 432
41.4 JustificationsforDecisions 435
41.5 ConsequencesofDecisions 436
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