{{Short description|Inability to communicate due to no words for a concept}} '''Hypocognition''', in [[cognitive linguistics]], means missing and being unable to communicate cognitive and linguistic representations because there are no words for particular concepts.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hollan |first=Douglas |title=Constructivist Models of Mind, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and the Development of Culture Theory |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=102 |issue=3 |pages=538–550, See p. 541 |year=2000 |doi=10.1525/aa.2000.102.3.538 }}</ref>
==Origins==
The word hypocognition (and its opposite, [[hypercognition]]) was coined by American [[psychiatrist]] and [[anthropologist]] [[Robert I. Levy|Robert Levy]] in his 1973 book ''Tahitians: Mind and Experience in the Society Islands''. After 26 months of studying them, Levy described [[Tahitians]] as having no words to describe sorrow or guilt, resulting in people who had suffered personal losses describing themselves as feeling sick or strange instead of sad.<ref>{{cite book|last=Levy|first=Robert I.|title=Tahitians: mind and experience in the Society Islands|year=1975|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0226476070|page=324|edition=Pbk. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Richard A. |editor-last=Shweder |title=Culture theory: essays on mind, self, and emotion |year=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521318310 |pages=227–8}}</ref> Levy believed the Tahitians' lack of frames for thinking about and expressing grief contributed to their high suicide rate.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ottenheimer|first=Harriet Joseph|title=The anthropology of language: an introduction to linguistic anthropology|year=2009|publisher=Wadsworth|location=Belmont, CA|isbn=978-0495508847|page=41|edition=2nd}}</ref> He believed that a balance between hypercognition and hypocognition was culturally most desirable.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ferrara|first=Nadia|title=Emotional expression among Cree Indians: the role of pictorial representations in the assessment of psychological mindedness|year=1998|publisher=Jessica Kingsley|location=London|isbn=978-1853026560|page=38}}</ref>
==Usage==
Hypocognition is a phrase commonly used in linguistics. In 2004 [[George Lakoff]] used it to describe political [[progressives]] in the United States, saying that relative to conservatives they suffer from "massive hypocognition," which he described as the lack of having a progressive philosophy framed around the progressive core values of empathy and responsibility such as "effective government" versus "less government" or "broader prosperity" versus "free markets."<ref>{{cite book|last=Lakoff|first=George|title=Don't think of an elephant!: know your values and frame the debate: the essential guide for progressives|year=2004|publisher=Chelsea Green|location=White River Junction VT|isbn=978-1931498715|page=[https://archive.org/details/dontthinkofeleph00lako/page/24 24]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dontthinkofeleph00lako/page/24}}</ref>
==Effects== Hypocognition has been blamed for preventing the practical application of [[evidence-based medicine]] in areas where [[Framing (social sciences)|frames]] (contextual and presentational influences on perceptions of reality) obscure facts.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Mariotto | first1 = A. | title = Hypocognition and evidence-based medicine | doi = 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2009.02086.x | journal = Internal Medicine Journal | volume = 40 | issue = 1 | pages = 80–82 | year = 2010 | pmid = 20561370 | pmc = | s2cid = 24519238 }}</ref> More generally, experts often overuse their own expertise: e.g. cardiologist diagnose a heart problem when the actual problem is something else.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wu |first1=Kaidi |last2=Dunning |first2=David |title=Unknown Unknowns: The Problem of Hypocognition |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/unknown-unknowns-the-problem-of-hypocognition/ |accessdate=12 August 2018 |work=[[Scientific American]] |date=9 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Kaidi |last2=Dunning |first2=David |date=2018 |title=Hypocognition: Making sense of the landscape beyond one's conceptual reach. |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=22–25 |doi=10.1037/gpr0000126 |doi-access=}}</ref>
==See also== *[[Rectification of names]]
==References== {{Portal|Psychology|Linguistics}} {{Reflist}}
[[Category:Cognitive biases]] [[Category:Cognitive linguistics]] [[Category:Psycholinguistics]] [[Category:Semantics]] [[Category:Vocabulary]]