Seth Chin-Parker

Seth Chin-Parker

Associate Professor
Chair of Psychology
Position Type
Faculty
Service
- Present
Biography

Dr. Chin-Parker began teaching at Denison in the fall of 2004. He teaches Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Cognitive Psychology, Research in Cognitive Psychology, and a seminar titled “Creativity and Cognition”. When he is not in the classroom (or his lab), Dr. Chin-Parker enjoys spending time with his family, running on the trails of the Denison Biological Reserve, and attempting to play the guitar.

Degree(s)
B.A., University of Vermont; M.A., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Learning & Teaching

Courses

Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Psychology of Thinking, Research in the Psychology of Thinking, Cognitive Psychology, Research in Cognitive Psychology, Seminar on Creativity and Cognition, Seminar on (un)Consciousness, History and Systems of Psychology, W101: Myths of Innovation.

Research

I am a cognitive psychologist interested in how people make sense of the world around them.
Details

My research program focuses on the interplay between conceptual knowledge and experience: Our conceptual knowledge shapes the interactions we have with the world, and it is shaped by those interactions. Reflecting this interplay between knowledge and experience, I have recently pursued two lines of research. The first explores the constraints in play during explanatory processing, and the second examines how a person's immediate goal constrains the acquisition of relevant conceptual knowledge.

Works

Publications

Articles:

  • Chin-Parker, S. & Bradner, A. (2017). A contrastive account of explanation generation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24, 1387–1397. doi: 10.3758/s13423-017-1349-x
  • Chin-Parker, S. & Birdwhistell, J. (2017). Category learning by doing: How goal directed tasks constrain conceptual acquisition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 29, 450-468. doi: 10.1080/20445911.2017.1280499
  • Chin‐Parker, S., & Cantelon, J. (2016). Contrastive constraints guide explanation‐based category learning. Cognitive Science, doi:10.1111/cogs.12405
  • Chin-Parker, S., & Bradner, A. (2010). Background shifts affect explanatory style: How a pragmatic theory of explanation accounts for background effects in the generation of explanations. Cognitive Processing, 11, 227-249.
  • Patalano, A. L., Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2006). The importance of being coherent: The role of category coherence in reasoning about cross-classified entities. Journal of Memory and Language, 54, 407-424.
  • Erickson, J., Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2005). Inference and classification learning of abstract coherent categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 31, 86-99.
  • Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2004). Diagnosticity and prototypicality in category learning: A comparison of inference learning and classification learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 30, 216-226.
  • Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2002). The effect of category learning on sensitivity to within-category correlations. Memory & Cognition, 30, 353-362.
  • Anderson, A. L., Ross, B. H., & Chin-Parker, S. (2002). A further investigation of category learning by inference. Memory & Cognition, 30, 119-128.

Refereed Proceedings:

  • Chin-Parker, S., & Brown, E. (2019). Task goals structure conceptual acquisition. In A. Goel, C. Seifert, & C. Freksa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
  • Chin-Parker, S., Cowling, S., & Mei, M. (2019). The explanatory value of mathematical information in everyday explanations. In A. Goel, C. Seifert, & C. Freksa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society
  • Chin-Parker, S. (2011). What varying the learning task and category structure reveals about inference learning. In L. Carlson, C. Hölscher, & T. Shipley (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
  • Chin-Parker, S. (2010). (Category) Learning by Doing: How Goal Directed Tasks Constrain Conceptual Acquisition. In S. Ohlsson & R. Catrambone (Eds.), Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Chin-Parker, S. & Bradner, A. (2008). The Pragmatics of Explanation. In V. Sloutsky, B. Love, & K. McRae (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society
  • Chin-Parker, S., Hernandez, O., & Matens, M. (2006). Explanation in Category Learning. In R. Sun & N. Miyake (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society
  • Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2003). When As and Bs are Cs and Ds: The effect of the cross-classification of items on learned concepts. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society
  • Patalano, A. L., Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2003). The role of coherence in category-based explanation. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
  • Chin-Parker, S., & Ross, B. H. (2002). Diagnosticity in category learning by classification and inference. In W. D. Gray & C. D. Schunn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society
Presentations

Recent Presentations:

  • Chin-Parker, S., & Brown, E. (July 2019). Task goals structure conceptual acquisition. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Montreal, QC.
  • Chin-Parker, S., Cowling, S., & Mei, M. (July 2019). The explanatory value of mathematical information in everyday explanations. Poster presented at the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Montreal, QC.
  • Chin-Parker, S., & Brown, E. (April 2019). Evaluating the Goal Structure Hypothesis. Paper presented at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Midwest Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Chin-Parker, S. (November 2018). Contrastive Constraints on Downstream Effects of Self-Explanation. Poster presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomics Society. New Orleans, LA.
  • Cowling, S., Chin-Parker, S., & Mei, M. (September 2018). What Makes Platonists Tick? Explanatory Preferences in Mathematical Matters. Talk presented at the AALAC Collaborative Workshop: Explanation Across the Disciplines. Middlebury, VT.
  • Chin-Parker, S. (April 2018). Explaining Explanation: Implications for Learning. Invited talk, UIUC Cognitive Brownbag Series, Champaign, IL.
  • Chin-Parker, S. (November 2016). Goal-directed conceptual acquisition: Examining the goal framework hypothesis. Poster presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomics Society. Vancouver, BC.
  • Chin-Parker, S., Jaramillo, M., & Krumholtz, V. (May 2016). Preliminary evidence for the goal structure hypothesis. Paper presented at the 88h Annual Meeting of the Midwest Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Krumholtz, V., Jaramillo, M., & Chin-Parker, S. (May 2016). A novel paradigm for studying conceptual acquisition using goal directed behavior. Paper presented at the 88h Annual Meeting of the Midwest Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Service

Professional Memberships
  • The Psychonomic Society
  • The Cognitive Science Society
  • The Association of Psychological Science
  • Midwest Psychological Association

Other

Student Collaborations
  • Hannah Morton, Summer 2019, Denison Early Experience Scholar

    Title: Examining the Development of Feature Language During Goal-Directed Interactions

  • Jaihao Ran, Summer 2018, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Efficacy of self-explanation with different prompts in educational gaming

  • Eric Brown, Summer 2017, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Continued study of goal-directed conceptual acquisition

  • Victoria Krumholtz, Summer 2015, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Conceptual acquisition through meaningful interactions: A study of learning behaviors.

  • Manuella Jaramillo, Summer 2015, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Conceptual acquisition through meaningful interactions: Evidence for the goal-structure hypothesis through a category-goodness task.

  • Sarah Sheldon, Summer 2013, Hodgson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: A Further Exploration of Classification and Inference Learning Using Manipulations to Cue and Category Validity.

  • Julie Cantelon, Summer 2012, Bowen Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: The effect of goal-directed interactions on the recognition of features in a novel domain.

  • Harshida Pancholi, Summer 2012, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: The effect of structure on causal reasoning

  • Avraham Baranes, Summer 2010, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Working memory and decision making: A look at the somatic marker hypothesis

  • Amy Milewski, Summer 2010, Denison University Research Funded Assistantship

    Title: The effects of use-relevant information and diagnosticity on conceptual organization

  • Elizabeth Cummings, Summer 2008, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Coherence effects in naturally occurring knowledge

  • Julie Tucker, Summer 2008, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Coherence in real world categories in natural groups

  • Jessie Birdwhistell, Summer 2007 and Spring 2008, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Beyond the solution: Learning about categories during problem solving

  • Amber Hill, Summer 2006, Hughes Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: The interaction of knowledge and learning with cross-classified items

  • Robert Horn, Summer 2006, Denison University Research Funded Assistantship

    Title: Constraints on explanations: Empirically testing philosophical theories of explanation

  • Catherine Mehta, Summer 2006, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: Structural alignment across category learning paradigms

  • Olivia Hernandez, Summer 2005, Hughes Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: A process model of explanation-based learning

  • Murray Matens, Summer 2005, Anderson Summer Research Assistantship

    Title: A comparative study of category learning through classification and explanation

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