Literature DB >> 21504836

Is everyday causation deterministic or probabilistic?

Caren A Frosch1, P N Johnson-Laird.   

Abstract

One view of causation is deterministic: A causes B means that whenever A occurs, B occurs. An alternative view is that causation is probabilistic: the assertion means that given A, the probability of B is greater than some criterion, such as the probability of B given not-A. Evidence about the induction of causal relations cannot readily decide between these alternative accounts, and so we examined how people refute causal assertions. In four experiments most participants judged that a single counterexample of A and not-B refuted assertions of the form, A causes B. And, as a deterministic theory based on mental models predicted, participants were more likely to request multiple refutations for assertions of the form, A enables B. Similarly, refutations of the form not-A and B were more frequent for enabling than causal assertions. Causation in daily life seems to be a deterministic concept.
Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Year:  2011        PMID: 21504836     DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.01.015

Source DB:  PubMed          Journal:  Acta Psychol (Amst)        ISSN: 0001-6918


  4 in total

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Review 3.  Causal reasoning with mental models.

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Authors:  Caren A Frosch; Ruth M J Byrne
Journal:  Acta Psychol (Amst)       Date:  2012-08-02
  4 in total

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