Title of article :
Is everyday causation deterministic or probabilistic?
Author/Authors :
Frosch، نويسنده , , Caren A. and Johnson-Laird، نويسنده , , P.N.، نويسنده ,
Issue Information :
ماهنامه با شماره پیاپی سال 2011
Pages :
12
From page :
280
To page :
291
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.
Keywords :
Causation , refutation
Journal title :
Acta Psychologica
Serial Year :
2011
Journal title :
Acta Psychologica
Record number :
1904594
Link To Document :
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