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Covariation and quantifier polarity: what determines causal attribution in vignettes?
Asifa Majid1, Anthony J Sanford, Martin J Pickering
1Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, AH Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Asifa.Majid@mpi.nl
Cognition
|January 31, 2006
Summary
Natural language quantifiers in causal attribution tests influence how people make attributions. Focus, not just covariation, significantly impacts judgments, challenging previous assumptions about set size effects.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Causal attribution tests commonly employ verbal vignettes with quantified statements.
- Previous research indicated set size information significantly affects attributions.
- Quantifiers in natural language convey both covariation and discourse focus information.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of discourse focus, induced by natural language quantifiers, in causal attribution.
- To determine if focus confounds the interpretation of covariation information in attribution studies.
- To re-evaluate the impact of set size information on attribution when focus is considered.
Main Methods:
- Conducted four experiments using verbal vignettes with quantified statements.
- Manipulated quantifiers to vary both covariation and discourse focus.
- Measured participants' causal attributions based on the vignette information.
Main Results:
- Discourse focus explained all of the impact of covariation information in Experiment 1.
- Focus explained a portion of the impact in Experiments 2-4.
- Findings confirm that quantifiers confound quantity and focus in attribution research.
Conclusions:
- Natural language quantifiers in attribution studies introduce a confound between quantity and focus.
- Attribution experiments may overestimate the effect of set size information due to quantifier-induced focus.
- Future research should account for the impact of quantifier-induced focus in causal attribution.
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