Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Ranks

Ranks

Unlike parametric methods, nonparametric statistics are ideal for nominal and ordinal data, requiring fewer assumptions about the population's nature or distribution. This makes nonparametric methods easier to apply and interpret, as they do not depend on parameters like mean or standard deviation. One common approach in nonparametric analysis is to sort data according to a specific criterion. For instance, we might arrange weather data from hottest to coldest days in a month or rank cities...

Counterfactual Thinking

Counterfactual Thinking

Counterfactual thinking is a cognitive process wherein individuals mentally reconstruct alternative versions of past events, often beginning with “what if” or “if only.” This reflective mechanism plays a significant role in shaping emotional experiences and guiding future behavior. Though typically triggered by unfavorable or unexpected outcomes, counterfactual thinking can also emerge in mundane, everyday decisions and experiences, revealing its deep entrenchment in human cognition.Types of...

Criteria for Causality: Bradford Hill Criteria - II

Criteria for Causality: Bradford Hill Criteria - II

The Bradford Hill criteria serve as guidelines for establishing causative links in epidemiological research. Beyond Strength, Consistency, Specificity, and Temporality, key criteria also include Biological Gradient, Plausibility, Coherence, Experiment, and Analogy. These principles assist scientists in assessing the likelihood of causation in complex biological contexts. Below is a summary of these concepts:

Criteria for Causality: Bradford Hill Criteria - I

Criteria for Causality: Bradford Hill Criteria - I

The Bradford Hill criteria are a group of principles that provide a framework to determine a causal relationship between a specific factor and a disease. There are nine criteria that are pivotal in assessing causality in epidemiological studies. Here's a closer look at Strength, Consistency, Specificity, and Temporality criteria with definitions and examples:

Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory

Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory

Correspondent inference theory, proposed by Jones and Davis in 1965, seeks to explain how individuals infer stable personality traits from observed behaviors. It suggests that people attribute actions to underlying dispositions rather than external circumstances, particularly when the behavior appears intentional and socially significant.Voluntary Behavior and Dispositional AttributionAccording to this theory, individuals are more likely to attribute behavior to personal traits when it appears...

Real-World Application of Classical Conditioning

Real-World Application of Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning not only includes the initial pairing of stimuli but also extends to more complex forms, such as higher-order conditioning. Higher-order conditioning involves creating associations beyond the primary conditioned stimulus, resulting in a chain of conditioned responses.
Higher-order, or second-order, conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an already established conditioned stimulus through repeated pairings. For instance, if a dog has been...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same journal

Pronoun Resolution in Turkish: The Interplay of Referential Form, Word Order, and Implicit Causality.

Cognitive science·2026

Same journal

What's in a Color?: Language, Synesthesia, and Categorical Perception.

Cognitive science·2026

Same journal

Reasoning Beyond Explicit Rules: Adults' and Children's Use of Closure Principles in Novel Cases.

Cognitive science·2026

Same journal

Intermediary Object States Are Activated by Sentences Describing Completed Events.

Cognitive science·2026

Same journal

Large Language Models Estimate Fine-Grained Human Color-Concept Associations.

Cognitive science·2026

Same journal

Computational Models of Causal Reasoning: Bayesian Accounts of Normative Violations.

Cognitive science·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 9, 2026

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

A ranking-theoretic approach to conditionals.

Wolfgang Spohn¹

¹Department of Philosophy, University of Konstanz, Germany. wolfgang.spohn@uni-konstanz.de

Cognitive Science

|August 10, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study proposes an expressivistic semantics for conditional beliefs, using ranking theory instead of probability theory. This approach offers a flexible framework for understanding diverse uses of conditionals, including counterfactuals and causal statements.

Keywords:

Conditional belief Conditionals Counterfactuals Expressivism Ramsey test Ranking theory Relevance Truth conditions for conditionals

More Related Videos

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

Published on: March 1, 2022

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 9, 2026

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

Published on: March 1, 2022

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Area of Science:

Philosophy of Language
Logic
Cognitive Science

Background:

Conditional beliefs are bi-propositional attitudes, unlike unconditional beliefs, and are not typically truth-evaluable.
Existing probability theories inadequately represent belief states for conditional semantics.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop an expressivistic semantics for conditionals grounded in a robust theory of conditional belief.
To provide a unified framework for understanding various uses of conditionals, including counterfactuals and causal statements.

Main Methods:

Adopting ranking theory as the foundation for conditional belief representation.
Developing various expressive options within ranking theory to interpret diverse conditional statements.
Analyzing the Ramsey test and relevance as initial expressive options.

Main Results:

Ranking theory provides a suitable basis for an expressivistic semantics of conditionals.
A general interpretive scheme is established to accommodate varied conditional usage.
New expressive options are introduced, encompassing counterfactual and causal conditionals.

Conclusions:

The proposed expressivistic semantics offers a more adequate account of conditionals than probability-based approaches.
The framework allows for a nuanced understanding of conditional belief and its expression.
The study outlines a path towards partially recovering truth conditions for conditionals within this framework.