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Inference from explanation.

Lara Kirfel1, Thomas Icard2, Tobias Gerstenberg3

  • 1Department of Experimental Psychology.

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|December 20, 2021
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This summary is machine-generated.

Causal explanations communicate more than just cause and effect. People infer underlying causal structures and event normality from explanations, revealing the communicative function of causal reasoning.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychology
  • Philosophy of Science

Background:

  • Causal explanations convey information beyond the mere occurrence of cause and effect.
  • A communication-theoretic perspective offers a framework for understanding inferences drawn from explanations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the inferences people make from causal explanations.
  • To explore the interplay between causal structure and event normality in explanations.

Main Methods:

  • A communication-theoretic account of explanation was developed.
  • Two experiments tested predictions regarding inferences about normality and causal structure.

Main Results:

  • Participants inferred the normality of a cause when the causal structure was known.
  • Participants inferred the causal structure when the cause's normality was known.
  • Findings held for both statistical and prescriptive normality.

Conclusions:

  • Causal explanations serve a communicative function, enabling inferences about unstated information.
  • Normality and causal structure play distinct, yet interconnected, roles in causal judgment.
  • This work advances a comprehensive understanding of causal explanation.