In:
Cognitive Science, Wiley, Vol. 39, No. 8 ( 2015-11), p. 1912-1924
Abstract:
We investigated how people design interventions to affect the outcomes of causal systems. We propose that the abstract structural properties of a causal system, in addition to people's content and mechanism knowledge, influence decisions about how to intervene. In Experiment 1, participants preferred to intervene at specific locations (immediate causes, root causes) in a causal chain regardless of which content variables occupied those positions. In Experiment 2, participants were more likely to intervene on root causes versus immediate causes when they were presented with a long‐term goal versus a short‐term goal. These results show that the structural properties of a causal system can guide the design of interventions.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0364-0213
,
1551-6709
DOI:
10.1111/cogs.2015.39.issue-8
Language:
English
Publisher:
Wiley
Publication Date:
2015
detail.hit.zdb_id:
282371-8
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2002940-8
SSG:
25
SSG:
5,2
SSG:
7,11
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