Interpretation of and reasoning with conditionals [Elektronische Ressource] : probabilities, mental models, and causality / Andrea Weidenfeld

Interpretation of and Reasoning with Conditionals - Probabilities, Mental Models, and Causality Dissertation Andrea Weidenfeld vorgelegt zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades der Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) eingereicht bei der Humanwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam im Fach Psychologie im Jahr 2003 ii Abstract In everyday conversation "if" is one of the most frequently used conjunctions. This dissertation investigates what meaning an everyday conditional transmits and what inferences it licenses. It is suggested that the nature of the relation between the two propositions in a conditional might play a major role for both questions. Thus, in the experiments reported here conditional statements that describe a causal relationship (e.g., "If you touch that wire, you will receive an electric shock") were compared to arbitrary conditional statements in which there is no meaningful relation between the antecedent and the consequent proposition (e.g., "If Napoleon is dead, then Bristol is in England"). Initially, central assumptions from several approaches to the meaning and the reasoning from causal conditionals will be integrated into a common model. In the model the availability of exceptional situations that have the power to generate exceptions to the rule described in the conditional (e.g.