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Chapter 7 - Competing Causes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2021

David A. Lagnado
David A. Lagnado
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

Chapter 7 looks at subtleties that arise when people assess competing causes of the same evidence. I identify a novel fallacy in evidential reasoning – the zero-sum fallacy – and show how both legal experts and lay people are prone to this error. But on the positive side I also show that lay people are pretty good at qualitative causal reasoning, despite using simplifying strategies.

Keywords

Multiple causeszero-sum fallacyqualitative reasoningpredictiondiagnosisexplaining away
Type
Chapter
Information
Explaining the Evidence
How the Mind Investigates the World
 , pp. 156 - 171
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Competing Causes
  • David A. Lagnado, University College London
  • Book: Explaining the Evidence
  • Online publication: 20 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9780511794520.008
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  • Competing Causes
  • David A. Lagnado, University College London
  • Book: Explaining the Evidence
  • Online publication: 20 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9780511794520.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Competing Causes
  • David A. Lagnado, University College London
  • Book: Explaining the Evidence
  • Online publication: 20 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9780511794520.008
Available formats
×