Covariation, Causality, and Language

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 174-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udo Rudolph
Keyword(s):  
Causal Attributions ◽  
Causal Structure ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Implicit Beliefs ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Statistical Mediation ◽  
Effect Experiment ◽  
Sensitive Method

Implicit verb causality refers to the phenomenon that even minimal descriptions of interpersonal events (e.g., A dominates B, A amuses B) elicit causal attributions. Two experiments investigated whether children of different age groups are able to (a) perceive the causality implicit in interpersonal verbs and (b) to detect patterns of cause-effect covariation (consensus and distinctiveness) presumably mediating the verb causality effect. Experiment 1 found that 5-year-old children detect the causal structure inherent in verbs describing interpersonal events and are able to indicate corresponding covariation patterns. Experiment 2 replicated these findings for 3-year-old children using a more sensitive method for assessing causal and covariation beliefs. Statistical mediation analyses supported the hypothesis that the verb causality effect is mediated by implicit beliefs about cause-effect covariation. Taken together, the results provide support for a covariation-based explanation of the verb causality effect.

Blocking Is Sensitive to Causal Structure in 4-Year-Old and 8-Year-Old Children

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Beckers ◽  
Uschi Van den Broeck ◽  
Marij Renne ◽  
Stefaan Vandorpe ◽  
Jan De Houwer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Causal Structure ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Contingency Learning

Abstract. In a contingency learning task, 4-year-old and 8-year-old children had to predict the outcome displayed on the back of a card on the basis of cues presented on the front. The task was embedded in either a causal or a merely predictive scenario. Within this task, either a forward blocking or a backward blocking procedure was implemented. Blocking occurred in the causal but not in the predictive scenario. Moreover, blocking was affected by the scenario to the same extent in both age groups. The pattern of results was similar for forward and backward blocking. These results suggest that even young children are sensitive to the causal structure of a contingency learning task and that the occurrence of blocking in such a task defies an explanation in terms of associative learning theory.

Detection of the Troponin I Level by a Highly Sensitive Method in Three Age Groups of a Healthy Population

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-327
Author(s):  
A. S. Pushkin ◽  
A. A. Yakovlev ◽  
T. A. Akhmedov ◽  
S. A. Rukavishnikova ◽  
G. A. Ryzhak
Keyword(s):  
Troponin I ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Healthy Population ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Sensitive Method

scholarly journals The Indirect Effect is Omitted Variable Bias: A Cautionary Note on the Interpretability of Significant Results in Non-Experimental Mediation Analyses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennert Coenen
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Cautionary Note ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Statistical Mediation ◽  
Omitted Variable Bias ◽  
Variable Bias

This paper intends to remind communication scientists that the indirect effect as estimated in mediation analyses is a statistical synonym for omitted variable bias (i.e., confounding or suppression). This simple fact questions the interpretability of statistically significant ‘indirect effects’ in observational designs: in social reality all variables correlate with each other to some extent - the so-called ‘crud factor’ - which means that omitted variable bias and ‘indirect effects’ at the population level are virtually guaranteed regardless of the actual variables involved in the statistical mediation model. As a result, there can be no inferential link between the observation of a significant indirect effect and a theoretical claim of mediation. Through this argument the paper hopes to cultivate a more critical attitude toward the interpretation of ‘indirect effects’ in observational communication science.

scholarly journals What's fair? How children assign reward to members of teams with differing causal structures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
karla koskuba ◽  
Tobias Gerstenberg ◽  
Hannah Gordon ◽  
David Lagnado ◽  
Anne Schlottmann
Keyword(s):  
Causal Structure ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Performance Patterns ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Pattern Of Performance ◽  
Causal Structures

How do children reward individual members of a team that has just won or lost a game? We know that from pre-school age, children consider agents' performance when allocating reward. Here we assess whether children can go further and appreciate performance in context: The same pattern of performance can contribute to a team outcome in different ways, depending on the underlying rule framework. Two experiments, with three age groups (4/5-year-olds, 6/7-year-olds, and adults), varied performance of team members, with the same performance patterns considered under three different game rules for winning or losing. These three rules created distinct underlying causal structures (additive, conjunctive, disjunctive), for how individual performance affected the overall team outcome. Even the youngest children differentiated between different game rules in their reward allocations. Rather than only rewarding individual performance, or whether the team won/lost, children were sensitive to the team structure and how players' performance contributed to the win/loss under each of the three game rules. Not only do young children consider it fair to allocate resources based on merit, but they are also sensitive to the causal structure of the situation which dictates how individual contributions combine to determine the team outcome.

scholarly journals Important Considerations in Conducting Statistical Mediation Analyses

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osvaldo F. Morera ◽  
Felipe González Castro
Keyword(s):  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Statistical Mediation

scholarly journals Within-subject mediation analysis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Vuorre ◽  
Niall Bolger
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Software Package ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
Theory Testing ◽  
Programming Environment ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Statistical Mediation ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
R Programming ◽  
Intervening Variables

Statistical mediation allows researchers to investigate potential causal effects of experimental manipulations through intervening variables. It is a powerful tool for assessing the presence and strength of postulated causal mechanisms. Although mediation is used in certain areas of psychology, it is rarely applied in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. One reason for the scarcity of applications is that these areas of psychology commonly employ within-subjects designs, and it is only recently that statistical mediation has been worked out satisfactorily for such designs. Here, we draw attention to the importance and ubiquity of mediational hypotheses in within-subjects designs, and we present a general and flexible software package for conducting a Bayesian within-subjects mediation analyses in the R programming environment. We use experimental data from cognitive psychology to illustrate the benefits of within-subject mediation for theory testing and comparison.

scholarly journals The Effects of Intelligence, Self-Concept, and Attributional Style on Metamemory and Memory Behaviour

1987 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Schneider ◽  
Joachim Kérkel ◽  
Franz Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Attributional Style ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Causal Attributions ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Third Graders ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Assessment Of Intelligence ◽  
Significant Direct Effect

The influence of intelligence, self-concept, and causal attributions on metamemory and the metamemory-memory behaviour relationship in grade-school children was studied. Following the assessment of intelligence, self-concept, and causal attributions, 150 children from each of grades 3 and 5 were given a metamemory interview and a sort-recall task. Metamemory, strategy, and recall scores increased with age. Causal modelling (LISREL) analyses using latent variables were conducted to assess the effects of the constructs intelligence and "hope of success" (i.e., the attributional and self-concept variables) on metamemory and memory behaviour. Hope of success significantly influenced metamemory and memory performance in the older children, but not in third graders. However, intelligence had an impact on metamemory in all age groups. But since metamemory still had a significant direct effect on memory behaviour, the study provides support for the assumption that metamemory remains an important predictor of memory behaviour even after the influence of conceptually related constructs has been taken into account.

scholarly journals Verbal framing and statistical patterns influence children's attributions to situational, but not personal, causes for behavior

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Peretz-Lange ◽  
Paul Muentener
Keyword(s):  
Factorial Design ◽  
Causal Attributions ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Attributional Bias ◽  
Situational Cues ◽  
Statistical Pattern ◽  
Attribution Bias ◽  
Observed Behavior

Adults from Western cultures attribute others’ behavior to personal causes more readily than situational causes; however, little research has explored the developmental origins of this attributional bias. Research has shown that children can use both the statistical patterns present in observed behavior, as well as the verbal framing of the behaviors, to infer personal causes. However, research has not explored whether children also use these factors to infer situational causes. The present study examined the impacts of statistical patterns and verbal framing on four- and six-year-old children’s (n = 218) attributions to personal and situational causes for behavior, as assessed by their explanations for characters’ interactions with toys. In a factorial design the statistical pattern of characters’ behaviors suggested either a personal or situational cause (or neither), and the experimenter’s verbal framing of the behaviors suggested either a personal or situational cause (or neither). Across age groups, children showed a bias toward providing personal explanations. Both statistical pattern and verbal framing influenced causal attributions, but both impacts were asymmetric such that situational cues increased situational explanations relative to neutral cues, but there was no difference in children’s explanations following personal and neutral cues. These results suggest that verbal framing and statistical patterns impact children’s developing social causal attributions, specifically with respect to situational causes, and also that a personal attribution bias emerges early in development.

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