A Qualitative Approach to the Study of Causal Reasoning in Natural Language

Currently, noticeable changes in traditional hydrological patterns are being observed on the short and medium-term. These modifications are adding a growing variability on water resources behaviour, especially evident in its availability. Consequently, for a better understanding/knowledge of temporal alterations, it is crucial to develop new analytical strategies which are capable of capturing these modifications on its temporal behaviour. This challenge is here addressed via a purely stochastic methodology on annual runoff time series. This is performed through the propagation of temporal dependence strength over the time, by means of Causality, supported by Causal Reasoning (Bayes’ theorem), via the relative percentage of runoff change that a time-step produces on the following ones. The result is a dependence mitigation graph, whose analysis of its symmetry provides an innovative qualitative approach to assess time-dependency from a dynamic and continuous perspective against the classical, static and punctual result that a correlogram offers. This was evaluated/applied to four Spanish unregulated river sub-basins; firstly on two Douro/Duero River Basin exemplary case studies (the largest river basin at Iberian Peninsula) with a clearly opposite temporal behaviour, and subsequently applied to two watersheds belonging to Jucar River Basin (Iberian Peninsula Mediterranean side), characterised by suffering regular drought conditions. Keywords: Causal reasoning, Theorem of Bayes, Temporal dependence propagation, Runoff time series, Water resources management

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Causality and Causal Reasoning in Natural Language

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199399550.013.32 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Torgrim Solstad ◽

Oliver Bott

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Causal Reasoning ◽

Causal Model ◽

Discourse Markers ◽

Causal Relations ◽

Counterfactual Conditionals ◽

Adequate Evaluation ◽

Implicit Causality

This chapter provides a combined overview of theoretical and psycholinguistic approaches to causality in language. The chapter’s main phenomenological focus is on causal relations as expressed intra-clausally by verbs (e.g., break, open) and between sentences by discourse markers (e.g., because, therefore). Special attention is given to implicit causality verbs that are argued to trigger expectations of explanations to occur in subsequent discourse. The chapter also discusses linguistic expressions that do not encode causation as such, but that seem to be dependent on a causal model for their adequate evaluation, such as counterfactual conditionals. The discussion of the phenomena is complemented by an overview of important aspects of their cognitive processing as revealed by psycholinguistic experimentation.

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Causation and the Probability of Causal Conditionals

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199399550.013.3 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

David E. Over

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Conditional Probability ◽

Causal Reasoning ◽

Probability Judgments ◽

Counterfactual Conditionals ◽

Bayesian Inferences ◽

Conditional Inferences

Indicative and counterfactual conditionals are central to reasoning in general and causal reasoning in particular. Normative theorists and psychologists have held a range of views on how natural language indicative and counterfactual conditionals, and probability judgments about them, are related to causation. There is the question of whether “causal” conditionals, referring to possible causes and effects, can be used to explain causation, or whether causation can be used to explain the conditionals. There are questions about how causation, conditionals, Bayesian inferences, conditional probability, and imaging are related to each other. Psychological results are relevant to these questions, including findings on how people make conditional inferences and judgments about possibilities, conditionals, and conditional probability. Deeper understanding of the relation between causation and conditionals will come in further research on people’s reasoning from counterfactuals as premises, and to counterfactuals as conclusions.

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Different Forms of Work Satisfaction

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040.3.3.209 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 209-218 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

André Büssing ◽

Thomas Bissels

Keyword(s):

Work Satisfaction ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Qualitative Approach ◽

Extended Model ◽

Work Situation ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Global Satisfaction ◽

Evaluative Processes ◽

The Right ◽

Level Of Aspiration

The extended model of different forms of work satisfaction ( Büssing, 1991 ), originally proposed by Bruggemann (1974) , is suggested as a distinctive qualitative approach to work satisfaction. Six forms of work satisfaction—progressive, stabilized, resigned satisfaction, constructive, fixated, resigned dissatisfaction—are derived from the constellation of four constituent variables: comparison of the actual work situation and personal aspirations, global satisfaction, changes in level of aspiration, controllability at work. Preliminary evidence from semi-structured interviews with 46 nurses shows that the dynamic model is headed in the right direction (qualitative differentiation of consistently high propertions of satisfied employees, uncovering processes of person-work situation interaction). Qualitative methods demonstrated their usefulness in accessing underlying cognitive and evaluative processes of the forms, which are often neglected by traditional attitude-based satisfaction research.

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Coming Together Through Falling Apart

Rorschachiana Journal of the International Society for the Rorschach ◽

10.1027/1192-5604/a000115 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 151-168

Author(s):

Heather Churchill ◽

Jeremy M. Ridenour

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Systematic Approach ◽

Qualitative Approach ◽

Psychological Assessments ◽

Transference And Countertransference ◽

Testing Data ◽

Psychoanalytically Oriented Psychotherapy

Abstract. Assessing change during long-term psychotherapy can be a challenging and uncertain task. Psychological assessments can be a valuable tool and can offer a perspective from outside the therapy dyad, independent of the powerful and distorting influences of transference and countertransference. Subtle structural changes that may not yet have manifested behaviorally can also be assessed. However, it can be difficult to find a balance between a rigorous, systematic approach to data, while also allowing for the richness of the patient’s internal world to emerge. In this article, the authors discuss a primarily qualitative approach to the data and demonstrate the ways in which this kind of approach can deepen the understanding of the more subtle or complex changes a particular patient is undergoing while in treatment, as well as provide more detail about the nature of an individual’s internal world. The authors also outline several developmental frameworks that focus on the ways a patient constructs their reality and can guide the interpretation of qualitative data. The authors then analyze testing data from a patient in long-term psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy in order to demonstrate an approach to data analysis and to show an example of how change can unfold over long-term treatments.

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