The validation model of causal bridging inferences proposed by Singer and colleagues (e.g., Singer in "Can J Exp Psychol," 47(2):340-359, 1993) claims that before a causal bridging inference is accepted, it must be validated by existing knowledge. For example, to understand "Dorothy took the aspirins. Her pain went away," one…

Humans have a unique ability to generate novel norms. Faced with the knowledge that there are hungry children in Somalia, we easily and naturally infer that we ought to donate to famine relief charities. Although a contentious and lively issue in metaethics, such inference from "is" to "ought" has not been systematically…

We evaluate the hypothesis that children's diagnostic causal reasoning becomes more sophisticated as their understanding of uncertainty advances. When the causal status of candidate causes was known, 3- and 4-year-olds were capable of diagnostic inference (Experiment 1) and could revise their beliefs when told their initial diagnosis was incorrect…

Individuals have difficulty changing their causal beliefs in light of contradictory evidence. We hypothesized that this difficulty arises because people facing implausible causes give greater consideration to causal alternatives, which, because of their use of a positive test strategy, leads to differential weighting of contingency evidence.…

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of theory of mind competence in inference processing in adolescents with Asperger syndrome (AS). We sought to pinpoint the level at which AS individuals experience difficulty drawing inferences and identify the factors that account for their inference-drawing problems. We hypothesized that this…

Describes a teaching activity that improves students' scientific reasoning by focusing attention on the causal, explanatory nature of psychological theories. Students learn and use an argument form called Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE). Includes examples of this technique and student responses to the course. (MJP)