Cognitive processes in causal and counterfactual thinking

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to examine the mental representation of and cognitive processes involved in causal and counterfactual thinking. In particular we examine differences between different types of causes, that is, strong causes, weak causes, and enabling conditions. In addition, we examine the effect of context on reasoning from causal counterfactual conditionals. We test predictions derived from the mental model theory of causal and counterfactual thinking. According to this account people understand different types of causes by keeping different possibilities in mind.