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Relevance and Reason Relations
Author(s) -
SkovgaardOlsen Niels,
Singmann Henrik,
Klauer Karl Christoph
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1111/cogs.12462
Subject(s) - relevance (law) , proposition , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , measure (data warehouse) , probabilistic logic , structural equation modeling , psychology , econometrics , mathematics , cognitive psychology , statistics , computer science , epistemology , philosophy , data mining , political science , law
This paper examines precursors and consequents of perceived relevance of a proposition A for a proposition C. In Experiment 1, we test Spohn's (2012) assumption that ∆P = P(C|A) − P(C|~A) is a good predictor of ratings of perceived relevance and reason relations, and we examine whether it is a better predictor than the difference measure (P(C|A) − P(C)). In Experiment 2, we examine the effects of relevance on probabilistic coherence in Cruz, Baratgin, Oaksford, and Over's (2015) uncertain “and‐to‐if” inferences. The results suggest that ∆P predicts perceived relevance and reason relations better than the difference measure and that participants are either less probabilistically coherent in “and‐to‐if” inferences than initially assumed or that they do not follow P(if A, then C) = P(C|A) (“the Equation”). Results are discussed in light of recent results suggesting that the Equation may not hold under conditions of irrelevance or negative relevance.