The Effect Of Causal Relations And Typical On Feature Inference

Feature inference in which learners are presented with an item whose category membership is already identified and asked to infer one of its unknown features. Typical and causal relations are two factors influent feature inference, but there are little researches about it. Therefore, this study focuses on the influence of typical and causal relations on feature inference.In study one, controlling the typical level of test items, we probe the effect of causal relations and reasoning forms on feature inference. There are two experiments, experiment one explored the effect of common-cause on feature inference, uses2(cause relations:cause relation, no cause relation)×2(answer forms:option, percentage)×3(reasoning types:cause to effect, effect to cause, effect to effect) three-factor mixed experimental design. Cause relations and answer forms are serving as between-subjects factors, reasoning types serving as within-subjects factors, and the subjects’feature inference results as dependent variable. Experiment two probe the effect of common-effect on feature inference, uses2(cause relations:cause relation, no cause relation)×2(answer forms:option, percentage)×3(reasoning types:cause to effect, effect to cause, cause to cause) three-factor mixed experimental design. The cause relations and answer forms are serving as between-subjects factors, reasoning types serving as within-subjects factors, and the subjects’ feature inference results as dependent variable.In study two, we were probe the influence of typical and causal relations on feature inference and especially the interaction between them. There are also two experiments Experiment three uses2(consequence:generative, preventive)×2(answer forms:option, percentage)×2(typical:high, low)×2(if it contains cause:contain, no contain)four-factor mixed experimental design. Consequence and answer forms are serving as between-subjects factors, typical and if it contain cause serving as within-subjects factors, and the subjects’ feature inference as dependent variable. Experiment four uses2(cause:conjunctive, disjunetive)×2(typical:high, low)×2(results orientation:forward, negative) three-factor mixed experimental design. Cause is serving as between-subjects factor, typical and results orientation are serving as within-subjects factors, and the subjects’ feature inference as dependent variable.Through the research we draw several conclusions:(1) The causal relations did influence feature inference.(2) Answer forms as a framing effects have a certain impact on feature inference, but the impact disappear along with the continuously deepening thinking (3) Under the common cause and common effect, people view cause as more important.(4) On consequence, people carry on feature inference considered both consequence and typical.(4) On cause, people carry on feature inference only considered cause, the typical effect was been destroyed.