title: Understanding causal conditionals: a study of individual differences.
abstract: Previous studies have suggested that a minority of university students, of lower cognitive ability, are inclined to interpret abstract conditional statements, if p then q, as if they were conjunctions: p and q. In the present study we administered the conditional truth table task to a large sample of students (n = 160), but using realistic, everyday causal conditionals. We also measured their general intelligence. While individual differences were found, these were not consistent with some participants adopting a conjunctive interpretation of such statements. Rather, it appears that students of lower cognitive ability are rather likely to assume that a conditional implies its converse, so that it means also if q then p. The results are discussed with reference to the suppositional theory of conditionals and our more general account of hypothetical thinking.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Thinking and Language, School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK. jevans@plymouth.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jonathan St B T
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Handley
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neilens
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Over
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D011340:Problem Solving; D013850:Thinking