The Detection of Stimulus Bias and the Role of Counterfactual Thinking

When attempting to learn probabilities and covariations between causes and effects from experience, people experience a surprising deficit in turning repeated exposures of a stimulus into knowledge of the stimulus’ pattern. People fail to detect even perfect cause-effect relationships as such. The current study tested counterfactual thinking (i.e., mentally simulating alternatives to reality) as a potential mechanism underlying this deficit in learning by manipulating the participation level of the participants (observation vs. prediction). It is proposed that counterfactual thoughts interfere with the memory of the repeated exposures of cause-effect relationships and therefore inhibit experiential learning itself. The current study also attempted to demonstrate the role of cognitive load in this phenomenon. A significant effect of Task Role (observers vs. predictors) was found for both counterfactual generation and bias detection. Findings are discussed in light of learning theory, future research directions, and applied implications.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Rubin, Asher Landey

• Counterfactual thoughts

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/57149

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/57149