The diversity effect in inductive reasoning depends on sampling assumptions.

ABSTRACT: A key phenomenon in inductive reasoning is the diversity effect, whereby a novel property is more likely to be generalized when it is shared by an evidence sample composed of diverse instances than a sample composed of similar instances. We outline a Bayesian model and an experimental study that show that the diversity effect depends on the assumption that samples of evidence were selected by a helpful agent (strong sampling). Inductive arguments with premises containing either diverse or nondiverse evidence samples were presented under different sampling conditions, where instructions and filler items indicated that the samples were selected intentionally (strong sampling) or randomly (weak sampling). A robust diversity effect was found under strong sampling, but was attenuated under weak

SUBMITTER: Hayes BK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6558053 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature