An Experimental Research on Causal Illusion (in Chinese)

Abstract

The research examined humans’ causal attribution of response-outcome under controllable and uncontrollable conditions respectively and attempted to find out whether providing appropriate external cues could be beneficial to them in making accurate judgments. The results indicate: 1) under controllable conditions, the delay of feedback might lead to causal illusion; 2) under uncontrollable conditions, the subjects developed superstition and illusion of control rather than helplessness; 3) providing appropriate external cues helped the subjects eliminate their former established causal illusion.