EDHD 411 Lecture 4: Causality notes
27 Feb 2018
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Components of causal understanding: covariation, mechanism, intervention. Covariation: x causes y means that they are statistically associated with each other. X and y covary: often the only evidence that we have about causal strength is the covariation (or correlation) between cause and effect, covariation is not causation two things can covary for other reasons. X causes y, could also be that y causes x don"t know what the correlation is, could cause each other, or could have an external third cause affecting x and y. Is causal action inferred by observation alone: two-year-olds can understand a relationship between two things, but may not understand cause and effect. Yes- they are able to estimate the probability of a particular effect, not just its frequency. Monday, february 20, 2017: seemingly abstract mechanisms, they are a powerful part of our cognition. We do not notice: until an artificial example like the blicket detector makes us notice.
