Lexical Basis of Causal Attribution and Explanation

Abstract

This chapter explains how laypeople generate and evaluate explanations. Traditionally, deliberate processing is assumed to be involved in generating and evaluating explanations. However, the author proposes two stages account for causal attribution and explanation to explain how laypeople generate and evaluate explanations quickly: a semi-autonomous processing stage which is primarily dependent on the lexical information of the verb, and a deliberate processing stage that takes many factors into account. The author proposes that verb types play an important role in determining the type of explanation and calls it verb cue hypothesis. In addition, the author proposes that verb cue hypothesis works as a cognitive shortcut that comprises the first stage of the two-stages account. Empirical evidence for the verb cue hypothesis was found in studies on causal attribution and explanation type preference.