Generating Probable Consequences

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine some of the factors that influence peoples' generation of likely consequences associated with a major hypothetical life event, involving the loss of the function of one of one's own limbs. The design included four limbs involving two inclusion relations, thumb-hand and foot-leg, and two viewpoints involving consequences for oneself or for others. The results indicated that subjects generate more numerous consequences for primary than for secondary consequences, more for short-term consequences than for medium- or long-term ones, mote for an inclusive limb than for an included limb (e.g., hand vs thumb), and more pertaining to oneself than to others. Individual differences in the generation of consequences were not associated with prior experience involving functional loss of the limbs tested or with general differences in academic performance. The results permit inference about some of the mental processes that accompany consequence generation.