Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals
Autor(a) principal: | |
---|---|
Data de Publicação: | 2009 |
Outros Autores: | , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/1223 |
Resumo: | This article tackles factual and counterfactual 'unless' expressions such as "Virginia will not pass the exam unless she works harder" and "Virginia would not passed the exam unless she had worked harder". 'Unless' is a negative conditional that is semantically equivalent to 'if not'. However, some authers have claimed that 'unless' is more closely related to 'only if' than to 'if not'. We report two experiments that compare conditional inferences from 'unless' to 'if-not' amd 'only if' factual and counterfactual conditionals. The first experiment compared 'not-A unless B' and 'if not-B then not-A' and showed a difference between affirmative (i.e. B therefore A, A therefore B)and negative (i.e. not-B therefore not-A, not-A therefore not-B) inferences only for factual 'if not'. The second experiment compared 'not-A unless B' and 'A only if B' and showed no differences between affirmative and negative inferences for factual 'unless' and 'only if', whereas the affirmative inferences were higher for countrafactual 'unless' and 'only if'. In both experiments latency results confirm that inferences from 'B to A' were faster than from 'A to B' for unless and 'only if'. The implications of the results for the mental representations and processing of counterfactual 'unless', 'if not' and 'only if' are discussed in the context of mental model theory. |
id |
RCAP_dbe0559e5f7435db182b9f3a3e27d76f |
---|---|
oai_identifier_str |
oai:repositorio.ispa.pt:10400.12/1223 |
network_acronym_str |
RCAP |
network_name_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository_id_str |
7160 |
spelling |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionalsThis article tackles factual and counterfactual 'unless' expressions such as "Virginia will not pass the exam unless she works harder" and "Virginia would not passed the exam unless she had worked harder". 'Unless' is a negative conditional that is semantically equivalent to 'if not'. However, some authers have claimed that 'unless' is more closely related to 'only if' than to 'if not'. We report two experiments that compare conditional inferences from 'unless' to 'if-not' amd 'only if' factual and counterfactual conditionals. The first experiment compared 'not-A unless B' and 'if not-B then not-A' and showed a difference between affirmative (i.e. B therefore A, A therefore B)and negative (i.e. not-B therefore not-A, not-A therefore not-B) inferences only for factual 'if not'. The second experiment compared 'not-A unless B' and 'A only if B' and showed no differences between affirmative and negative inferences for factual 'unless' and 'only if', whereas the affirmative inferences were higher for countrafactual 'unless' and 'only if'. In both experiments latency results confirm that inferences from 'B to A' were faster than from 'A to B' for unless and 'only if'. The implications of the results for the mental representations and processing of counterfactual 'unless', 'if not' and 'only if' are discussed in the context of mental model theory.Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences of the University of ValenciaRepositório do ISPAGarcía-Madruga, Juan A.Moreno-Ríos, SérgioQuelhas, Ana CristinaJuhos, Csongor2012-02-13T21:19:46Z2009-01-01T00:00:00Z2009-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/1223engPsicológica, 30, 217-2431576-8597info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2022-09-05T16:37:19Zoai:repositorio.ispa.pt:10400.12/1223Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T15:19:20.206473Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals |
title |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals |
spellingShingle |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals García-Madruga, Juan A. |
title_short |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals |
title_full |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals |
title_fullStr |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals |
title_sort |
Reasoning with 'unless' counterfactual conditionals |
author |
García-Madruga, Juan A. |
author_facet |
García-Madruga, Juan A. Moreno-Ríos, Sérgio Quelhas, Ana Cristina Juhos, Csongor |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Moreno-Ríos, Sérgio Quelhas, Ana Cristina Juhos, Csongor |
author2_role |
author author author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Repositório do ISPA |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
García-Madruga, Juan A. Moreno-Ríos, Sérgio Quelhas, Ana Cristina Juhos, Csongor |
description |
This article tackles factual and counterfactual 'unless' expressions such as "Virginia will not pass the exam unless she works harder" and "Virginia would not passed the exam unless she had worked harder". 'Unless' is a negative conditional that is semantically equivalent to 'if not'. However, some authers have claimed that 'unless' is more closely related to 'only if' than to 'if not'. We report two experiments that compare conditional inferences from 'unless' to 'if-not' amd 'only if' factual and counterfactual conditionals. The first experiment compared 'not-A unless B' and 'if not-B then not-A' and showed a difference between affirmative (i.e. B therefore A, A therefore B)and negative (i.e. not-B therefore not-A, not-A therefore not-B) inferences only for factual 'if not'. The second experiment compared 'not-A unless B' and 'A only if B' and showed no differences between affirmative and negative inferences for factual 'unless' and 'only if', whereas the affirmative inferences were higher for countrafactual 'unless' and 'only if'. In both experiments latency results confirm that inferences from 'B to A' were faster than from 'A to B' for unless and 'only if'. The implications of the results for the mental representations and processing of counterfactual 'unless', 'if not' and 'only if' are discussed in the context of mental model theory. |
publishDate |
2009 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2009-01-01T00:00:00Z 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z 2012-02-13T21:19:46Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/1223 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/1223 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Psicológica, 30, 217-243 1576-8597 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences of the University of Valencia |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences of the University of Valencia |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
instname_str |
Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
|
_version_ |
1799130052486496256 |