EVENT ACCESSIBILITY AND CONTEXT EFFECTS IN CAUSAL INFERENCE - JUDGMENT OF A DIFFERENT ORDER

Two studies examine how the influence of an accessible context event a ffects causal judgments of an ambiguous target as a function of the or der in which the two events are explained. It is proposed that whether judgment of a target event is contrasted from or assimilated toward t he implications of a context event depends on the distinctness of the context information at the time of judgment. Results supported the pre diction that when participants were required to judge a context event before a. target event, the context event would be perceived as more d istinct, leading to comparison and contrast, whereas the reverse judgm ental order would render the same context event relatively indistinct and lead to assimilation. Findings are discussed in the light of liter ature on causal judgments and recent models of assimilation and contra st effects.