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Social Area Brown Bag

Marlone Henderson - University of Texas
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
12:00-1:30 PM
4464 East Hall Map
The Benefits of Abstraction for Reducing Causal Uncertainty

Coping with causal uncertainty, i.e., uncertainty about why things happen, is a common challenge in people’s daily lives. Indeed, people often seek to understand why events happen, especially negative events, whether they are personal (e.g., a product failure) or societal (e.g., a mass shooting) in nature. Moreover, reducing causal uncertainty is important to one’s psychological well-being, as causal uncertainty is associated with negative affect, anxiety, and a perceived lack of control. Thus, cognitive strategies are often activated to reduce feelings of causal uncertainty. Using a combination of controlled, laboratory and real-world, large-scale datasets, the present research explores the interplay between abstract thinking and causal uncertainty. Specifically, evidence will be presented that supports the notion that a more abstract perspective reduces feelings of causal uncertainty by creating a simpler mental representation about the potential causes behind events. Additionally, evidence will be presented that supports the notion that as people benefit from abstract thinking via reductions in causal uncertainty, people come to automatically activate a goal to think more abstractly under situations that induce causal uncertainty. Finally, theoretical and practical implications for psychology and communication will be discussed.
Building: East Hall
Event Type: Meeting
Tags: Psychology
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Department of Psychology, Social Psychology