@inproceedings{a93b470a508f484ba8a9d8f0e85fb589,
title = "Good Decisions, Good Causes: Optimality as a Constraint on Attribution of Causal Responsibility",
abstract = "How do we assign causal responsibility for others' decisions? The present experiments examine the possibility that an optimality constraint is used in these attributions, with agents considered less responsible for outcomes when the decisions that led to those outcomes were suboptimal. Our first two experiments investigate scenarios in which agents are choosing among multiple options, varying the efficacy of the forsaken alternatives to examine the role of optimality in attributing responsibility. Experiment 3 tests whether optimality considerations also play a role in attribution of causality more generally. Taken together, these studies indicate that optimality constraints are used in lay decision theory and in causal judgment.",
keywords = "Causal attribution, decision-making, lay decision theory, responsibility, theory of mind",
author = "Johnson, {Samuel G.B.} and Rips, {Lance J.}",
note = "Funding Information: This research was partially supported by funds awarded to the first author by the Yale University Department of Psychology. We thank Fabrizio Cariani, Winston Chang, Angie Johnston, Doug Medin, Emily Morson, Axel Mueller, Eyal Sagi, and Laurie Santos for their insightful suggestions, and the city of Nashville, TN for its inspirational, sunny November weather. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} CogSci 2013.All rights reserved.; 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society - Cooperative Minds: Social Interaction and Group Dynamics, CogSci 2013 ; Conference date: 31-07-2013 Through 03-08-2013",
year = "2013",
language = "English (US)",
series = "Cooperative Minds: Social Interaction and Group Dynamics - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2013",
publisher = "The Cognitive Science Society",
pages = "2662--2667",
editor = "Markus Knauff and Natalie Sebanz and Michael Pauen and Ipke Wachsmuth",
booktitle = "Cooperative Minds",
}