@inproceedings{e7bb4382459d4ba4858f4aa6f61d00d9,
title = "Are Symptom Clusters Explanatory? A Study in Mental Disorders and Non-Causal Explanation",
abstract = "Three experiments investigate whether and why people accept explanations for symptoms that appeal to mental disorders, such as: “She experiences delusions because she has schizophrenia.” Such explanations are potentially puzzling, as mental disorder diagnoses are made on the basis of symptoms, and the DSM implicitly rejects a commitment to some common, underlying cause. Do laypeople nonetheless conceptualize mental disorder classifications in causal terms? Or is this an instance of non-causal explanation? Experiment 1 shows that such explanations are indeed found explanatory. Experiment 2 presents participants with novel disorders that are stipulated to involve or not involve an underlying cause across symptoms and people. Disorder classifications are found more explanatory when a causal basis is stipulated, or when participants infer that one is present (even after it's denied in the text). Finally, Experiment 3 finds that merely having a principled, but non-causal, basis for defining symptom clusters is insufficient to reach the explanatory potential of categories with a stipulated common cause. We discuss the implications for accounts of explanation and for psychiatry.",
keywords = "explanation, mental disorders, understanding",
author = "Wilkenfeld, {Daniel A.} and Jennifer Asselin and Tania Lombrozo",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2016. All rights reserved.; 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Recognizing and Representing Events, CogSci 2016 ; Conference date: 10-08-2016 Through 13-08-2016",
year = "2016",
language = "English (US)",
series = "Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2016",
publisher = "The Cognitive Science Society",
pages = "1979--1984",
editor = "Anna Papafragou and Daniel Grodner and Daniel Mirman and Trueswell, {John C.}",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2016",
}