Inside Ockham's razor: A mechanism driving preferences for simpler explanations.

People often prefer simpler explanations, defined as those that posit the presence of fewer causes (e.g., positing the presence of a single cause, Cause A, rather than two causes, Causes B and C, to explain observed effects). Here, we test one hypothesis about the mechanisms underlying this preferen...

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Bibliographic Details

Published in:	Memory & Cognition Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 746 - 775
Main Authors:	Vrantsidis, Thalia H., Lombrozo, Tania
Format:	Article
Published:	Springer Nature Apr2025
Subjects:	United States Manipulative behavior Decision making Problem solving Achievement tests Judgment (Psychology) Descriptive statistics Mathematical models Comparative studies Theory Critical thinking
Online Access:	View this record in EBSCOhost