Analysing the Conjunction Fallacy as a Fact

Tomas Veloz, Olha Sobetska

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Since the seminal paper by Tversky and Kahneman, the ‘conjunction fallacy’ has been the subject of multiple debates and become a fundamental challenge for cognitive theories in decision-making. In this chapter, we take a rather uncommon perspective on this phenomenon. Instead of trying to explain the nature or causes of the conjunction fallacy (intensional definition), we analyse its range of factual possibilities (extensional definition). We show that the majority of research on the conjunction fallacy, according to our sample of experiments reviewed which covers the literature between 1983 and 2016, has focused on a narrow part of the a priori factual possibilities, implying that explanations of the conjunction fallacy are fundamentally biased by the short scope of possibilities explored. The latter is a rather curious aspect of the research evolution in the conjunction fallacy considering that the very nature of it is motivated by extensional considerations.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationSTEAM-H
    Subtitle of host publicationScience, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics and Health
    PublisherSpringer Nature
    Pages101-111
    Number of pages11
    ISBN (Electronic)9783031418624
    ISBN (Print)9783031418617
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2023

    Publication series

    NameSTEAM-H: Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics and Health
    VolumePart F1986
    ISSN (Print)2520-193X
    ISSN (Electronic)2520-1948

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    Acknowledgments T.V was funded by the John Templeton Foundation as part of the project “The Origins of Goal-Directedness” (grant ID61733).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

    Keywords

    • Conjunction fallacy
    • Data review
    • Decision making
    • Experimental setting
    • Factuality
    • Possible experiences

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