Why are we obsessed with causation?
www.psmag.com/science/c… miller-mccune/main_feed (Pacific Standard - Main Feed
If one thing must constitute human nature, it must be our overwhelming tendency to attribute causes and effects to the things around us. The whole article gives interesting exmaples.
In the 1940s, psychologist Albert Michotte theorized that “we see causality, just as directly as we see color,” as if it is omnipresent. To make his case, he devised presentations in which paper shapes moved around and came into contact with each other. When subjects—who could only see the shapes moving against a solid-colored background—were asked to describe what they saw, they concocted quite imaginative causal stories.