Causal inference
Principles unifying experimental and observational accounts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6458495 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lourens Waldorp (0000-0002-5941-4625, University of Amsterdam), Franziska Schutzeichel (0000-0002-5405-6283, University of Groningen), Peter J De Jong (0000-0002-3512-3663, University of Groningen) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 575-599 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory & Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-3543 • E-ISSN: 1461-7447 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/09593543251325506 |
| OpenAlex | W4410840492 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 30 |
Causal reasoning is closely related to interventions. We believe that if A causes B , then a change in A leads to a change in the probability distribution of B . This interventionist view of causality is natural to many, in particular to social scientists, because it is close to the standard paradigm of experimentation. This has led some to believe that the only meaningful way to obtain any causal claim is by experimentation. Here we suggest that causal claims can also be obtained from observational data, although with more limitations than with experimental data. We claim this by showing that the interventionist view of causality is on an equal footing with searching for causal claims in observational data (the causal evidence view of causality) in terms of the criteria to assess whether there is a causal relation. The limitations of obtaining causal claims from observational data result in more uncertainty, especially because of possible confounders; this uncertainty is made explicit in results from such causal discovery. We illustrate the possibilities and limitations with observational data in an empirical example on eating disorder symptomatology
Causal inference · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Econometrics · Epistemology · Inference · Observational study · Bayesian Modeling and Causal Inference · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Mathematics · Medicine · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology
Causation, Prediction, and Search
Graphical Models
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Causal Inference for Statistics, Social, and Biomedical Sciences
Causality
Causation, Prediction, and Search
Thinking Clearly About Correlations and Causation
The Direction of Time
Cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders
Causal inference in statistics
Interventions and Causal Inference
Independence, Invariance and the Causal Markov Condition
The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research
Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |