Causal Stories
Story 1
Lauren and Jane work for the same company. They each need to use a computer for
work sometimes. Unfortunately, the computer isn't very powerful. If two people
are logged on at the same time, it usually crashes. So the company decided to
institute an official policy. It declared that Lauren would be the only one
permitted to use the computer in the mornings and that Jane would be the only
one permitted to use the computer in the afternoons. As expected, Lauren logged
on the computer the next day at 9:00 am. But Jane decided to disobey the
official policy. She also logged on at 9:00 am. The computer crashed
immediately.
Question
Did Jane cause the computer to crash?
Majority Answer: Yes
Answer distribution over 25 people:
Is Ambiguous: False
Factor
These are the factors and their attributes present in this story.
Norm Type: Prescriptive Norm
Causal Structure: Conjunctive
Action Omission: Action
Event Normality: Abnormal
Time: Same Time Cause