Interventions do not solely benefit causal learning: Being told what to do results in worse learning than doing it yourself

Previous research has demonstrated that causal learning is facilitated by observing interventions on a causal system (e.g., Lagnado & Sloman, 2002). Does the origin of these interventions influence learning? Sobel (2003) demonstrated that causal learning was facilitated when learners observed the results of their own interventions as opposed the results of another’s interventions, even though the data learners observed were identical. Learners in the former condition were able to test various causal hypotheses, while learners in the latter condition were less able to do so. The present experiment followed up on these findings by comparing causal learning based on observing the results of a learner’s own interventions with causal learning based on observing data from a set of interventions a learner is forced to make. Although learners observed the same interventions and subsequent data, learning was better when participants observed the results of their own interventions. These findings are discussed in relation to various computational models of causal learning.