The influence of verbal mood in exceptive conditional reasoning: indicative versus subjunctive
Psicothema Volumen 27, Número 1
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How to Cite

Espino, O., Rodríguez, R., Oliva, D., & Sánchez Curbelo, I. (2015). The influence of verbal mood in exceptive conditional reasoning: indicative versus subjunctive. Psicothema, 27(Número 1), 40–44. Retrieved from https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/PST/article/view/10626

Abstract

Background: We report the results of two experiments that examine the mental representations underlying the comprehension and reasoning stages of negative exceptive conditionals requiring the subjunctive ('B a menos que A' and 'B a no ser que A' = 'B unless A') and the indicative mood ('B excepto si A' and 'B salvo si A' = 'B except if A'). Method: A truth table task was employed to infer the mental representation that people have in mind when they reason with negative exceptive conditionals. Results: Both experiments showed that participants selected the possibility 'B & not-A' more frequently than the possibility 'not-B & A' when the conditional required the indicative mood, but they selected the possibilities 'B & not-A' and 'not-B & A' equally frequently when the conditional required the subjunctive mood. Conclusions: Exceptive conditionals in the subjunctive mood lead people to think in terms of dual possibilities, whereas the indicative mood leads people to consider just one possibility.
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