ABSTRACT
The lay-scientist orientation does not depend on the idea that people use empirical methods of causal inference: Nisbett and Ross (1980) introduced their book as portraying people as
intuitive scientists who are gifted and generally successful, but whose attempts to understand, predict, and control events in the social sphere are seriously compromised by specific inferential shortcomings. In part, these shortcomings reflect people's failure to use the normative principles and inferential tools that guide formal scientific inquiry. They also reflect people's readiness to apply more simplistic inferential strategies beyond their appropriate limits.
