ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. Heider as well as other psychologists propose that consciousness prefers simplicity. This preference implies that consciousness is a dynamic process that moves to maximize simplicity within its boundaries. If one element of a unit formation is defined as an 'effect' event and is connected with another event such that they become temporally ordered aspects of a single extended cause-effect sequence, then the unit-formation process is a process of causal attribution. To achieve maximum consistency in cause-effect unit formations, the attribution process tends to join a particular effect with the event that is more consistent with it than are other events present in consciousness. The consistency principle as applied to causal attribution predicts that causality for an effect will be attributed to the event with properties that are more similar to the properties of that effect than are those of other events in consciousness.
