Causal Schemata

Causal schemata is a reference to the way a person considers plausible causes for a given effect. This method allows a person a create a causal attribution when actual information is limited.

For instance, a child might see rocks on the ground in a grassy field and then creates a "causal attribution" and believe that they had grown there. Or, as in the ancient world, people would see natural phenomena like earthquakes or volcanoes and without a scientific base for understanding it would attribute it to the gods as being angry at the human race.