[A] We generally recognize that future circumstances are somehow caused or conditioned by present ones.
[B] Besides,we also learn that such patterns of cause and effect are probabilistic in nature.
[C] Thus, students learn that studying hard produces good grades in most instances,but not every time.
[D] Humans seem predisposed to undertake this task by using causal and probabilistic reasoning.
[E] Practically all people,and many other animals as well,exhibit a desire to predict their future circumstances.
[F] We learn that getting an education will affect how much money we earn later in life and that swimming beyond the reef may bring an unhappy encounter with a shark.
[G] That is,the effects occur more often when the causes occur than when the causes are absent—but not always.
[H] Sharks,on the other hand—whether or not they reason the matter through—may learn that hanging around the reef often brings a happy encounter with unhappy swimmers.
