Abstract for: Learning How Accumulation Works

In order to understand dynamic systems, people need to understand and account for accumulation of a system’s stocks. Failure to account for accumulation begets errors in prediction with respect to the behavior of the system, such as the decay rate of a stock. Recall, for example, authorities’ underestimating of how long it would take for the Beijing pollution to clear up before the 2008 Olympics. Even though the mechanics of accumulation are often straightforward, even highly educated people often misdiagnose behavior of simple stock-flow systems. Moreover, this effect has been shown to be rather robust across problem domains and presentations methods. Across a series of studies, we further explore the resistance of Stock-Flow failure to correction by training of various types.