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      Yes, but what's the mechanism? (don't expect an easy answer).

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          Abstract

          Psychologists increasingly recommend experimental analysis of mediation. This is a step in the right direction because mediation analyses based on nonexperimental data are likely to be biased and because experiments, in principle, provide a sound basis for causal inference. But even experiments cannot overcome certain threats to inference that arise chiefly or exclusively in the context of mediation analysis-threats that have received little attention in psychology. The authors describe 3 of these threats and suggest ways to improve the exposition and design of mediation tests. Their conclusion is that inference about mediators is far more difficult than previous research suggests and is best tackled by an experimental research program that is specifically designed to address the challenges of mediation analysis.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          J Pers Soc Psychol
          Journal of personality and social psychology
          American Psychological Association (APA)
          1939-1315
          0022-3514
          Apr 2010
          : 98
          : 4
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Department of Political Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. john.bullock@yale.edu
          Article
          2010-05457-002
          10.1037/a0018933
          20307128
          1917de9f-e381-4dc9-9f0e-3f70c161a9bf
          History

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