WHAT IS HYPOTHESIS? DESCIBE ITS SILENT FEATURES.

A hypothesis is an explanation for a phenomenon which can be tested in some way which ideally either proves or disproves the hypothesis. For the duration of testing, the hypothesis is taken to be true, and the goal of the researcher is to rigorously test the terms of the hypothesis. The concept of the hypothesis is a very important part of the scientific method, and it also holds true in other disciplines as well. For example, some historians have put forward the hypothesis that the Salem Witch Trials were brought about by the consumption of grains contaminated with ergot, resulting in a mass hysteria.

When someone formulates a hypothesis, he or she does so with the intention of testing it, and he or she should not know the outcome of potential tests before the hypothesis is made. When formulating a hypothesis, the ideals of the scientific method are often kept in mind, so the hypothesis is designed to be testable in a way which could be replicated by other people. It is also kept clear and simple, and the hypothesis relies on known information and reasoning.

FEATURES:
Past research has documented a hypothesis-testing strategy wherein evidence is sought to the extent that it is probable under the hypothesis. This strategy may yield non-diagnostic information and even biased confirmation of the hypothesis if the simultaneous probability of the evidence under the alternatives is disregarded. The results of three experiments demonstrated that hypothesis-testers were in fact sensitive to the probability of the evidence under the alternatives. In the first experiment, subjects tested a hypothesis under which two kinds of personal features, A-features and B-features, were highly probable. Subjects could test their hypothesis by selecting questions from a list of questions about A-features and B-features. The results showed that subjects' questions depended on the probability of the features under the alternative. Specifically, when the hypothesis shared A-features with the alternative, subjects preferred questions about B-features, but when the hypothesis shared Bfeatures with the alternative, subjects preferred questions about A-features. Experiment 2 extended these findings to self-generated questions about a broader range of hypotheses and alternatives. Experiment 3 found that subjects who were provided with a specific alternative asked more diagnostic questions than subjects who were not provided with a specific alternative. Together, these results suggest that the process of generating and evaluating alternatives plays a crucial role in social hypothesis-testing and categorization.