Inductive reasoning is constrained by several principles that
govern how we choose to generalize evidence to new cases. Here
we focus on diversity principle of induction, which describes the
tendency to favor inductive arguments that include a diverse
sample of evidence over those that include a homogenous sample
of evidence. Several studies reveal that adherence to the diversity
principle is influenced by a range of conceptual processes, such
as an individuals’ prior knowledge or expectations about the
categories and properties represented in the evidence. In the two
experiments reported here we examined a contextual factor of the
available evidence – the spatial separation of evidence exemplars
– that we expected would impact how people reason about
diverse samples. We found that when the pictures (Experiment 1)
or labels (Experiment 2) used to represent evidence exemplars
were presented far apart (approximately 10 cm), participants
showed a greater willingness to endorse arguments with diverse
exemplars than those with homogenous sample, relative to when
these exemplars were placed in close proximity (approximately 1
cm apart). We discuss these results as they relate to existing
models of induction.