Reasoning about certainty and uncertainty in concrete, causal, and propositional contexts.

Examined children's comprehension of certainty and uncertainty within the context of concrete and propositional reasoning tasks. 69 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders were given G. Pieraut-LeBonniec's (1980) box task and a multisufficient causality task to assess reasoning about certainty and uncertainty in concrete contexts. Ss were also given conditional syllogisms to assess this ability in a propositional context. Half of the Ss at each grade were given contramanded syllogism task statements intended to block erroneous conversational inferences made about these conditional statements. Results indicate that there were no developmental differences in reasoning about concrete certainty, but significant improvement occurred with age in reasoning about concrete uncertainty. On syllogisms, only the 5th graders benefited from contramanding and thus demonstrated an understanding of propositional uncertainty. Correlational and error analyses showed that the discrimination between certainty and uncertainty was mastered in concrete contexts prior to the time when this discrimination occurred in propositional contexts. It is concluded that reasoning about concrete certainty and uncertainty requires a different competence than that required for reasoning about propositional certainty and uncertainty. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Form and content in the development of deductive reasoning.

Three experiments explored the development of formal logical reasoning between Grades 4 and 12 and the role of semantic content in the solution of Wason's (1966) selection task problems. In Experiment 1, subjects in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades were tested on several familiar-content and several abstract-content selection problems. In Experiment 2, subjects in Grades 4, 8, and 12 were assessed on the familiar problems used in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, subjects in Grades 4, 6, and 8 were tested on novel familiar-content problems, familiar-content problems with conditional clauses reversed, a meaningful but unfamiliar problem, and an abstract problem. The results suggested that formal logical reasoning is not generally present during the 4th or 6th grades and that formal logical competence becomes available in adolescence. A general facilitation effect was found for familiar semantic content, but this was qualified by one anomalous familiar-content problem in each experiment. The results are discussed in the context of the competence-moderator-performance model, which maintains that both logical knowledge and world knowledge are necessary but distinct features of adequate reasoning performance. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasoning, Integration, Inference Alteration, and Text Comprehension.

This paper reports how the study of formal logical reasoning provides insight into more everyday types of reasoning, such as that involved in language comprehension. Both of these types of cognition are thought to involve the use of mental models, and so it is reasonable to think that the cognitive operations needed for formal logical reasoning would be involved in everyday reasoning as well. We focused on three aspects of formal reasoning: (a) the integration of information into a common mental model, (b) the drawing of inferences, and (c) the coordination of alternative possibilities. We were able to show that the integration and inference components were related to narrative comprehension processes, but the coordination of alternative models was not. Thus, there is evidence for some overlap in the mental processes used in formal and everyday reasoning. This further justifies the study of formal logical reasoning as a window into certain types of everyday reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning to interpret conditional sentences: A developmental study.

Evaluated the capacity of 71 3rd, 70 6th, and 64 9th graders to learn 3 interpretations of abstract conditional sentences. With appropriate feedback on responses in the syllogistic, conditional sentence reasoning task, Ss were able to learn conjunctive and biconditional interpretations but not conditional. Indeed, only one-third of the 9th graders mastered the conditional interpretation. The patterns of errors across the 8 forms of the argument varied both developmentally and with the required interpretation. Results indicate significant developmental constraints on reasoning required by formal, inferential tasks using language connectives. Learning the more difficult conditional interpretation requires an understanding of asymmetry between propositions, an ability which most preadolescent children do not seem to have. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conversational comprehension processes are responsible for reasoning fallacies in children as well as adults: If is not the biconditional.

Proposes that children do poorly on reasoning from premises of the form if p then q not because they construe if as a biconditional but rather because they use discourse comprehension processes that lead them to accept the invited inferences if not p then not q and if q then p. This hypothesis predicts that children should respond appropriately to premises in which the invited inferences are countermanded. In Exp I, 24 undergraduates and 44 10-yr-olds were given conditional reasoning problems. Some of these had a major premise consisting of a single if–then sentence, while others had a more elaborate major premise in which the invited inferences were explicitly countermanded. In Exp II, Ss were 24 undergraduates, 20 10-yr-olds, and 34 7-yr-olds. In some problems the major premise consisted of a single if–then statement; in others, the major premise consisted of 3 such statements, 2 of which shared the same consequent, thus implicitly countermanding the invited inferences. In both experiments, all age groups committed the fallacies in the simple condition but not in the more complex condition. It is concluded that children's representation of if distinguishes necessary from merely invited inferences. Data suggest a collection of countermandable context-dependent inferences of varying degrees of invitingness associated with if. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditional reasoning, representation, and level of abstraction.

This study examined the idea that (1) reasoning involves construction of mental representations (models) of premises and that (2) there is a developmental progression in the ability of Ss to reason with models containing concrete and abstract elements. Exp 1 found that for 13- and 16-yr-old Ss, reasoning with abstract content was more difficult than with concrete content. Younger Ss appeared to rely more on concrete representations that used real-world knowledge than on more general abstract representations. Exp 2 explored order effects in the presentation of concrete and abstract problems. Abstract followed by concrete problems led to reduced concrete-problem performance for high school students but did not affect performance for university students. These results support the hypotheses and suggest that development of formal reasoning abilities goes through 2 levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic familiarity, relevance, and the development of deductive reasoning.

This study examined the developmental progression of deductive reasoning between Grades 5 and 12 and the role of semantic content relevance in the solution of the Wason selection task. A rating procedure was used to establish the degree of relevance between antecedent and consequent clauses of conditional (if…, then.…) propositions. Results were consistent with the general position that formal deductive reasoning becomes available in adolescence and that relevant propositional content is not a sufficient condition for adequate deductive reasoning performance. High-relevant content enhanced level of performance for those having deductive reasoning competence, and low-relevant content failed to support adequate performance. Findings are interpreted within the distinction between the use of the inference rule competence and the facilitation of relevant semantic content. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of print exposure quality and inference construction on syllogistic reasoning.

This study extended the work of S. Siddiqui, R. F. West, and K. E. Stanovich (1998), who studied the link between general print exposure and syllogistic reasoning. It was hypothesized that exposure to certain text structures that contain well-delineated logical forms, such as popularized scientific texts, would be a better predictor of deductive reasoning skill than general print exposure, which is not sensitive to the quality of an individual's reading activity. Furthermore, it was predicted that the ability to generate explanatory bridging inferences while reading would also be predictive of syllogistic reasoning. Undergraduate students (N = 112) were tested for vocabulary, nonverbal cognitive ability, exposure to general print, exposure to popularized scientific literature, and the ability to comprehend texts distinguished by the number of inferences that must be generated to support comprehension. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that a combined measure of exposure to general and scientific literature was a significant predictor of syllogistic reasoning ability. Additionally, the ability to comprehend high-inference-load texts was related to solving syllogisms that were inconsistent with world knowledge, indicating an overlap in deductive reasoning skill and text comprehension processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The child's demystification of psychological defense mechanisms: A structural and developmental analysis.

Explored possible relationships between the cognitive developmental level of preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational children and their success in interpreting each of 8 commonly described mechanisms of psychological defense. Ss were 30 children in kindergarten–Grade 6. Based on a formal analysis of the logical transformations inherent in various defensive strategies, 3 distinct families of defense were identified, each characterized by complex modes of restructuring the appearance of more candid forms of affect expression. The transformations characteristic of these alternative modes of defense were hypothesized to mirror a counterpart set of cognitive operations including the ability to take the inverse or reciprocal of various elements of thought, or to combine such 1st-order operations into 2nd-order operations upon operations. Results indicate that preoperational children, lacking the requisite cognitive skills, fail to understand defensive transformations of any sort; that concrete operational Ss commonly understand defenses involving inverse and reciprocal operations; and that only formal operational Ss are able to decode defenses involving 2nd-order transformations involving operations upon operations. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulating transitions in moral reasoning as a function of stage of cognitive development.

Examined L. Kohlberg's proposition that cognitive development is necessary though not sufficient for moral development. The specific hypothesis tested, in a pre–posttest control group design involving 44 female adolescents (mean age 16.2 yrs), was that Moral Stage 3 Ss who have attained "early basic formal operations" are more susceptible to attempts to stimulate moral development than Stage 3 Ss who have attained only "beginning formal operations" and lack the cognitive prerequisites for moral transitions. A series of pretests (verbal reasoning and logico-physical problems, and Moral Judgment Interview) was used to obtain Ss who met the appropriate cognitive and moral criteria. The treatment exposed Ss to Stage 4 reasoning in individual role-playing situations. A moral judgment posttest followed 1 wk later. Results confirm the hypothesis, thus providing evidence for the proposition that cognitive development is necessary for moral reasoning development. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in syllogistic reasoning: Deduction rules or mental models?

Conducted 2 experiments to examine the correlates of reasoning ability on a syllogistic reasoning task in Ss who lacked formal background in logic, focusing on the extent to which reasoning proficiency arises from the consideration of multiple possible set relations (mental models) as opposed to explicit or implicit reliance on deduction rules. Exp I investigated whether differences between good and poor reasoners occurred early or late in the process of reasoning. 24 undergraduates, designated as good or poor readers, were presented with 16 syllogisms to solve. In Exp II, 16 good and 15 poor undergraduate reasoners and 7 graduate students who had studied logic were asked to state their initial impression of the correct conclusion to a syllogism. Overall findings reveal evidence for the use of both models and rules. Although good and poor reasoners differed even when time constraints were imposed, consistent with the supposition of a better set of rules among good reasoners, good reasoners showed more improvement and chose to take longer amounts of time when time constraints were removed, suggesting that they considered more alternatives than did the poor reasoners. A comparison between these 2 groups and Ss with experience in logic revealed striking differences in both accuracy and speed. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ability and sex differences in the acquisition of formal operations.

Gave 3 Piagetian formal operations tasks to bright and average females in Grades 6 and 8 and males in Grades 5 and 7. Ability level was significantly related to formal reasoning acquisition. Significant sex differences were found only among the younger students, with bright males scoring higher than bright females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transactive discussions with peers and adults.

Piaget (1932) hypothesized that peer and adult–child discussions of moral dilemmas are qualitatively different and that children are more likely to use reasoning when interacting with peers. To test this hypothesis, the present study compared the interactive styles of child–child and adult–child dyads engaged in discussions of moral dilemmas, focusing on the use of logical operations (transacts). 48 7- and 11-yr-old girls were paired with either a female agemate or their mother. Ss used transacts in a higher proportion of their conversational turns when interacting with peers than when interacting with mothers. Ss produced proportionally more transactive responses when interacting with mothers because mothers produced proportionally more requests for idea clarification than did peer partners. Self-generated transacts, on the other hand, were produced proportionally more often with peers. When paired with peers, Ss produced transactive statements that operated on the partner's logic more often rather than clarifying their own logic. Results support Piaget's contention that moral discussions with peers feature a more spontaneous use of reasoning than do discussions with adults. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of reporting beliefs in syllogistically related propositions on the recognition of unmentioned propositions.

Asked 160 male and female undergraduates to complete a belief questionnaire that contained propositions of the form "X implies Y." In some cases, the questionnaire items included both premises and the conclusion of a syllogism of the form "A implies B, B implies C, A implies C." In other cases, one or more of these propositions was omitted. Ss were later asked whether each of several propositions had or had not appeared in the questionnaire. Correct recognition of a statement that had actually been in the questionnaire was not appreciably affected by other statements in which beliefs were reported. However, false recognition of a statement that had not been in the questionnaire was substantially increased by reporting beliefs in other statements that were syllogistically related to it. These effects occurred over and above the effect of simply having been exposed previously to the concepts specified in the propositions being recognized and occurred regardless of whether the proposition to be recognized was the conclusion or a premise of the syllogism. Results are interpreted in terms both of the role of syllogistic reasoning in belief processes and of a conceptualization based on R. P. Abelson and C. M. Reich's (1969) implicational molecule theory. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental increases and decreases in solutions of conditional syllogism problems.

281 students (Grades 8, 10, and 12 and college sophomores) were given a 16-item conditional reasoning test which contained 1 each of the arguments generated by the orthogonal arrangement of (a) stating the major premise in each of the 4 combinations of positive and negative instances of the antecedent or consequent, and (b) stating the 2nd premise in each of the 4 cases of affirming or denying the antecedent or consequent. Analysis of results indicated little development after Grade 8 for the easy affirm-antecedent problems, substantial increase on the deny-antecedent and affirm-consequent problems from below chance at the 8th grade to mediocre performance levels for college sophomores and a surprising monotonic decrease in performance on the deny-consequent problems from Grade 8 to the college sophomore year. An error analysis was performed which revealed that the poor performance of younger Ss and even adults may be partially an artifact of students misinterpreting the "if, then" conditional statements as biconditional ("if and only if, then") propositions. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Content and Strategy in Syllogistic Reasoning.

Syllogistic reasoning has been investigated as a general deductive process (Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991; Revlis, 1975; Rips, 1994). However, several studies have demonstrated the role of cognitive strategies in this type of reasoning. These strategies focus on the method used by the participants (Ford, 1995; Gilhooly, Logie, Wetherick, & Wynn, 1993) and strategies related to different interpretations of the quantified premises (Roberts, Newstead, & Griggs, 2001). In this paper, we propose that content (as well as individual cognitive differences) is an important factor in inducing a certain strategy or method for syllogistic resolution. Specifically, we suggest that syllogisms with a causal conditional premise that can be extended by an agency premise induce the use of a conditional method. To demonstrate this, we carried out two experiments. Experiment 1 provided evidence that this type of syllogism leads participants to draw the predicted conditional conclusions, in contrast with control content syllogisms. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the drawing of conditional conclusions is based on a causal conditional to an agent representation of the syllogism premises. These results support the role of content as inducing a particular strategy for syllogistic resolution. The implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic intrinsic motivation in elementary and junior high school students.

Investigated in 3 studies the significance of academic intrinsic motivation (AIM) for children's education. Ss for Studies 1–3 were 77 4th graders and 64 7th graders; 260 Ss in Grades 4–7; and 166 White middle-class Ss in Grades 5–8, respectively. Ss were administered an AIM inventory and an inventory of academic anxiety (AA). As predicted, AIM was found to be significantly and positively correlated with Ss' school achievement and perceptions of academic competence and negatively correlated with AA. Findings support the view that AIM is differentiated into school subject areas and is also a general orientation toward school learning. Relations between motivation and perception of competence and anxiety were differentiated by subject area, whereas achievement was more pervasively related to general motivation. Mathematics motivation, however, emerged as a unique predictor of mathematics achievement. The significance of AIM as differentiated into subjects and as a general orientation is discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The generalization of the effects of agreement and correctness on relative competence mediating conformity.

Presented a social communication task to 215 Canadian high school students (Grades 8-13). Results show that correctness and group agreement interacted with grade level, producing varying degrees of perceived competence relative to a simulated group. For Ss in Grades 8-10 only, the experimental manipulation of relative competence influenced conformity; Ss who were told that they were more competent than the group conformed less than those who were told that they were either less competent than or as competent as the group. Ss who perceived themselves to be more competent than the group also conformed less. Other findings are that: (a) females showed significantly higher conformity, (b) Ss in Grades 11-13 indicated more suspicion and awareness of the possibility of deception, and (c) no differences in conformity existed between suspicious and nonsuspicious Ss. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of physical and social reasoning in adolescence.

A theoretically important issue is the degree to which cognitive development in different domains is coordinated. Two important domains that have received considerable attention recently are physical and interpersonal reasoning, yet no adequately designed studies comparing them have been reported. A multitrait, multimethod investigation of the development of logical and interpersonal reasoning among 151 adolescents (ages 12, 14, and 16 yrs) was conducted by devising group written measures of standard physical and interpersonal reasoning tasks. Results indicate that correlations between different measures within each domain were no greater than correlations between measures from different domains (.50 and .44, respectively). Also, on qualitative stage comparisons, fewer Ss showed formal reasoning on the interpersonal measures than on the physical reasoning measures. Significant age effects were obtained for each measure. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditional reasoning: The necessary and sufficient conditions.

Five experiments, with 163 university students, investigated 2 theories of conditional reasoning (CDR). The pragmatic schema theory posits that CDR is mediated by context-sensitive inference rules. According to the contextual cuing theory, inferences are based on a mental model that represents necessity and sufficiency relations. Both schematic relations and necessity relations predicted responses on a 4-card selection task. In contrast, after the effects of perceived necessity had been partialled out, schematic relations did not predict responses to either a conditional arguments task or a task in which Ss judged the similarity of "if then" and "only if" statements. Findings question the assumption that reasoning is mediated by schematic rules, which presumably apply regardless of task. A reconceptualization of the pragmatic reasoning schema is proposed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)