Chapter 12 Deductive Reasoning

Question 1

Deductive reasoning

Answer 1

Given some specific premises, judge whether those premises allow you to draw a particular conclusion based on the principles of logic

Question 2

Conditional/propositional reasoning task

Answer 2

Describes the relantionship between conditions;
If… then…; judged as valid or invalid

Question 3

Syllogism

Answer 3

Two statements that we must assume to be true, plus a conclusion

Question 4

Propositional calculus

Answer 4

A system from categorizing the four kinds of reasoning used in analyzing propositions/statements

Question 5

Antecedent

Answer 5

The first proposition or statement; the antecedent is contained in the “if…” part of the sentence

Question 6

Consequent

Answer 6

The proposition contained in the “then…” part of the sentence

Question 7

Affirming the antecedent

Answer 7

Means that you say the if part of the sentence is true the kind of reasoning leads to a valid or correct conclusion

Question 8

The fallacy of affirming the consequent

Answer 8

You say the then part of the sentence is true. This kind of reasoning leads to an invalid conclusion

Question 9

The fallacy of denying the antecedent

Answer 9

You say the if part of the sentence is false. Denying the antecedent also leads to an invalid conclusion

Question 10

Denying the consequent

Answer 10

You say the then part of the sentence is false. This kind of reasoning leads to a current conclusion

Question 11

Dual-process theory

Answer 11

Type 1 processing- fast and automatic
Type 2 processing- slow and controlled

Applies to both deductive reasoning and decision making

Question 12

Difficulties with Linguistically Negative Information

Answer 12

People take longer to evaluate problems that contain linguistically negative information.
People are more likely to make errors on these problems.
causes working memory strain, especially when denying the antecedent or denying the consequent
leads to frequent errors when translating the statement into more accessible, linguistically positive forms

Question 13

Difficulties with Abstract Reasoning Problems

Answer 13

People are more accurate when they solve reasoning problems that use concrete examples rather than abstract, theoretical examples.
diagrams can be helpful
Everyday knowledge may override the principles of logic.

Question 14

Belief-Bias Effect

Answer 14

When people make judgments based on prior beliefs and general knowledge, rather then on the rules of logic

Question 15

Confirmation bias

Answer 15

People tend to try to confirm or support a hypothesis rather than try to disprove it

people are eager to affirm the antecedent, but reluctant to deny the consequent by searching for counterexamples.

Question 16

The Confirmation Bias
Concrete Versions of the Wason Selection Task

Answer 16

replace numbers and letters with concrete situations from everyday life
People perform much better when the task is concrete, familiar, and realistic.
Griggs and Cox (1982)—drinking age example
Performance improved when task implies a social contract.

Question 17

The Confirmation Bias
Applications in Medicine

Answer 17

People seek confirming evidence when self- diagnosing disorders (e.g., insomnia).
Both medical students and psychiatrists tend to select information consistent with their original diagnosis rather than investigate information that might be consistent with another diagnosis.

Question 18

Decision making

Answer 18

assessing and choosing among
several alternatives
no clear-cut rules
no “correct” decision
we often rely on heuristics

Question 19

Kahneman and Tversky

Answer 19

proposed that a small number of heuristics guide human decision making
The same strategies that normally guide us toward the correct decision may sometimes lead us astray.

Question 20

small-sample fallacy

Answer 20

We assume a small small will be representative of the population from which it was selected

Question 21

Representative heuristic

Answer 21

We judge that a sample is likely if it is similar to the population form which this sample was selected for

Question 22

Base rate

Answer 22

How often an item occurs in the population

Question 23

Base for fallacy

Answer 23

Emphasizing the representativeness and understanding of-emphasizing important information about base rates

Question 24

Base Rate and Representativeness
Kahneman and Tversky (1973)

Answer 24

Demonstrated that people rely on representativeness when asked to judge category membership.
even when provided with base-rate information, people tend to ignore it
stereotypes

Question 25

Conjunction rule

Answer 25

The probability of the conjunction of two events cannot be larger than the probability of either of its constituents

Question 26

Conjunction fallacy

Answer 26

When people judge the probability of the conjunction of the two events to be greater than the probability of a constituent event

Question 27

The Conjunction Fallacy and Representativeness

Answer 27

People tend to judge using representativeness instead of statistical probability.
Students with high SAT scores are actually more likely than other students to demonstrate the conjunction fallacy

Question 28

Summary of Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 28

We use the representativeness heuristic when we make decisions based on whether a sample looks similar in important characteristics to the population from which it is selected.

The representativeness heuristic is so appealing that we tend to ignore other important characteristics that we should consider, such as sample size and base rate.

We also fail to realize that the probability of two events occurring together (e.g., bank teller and feminist) needs to be smaller than the probability of just one of those events (e.g., bank teller).

Question 29

Availability Heuristic

Answer 29

We tend to estimate frequency or probably in terms of how easy it is to think of relevant examples