Lecture 3a - Deducing Conclusions Flashcards
What is the function of reasoning?
Applying knowledge to new situations
Causation and Blame
Fundamental to human intelligence
Inductive reasoning
see what happens and make an inference that applies to general assumption
use pattern as prediction
Abductive reasoning
think of something that has happened and generate explanation
Deductive reasoning
Taking generalisation and assuming it is true
Syllogistic reasoning - deductive reasoning
Just take the two statements we can’t necessarily draw the conclusion that some athletes are wealthy
Using just the information in front of you, we tend to draw on our knowledge of the world.
Propositional reasoning - Deductive reasoning
conditionals - true or false statements
draw inferences on the relations
Formal Rules - Theories of Reasoning
Braine & O’Brien, 1991, Rips, 1983
Use an abstract structure of the problem - problem of logic
More steps = more difficult (longer and more mistakes)
Theory is less testable
Mental Models - Theories of Reasoning
Johnson-Laird, 1983; J-L & Byrne, 1991
Construct models to represent premises
Working memory limitation - single model at a time
Initial model where both sides are true
more difficult the reasoning the more models needed
background knowledge used?
Wasson’s Selection Task
Limitation of the Formal Rule as the task it harder when it is stripped back to the abstract structure
Pragmatic Reasoning Schemas
Defendant of the formal rule theory
Specific rules for reasoning with permission and obligation
As a result they perform better on these than abstract task
Cheater Detection
evolutionary mechanism that sensitizes people to look for cheaters
Evolved rules to solve the problems that are experienced more regularly
Familiarity Effects - Johnson-Laird et al., 1972
Easier to construct a model if you are familiar with the situation
People did better only if they are familiar with the rule
Same structure as before but only changed if you are familiar with the rule
