Task 4 - Reasoning

Question 1

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 1

Making a generalized conclusion from premises referring to particular instances

• > from specific to general
• > conclusions probably but not necessarily true

Question 2

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 2

Drawing of conclusions from general to specific

• > are definitely valid provided other statements are assumed to be true
• > mostly based on formal logic

Question 3

Informal Reasoning

Answer 3

Everyday reasoning:

• inductive rather than deductive
• analogical reasoning: solving a problem retrieving information that lead to success in past

Question 4

Confirmation

Answer 4

Attempt to find supportive or confirming evidence for one’s hypothesis

Question 5

Falsification

Answer 5

Proposing hypotheses and then trying to falsify them by experimental testing
-> subject to confirmation bias

Question 6

Positive testing

Answer 6

Numbers used are instances of your hypothesis

• > used to check whether hypothesis is valid (if it isn’t it won’t work)
• > more likely to lead to falsification of hypothesis than negative testing

Question 7

Negative testing

Answer 7

Numbers used do not conform to your hypothesis

-> if the set of numbers don’t work it confirms your hypothesis

Question 8

Conditional Reasoning

Answer 8

"reasoning with if"
consists of propositions 
if P then Q: If it is raining, Nancy gets wet
-modus ponens
-modus tollens

Question 9

Modus ponens

Answer 9

if A, then B; given A we can validly infer B;

e. g. if it is raining, Nancy gets wet,
- > correct

Question 10

Modus tollens

Answer 10

when “If A, then B” and premise: “B is false”,

conclusion: “A is false”
e. g. if it is raining, Nancy gets wet, Nancy is not wet , therefore it is not raining
- > correct

Question 11

Denial of the antecedent

Answer 11

Invalid deductive reasoning:
e.g.: if you are a ski instructor, you have a job
-> you are not a ski instructor
-> therefore you don't have a job
false assumption of modus tollens

Question 12

Affirmation of the consequent

Answer 12

Invalid deductive reasoning.
E.g.: if Bill Gates owns Fort Knox he is rich,
Bill Gates is rich, therefore he owns Fort Knox
-> false assumption of modus ponens

Question 13

Two System Theory

Answer 13

System 1: pragmatic and semantic strategy,
System 2:
Inhibitory and Generatitive strategy

Question 14

Pragmatic Strategy

Answer 14

System 1
processing problems as they would be processed informally during a conversation
-associated with numerous error

Question 15

Semantic Strategy

Answer 15

System 1

• making use of background knoweldge but not of the form of argument in the problem
• associated with moderate performance

Question 16

Inhibitory Strategy

Answer 16

System 2
Inhibiting the impact of the pragmatic strategy and background knowledge on performance
-works well with some problems

Question 17

Generative Strategy

Answer 17

System 2

• combining inhibitory strategy with use of abstract analytical processing
• consistently good performance on all types of problems

Question 18

Wason Selection Task

Answer 18

Often used to test deductive-reasoning
-conditional rule used
4 cards lie on table, each has letter on one side and number on other, told that rule applies to all cards
e.g.: R, G, 2, 7
which cards need to be turned
-> R on one side means two on other side, R and 7 need to be checked
-> R: modus ponens
-> 7: modus tollens
-> 2: affirmation of the consequent
-> G: denial of the antecedent

Question 19

Matching Bias

Answer 19

Tendency for participants to choose items matching those explicitly named in the rule (regardless of whether the matched items are correct)
e.g. on Wason Selection Task

Question 20

Social Contract Theory

Answer 20

Proposes that problems using deontic rules leads to better performance by people since they are more similar to what people have to deal with in everyday life
-> better with deontic than indiciative rules: directs peoples attention to importance of disproving the rule rather than just finding evidence consistent with it

Question 21

Deontic Rules

Answer 21

Rules concerned with detection of rule violation;
typically easier to understand for people because the underlying structure of the problem is easier to understand for people
-better task performance than with indicative rules

Question 22

Syllogistic Reasoning

Answer 22

Logical argument consisting of two premises and a conclusion

• validity depends on whether it follows logically from premises
  e. g. all children are obedient, all girl guides are children
• > all girls are obedient, conclusion logically from premises

Question 23

Belief Bias

Answer 23

Error in syllogistic reasoning;

tendency to accept invalid conclusions that are believable and reject valid conclusions that seem unbelievable

Question 24

Theories of Deductive Reasoning

Answer 24

Mental Model Theory

Dual Systems Theory

Question 25

Mental Model Theory

Answer 25

People use information contained in premises to construct mental model

• > representation of possible state-of-affairs in the real world
• > valid: we cannot constuct a mental model inconsistent with the conclusion (counterexamples accepted)
• > limited through working memory capacities (highly demanding)

Question 26

Principle of Truth

Answer 26

Mental model notion that we represent assertions by constructing mental models by what is true but not what is false

Question 27

Mental Model Theory limitations

Answer 27

People engage in deductive reasoning less than assumed

• ignores individual differences,
• processes of mental model formation under-specified

Question 28

Dual Systems Theory

Answer 28

System 1: 
-unconscious processes, emerged at early stage of evolution
-involves parallel processing
-independent of general intelligence
System 2: 
-conscious processes, recently evolved
-rule-based, serial processing
-limited capacity (demands more)
-cognitive processes evaluating mental models
-> better reasoning performance

Question 29

Principles of human reasoning

Answer 29

Singularity principle
Relevance principle
Satisficing principle
-> explain most errors made by human reasoning

Question 30

Singularity principle

Answer 30

Only a single mental model is considered at any given time

Question 31

Relevance principle

Answer 31

Most relevant mental model based on prior knowledge and current context is considered

Question 32

Satisficing principle

Answer 32

current mental model evaluated by analytic system and accepted if adequate
-> often leads people to accept conclusions that could be true but aren’t necessarily

Question 33

Brain Systems in thinking and reasoning

Answer 33

Prefrontal cortex

• > right dorsolateral PFC: plan generation
• > left dorsolateral PFC: plan execution

Question 34

Brain system inductive/deductive reasoning

Answer 34

Activation in left lateral prefrontal cortex, and bilateral dorsal frontal, parietal, and occipital areas
Dual systems support

Question 35

Reasoning Fallacies

Answer 35

Appeal to popularity
Argument from ignorance
False cause
Irrelevance
Begging the question
Slippery slope

Question 36

Appeal to popularity

Answer 36

Argues for claim purely because other people (without clear expertise) accept it
-> Fallacy

Question 37

Argument from ignorance

Answer 37

Fallacy that since we don’t have any evidence against some claim, it must be true

Question 38

False cause

Answer 38

Argues that there is correlation between two things and then concludes on that basis, that cause and effect has been shown
-> Fallacy

Question 39

Irrelevance

Answer 39

Attempts to support claims by way of reason not relevant to the claim
-> fallacys

Question 40

Begging the question

Answer 40

Assume as a premise what it claims to be proving. Seeking to support a conclusion by appealing to the same conclusion
-> fallacy

Question 41

Slippery slope

Answer 41

Claims that innocent-looking first step will lead to bad consequences but doesn’t prove how or why one will lead to the other

Question 42

Analytical Thinking and Religious Disbelief

Answer 42

Analytical thinking promotes religious disbelief

Question 43

Mortality salience and analytic thinking

Answer 43

Mortality salience impairs analytic thinking

-> executive resources might be mobilized to suppress death thoughts