Logic and Reasoning Quiz

Reasoning

• Reasoning involves drawing conclusions from given information.
• There are two main types of reasoning: inductive and deductive.
• Inductive reasoning involves drawing general conclusions from specific observations.
• Deductive reasoning involves using general principles to reach specific conclusions.

Two Types of Reasoning

• Inductive Reasoning: Starts with specific observations and moves to a general conclusion. The conclusion isn't guaranteed to be true, but is supported by the evidence.
• Deductive Reasoning: Starts with a general statement (premise) and moves to a specific conclusion. If the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.

Lecture Structure

• Deductive reasoning, including syllogisms and propositional reasoning, are key topics.
• Approaches like identifying simplifying strategies, interpreting terms, process models, and effects of framing and experience influence reasoning.
• Heuristics can impact the way people approach reasoning problems.
• The mood of the premises often influences the conclusions drawn, especially based on the interpretation of the premises' quantities (e.g., all, some, none) and qualities (e.g., affirmative, negative).

Learning Outcomes

• Distinguishing between four different theoretical approaches (heuristics, mental models etc.) are covered.
• Understanding propositional, and syllogistic reasoning and their associated conclusions.
• The Wason selection task and factors influencing performance improvements are part of the learning outcomes.

Syllogisms

• Syllogisms are deductive arguments with two premises and a conclusion.
• Quantifiers (all, some, none) are used in the premises to describe relationships between categories.

Syllogisms Examples

• Examples presented include scenarios about psychologists, comedians, and tap dancers,
• Illustrate relationships between categories and quantifiers.

Heuristics

• The "Atmosphere effect" shows how the mood of the premises can influence conclusions.
• Quality (e.g. affirmative, negative) and quantity (e.g., universal, particular) of premises affect conclusions.

Heuristics (Evidence)

• Studies (e.g., Begg and Denny, 1969) show that people often match the mood and quantity of the content of the premises with the mood and quantity of the conclusion.

Comprehension

• Participants misinterpret statements like "all A are B" meaning "all B are A".
• Clarifying premises reduces errors in comprehension

Mental Models

• Mental Models explain reasoning as a process of constructing mental representations of the information presented.
• Constructing a mental model is crucial for comprehension.
• One model and multiple model syllogisms were presented as examples.
• More possible models influence accuracy and time required.

Mental Models (Evidence)

• Studies, particularly Copeland and Radvansky (2004), Newstead et al. (1999), reveal that the accuracy and speed of conclusions vary depending on the number of models generated. More models result in less accurate and slower responses.

Mental Models (Evidence)

• Specific examples (psychologists, comedians, and psychopaths) are presented as illustrations and methods to evaluate Mental Model accuracy and speed.

Framing and Experience

• Framing (e.g., believable vs. unbelievable statements) and prior experience can influence judgments and conclusions.
• Previous studies (e.g., Evans et al., 1983) show that believable premises lead to more accurate results.

Framing and Experience (Further details)

• Deontic Reasoning is when a rule implies an obligation that might have to be obeyed (rule violation), which is shown to increase performance.

Framing and Experience (Relevance/Expected Utility)

• People tend to focus on relevant parts of the information given compared to less relevant aspects.
• "Cheater detection" is a cognitive process that finds the potential for taking advantage or potential fraud or theft, for example.

Propositional Reasoning

• Propositional reasoning deals with logical relationships between propositions (statements) using connectives (e.g., if, then, and, or, not).
• Valid reasoning patterns include Modus Ponens and Modus Tollens.

Propositional Reasoning (Further details)

• The concept of antecedents and consequents were mentioned

Four Card Selection Task

• The Wason selection task is a classic measure of reasoning.
• Participants often fail to select correct cards due to a variety of factors, such as understanding conditionals.