Strategies during complex conditional inferences
Thinking and Reasoning 6 (2):125 – 160 (2000)
| Abstract | In certain contexts reasoners reject instances of the valid Modus Ponens and Modus Tollens inference form in conditional arguments. Byrne (1989) observed this suppression effect when a conditional premise is accompanied by a conditional containing an additional requirement. In an earlier study, Rumain, Connell, and Braine (1983) observed suppression of the invalid inferences "the denial of the antecedent" and "the affirmation of the consequent" when a conditional premise is accompanied by a conditional containing an alternative requirement. Here we present three experiments showing that the results of Byrne (1989) and Rumain et al. (1983) are influenced by the answer procedure. When reasoners have to evaluate answer alternatives that only deal with the inferences that can be made with respect to the first conditional, then suppression is observed (Experiment 1). However, when reasoners are also given answer alternatives about the second conditional (Experiment 2) no suppression is observed. Moreover, contrary to the hypothesis of Byrne (1989), at least some of the reasoners do not combine the information of the two conditionals and do not give a conclusion based on the combined premise. Instead, we hypothesise that some of the reasoners have reasoned in two stages. In the first stage, they form a putative conclusion on the basis of the first conditional and the categorical premise, and in the second stage, they amend the putative conclusion in the light of the information in the second premise. This hypothesis was confirmed in Experiment 3. Finally, the results are discussed with respect to the mental model theory and reasoning research in general. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesWalter J. Schroyens, Walter Schaeken & G. (2001). The Processing of Negations in Conditional Reasoning: A Meta-Analytic Case Study in Mental Model and/or Mental Logic Theory. Thinking and Reasoning 7 (2):121 – 172.
Nelly Grosset & Pierre Barrouillet (2003). On the Nature of Mental Models of Conditional: The Case of If , If Then , and Only If. Thinking and Reasoning 9 (4):289 – 306.
Henry Markovits & Hugues Lortie Forgues (2011). Conditional Reasoning Under Time Constraint: Information Retrieval and Inhibition. Thinking and Reasoning 16 (3):221-232.
Henry Markovits & Hugues Lortie Forgues (2011). Conditional Reasoning Under Time Constraint: Information Retrieval and Inhibition. Thinking and Reasoning 16 (3):221-232.
Sieghard Beller & Gregory Kuhnm (2007). What Causal Conditional Reasoning Tells Us About People's Understanding of Causality. Thinking and Reasoning 13 (4):426 – 460.
Henrik Singmann & Karl Christoph Klauer (2011). Deductive and Inductive Conditional Inferences: Two Modes of Reasoning. Thinking and Reasoning 17 (3):247 - 281.
Jean-Fran (2007). Modus Tollens, Modus Shmollens: Contrapositive Reasoning and the Pragmatics of Negation. Thinking and Reasoning 13 (2):207 – 222.
Christian George (1997). Reasoning From Uncertain Premises. Thinking and Reasoning 3 (3):161 – 189.
Guy Politzer (2005). Uncertainty and the Suppression of Inferences. Thinking and Reasoning 11 (1):5 – 33.
Sara Verbrugge, Kristien Dieussaert, Walter Schaeken, Hans Smessaert & William Van Belle (2007). Pronounced Inferences: A Study on Inferential Conditionals. Thinking and Reasoning 13 (2):105 – 133.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads3 ( #201,837 of 549,067 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,185 of 549,067 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
