PLAY-IT-SAFE: A NEW MOTTO AND MODEL FOR BEHAVIOR IN SYLLOGISTIC REASONING TASKS.
Item
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Title
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PLAY-IT-SAFE: A NEW MOTTO AND MODEL FOR BEHAVIOR IN SYLLOGISTIC REASONING TASKS.
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Identifier
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AAI8119648
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identifier
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8119648
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Creator
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CAPLAN, JANET STOJAK.
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Contributor
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Prof. Virginia V. Valian
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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The purpose of the study was to test a new model of reasoning behavior for tasks involving categorical syllogisms. The new model, called the play-it-safe model, differs from other models in the following ways. First, it proposes a single principle to account for premise interpretation and syllogism solution. Other current models incorporate a number of rather unrelated principles to describe reasoning behavior. Second, the play-it-safe model accounts for a wider variety of data than other models. That is, the play-it-safe model accounts for the Venn diagram constructions of subjects as well as their error data.;The play-it-safe model claims that subjects prefer safe premise interpretations when solving syllogisms. A safe interpretation is defined as the interpretation which represents the assertion stated in the premise without going beyond it. The safe interpretations are.;for All A are B and.;for Some A are B and Some A are not B.;The play-it-safe model claims that subjects' preference for safe interpretations affects their behavior during syllogistic reasoning. Specifically, the safe premise interpretations constrain the premise combinations that can be constructed and the conclusions that can be drawn during syllogism solution.;The play-it-safe model was tested by two experiments. In Experiment 1, sixth-grade and adult subjects were asked to interpret premises in production and recognition tasks. The production tasks required subjects to either draw Venn diagrams or produce verbal paraphrases for each premise. The recognition tasks required subjects to match each premise either to an array of Venn diagram interpretations or to an array of verbal statements. The results showed that adults significantly preferred the safe premise interpretations in all tasks, with only one exception. Sixth-graders, however, significantly preferred the unsafe interpretation of the premise All A are B in all tasks. The children's results were similar to those found in the developmental class inclusion literature in which children tend to prefer non-hierarchical class interpretations.;In Experiment 2, sixth-grade and adult subjects were asked to solve two practice and eight test syllogisms. Different groups of subjects participated in three conditions: (1)the Venn diagram condition, in which subjects were instructed to use Venn diagrams to solve syllogisms, (2)the Verbal condition, in which subjects were instructed to write out their reasons for choosing a particular conclusion, and (3)the Control condition, in which subjects were simply instructed to write down their conclusion for each syllogism.;For children, the results showed a preference for unsafe premise interpretations, combinations and conclusions. Also, there were no differences in error rates among the three instructional conditions. For adults, the results revealed no differences in error rates or conclusions drawn among the three conditions. The results also showed that adult subjects in the Venn diagram condition produced safe premise interpretations, combinations and conclusions. It was inferred that adult subjects in the Verbal and Control conditions were also behaving in accordance with the play-it-safe model. Thus, for adults, the predictions of the play-it-safe model were largely confirmed and the model was shown to be both parsimonious and powerful.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
