Deductive reasoning and Inductive reasoning PDF

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PSYCH 105: Individual and Social Behaviour (28 th January 2019)- Lecture 10  Availability Bias  relaying too strongly information that is easily accessible. - Position of the Letter d  Are there more words in English Language whose first letter is ‘d’ or third letter is ‘d’? Most people will say first, because it is more difficult to come up with words whose third letter is d. There are more words those third letter is ‘d’. - Percentage of people who die from various causes  overestimate causes that are common (murders, terrorist attacks, plane crashes) and get more attention in media, and underestimate mundane causes like heart attacks - Doctor’s office  misdiagnosis is possible due to availability bias; doctors are predisposed to think new patient has same disease if symptoms are like the disease, they have been treating a lot.  Confirmation Bias  trying to confirm the hypothesis, and not accounting for any counter evidence that can disconfirm the hypothesis - It is possible to disprove a hypothesis, but a hypothesis can never be proven - A strong hypothesis is the one that stood up to many attempts at disproving  Predictable world-bias  tendency to believe that events are predictable event when they are just random - People who gamble believe that they can device patterns and predict the future moves, but, actually, it’s totally random. - Engaging in inductive reasoning when the relationship is only due to chance.  Deductive reasoning - E.g. Sherlock Holmes - Noting facts, making observations and make logical inferences from the observation - Logical reasoning from the general to specific. - Logical proof  Series Problem  Syllogism  combining two premises - Many psychologists thought that deductive reasoning was related to mathematical reasoning by 13-year-olds and older Formal operations - This hypothesis is accepted by very few psychologists now - A more widely accepted hypothesis says that we solve deductive problems by relating to our knowledge and experiences. - If it were only dependent on abstract math content should really not matter but it does.  Bias Towards induction - Tendency to use knowledge instead if logic to answer deductive reasoning questions - We naturally reason by comparing current situation with previous experiences  Wason’s Selection Task  prior knowledge influences performance  Revised selection task  problem gets easier when relationships can be established  Insight problems - Problems that are difficult to solve until you try to perceive them in a different way than originally provided. - Entail a mix of inductive and deductive reasoning - Needs a change in mental state to solve. Giving up a mental state can allow us to perceive it in a new way to solve insight problems

Functional fixedness  failure to see an object as having a different function from usual In an experiment, subjects were provided with a candle, matches and a box of board pins. They were asked to place the candle on a corkboard such that it can be lighted successfully. Most participants thought they had three props, however they had 4 including the box holding the pins. The box could be used for a different function- a shelf for the candle to hold up. However, subjects could not solve it as they did not perceive the function of a box as a self. - Functional fixedness of tools Design stance  all tools were designed for a specific purpose Functional fixedness with respect to tools can be an adaptation. Without being taught, infants can infer function of a tool. It surely reduces flexibility and creativity, but increases efficiency, as every time we use a tool we do not have to go through a trial and error phase. - Other tool using animals don’t have functional fixedness Difference between insight problems and deductive reasoning 1. Insight problems need creativity, whereas deductive reasoning needs working memory capacity 2. Insight problem has an incubation period. During the incubation period, people take some time off the problem, but they are unconsciously thinking about the problem (priming). The process is fast. 3. Deductive reasoning requires conscious attention to the problem. Happy frame of mind - People are better at solving insight problems when they are happy. - Happy mood improves creativity and ability to see whole patters - Doctors who received candy were better at diagnosing diseases. Broaden and build theory - Negative emotions like fear and anger narrow perception and thought. In a fight or flight situation, we need to take action that is proven effective in the past and not device new ways of escaping the situation. - Positive emotions help come up with creative ideas that can be used in the future when needed. Reponses of unschooled non-westerners - Cross-cultural research - Approaches were different on western test - They often find it weird to answer questions about thigs they have not experienced - Answer questions in functional terms. E.g. when given words log, axe and saw, they matched log and axe in one group, as axe can be used to cut logs. - Westerns grouped axe and saw together  taxonomic category - It is the preference that is responsible for differences not ability -

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