Showing papers on "Verbal reasoning published in 1977"

Practical Reasoning in Natural Language

Abstract: PREFACE TO THE INSTRUCTOR. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. INTRODUCTION. I. BASIC ANALYSIS OF REASONING. 1. What Is Reasoning. 2. Reasons and Conclusions. 3. Determining the Logical Structure of a Reasoned Discourse. 4. Analyzing the Structure of Longer and More Complicated Arguments. II. BASIC EVALUATION OF REASONING. 1. What Is Good Reasoning? 2. Semantic Clarification. 3. Conditional Relationships. 4. Some Valid Steps of Reasoning Using Conditional and Other Relationahips. 5. The How and Why of Supplying Suppressed Premises. III. CLARIFYING OBSCURE REASONING. 1. Analyzing Muddy Reasoning or Confused Exposition. IV. INFORMAL FALLACIES. 1. Common Mistakes in Reasoning. 2. Additional Common Mistakes in Reasoning. 3. More Common Mistakes in Reasoning. V. PRACTICAL DECISION MAKING. 1. Making Decisions Logically: Reasons For Actions and Reasons Against Actions. 2. Reasons Against the Validity of Other Reasons. VI. ANALYZING MEDIA EDITORIALS. 1. Analyzing Reasoning Expressed in Contemporary Editorial Style. VII. ANALYZING PHILOSOPHICAL REASONING. 1. Analyzing Long Linked Arguments. 2. Analyzing Disorganized or Confused Complex Reasoning. Index.

Early comprehension of mental verbs: Think and know

Abstract: JOHNSON, CARL NILs, and MARATSOS, MICHAEL P. Early Comprehension of Mental Verbs: Think and Know. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 1743-1747. While it is a notable fact that preschool children use mental verbs which are remarkably abstract and complex in their implications, the developing understanding of such terms is not well understood. The present investigation was concerned with possible early confusion of internal mental states with external facts or events, such as confusing thinking with saying, and with the developing comprehension of different implications of the verbs think and know, namely, that knowing implies knowing a truth whereas thinking can equally be true or false. A story and question task was used in which characters were placed in contrasting states of knowledge and mistaken belief. Results revealed no consistent pattern of confusion of internal and external, and showed that 4-yearolds, but not 3-year-olds, comprehended the different implications of the terms.

Linguistic Factors in Reasoning

Abstract: An experiment is reported which attempts to demonstrate the effects of manipulating two linguistic variables on a propositional reasoning task, one relating to the linguistic form of the logical rule, and the other to the presence and absence of negative components. The results are discussed in relation to Evans' (1972a) distinction between interpretational and operational factors in reasoning. Problems arising from the application of this distinction are discussed in detail.

Information Processing Capacity and the Problem of Horizontal Decalage: A Demonstration Using Combinatorial Reasoning Tasks.

Abstract: SCARDAMALIA, MARLENE. Information Processing Capacity and the Problem of Horizontal Decalage: A Demonstration Using Combinatorial Reasoning Tasks. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 28-37. The potency of Pascual-Leone's M construct is demonstrated by experimental production of decalages on combinatorial reasoning tasks. Logical and perceptual task characteristics remained constant while quantitative demands, due to number of variables, were varied. Tasks were assigned so that processing demands, relative to processing capacities, were the same for subjects at each of 3 age levels (8-10 and 10-12 years, N = 15 per level; and adults, N = 10). Age-level differences in performance between adults and children were thereby effectively eliminated. For each age level, Pascual-Leone's model correctly predicted the conditions under which combinatorial strategies would be generated and successfully or unsuccessfully applied.

The House-Tree-Person Test as a Measure of Intelligence and Creativity:

Abstract: The House-Tree-Person test and a verbal test of mental ability, the Basic Word Vocabulary Test, were administered to 23 male and 27 female, university undergraduates and to 27 boys and 38 girls in Grades 3 to 8. The drawings were given three separate and independent scorings by judges who computed intelligence scores according to the House-Person manual; rated them impressionistically on intelligence, using a forced-distribution method; or rated them impressionistically on creativity, using the same forced-distribution method. The three House-Tree-Person measures were highly intercorrelated for all groups of subjects. All three House-Tree-Person scores also correlated positively and significantly with vocabulary test scores for female university students, as did both Impressionistically derived House-Tree-Person scores for grade-school girls. Male students' and boys' vocabulary scores were unrelated to any of the House-Tree-Person scores. Results suggest that competence in graphic expression operates independently of verbal intelligence in males but validity as a nonverbal test of mental ability and that it can be scored efficiently and reliably by using a global, impressionistic method.

Adults' Performance on Formal Operations: General Ability or Scientific Interest

Abstract: Summary.-Measures of performance on concrete and formal operations from 39 college students were inter-correlated with measures of fluid and verbal intelligence and of interest in physical science. Performance on concrete and formal operations correlated significantly with interest in physical science but did not correlate significantly with either of the measures of intelligence. In apparent contradiction to Inhelder and Piaget's ( 1958) view that formal operations ate universal for normal adolescents, recent studies have usually reported only 50% or less of the adolescents and adults tested demonstrating formal operations (Ross, 1974). Since subjects are tested for formal operations by means of tests having a physical science content, there is a question as to whether subjects who do poorly on such tests have a general intellectual deficit or whether they lack an interest in physical science, as Piaget (1972) believes. In the present study a measure of performance on formal operations is inter-correlated with measures of general intelligence and interest in physical science. Twenty-five female and 14 male college students, dl between the ages of 18 and 30 yr., participated for course credit. The mean IQ on the IPAT Culture Fair Intelligence Test was 113, with a standard deviation of 11. The mean score on the Verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test was 477, with a standard deviation of 92. The two measures of intelligence, the IPAT Culture Fair Scale 3, Form A, and the Verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test, were employed to tap fluid and crystallized intelligence, respectively (Catcell, 197 1 ). The Verbal SAT was looked up, with the student's permission. The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey, Form DD, was used to assess scientific interest. The score for Physical Sciences of the College Major Scales, Male Norms, was the variable of concern on this test. An Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks, developed by the Center for Research in Thinking and Language, Department of Psychology, Catholic University, was used to assess performance on concrete and formal operations. This test is a paper-and-pencil measure of operational thinking in a multiplechoice format. Questions 1 to 44 were used as measures of concrete operations and questions 45 to 72 were used as measures of formal operations. Subjects were tested in groups, and total testing time per subject was about 1% hr. The Peatson product-moment correlation coefficients among scores on all tests were computed. Performance on formal operations correlated significantly (p < .05), with Physical Science Interest (7 = .39), but did not correlate significantly with the

Formal operational reasoning and its relationship to complex speech patterns and tentative statement use.

Abstract: The primary purpose of the present investigation was to assess the relationship between a child's level of formal operational reasoning and characteristics of his spontaneous speech. The variables of specific concern were the mean length of T-units, a measure of linguistic complexity, and the frequency of use of tentative statements. Three different tasks of formal reasoning were employed to assess this relationship: a relatively language-free problem-solving task developed by Neimark and Lewis, the equilibrium in the balance task developed by Inhelder and Piaget, and a verbal task of formal reasoning developed by Weitz, Bynum and Thomas. A speech sample was collected from each subject on an individual basis by showing him three different photographs and asking him to explain what he saw in each. A total of 144 middle-class boys, 48 in each of grades 4, 6 and 8 served as subjects. All the boys' scores on the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test were above the minimum of the normal IQ range. The data for each grade separately were analysed in terms of both simple correlations and stepwise regression analyses. Both speech characteristics and formal operational reasoning were found to increase significantly across grade level. Very minimal support was evident for the contention that speech characteristics are related to formal reasoning ability. The results indicated that the mean length of T-units was not significantly related to any of the three reasoning tasks at any of the three grade levels. In addition, a significant relationship between the frequent use of tentative statements and formal reasoning was evident only at the grade 6 level on two of the reasoning tasks. Results also indicated that the amount of language produced by the grade 4 children was significantly related to their performance on two of the reasoning tasks. Those language variables which were significantly related to formal reasoning ability tended to remain so when examined in the presence of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary IQ. The results generally support Piaget's contention that reasoning processes are independent of language.

Verbal giftedness and sociopolitical intelligence: Terman revisited.

Abstract: This paper reports on a three-year study of sociopolitical intelligence-defined as the ability to formulate viable solutions to moral, social, and political problems—in adolescence. From an initial sample of 659 intellectually gifted 12- and 13-year-olds, 58 students with the highest SAT-V scores were selected for study. From a later sample of 506 equally gifted 13- and 14-year-olds, 120 students were selected using measures of verbal intelligence (DAT), social insight, and creative potential, as well as academic and nonacademic achievement. On the basis of a variety of personality and cognitive measures the students in both samples were found to be unusually mature and well adjusted but to vary considerably in sociopolitical intelligence. These results suggest in partial agreement with Terman's earlier findings concerning the gifted, that above a certain level of tested intelligence the critical determinants of effective, practical performance may be personality and biographical variables.

The Effects of Chronological Age on the Relationship of Academic Achievement with Extraversion and Neuroticism: A Follow-Up Study.

Abstract: Summary. A sample of 741 students worked through a self-instructional chemistry programme after completing tests of extraversion, neuroticism, verbal intelligence, non-verbal intelligence and background knowledge in chemistry. The existence of significant interactions involving extra-version and neuroticism with the measures of chronological age, intelligence and background knowledge in determining post-test performance was then investigated. The results showed that none of the interactions involving neuroticism was significant, and indicated that the significant interaction involving extraversion and chronological age was not due to the parallel effects of verbal intelligence, non-verbal intelligence or background knowledge.

Imagined verbal transformations as a function of age and verbal intelligence

Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to investigate age and verbal IQ as factors influencing frequency of imagined verbal transformations (VTs) Words, sentences, and nonwords were presented repeatedly to children (ages 8–13) and young adults (ages 18–21), and the subjects reported experiences of hearing VTs More VTs occurred for young adults than for children, and only for young adults was VT frequency directly related to verbal intelligence For the children, VT frequency was inversely related to verbal IQ

Demographic, etiological, and functional variables related to intelligence in the visually impaired.

Abstract: Variables related to the intellectual functioning of 597 visually impaired persons were investigated. The total sample obtained a mean WAIS IQ score above that of the general population. Examination of dimensions with the visually impaired sample resulted in no significant differences on the basis of adventitious vs. congenital blindness, sex, residential vs. sighted school attendance, degree of vision, and diagnostic groups. Age and level of education were related to verbal intelligence scores.

Social Class and the Speech of Four Year Olds : the Effect of Intelligence

Abstract: In the first experiment reported in this study, four year old children from middle and lower class homes were matched in pairs according to their non-verbal intelligence test scores, and their speech was compared with that of a similar group of four year olds in a second experiment, who had not been matched for intelligence. Speech was elicited from the children in both experiments by the use of a picture strip technique, and analysed according to traditional grammar. Few social class differences emerged in the speech of the first group of four year olds, but in the second experiment a social class difference was found in the use of adjectives, even when verbal intelligence was controlled for statistically. A significant difference found in the use of nouns in the second experiment was found to be due to intelligence differences between the two social class groups, and the frequency of the use of nouns, pronouns, and adverbs was found to be correlated with verbal IQ. The lack of correlation of speech vari...

The Development of Verbal Relations in Analogical Reasonings.

Abstract: A six-process theory of analogical reascrirg was tested by administering verbal analogy iteis tc students in grades 3 through college. The items were classified accordir.g tc five verbal relations: synonyms, antonyms, functional, linear ordering, and class membership. A new method of componential analysis that does not require precueing was used to investigate predictive efficiencies of the six processes. Response latencies and errcr rates were analyzed. Analogical reasoning ability was found to improve with grade level, had subsets of the theory successfully accounted for response latency and error data at various grade levels. Macring and application were important variables in grades 3 and 6; encoding and index cf association for the stem were the most important processes in ninth grade and undergraduate subjects. Perfcrmance also varied with type of verbal relation of the item. Functional and antcrymous relations were easier to process than linear crdering, syncnymous, and category name relations. The new method of breaking down component processes was found to be as successful as precueing at the adult level (the only level at which precueing has been used) . Implications for intelligence testing are discussed. (Author/RD)

Analogical reasoning in problem solving

Abstract: David T. Chen* and N icho las V. F i n d l e r Dept. of Computer Sc ience, SUNY at Bu f f a l o Amherst , N.y. 14226 INTRODUCTION Our a b i l i t y to cope w i t h the environment i s the r e s u l t o f c o n t i n u a l l e a r n i n n from exper ience . Learn ina "makes sense" on lv because s i t u a t i o n s resemble each o t h e r , and some i n f o r m a t i o n obta ined in one s i t u a t i o n is of use in o the rs — o r , expressed more b r o a d l y , s i m i l a r s i t u a t i o n s c a l l f o r s i m i l a r a c t i o n s . We a l so l e a r n to e x t r a c t the e s s e n t i a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f e a t u r e s o f the s i t u a t i o n s we become f a m i l i a r w i t h , which then he lp us i n r e t r i e v i n a the s i t u a t i o n s most s i m i l a r to the one we are faced w i t h . S i m i l a r i t y can be of d i f f e r e n t types and a t d i f f e r e n t l e v e l s o f c o m p l e x i t y . I t s d i scove ry i s o f t e n the r e s u l t o f a goa l o r i e n t e d process assoc ia ted w i t h problem s o l v i n g a c t i v i t y . Once s i m i l a r i t y betxween a problem w i t h a known s o l u t i o n and an unso lved problem has been recogn i zed , Anal o g i c a l Reasoning (AR) is no rma l l y c a l l e d i n t o a c t i o n by humans to generate p o s s i b l e s o l u t i o n s to be t e s t e d then f o r adequacy. We have a t tempted to i n v e s t i g a t e Alt detached f rom s p e c i f i c tasks and to fo rmu la te i t s gene ra l p r i n c i p l e s . Our o b j e c t i v e has been to c r e a t e an AR component f o r problem s o l v i n g proarams and to assume f o r i t the l e v e l o f g e n e r a l i t y the means-ends ana l ys i s was shown to have in GPS. WORKING HYPOTHESES OF ANALOGICAL REASONING The u n d e r l y i n g r a t i o n a l e of AR can be expressed by a few work ing hypotheses: ( i ) Each problem is d e s c r i b a b l e aS an (ordered) c o l l e c t i o n o f , p o s s i b l y o v e r l a p p i n g , f e a t u r e s . (A f e a t u r e rep resen ts one or s e v e r a l chunked p r o p e r t i e s . Whereas p r o p e r t i e s are atomic and d i r e c t l y meas u r a b l e , f ea tu res can in genera l be measured as p resen t or absent o n l y . ) The i d e n t i f i c a t i o n and e x t r a c t i o n o f f ea tu res a r e , however, l e f t e i t h e r to a program component e x t e r n a l to AR or to the user . ( i i ) S o l u t i o n s are assoc ia ted w i t h r e s p e c t i v e problems in a w e l l d e f i n e d , det e r m i n i s t i c manner. Th is assumption goes beyond the usua l concept o f c a u s a l i t y . I t r e q u i r e s t h a t the f ea tu res be i d e n t i f i a b l e and s t r o n g l y enough c o r r e l a t e d w i t h the s o l u t i o n s so t h a t the l a t t e r can be d e r i v e d d i r e c t l y f rom the fo rmer . ( i i i ) I n the task domains o f i n t e r e s t t o us , s i m i l a r problems have s i m i l a r s o l u t i o n s . ( S i m i l a r i t y must be measured a long c e r t a i n dimensions t h a t depend on a p r i o r i f e a t u r e s o f bo th problems and s o l u t i o n s . ) ( i v ) When two problems have s i m i l a r sol u t i o n s , the f ea tu res p resen t i n one p r o blem b u t no t i n the o the r are l i k e l y to be o f l e s s e r impor tance . I n t u r n , f ea tu res shared by problems which have s i m i l a r sol u t i o n s are l i k e l y to be i m p o r t a n t . These can be s t reng thened q u a n t i t a t i v e l y the