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Branchini E, Burro R, Bianchi I. Training People to Think in Opposites Facilitates the Falsification Process in Wason's Rule Discovery Task. J Intell 2023; 11:jintelligence11050091. [PMID: 37233340 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11050091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
With reference to Wason's 2-4-6 rule discovery task, this study investigated the effects of a simple training session that prompted participants to "think in opposites". The results showed a significant improvement in performance under the training condition when compared to the control condition, both in terms of the proportion of participants who discovered the correct rule and how quickly it was discovered. An analysis of whether or not participant submitted test triples formed of descending numbers showed that fewer participants under the control condition considered ascending/descending to represent a critical dimension and, in any case, this occurred later (that is, after more test triples) than in the training condition. These results are discussed in relation to previous literature showing improvements in performance that were prompted by strategies involving "contrast" as a critical factor. The limitations of the study are discussed, as well as the benefits of a training program like this, which is non-content related.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika Branchini
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 27, 37129 Verona, Italy
| | - Roberto Burro
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 27, 37129 Verona, Italy
| | - Ivana Bianchi
- Section Philosophy and Human Sciences, Department of Humanities, University of Macerata, Via Garibaldi, 20, 62100 Macerata, Italy
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Bianchi I, Capitani E, Branchini E, Savardi U, Burro R. Naïve intuitions about what constitutes “an opposite process”. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1988619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ivana Bianchi
- Department of Humanities, University of Macerata Macerata, Italy
| | - Elena Capitani
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona Verona, Italy
| | - Erika Branchini
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona Verona, Italy
| | - Ugo Savardi
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona Verona, Italy
| | - Roberto Burro
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona Verona, Italy
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Branchini E, Capitani E, Burro R, Savardi U, Bianchi I. Opposites in Reasoning Processes: Do We Use Them More Than We Think, but Less Than We Could? Front Psychol 2021; 12:715696. [PMID: 34512474 PMCID: PMC8426631 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.715696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Our aim in this paper is to contribute toward acknowledging the general role of opposites as an organizing principle in the human mind. We support this claim in relation to human reasoning by collecting evidence from various studies which shows that "thinking in opposites" is not only involved in formal logical thinking, but can also be applied in both deductive and inductive reasoning, as well as in problem solving. We also describe the results of a series of studies which, although they have been developed within a number of different theoretical frameworks based on various methodologies, all demonstrate that giving hints or training reasoners to think in terms of opposites improves their performance in tasks in which spontaneous thinking may lead to classic biases and impasses. Since we all possess an intuitive idea of what opposites are, prompting people to "think in opposites" is something which is undoubtedly within everyone's reach and in the final section, we discuss the potential of this strategy and suggest possible future research directions of systematic testing the benefits that might arise from the use of this technique in contexts beyond those tested thus far. Ascertaining the conditions in which reasoners might benefit will also help in terms of clarifying the underlying mechanisms from the point of view, for instance, of analytical, conscious processing vs. automatic, unconscious processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika Branchini
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Elena Capitani
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Roberto Burro
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Ugo Savardi
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Ivana Bianchi
- Department of Humanities (Philosophy and Human Sciences Section), University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
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Xiao F, Sun T, Qi S, Chen Q. Common and distinct brain responses to detecting top‐down and bottom‐up conflicts underlying numerical inductive reasoning. Psychophysiology 2019; 56:e13455. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2018] [Revised: 04/22/2019] [Accepted: 06/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Feng Xiao
- Department of Education Science, Innovation Center for Fundamental Education Quality Enhancement of Shanxi Province Shanxi Normal University Linfen China
| | - Tie Sun
- Department of Education Science, Innovation Center for Fundamental Education Quality Enhancement of Shanxi Province Shanxi Normal University Linfen China
| | - Senqing Qi
- Department of Psychology Shaanxi Normal University Xi'an China
| | - Qingfei Chen
- Department of Psychology and Society Shenzhen University Shenzhen China
- Center for Language and Brain Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience Shenzhen China
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science Shenzhen University Shenzhen China
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Bianchi I, Branchini E, Burro R, Capitani E, Savardi U. Overtly prompting people to “think in opposites” supports insight problem solving. THINKING & REASONING 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/13546783.2018.1553738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ivana Bianchi
- Department of Humanities, Section of Philosophy and Human Sciences, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
| | - Erika Branchini
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Roberto Burro
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Elena Capitani
- Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
| | - Ugo Savardi
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
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Branchini E, Bianchi I, Burro R, Capitani E, Savardi U. Can Contraries Prompt Intuition in Insight Problem Solving? Front Psychol 2016; 7:1962. [PMID: 28082928 PMCID: PMC5183583 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper aims to test whether the use of contraries can facilitate spatial problem solving. Specifically, we examined whether a training session which included explicit guidance on thinking in contraries would improve problem solving abilities. In our study, the participants in the experimental condition were exposed to a brief training session before being presented with seven visuo-spatial problems to solve. During training it was suggested that it would help them to find the solution to the problems if they systematically transformed the spatial features of each problem into their contraries. Their performance was compared to that of a control group (who had no training). Two participation conditions were considered: small groups and individuals. Higher success rates were found in the groups exposed to training as compared to the individuals (in both the training and no training conditions), even though the time required to find a solution was longer. In general, participants made more attempts (i.e., drawings) when participating in groups than individually. The number of drawings done while the participants were trying to solve the problems did not increase after training. In order to explore if the quality (if not the number) of drawings was modified, we sampled one problem out of the seven we had used in the experiment (the “pigs in a pen” problem) and examined the drawings in detail. Differences between the training and no training conditions emerged in terms of properties focused on and transformed in the drawings. Based on these results, in the final discussion possible explanations are suggested as to why training had positive effects specifically in the group condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika Branchini
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona Verona, Italy
| | - Ivana Bianchi
- Department of Humanities (Section Philosophy and Human Sciences), University of Macerata Macerata, Italy
| | - Roberto Burro
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona Verona, Italy
| | - Elena Capitani
- Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, University of Macerata Macerata, Italy
| | - Ugo Savardi
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona Verona, Italy
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Branchini E, Burro R, Bianchi I, Savardi U. Contraries as an effective strategy in geometrical problem solving. THINKING & REASONING 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/13546783.2014.994035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Erika Branchini
- Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Roberto Burro
- Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Ivana Bianchi
- Department of Humanities, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
| | - Ugo Savardi
- Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
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Abstract
Wason (1960) published a relatively short experimental paper, in which he introduced the 2-4-6 problem as a test of inductive reasoning. This paper became one of the most highly cited to be published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology and is significant for a number of reasons. First, the 2-4-6 task itself was ingenious and yielded evidence of error and bias in the intelligent participants who attempted it. Research on the 2-4-6 problem continues to the present day. More importantly, it was Wason's first paper on reasoning and one which made strong claims for bias and irrationality in a period dominated by rationalist writers like Piaget. It set in motion the study of cognitive biases in thinking and reasoning, well before the start of Tversky and Kahneman's famous heuristics and biases research programme. I also show here something for which Wason has received insufficient credit. It was Wason's work on this task and his later studies of his four card selection task that led to the first development of the dual process theory of reasoning which is so dominant in the current literature on the topic more than half a century later.
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Abstract
The Wason 2-4-6 task was embedded in a practical reasoning scenario where number sequences had well-defined utilities in the process of achieving a goal. Reasoners' hypothesis-testing behavior was clearly goal-driven and was significantly influenced by whether the utilities favored positive or negative sequences. In the version of the scenario where generating positive sequences had greater benefits than generating negative ones, participants performed poorly at the task as measured by their ability to guess the correct rule and by the nature and number of triples tested before making an announcement. In contrast, the scenario that assigned a greater utility to the production of negative sequences fostered significantly more diligent and creative hypothesis-testing behavior, and participants were significantly more likely to discover the rule. These results suggest that the poor performance observed in Wason's traditional 2-4-6 task reflects a hypothesis-testing process that by default assigns greater utility to the production of sequences that conform to the initial triple, and hence receive positive feedback. However, reasoners are not averse to producing negative sequences, and understand their implication, if their utility is made relevant in the process of achieving goals.
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Contrast class cues and performance facilitation in a hypothesis-testing task: evidence for an iterative counterfactual model. Mem Cognit 2011; 40:408-19. [DOI: 10.3758/s13421-011-0159-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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