Premium
Incorrect conditional reasoning among adults: Competence or performance?
Author(s) -
Markovits Henry
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1985.tb01948.x
Subject(s) - psychology , competence (human resources) , paragraph , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , computer science , world wide web
Two groups of university students were given paper‐and‐pencil conditional reasoning tests. One group received problems based on a simple p r̊ q relation, while for the second this relation was embedded in a paragraph describing other relations of the form a r̊ q. Results showed that overall performance was better for the second group, confirming previous studies. However, detailed analysis of response patterns indicated that the effect of adding information of the form a r̊ q varied according to performance on an initial problem used to evaluate spontaneous conditional reasoning. These results are consistent with the idea that incorrect conditional reasoning in adults may be at least partly due to a basic lack of competence.