Kahneman and Tversky's critique of Cohen's position on adults' probability reasoning is not valid. If they think Baconian logic is normatively unsound, the onus is on them to explain why. It is valid and useful because nature itself is full of causal processes. (Author/RD)

The ability of some individuals to understand self-embedded sentences, which occur when a sentence is placed within another sentence of a similar type by means of a relative clause, is shown to be related to their ability to reason with the use of the syllogistic form. (Author/KM)

A study investigating developmental differences in the ability to reason with conditional propositions used five variations of Wason's selection task to assess conditional reasoning in 132 eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade adolescents. In addition to examining developmental differences, the study had as an objective to examine the role of semantic…

Discusses problems in finding a place for logic in a model of reasoning and develops a conception of an overall model, one of whose components is strictly logical in nature. A new view of the logical function of "if-then" is proposed, then the logic is developed, and its relation to standard propositional logic is established. Also discusses…

Experiment to determine whether the use of realistic materials would improve performance in a deceptive reasoning problem. (Authors)

The logical foundations of deduction and induction are outlined to form the rules for the construction of a set of tests of reasoning ability. Both deduction and induction involve the derivation of a conclusion from a set of premises. Deductive logic uses syllogisms and is abstract. Inductive logic is both empirical and abstract. Although…

This paper contains an elementary and short proof for the case that the underlying distribution function F is discrete, and then extends the result to the general F. In other proofs underlying iid sequences of random variables with continuous distributions are considered to be the "ideal" case. In this paper discretization of the underlying iid…

A study examining readers' ability to infer consequences backward and forward from events described in stories is described. Results show that backward consequence inferences are more reliably drawn during the course of reading than forward consequence inferences. (MSE)

Based upon the concept that the psychological meaning of a syllogism depends upon the order of the premises in addition to the formal logic expressed, the analogical theory of the interpretation of syllogisms is developed, experimentally tested, and implemented as a computer program. (CTM)

This paper reports results related to the development of a consistent descriptive language for research on mathematical reasoning. Ways of reasoning deductively are highlighted, using examples drawn from observations of young students. One-step deductions versus multi-step deductions, known versus hypothetical premises, and single versus multiple…

This is the third in a sequence of three papers describing an investigation of fifth graders' ability to learn to distinguish between valid and fallacious inferences from simple conditional premises. This paper presents the research design and results. (MN)

Many science curriculum development projects have the goal of increasing students' ability to employ scientific or formal reasoning strategies. Argues that longitudinal data of students who acquired formal reasoning strategies as a consequence of specific instruction are needed to provide evidence that these skills will help in other academic…

Three experiments examined strategies for solving suppositional deductions to compare control structures proposed by rule theory and model theory. Puzzles were based on assertors who may be truth-tellers and their assertions about their truth-telling status. Reasoners made backward and forward inferences, found generating suppositions difficult,…

A theory of deductive reasoning is presented for inferences that depend on multiply quantified premises. It is argued that reasoners construct mental models based on their knowledge of the meaning of the quantifiers. Three experiments, with 54 university students and adults, corroborated the theory. (SLD)