This paper employs a phenomenological theory of human communication to re-examine several thematic concerns which were addressed in an article by Paul Watzlawick (1977) on the pathologies of "perfectionism"--an article which was, principally, an indictment of Marxism as a pathological, utopian (or perfectionist) manner of thinking. Given…

Instruction is provided on the use of the Keller plan, a structured, self-instructional, self-paced method, to teach introductory logic to undergraduates. First, an overview of the Keller plan is presented, indicating that students work through units of course material on their own, at their own pace, and when they feel prepared to exhibit that…

Psychologists know that reasoning human beings do not spontaneously follow the rules of formal logic when using implication. Addressing this phenomenon, Piaget employed the concept of "significant implication," which exists when the meaning of a subsequent proposition is "included" in the meaning of an earlier one, and is not…

When the term "problem" is defined as a task requiring analysis and reasoning toward a goal, it is seen that the performance of the problem solver is narrowly delimited by the domain, form, and complexity of the problem and the characteristics of the solver. Tenets of a unified theory of problem solving are discussed, concerning what the…

A discussion of the application of artificial intelligence to natural language processing looks at several problems in language comprehension, involving semantic ambiguity, anaphoric reference, and metonymy. Examples of these problems are cited, and the importance of the computational approach in analyzing them is explained. The approach applies…

Many different courses are offered at the college level to promote critical thinking. Teachings in critical thinking without a proper reflection on methodological foundations can be useless. Reflection upon inductive and deductive methodologies of thinking is necessary to the development of critical thinking abilities. It must be remembered that…

Four reasoning skills help explain the processes that students need to use in completing various study skills exercises: (1) classification--the process that a student uses to name a body of information or to associate a bit of information with a larger chunk of information; (2) sequencing--the process by which a student organizes information into…

Intended for teachers, this booklet shows how spoken language can affect student thinking and presents strategies for teaching critical thinking skills. The first section discusses the theoretical and research bases for promoting critical thinking through speech, defines critical thinking, explores critical thinking as abstract thinking, and tells…

This pilot study tested the hypothesis that the logical thinking skills of middle-grades students are enhanced by teaching them computer programming using the BASIC programming language. A quasi-experimental design was used with 36 students randomly selected and assigned to one of two treatment groups: 18 students received no instruction in…

Examines the hypothesis of general semantics that controlling language-influenced misconceptions and misperceptions of reality will enhance emotional and intellectual efficiency. (RB)

The "transitive-chain" theory of syllogistic reasoning proposes that information about set relations is presented in memory by pairs of informational components and that information about set relations is integrated by applying a small set of rules to transitive chains that are found by rearranging informational components stored in…

Concluded that students of high math achievement were not more competent in analyzing disjunctive syllogisms than students of low math achievement, nor did they express more confidence in their responses. (RB)