Students' complex problem-solving abilities: Their structure and relations to reasoning ability and educational success

Complex Problem Solving (CPS) is considered to be a promising candidate for capturing higher order thinking skills that are emphasized in new educational curricula but are not adequately measured by traditional intelligence tests. However, little is known about its psychometric structure and its exact relation to intelligence and educational success—especially in student populations. This study is among the first to use a large and representative sample of secondary school students (N = 563) to examine different measurement models of CPS—that conceptualize the construct as either faceted or hierarchical—and their implications for the construct's validity. Results showed that no matter which way it was conceptualized, CPS was substantially related to reasoning and to different indicators of educational success. Controlling for reasoning within a joint hierarchical measurement model, however, revealed that the impressive external validity was largely attributable to the variance that CPS shares with reasoning, suggesting that CPS has only negligible incremental validity over and above traditional intelligence scales. On the basis of these results, the value of assessing CPS within the educational context is discussed.     

Empirical research on the identification of singular,multiple and subordinate argumentation

To examine to what degree argumentation skills are mastered by pupils who attend the vocational, general and academic streams in Dutch secondary education various subtests were constructed. The theoretical study of argumentation as exposed by Van Eemeren and Grootendorst was the basis for this test construction. In this article tests for the identification of singular, multiple and subordinate argumentation are described. Also an account is given of a pretest of these three subtests.     

On the short horizon of spontaneous iterative reasoning in logical puzzles and games

A reasoning strategy is iterative when the initial conclusion suggested by a set of premises is integrated into that set of premises in order to yield additional conclusions. Previous experimental studies on game theory-based strategic games (such as the beauty contest game) observed difficulty in reasoning iteratively, which has been partly attributed to bounded individual rationality. However, this difficulty has also been attributed to problems in adequately representing the beliefs, actions, and goals of other agents involved in the games. In four experiments, we observed similar difficulties in iterative reasoning in a variety of puzzles and games that did not involve social interactions with other agents, where they can only be caused by individual cognitive boundaries. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that an intrinsic difficulty in iterative reasoning originates from a tendency not to revise our initial mental representation of a problem in light of the initial conclusions that it implies.     

Girls' and boys' perception of mothers' intentions of using physical punishment and reasoning as discipline methods

The aim of this study was to examine Swedish children's perceptions of mothers' intentions of using physical punishment and reasoning, as well as their evaluations of the mothers as being good parents. Six- to nine-year-old children were interviewed. Children's evaluations as well as reports of mothers' intentions varied according to the type of vignette presented (discipline in response to child aggression, or in response to child non-compliance), and their own parents' childrearing attitudes. Children who said that mothers who use physical punishment were “good mothers” were more likely to have parents with more traditional childrearing attitudes, and were older. Older children also evaluated mother's use of reasoning, and perceived greater intentionality in this form of discipline, compared to younger children. No gender differences were found either for perception of intention or evaluation of the mother.     

Aristotle and the tradition of rhetorical argumentation

The first part of this paper contends that argumentation is central and essential to Aristotle's Rhetoric, and recounts a number of arguments in support of that view, particularly the recognition that deliberative rhetoric or the rhetoric of counsel is the primary concern of Aristotle's work. The second part of the paper reviews the work that follows in this present volume to show that the other writers' views fit in perfectly with this thesis.     

A new experimental method to identify the process of logical reasoning

Abstract: A new method to identify the process of logical reasoning is presented. In spite of its indispensability and importance, we have had few methods to identify a subject's reasoning process, except that of using verbal protocol data. In this paper, for the purpose of objective identification of the reasoning process, we propose a new method to obtain the subject's reasoning process, in terms of a resolution tree for a task of which the logical structure can be written by first-order predicate logic. The results of an experiment using this method are presented. They revealed some interesting features of human reasoning such as, large differences between subjects, remarkable parallel processes, and the existence of subgoals for each subject.     

Judging the implications of a concession: Conversational distance and belief bias effects

An arguer's position at a given point in an argument can be characterized as a set of commitments. The present study considers the perceptions of ordinary language users about the implications of making a concession for the contents of the conceder's commitment set. In particular, we examine two sources of influence on such lay perceptions—conversational distance (i.e., the number of turns separating the concession from commitments incurred earlier in the argument) and an individual's prior beliefs regarding the content of the argument. Across two studies, college students were administered an argument task assessing the extent to which a concession by the protagonist of an argument on the last move indicated changes to other commitments incurred earlier in the argument. Results indicated that participants were more likely to judge a concession as indicating a change in prior commitments if (a) the commitment was incurred later in the argument than earlier, and (b) the participant disagreed with the protagonists’ thesis in the argument. In addition, performance on deductive reasoning tasks predicted individual differences in the conversational distance effect, but not the belief bias effect.     

Argumentation as Rule-Justified Claims: Elements of a Conceptual Framework for the Critical Analysis of Argument

The paper outlines a conceptual framework for the critical assessment of argumentation which differs in some of its core characteristics from conventional approaches: it is resolutely semantic rather than formal in its method; it centers on obligations rather than beliefs; and its analytical focus is on the contingent necessity of conclusions, rather than on their persuasiveness or formal validity. The paper briefly illustrates the applications of this conceptual framework by reanalyzing a couple of examples taken from the argumentation analysis literature.     

Strategic demonstration of problem solutions by groups: The effects of member preferences,confidence, and learning goals

Research indicates that groups perform best, and their members learn the most, when they solve problems with demonstrably correct solutions. These outcomes are often attributed to correct members demonstrating to incorrect members how to solve such problems. However, because few studies have directly observed group interaction (Moreland, Swanenburg, Flagg, & Fetterman, 2010), the extent to which correct members actually demonstrate problem solutions remains unclear. Assuming that groups are strategic and desire to solve problems both accurately and efficiently, we predicted that initially correct minorities would be more likely than initially correct majorities to demonstrate problem solutions. Results from two studies support this prediction, in the form of member behavioral intentions (Study 1) and observed group interaction processes (Study 2). Study 1 also highlights the role of confidence in this effect, while Study 2 reveals that demonstration is overall more likely when groups have a goal that encourages member learning.     

基于问题解决式的类比推理的老化：表面相似性和结构相似性的作用

采用2年龄(老年/年轻)×2表面相似性(高/低)×2结构相似性(高/低)三因素混合设计, 考察表面信息和结构信息在基于问题解决范式的类比推理老化中的作用。结果发现, 老年人的类比推理成绩显著差于年轻人。源问题和靶问题的表面相似性和结构相似性的提高, 会促进个体检索源问题, 并提高推理质量。对于老年人而言, 表面相似性更重要; 对于年轻人而言, 结构相似性更重要。     

Conditional reasoning with negations: Implicit and explicit affirmation or denial and the role of contrast classes

' We report two studies on the effect of implicitly versus explicitly conveying affirmation and denial problems about conditionals. Recently Evans and Handley (1999) and Schroyens et al. (1999b, 2000b) showed that implicit referencing elicits matching bias: Fewer determinate inferences are made, when the categorical premise (e.g., B) mismatches the conditional's referred clause (e.g., A). Also, the effect of implicit affirmation (B affirms not-A) is larger than the effect of implicit denial (B denies A). Schroyens et al. hypothesised that this interaction is due to uncertainty in the case-wise affirmation of the contrast class of negated elements involved in implicit affirmations. In Experiment 1 we tested this hypothesis by manipulating the set size of the conditional clauses. The results confirm that binary sets, where the contrast class is a singleton, eliminate the differential effect of implicit affirmation and denial. With non-binary sets the interaction is not modulated by the scope of the contrast class (3, 5, 9 elements). Experiment 2 further investigated the role of contrast classes by using class inclusion to construct implicit affirmations (Mammal vs Mammal or Monkey) and implicit denial (No-Mammal vs Mammal or Monkey), in addition to the standard implicit problems mediated by contrast-class inclusion [(No-)Mammal/No-Mammal; Reptile; Snake). Findings indicate that class inclusion (Mammal/Monkey; Reptile/ Snake) only marginally affects performance, and is independent of the type of problem. This would suggest that the implicitness problem-type interaction is dependent on constructing contrast classes. However, the experiment failed to replicate the interaction, even on the subset of problems repeating the abstract letter/number format of Experiment 1. Moreover, with the natural binary set-sizes (vowels/consonants) the implicitness effect was eliminated entirely.     

Response demands and the recruitment of heuristic strategies in syllogistic reasoning

Two experiments investigated whether dealing with a homogeneous subset of syllogisms with time-constrained responses encouraged participants to develop and use heuristics for abstract (Experiment 1) and thematic (Experiment 2) syllogisms. An atmosphere-based heuristic accounted for most responses with both abstract and thematic syllogisms. With thematic syllogisms, a weaker effect of a belief heuristic was also observed, mainly where the correct response was inconsistent with the atmosphere of the premises. Analytic processes appear to have played little role in the time-constrained condition, whereas their involvement increased in a self-paced, unconstrained condition. From a dual-process perspective, the results further specify how task demands affect the recruitment of heuristic and analytic systems of reasoning. Because the syllogisms and experimental procedure were the same as those used in a previous neuroimaging study by Goel, Buchel, Frith, and Dolan (2000), the result also deepen our understanding of the cognitive processes investigated by that study.     

Reasoning and concurrent timing: a study of the mechanisms underlying the effect of emotion on reasoning

Negative emotions typically have an adverse effect on reasoning, especially analytic or logical reasoning. This effect can be explained using an attentional framework in which emotion detracts limited-capacity cognitive resources which are required for reasoning. Another possibility is that the effect of emotion on reasoning is mediated by arousal, as previous research has shown that physiological arousal can be associated with decreased reasoning performance. In this research, we used a dual-task paradigm combining a syllogistic reasoning task and a time production task. Prospective timing allows to disentangle the effects of attention and arousal: time productions should lengthen if emotion takes up cognitive resources that are therefore not available for timing, whereas time productions should shorten if emotional reasoning results from increased arousal. Results from two experiments confirm the adverse impact of emotion on logical reasoning performance. Reasoning about emotional contents led to lengthened time productions, which suggests that the capture of limited cognitive resources is the main factor accounting for the adverse effect of emotion on reasoning and not arousal.     

不同亚型数学学习困难儿童应用题问题表征过程的研究

采用自编数学应用题解决能力测验题对小学四年级单纯型数困儿童、混合型数困儿童和普通儿童问题理解阶段、问题整合阶段的差异,以及问题表征能力与数学问题解决之间的关系进行探究。结果表明：（1）单纯型与混合型数困儿童有效识别信息的能力弱,难于利用相关信息和排除干扰信息。（2）单纯型数困儿童比混合型数困儿童更擅于运用图式表征策略。（3）图式表征策略能促进数困儿童应用题的解决。     

The interrelationship between speeded and unspeeded divergent thinking and reasoning, and the role of mental speed

The relationship between intelligence and creativity is still subject to substantial debate in the research literature. In the present study, we focused on core dimensions of both constructs, that is divergent thinking and reasoning. We hypothesized their relationship to depend both on the speededness of test tasks and on the subject's mental speed, positing that with increasing speededness of the tasks, mental speed would have a stronger impact on task outcomes. We disentangled the effects of task speededness and mental speed experimentally, testing 261 participants (mean age 14.48 years) with 12 divergent thinking and 12 reasoning tasks, 6 of each under power conditions, 6 time-constrained. In addition, we assessed mental speed with 6 tasks. We analyzed the data through structural equation modeling. Results confirmed our expectations: test speededness contributed significantly to mental speed variance in divergent thinking task performance. Divergent thinking assessed under time constraints was fully explained by divergent thinking assessed under power conditions and by mental speed. Divergent thinking and reasoning showed no correlation when controlling for mental speed. Our findings suggest that the correlations between divergent thinking and reasoning are mainly the result of variance both constructs share with mental speed, and that timed versus untimed test-taking plays a minor role.     

The influence of relational complexity and strategy selection on children's reasoning in the Latin Square Task

The present study focused on children's deductive reasoning when performing the Latin Square Task, an experimental task designed to explore the influence of relational complexity. Building on Birney, Halford, and Andrew's (2006) research, we created a version of the task that minimized nonrelational factors and introduced new categories of items. The results of two experiments conducted with school-aged children yielded an apparent dilution of complexity effects and suggest that specific inferential strategies can reduce the relational complexity that children need to process. A theoretical account is proposed emphasizing the influence of adaptive selection of strategies that mediate processing capacity constraints in reasoning development.     

Difference as a Resource for Thinking: An Online Dialogue Showing the Role Played by Difference in Problem Solving and Decision Making

Contemporary societies require citizens and workers to face unexpected challenges. This calls for a shift of emphasis from individualistic competence to the importance of collective intelligence. This article describes a plan for a project in which students who are eight to twelve years old will not only realize that difference is a crucial resource in problem solving and decision making but also live out their personal value as thinking, active beings. They will participate in an online dialogue that takes place among children who attend schools in under‐resourced communities and in middle‐class and upper‐class communities. The students will work on learning units based on philosophical content designed to stimulate their critical ability. The philosophical scenarios will be related to the everyday lives of the children through concrete examples. These examples will be followed by questions that aim to promote the advancement of the students’ thinking skills.     

Exploring the rabbit hole of possibilities by myself or with my group: The benefits and liabilities of activating counterfactual mind‐sets for information sharing and group coordination

The current experiment explored the effect of activating a counterfactual mind‐set on the discussion of unique information and group judgment accuracy. Evidence suggests that a counterfactual mind‐set is characterized by a focused, analytic mental state and, when activated at the group level, improves group judgment accuracy in the murder mystery paradigm (a hidden profile task). We hypothesized that the beneficial effect of the counterfactual mind‐set would only help group problem‐solving tasks if the mind‐set had been activated at the group level, allowing the analytical mind‐set to play out in an atmosphere of synergistic coordination. In contrast, if this highly focused mental state is activated at the individual level, it could impair group judgment quality because inwardly focused analytical individuals may fail to coordinate their behavior with other group members. Consistent with our hypothesis, activating a counterfactual mind‐set at the individual level had a debilitating effect on the group judgment task, whereas activating a counterfactual mind‐set at the group level had a facilitative effect, increasing information sharing, synergistic coordination and judgment accuracy. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.