Reasoning about apparent contradictions

Resolution strategies and positive–negative asymmetries

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20366405
AutoresDEAN SHARPE (University of Toronto), Guy Lacroix (0000-0001-6415-4496, McGill University)
Año1999
Volumen26
Número2
Páginas477-490
Fecha de publicación1999-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Child Language (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0305-0009 • E-ISSN: 1469-7602
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0305000999003840
PMID11706476
OpenAlexW1989183618
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas5

APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS , e.g. Did Susan like her supper? – Yes and no , involve asserting and denying the same proposition. They therefore violate the classical LAW OF NON-CONTRADICTION , suggesting the use of non-classical INTERPRETIVE STRUCTURES in natural language and reasoning. Experiment 1 explores the range of such interpretive structures available to adults ( n = 24) in their reasoning about an apparent contradiction. Experiment 2 uses a similar task to study the emergence of these interpretive structures in young children's reasoning (3;6 to 8;4, n = 48). Results suggest an early facility with resolution strategies relating to OBJECT STRUCTURE (as in, Maybe Susan liked one part of supper but didn't like another part ) and an initial tendency to focus on the negative by referring to it first (as in, Maybe Susan didn't like one part of supper but did like another part ). We discuss the results in terms of the NATURAL LOGIC of objects and their properties, and the LOGICAL RESOURCES available to young children

Contradiction · Epistemology · Linguistics · Proposition · Supper · Bayesian Modeling and Causal Inference · Child and Animal Learning Development · Computer Science · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence