Raymond S Nickerson
Biographic Data
| ID | 1662362 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Raymond S Nickerson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Raymond S |
| FAMILY NAME | Nickerson |
| SIGNATURE | NICKERSON R S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tufts University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4214-0541 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 56 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1963 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
About Nothing, in Particular
“Nothing” is an interesting word and an even more interesting concept. The word is used frequently in many contexts without difficulty. However, a bit of probing reveals that there are many contexts in which the word can have dramatically different meanings, and the language user may be unaware of the possibility of a meaning other than the one he or she intends. It is difficult to talk about the concept coherently and hard to imagine one that mo…
Argumentation
Drawing from the study of human reasoning, Argumentation describes different types of arguments and explains how they influence beliefs and behaviour. Raymond Nickerson identifies many of the fallacies, biases, and other flaws often found in arguments as well as 'stratagems' (schemes, illogical and alogical tactics) that people regularly use to persuade others. Much attention is given to the evaluation of arguments. Readers will learn a new schem…
Argumentation
Drawing from the study of human reasoning, Argumentation describes different types of arguments and explains how they influence beliefs and behaviour. Raymond Nickerson identifies many of the fallacies, biases, and other flaws often found in arguments as well as 'stratagems' (schemes, illogical and alogical tactics) that people regularly use to persuade others. Much attention is given to the evaluation of arguments. Readers will learn a new schem…
Applied Experimental Psychology
Experimentation motivated by practical concerns dates to the earliest days of experimental psychology. Those practical concerns have covered an extensive range of problem areas, including education and training, transportation and workplace safety, health and medical practice, forensic decision making, the psychology of aging, person-machine interaction, human performance in extreme environments, and a host of others. Applied experimentation has …
Roles of human factors and ergonomics in meeting the challenge of terrorism
Human factors and ergonomics research focuses on questions pertaining to the design of devices, systems, and procedures with the goal of making sure that they are well suited to human use and focuses on studies of the interaction of people with simple and complex systems and machines. Problem areas studied include the allocation of function to people and machines, person-system interface design, accident prevention, risk assessment, human perform…
Mathematical reasoning
What Authors Want From Journal Reviewers and Editors
Cognition and Chance
The ability to think probabilistically is important for many reasons. Lack of it makes one prone to a variety or irrational fears and vulnerable to scams designed to exploit probabilistic naivete, precludes intelligent assessment of risks, impairs decision making under uncertainty, facilities the misinterpretation of statistical information, precludes critical evaluation of likelihood claims, and generally undercuts rational thinking in numerous …
Null hypothesis significance testing
Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is arguably the most widely used approach to hypothesis evaluation among behavioral and social scientists. It is also very controversial. A major concern expressed by critics is that such testing is misunderstood by many of those who use it. Several other objections to its use have also been raised. In this article the author reviews and comments on the claimed misunderstandings as well as on other crit…
How we know--and sometimes misjudge--what others know
How we know-and sometimes misjudge-what others know
To communicate effectively, people must have a reasonably accurate idea about what specific other people know. An obvious starting point for building a model of what another knows is what one oneself knows, or thinks one knows. This article reviews evidence that people impute their own knowledge to others and that, although this serves them well in general, they often do so uncritically, with the result of erroneously assuming that other people h…
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a hypothesis in hand. The author reviews evidence of such a bias in a variety of guises and gives examples of its operation in several practical contexts. Possible explanations are considered, and the question of its utility or disutility is discussed.
Ambiguities and unstated assumptions in probabilistic reasoning
Ostensibly simple probabilistic reasoning problems are sometimes surprisingly difficult. One source of difficulty is the omission from a problem description of information essential to an unambiguous understanding of the situation. When this is so, assumptions must be made to permit the computation of probabilities. Different assumptions lead to different conclusions, and if the assumptions are not stated, disagreements regarding problem solution…
Ambiguities and unstated assumptions in probabilistic reasoning
"A Minimalist Approach to the "Paradox of Sense Making
New Directions in Educational Assessment
The need to develop policies and procedures that do a better job of evaluating educational progress, and especially the extent to which students are learning to perform tasks that require high-level cognitive abilities, is widely recognized. There is not a consensus, however, as to precisely what kinds of tests should be constructed or how they should be used. The contributors to this use of Educational Researcher address several aspects of the d…
Design and evaluation issues in an experiment on teaching thinking skills
Design and evaluation issues in an experiment on teaching thinking skills
Teaching thinking skills
Teaching thinking skills
A course was developed to teach cognitive skills that apply to learning and intellectual performance independently of subject matter, stressing observation and classification, reasoning, critical use of language, problem solving, inventiveness, and decision making. With pretests and posttests, it was taught experimentally to over 400 Venezuelan seventh graders, whose classes were matched to those of a control group. Although evaluation of such a …
Understanding Understanding
Several experimental studies are reviewed, the results of which suggest that students often fail to acquire an understanding of some of the concepts, relationships, principles, and processes that are fundamental to traditional high school course material. Questions of what it means to understand something and of how to assess understanding are considered
A Stimulus Ordering Technique for Controlled Lag Recognition Memory Experiments
A method is presented for constructing sequences with properties which make them useful in ordering stimuli for recognition memory experiments. A main feature of the method is the facility for controlling and efficiently manipulating the number of items occurring between the initial and subsequent occurrences of given items
How we know-and sometimes misjudge-what others know
To communicate effectively, people must have a reasonably accurate idea about what specific other people know. An obvious starting point for building a model of what another knows is what one oneself knows, or thinks one knows. This article reviews evidence that people impute their own knowledge to others and that, although this serves them well in general, they often do so uncritically, with the result of erroneously assuming that other people h…
New Directions in Educational Assessment
The need to develop policies and procedures that do a better job of evaluating educational progress, and especially the extent to which students are learning to perform tasks that require high-level cognitive abilities, is widely recognized. There is not a consensus, however, as to precisely what kinds of tests should be constructed or how they should be used. The contributors to this use of Educational Researcher address several aspects of the d…
What Authors Want From Journal Reviewers and Editors
Understanding Understanding
Several experimental studies are reviewed, the results of which suggest that students often fail to acquire an understanding of some of the concepts, relationships, principles, and processes that are fundamental to traditional high school course material. Questions of what it means to understand something and of how to assess understanding are considered
How we know--and sometimes misjudge--what others know
A Stimulus Ordering Technique for Controlled Lag Recognition Memory Experiments
A method is presented for constructing sequences with properties which make them useful in ordering stimuli for recognition memory experiments. A main feature of the method is the facility for controlling and efficiently manipulating the number of items occurring between the initial and subsequent occurrences of given items
Understanding Understanding
Several experimental studies are reviewed, the results of which suggest that students often fail to acquire an understanding of some of the concepts, relationships, principles, and processes that are fundamental to traditional high school course material. Questions of what it means to understand something and of how to assess understanding are considered
Teaching thinking skills
Teaching thinking skills
A course was developed to teach cognitive skills that apply to learning and intellectual performance independently of subject matter, stressing observation and classification, reasoning, critical use of language, problem solving, inventiveness, and decision making. With pretests and posttests, it was taught experimentally to over 400 Venezuelan seventh graders, whose classes were matched to those of a control group. Although evaluation of such a …
Design and evaluation issues in an experiment on teaching thinking skills
Design and evaluation issues in an experiment on teaching thinking skills
New Directions in Educational Assessment
The need to develop policies and procedures that do a better job of evaluating educational progress, and especially the extent to which students are learning to perform tasks that require high-level cognitive abilities, is widely recognized. There is not a consensus, however, as to precisely what kinds of tests should be constructed or how they should be used. The contributors to this use of Educational Researcher address several aspects of the d…
"A Minimalist Approach to the "Paradox of Sense Making
Ambiguities and unstated assumptions in probabilistic reasoning
Ostensibly simple probabilistic reasoning problems are sometimes surprisingly difficult. One source of difficulty is the omission from a problem description of information essential to an unambiguous understanding of the situation. When this is so, assumptions must be made to permit the computation of probabilities. Different assumptions lead to different conclusions, and if the assumptions are not stated, disagreements regarding problem solution…
Ambiguities and unstated assumptions in probabilistic reasoning
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a hypothesis in hand. The author reviews evidence of such a bias in a variety of guises and gives examples of its operation in several practical contexts. Possible explanations are considered, and the question of its utility or disutility is discussed.
How we know--and sometimes misjudge--what others know
How we know-and sometimes misjudge-what others know
To communicate effectively, people must have a reasonably accurate idea about what specific other people know. An obvious starting point for building a model of what another knows is what one oneself knows, or thinks one knows. This article reviews evidence that people impute their own knowledge to others and that, although this serves them well in general, they often do so uncritically, with the result of erroneously assuming that other people h…
Null hypothesis significance testing
Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is arguably the most widely used approach to hypothesis evaluation among behavioral and social scientists. It is also very controversial. A major concern expressed by critics is that such testing is misunderstood by many of those who use it. Several other objections to its use have also been raised. In this article the author reviews and comments on the claimed misunderstandings as well as on other crit…
Cognition and Chance
The ability to think probabilistically is important for many reasons. Lack of it makes one prone to a variety or irrational fears and vulnerable to scams designed to exploit probabilistic naivete, precludes intelligent assessment of risks, impairs decision making under uncertainty, facilities the misinterpretation of statistical information, precludes critical evaluation of likelihood claims, and generally undercuts rational thinking in numerous …
What Authors Want From Journal Reviewers and Editors
Mathematical reasoning
Roles of human factors and ergonomics in meeting the challenge of terrorism
Human factors and ergonomics research focuses on questions pertaining to the design of devices, systems, and procedures with the goal of making sure that they are well suited to human use and focuses on studies of the interaction of people with simple and complex systems and machines. Problem areas studied include the allocation of function to people and machines, person-system interface design, accident prevention, risk assessment, human perform…
Applied Experimental Psychology
Experimentation motivated by practical concerns dates to the earliest days of experimental psychology. Those practical concerns have covered an extensive range of problem areas, including education and training, transportation and workplace safety, health and medical practice, forensic decision making, the psychology of aging, person-machine interaction, human performance in extreme environments, and a host of others. Applied experimentation has …
Argumentation
Drawing from the study of human reasoning, Argumentation describes different types of arguments and explains how they influence beliefs and behaviour. Raymond Nickerson identifies many of the fallacies, biases, and other flaws often found in arguments as well as 'stratagems' (schemes, illogical and alogical tactics) that people regularly use to persuade others. Much attention is given to the evaluation of arguments. Readers will learn a new schem…
About Nothing, in Particular
“Nothing” is an interesting word and an even more interesting concept. The word is used frequently in many contexts without difficulty. However, a bit of probing reveals that there are many contexts in which the word can have dramatically different meanings, and the language user may be unaware of the possibility of a meaning other than the one he or she intends. It is difficult to talk about the concept coherently and hard to imagine one that mo…
Argumentation
Drawing from the study of human reasoning, Argumentation describes different types of arguments and explains how they influence beliefs and behaviour. Raymond Nickerson identifies many of the fallacies, biases, and other flaws often found in arguments as well as 'stratagems' (schemes, illogical and alogical tactics) that people regularly use to persuade others. Much attention is given to the evaluation of arguments. Readers will learn a new schem…
Psychology (20 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Cognitive psychology (9 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Mathematics education (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Education and Critical Thinking Development (5 works) · Pedagogy (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works)