P C Wason
Biographic Data
| ID | 3658017 |
|---|---|
| NAME | P C Wason |
| GIVEN NAMES | P C |
| FAMILY NAME | Wason |
| SIGNATURE | WASON P C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College London |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 128 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1960 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1982 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Notes on the Psychology of Writing
Most psychological research on expository writing is conducted within a purely cognitive paradigm. Writing provides a test case of its generality because the claims which writers make about their experience are incompatible with any purely cognitive model. We maintain that the fundamental problem of writing is affective, concerned specifically with the attitudes of openness and trust. A method of writing is presented which we conjecture induces s…
Thinking
Rationalization in a Reasoning Task
An experiment is presented to test the dual process model of thinking proposed by Wason & Evans (1975). One prediction of the model is that subjects' introspective justifications of their reasoning behaviour do not reflect insight into the underlying thought processes, but are essentially rationalizations. In the present experiment subjects in independent groups are given one of several different solutions to a reasoning problem as being correct,…
Dual processes in reasoning?
The Language of Inconsistency
This paper presents an interpretation of inconsistent remarks which subjects made in explaining their erroneous solutions to a difficult deductive problem. Four half‐masked cards of the following types were presented: ( a ) a number in the lower half, ( b ) a blank in the upper half, ( c ) a letter in the upper half, and ( d ) a blank in the lower half. The problem is to say which cards need to be unmasked to determine decisively whether a senten…
Degrees of Insight
This experiment investigated performance on a reasoning task in which the subjects had to say which of four half‐hidden cards they needed to see fully in order to determine the truth or falsity of a conditional sentence. In one experimental condition examples of each of the four types of card were fully displayed to remove any difficulty due to limitation of memory or imagery. No more correct solutions were obtained under this condition than unde…
A Conflict Between Selecting and Evaluating Information in an Inferential Task
An inferential task was investigated in which the subjects had to select which of four cards they needed to inspect in order to determine whether a rule was true or false. In one condition crucial information was concealed on the other side of the cards, and in another condition it was on the same side of the cards, but covered by a mask. A previous experiment suggested that subjects sometimes confused the notion of ‘the other side of the card’. …
Regression in Reasoning
This investigation is concerned with the effects of two kinds of contradiction on the correction of errors in a structurally simple but deceptively difficult logical problem. The task was to choose from partially concealed material those stimuli which were necessary to evaluate the truth or falsity of a general statement. Hypothetical contradiction is assumed to occur when the subject makes an inference which is inconsistent with a previous incor…
Reasoning about a Rule
Two experiments were carried out to investigate the difficulty of making the contra-positive inference from conditional sentences of the form, “if P then Q.” This inference, that not-P follows from not-Q, requires the transformation of the information presented in the conditional sentence. It is suggested that the difficulty is due to a mental set for expecting a relation of truth, correspondence, or match to hold between sentences and states of …
Perceptual Distortion Induced by Reasoning
The aim of this investigation was to compare the effects of three different degrees of expectancy on the perception of relative length. It was assumed that expectancy would be ( a ) maximal when erroneous information about the relative length of two equal lines was deduced fallaciously by the subjects, ( b ) intermediate when the same information was presented by the experimenter, and ( c ) zero when no such information was presented. It was pred…
The contexts of plausible denial
Negatives
The hypothesis was investigated that the connotations of the word 'not' affect the times taken to verify negative statements more than the function of this word as a logical constant. The task was to verify statements which asserted, or denied, that a given number was 'even'. Two groups were used: an explicit group in which the statements were in English, and an implicit group in which neutral signs stood for assertion and denial, their functions…
The Retention of Material Presented through Precis
Journal Article The Retention of Material Presented through Precis Get access P. C. Wason P. C. Wason 1Mr. Wason (M.A., 1948, Oxford University, in English literature; B.A., 1953, and Ph.D., 1957, University of London, in psychology) was an assistant lecturer in English literature at Aberdeen University, 1949–1950 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, Volume 12, Issue 1, March 1962, Pag…
Response to Affirmative and Negative Binary Statements
A previous experiment showed consistent and significant differences in the times taken to complete true affirmative, false affirmative, true negative and false negative statements in relation to given situations. In that task only one pattern of stimuli could have made an affirmative true and a negative false, but more than one could have made an affirmative false and a negative true. The present investigation equates the specificity of all state…
On the Failure to Eliminate Hypotheses in a Conceptual Task
This investigation examines the extent to which intelligent young adults seek (i) confirming evidence alone (enumerative induction) or (ii) confirming and discontinuing evidence (eliminative induction), in order to draw conclusions in a simple conceptual task. The experiment is designed so that use of confirming evidence alone will almost certainly lead to erroneous conclusions because (i) the correct concept is entailed by many more obvious ones…
Reasoning about a Rule
Two experiments were carried out to investigate the difficulty of making the contra-positive inference from conditional sentences of the form, “if P then Q.” This inference, that not-P follows from not-Q, requires the transformation of the information presented in the conditional sentence. It is suggested that the difficulty is due to a mental set for expecting a relation of truth, correspondence, or match to hold between sentences and states of …
Negatives
The hypothesis was investigated that the connotations of the word 'not' affect the times taken to verify negative statements more than the function of this word as a logical constant. The task was to verify statements which asserted, or denied, that a given number was 'even'. Two groups were used: an explicit group in which the statements were in English, and an implicit group in which neutral signs stood for assertion and denial, their functions…
Regression in Reasoning
This investigation is concerned with the effects of two kinds of contradiction on the correction of errors in a structurally simple but deceptively difficult logical problem. The task was to choose from partially concealed material those stimuli which were necessary to evaluate the truth or falsity of a general statement. Hypothetical contradiction is assumed to occur when the subject makes an inference which is inconsistent with a previous incor…
Rationalization in a Reasoning Task
An experiment is presented to test the dual process model of thinking proposed by Wason & Evans (1975). One prediction of the model is that subjects' introspective justifications of their reasoning behaviour do not reflect insight into the underlying thought processes, but are essentially rationalizations. In the present experiment subjects in independent groups are given one of several different solutions to a reasoning problem as being correct,…
A Conflict Between Selecting and Evaluating Information in an Inferential Task
An inferential task was investigated in which the subjects had to select which of four cards they needed to inspect in order to determine whether a rule was true or false. In one condition crucial information was concealed on the other side of the cards, and in another condition it was on the same side of the cards, but covered by a mask. A previous experiment suggested that subjects sometimes confused the notion of ‘the other side of the card’. …
On the Failure to Eliminate Hypotheses in a Conceptual Task
This investigation examines the extent to which intelligent young adults seek (i) confirming evidence alone (enumerative induction) or (ii) confirming and discontinuing evidence (eliminative induction), in order to draw conclusions in a simple conceptual task. The experiment is designed so that use of confirming evidence alone will almost certainly lead to erroneous conclusions because (i) the correct concept is entailed by many more obvious ones…
Response to Affirmative and Negative Binary Statements
A previous experiment showed consistent and significant differences in the times taken to complete true affirmative, false affirmative, true negative and false negative statements in relation to given situations. In that task only one pattern of stimuli could have made an affirmative true and a negative false, but more than one could have made an affirmative false and a negative true. The present investigation equates the specificity of all state…
The Retention of Material Presented through Precis
Journal Article The Retention of Material Presented through Precis Get access P. C. Wason P. C. Wason 1Mr. Wason (M.A., 1948, Oxford University, in English literature; B.A., 1953, and Ph.D., 1957, University of London, in psychology) was an assistant lecturer in English literature at Aberdeen University, 1949–1950 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, Volume 12, Issue 1, March 1962, Pag…
Negatives
The hypothesis was investigated that the connotations of the word 'not' affect the times taken to verify negative statements more than the function of this word as a logical constant. The task was to verify statements which asserted, or denied, that a given number was 'even'. Two groups were used: an explicit group in which the statements were in English, and an implicit group in which neutral signs stood for assertion and denial, their functions…
The contexts of plausible denial
Perceptual Distortion Induced by Reasoning
The aim of this investigation was to compare the effects of three different degrees of expectancy on the perception of relative length. It was assumed that expectancy would be ( a ) maximal when erroneous information about the relative length of two equal lines was deduced fallaciously by the subjects, ( b ) intermediate when the same information was presented by the experimenter, and ( c ) zero when no such information was presented. It was pred…
Reasoning about a Rule
Two experiments were carried out to investigate the difficulty of making the contra-positive inference from conditional sentences of the form, “if P then Q.” This inference, that not-P follows from not-Q, requires the transformation of the information presented in the conditional sentence. It is suggested that the difficulty is due to a mental set for expecting a relation of truth, correspondence, or match to hold between sentences and states of …
Regression in Reasoning
This investigation is concerned with the effects of two kinds of contradiction on the correction of errors in a structurally simple but deceptively difficult logical problem. The task was to choose from partially concealed material those stimuli which were necessary to evaluate the truth or falsity of a general statement. Hypothetical contradiction is assumed to occur when the subject makes an inference which is inconsistent with a previous incor…
A Conflict Between Selecting and Evaluating Information in an Inferential Task
An inferential task was investigated in which the subjects had to select which of four cards they needed to inspect in order to determine whether a rule was true or false. In one condition crucial information was concealed on the other side of the cards, and in another condition it was on the same side of the cards, but covered by a mask. A previous experiment suggested that subjects sometimes confused the notion of ‘the other side of the card’. …
Degrees of Insight
This experiment investigated performance on a reasoning task in which the subjects had to say which of four half‐hidden cards they needed to see fully in order to determine the truth or falsity of a conditional sentence. In one experimental condition examples of each of the four types of card were fully displayed to remove any difficulty due to limitation of memory or imagery. No more correct solutions were obtained under this condition than unde…
Dual processes in reasoning?
The Language of Inconsistency
This paper presents an interpretation of inconsistent remarks which subjects made in explaining their erroneous solutions to a difficult deductive problem. Four half‐masked cards of the following types were presented: ( a ) a number in the lower half, ( b ) a blank in the upper half, ( c ) a letter in the upper half, and ( d ) a blank in the lower half. The problem is to say which cards need to be unmasked to determine decisively whether a senten…
Rationalization in a Reasoning Task
An experiment is presented to test the dual process model of thinking proposed by Wason & Evans (1975). One prediction of the model is that subjects' introspective justifications of their reasoning behaviour do not reflect insight into the underlying thought processes, but are essentially rationalizations. In the present experiment subjects in independent groups are given one of several different solutions to a reasoning problem as being correct,…
Thinking
Notes on the Psychology of Writing
Most psychological research on expository writing is conducted within a purely cognitive paradigm. Writing provides a test case of its generality because the claims which writers make about their experience are incompatible with any purely cognitive model. We maintain that the fundamental problem of writing is affective, concerned specifically with the attitudes of openness and trust. A method of writing is presented which we conjecture induces s…
Psychology (14 works) · Cognitive psychology (11 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Task (project management) (7 works) · Cognition (5 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Linguistics (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Advanced Text Analysis Techniques (3 works)