Positive and Negative Information in Matching Problems

Bibliographic Data

ID5269214
AuthorsMargaret Donaldson (University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year1959
Volume50
Issue3
Pages253-262
Publication date1959-08-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1269 • E-ISSN: 2044-8295
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.2044-8295.1959.tb00702.x
PMID13817478
OpenAlexW2001337240
LanguageEN
Citations received5

Two tasks are used, for the successful performance of which it is necessary to prefer negative information to its formally equivalent positive counterpart. The subjects are 19 children aged 14 years to 14 years 6 months, who are observed individually, and 90 students in a Scottish teachers' training college who are tested as a group. Results confirm previous findings that formal equivalence of positive and negative information does not ensure psychological equivalence. Further, in certain circumstances, positive and negative information may be regarded as equivalent in certain respects but not in others. Although negative statements are recognized as combining to 'equal' a positive one, the equality may be incomplete since this derived positive is not always allowed the same value for purposes of further inference as a directly stated positive. Bruner, Goodnow & Austin (1956) suggest that avoidance of 'in-the-head' transformation may explain the tendency to shun negatives; but this does not seem adequate to account for the present findings. These authors also speak of 'inability or unwillingness' to use negative information. In this study, evidence both of inability and of unwillingness is obtained

Developmental psychology · Equivalence (formal languages) · Matching (statistics) · Negative information · Statistics · Value (mathematics) · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Mathematics · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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