PSY270H1 Lecture Notes - Wason Selection Task, Confirmation Bias, Root Mean Square

• School: UTSG
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY270H1
• Professor: Christine Burton

Document Summary

Mental models used to solved syllogisms are limited by the same types of things that limit other cognitive tasks: working memory, prior knowledge, visual imagery. Inductive reasoning is based on our observations of the world we make inferences about what is likely true. Reaching a logically certain conclusion is impossible: e. g. i wake up everyday and look outside my window to check if the sun has come up. Therefore, the sun rises everyday: we may make such a conclusion. But, cannot be sure b/c the fact that it happened everyday doesn"t mean that it will happen again. Many of the decisions we make everyday are based on inductive reasoning we make decisions based on the probability of outcomes. Inductive reasoning is limited by the same cognitive resources as deductive reasoning. Researchers first assumed that humans were completely rational in their decision making. How do we decide whether to have pizza for lunch or a sub: calories, tastiness, line up.