PSYC 336 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Syllogism

• School: University of San Diego
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 336
• Professor: Appleton-Knapp

Document Summary

Errors in logical reasoning happen all the time. If people are careless or misread problems, they do so rather frequently. Categorial syllogisms a type of logical argument that begins with 2 assertions (the problem"s premises each containing a statement about a category) Can be completed with a conclusion that may or may not follow from these premises. Valid syllogism the conclusion does follow from the premises stated. Invalid syllogism a syllogism where the conclusion is not logically demanded by the premises. Ex. all p are m. all s are m. therefore, all s are p. Participants who are asked to reason bout syllogisms do very poorly. If a syllogism"s conclusion happens to be something people believe to be true anyhow, they"re likely to judge the conclusion as following logically from the premises. If the conclusion is something they believe to be false, likely to reject the conclusion as invalid.