18. INSTITUTION Yale Univ., New Haven, Conn
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DOCUMENT RESUME ID 189 171 TM BOO 348 AUTHOP Sternberg, Pobert J.: Gardner, MichaelK. Unities in Inductive Peasoning.Technical Peport No.. 18. INSTITUTION Yale Univ., New Haven, Conn. Dept.of Psychology. SPONS AG7NCY Office of. Naval Pesearch, Arlington,Va. Personnel and. Training Pesearch Programs Office. PUB CATv Oct 79 CONTRACT N0001478C002 VOTE 66p.: Portions of thispaper were presented at.the Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Psychology (Providence, PI, August,1979). EDFS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DrSCRTPTOPS Classification: Cognitive Measurement:*Cognitive Processes: Correlation: Hlgher Fducation:*Induction: *Intelligence: Models: vesponse StyleATests) TDENTIFTT.S Analogy Test Items: Series Completion ABSTRACT Two experiments were performed to study inductive reasoning as a set of thoughtprocesses that operat(s on the structure, as opposed to the content, oforganized h.emory. The content of the reasoning consisted ofinductions concerning thenames cf mammals, assUmed tooccupy a ruclidean space of three dimensions (size, ferocity, and humanness) inorganized memory; Problems used in the experiments were analogies, series,and classifications. They were presented in unrestricted-time form bypaper and pencil for-choice.items and tachistosccpicallyas two choice items. Time required in the tachistoscopic formwas assumed to be an additive combinition nf five stages: selection ofcomponents of the problem, of strategy, of internal representationsfor the information, ofa speed-accuracy trade off, and the monitoringof solutions. Results partially confirmed the vector modelof memory space for names of mammals. Response latencies Confirffed theprediction that analogies regdired ore more processing step thandid series, which in turn required one more step thr, did classifications.The significance of these findira for the exclanatior cf aeneral intelligenceis .discussed. (Author/CTM) ********************************************************************** Ppbrnductiorc: sumpli.ed bv FDPq the be .-t. that car. be made from 4-.1-.e dcume7".. 4***A****************1************************************************* ' U $ DEPARTMENT OF NRALTML EDUCATION &WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION IpiiS DoCumENT ),4A5 BEEN REPRO. DuCED E XAC It AS RECEIvED FROM Tp4E PFRSON OW ORGANizATION ORIGIN. ATINGi POINTS OF vIEW OR OPINIONS STATFI 00 NOT NLCFSSAR,LY REPRE st NT 05ICIAl NA .ONAL INSii TuTE OF Eno( A ION POSITION OR POt ecy Unities in Inductive Reasoning Robert J, Sternberg and Michael K. Gardner Department of Psychology Yale University New liaven, Connecticut 06520 Technical Report No. 18 October, 1979 Approved for public release; distribution unlimited, Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose of the United States Government, taQi This research was sponsored by the Personnel and Training Research Programs, Psychological Sciences Division, Office of Naval Research, under Contract No. N0001478C0025, Contract Authority Identification Number NR 150-412, UNCLASSIFIED ECUr.ITT CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (1.71an Dona Entered) READ INSTRUCTIONS 1 REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE 'MORE COMPLETING PORN,..1.6,,' 1- -REPORT NUMBER 2. GOV, ACCESSION NO771WET177171'S CAYAL.00 NUMBER Technical Report No. 14 4.TITLE (end Subtitle) I. TYPC OF REPORT 6 PERIOD COVIREC . Periodic Technical Report "Unities in Inductive Reasoning" .0Jul 79 30 1122.2) / . S. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NURSER Rescarc4.14port No. 1.79 7.AUTMOR(a) S.CONTRACT OR GRANT NU1011ER(s) Robert J. Sternberg and Michael K. Gardner N0001478C0025 . S. prmrORMINCIORGANIZATION NAM! AND ADDRESS 'IVPROGRAM ELIEMENT. PROJECT, TASK AREA II WORK UNIT NUMBERS Department of Psychology 61153N; Yale University . RR 042-04; RR 042-64-01; New Haven, Connecticut 06520 NR 150-412 11.CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 12. REPORT DATE Personnel and Training Research Programs 1 Oct 79 OUice of Naval Research (Code 458) 13. NUMBER OF PAGES Arlington, Virginia 22217 4 MONITORING AGENCY NAME A AIDDRESS(if different from Controlling Office) 15. SECURITY CLASS. (of this wort) Unclassified I5a. DECLASSIFICATION/OOWNGRADING SCHEOuLE 16 DISTRIBUTION ST A YEMEN T (of thug Report) Approved for public release; distribution unlimited 17.DiSTRIBUTION STATEMENT (of the abstract ntered in Blof:k 20, if different from Roper!) , re.SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Portions of this paper were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Mathematical Psychology, Providence, August, 1979. IfKEY WORDS (Continuo on rsvero aids if neemary and identifY by block number) Inductive reasoning, component, aualogies, series completions, classification 20 ABSTRACT (Continuo on rovoroo aid. if netemary and idontify by block nvolber) Two experiments sought to discover sources of communalities in performance on three inductive reasoning tasks: analogies, series completions, and classifications. In Experiment 1, 30 subjects completed an untimed pencil- and-paper test in which they were asked to solve 90 induction items, equally divided among the three kinds of induction items noted above. The subjects' Itaskwas to rank-order four response options in terms of their goodnes6 of fit as completions for each particular item. Data sets for the three tasks DDI JANFORM 731473 EDiTION OF 1 NOV 65 IS OBSOLETE S1N O102-LF-014.6601 UNCLASSIFIE9 SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (Whorl Data Itntrd) IINWLAAATPIED__ SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (When b.f.) Entrd) were highly correlated, suggesting the possibility of a common model of re- sponse choice across tasks. MoreOver, a single exponential model of response choice provided a good fit to each data set. The single parameter4estimate for this model was roughly comparableacross tasks. In Experiment 2, 36 sub- jects completed a timed tachistoscopic test in which they,too, were asked to solve 90 induction items, equally dividedamong the three kinds of induc- tion items noted above. The subjects' task was to choose the better of two response options as g completion for each particular item. Data sets for the three tasks were again highly intercorrelated, suggesting the possibility ofa common model of real-time information processing across tasks, kloreover,. a single linear model of response times provided a good fit to each data set. Three of four parameter estimateswere roughly comparable across tasks. It was concluded that a common model of response choice and of information proces sing can account for at least some of the previously observed relationships in performance across induction tasks. The implications of these findings for psychometric and information-processing accounts of induction and intelligence are discussed. UNCLASSTF IED SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF"THIS PAGE(Whon Data En(ered) t Unities in Inductive Reasoning Robert J. Sternberg and Michael K. Gardner Yale UniVersity Running head: Uni'Aes in Inductive Reasoning Send proofs to Robert J. Sternberg Department of Psychology Yale University Box 11A Yale Station New Haven, Connecticut 06520 Unities in Inductive Reasoning 1 Abstract Two experiments sought to discover sources of communalities in performance on three inductive reasoning tasks: analogies, series completions, and classi- fications. In Experiment 1, 30 subjects completedan untimed pencil-and-paper test in which they were asked to solve 90 induction items, equally divided among the three kinds of induction items noted above. The subjects' task was to rank-order four response options in terms of their goodness of fitas comple- tions for each particular item. Data sets for the three tasks were highly intercorrelated, suggesting the possibility ofa common model of response choice across tasks. Moreover, a single exponential model of response choice provided a good fit to each data set. The single parameter estimate for this model was roughly comparable across tasks. In Experiment 2, 36 subjects completed a timed tachistoscopic test in which they, too, were asked to solve 90 induction items, equally divided among the three kinds of induction items noted aipove..The sub- jects' task was to choose the better of two response options asa completion for each particular item. Data sets for the three tasks were again highly inter- correlated, shggesting the possibility of a common model of real-time information processing across tasks. Moreover, a single linear model of response times pro- vided a good fit to each data set. Three of four parameter estimates for this model were roughly comparable across tasks. It.was concluded that a common model of response choice and of information pro6essing can account for at least some of the previously observed relationships in performance across induction tasks. The implications of these findings for psychometric and information-processing accOunts of induction and intelligence are discussfti. C. 1. Vilifies in Inductive Reasoning 2 Unities in Inductive Reasoning Inductive reasoning requireJ an individual to reason from part to whole, or from particular to general (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1976). Inductive reasoning problems can be of various kinds. One of the most interesting kinds is that which Greeno (1978) refers to as problems of inducing structure. 'Problems of this kind include analogies (e.g., LAWYER is to CLIENTas DOCTOR is to (a) PATIENT, (b) MEDICINE), series completions (e.g., Which word should come next _ in the following series? PENNY, NICKEL, DIME, (a) COIN, (b) QUARTER), and classi- fications (e.g., Which of the two words at the right fits better with the three words at the left? CAT, MOUSE, LION,