Department of Health Sciences Faculty Articles

Title

Scientists and the Selection Task

ISBN or ISSN

0306-3127

Volume

16

Issue

2

Publication Date / Copyright Date

5-1986

First Page

319

Last Page

330

Publisher

Sage Publications Ltd.

DOI Number

10.1177/0306312786016002007

Abstract

Contrary to some recent findings reported in this journal by Tweney and Yachanin, the results for twenty scientists on the selection task reflected little understanding of the power of disconfirmatory data in assessing conditionals. In agreement with previous studies by Mahoney and Kimper, and by Kern, Mirels and Hinshaw, confirmatory data were sought more often. The results indicate that scientists' performance is similar to that of undergraduates, mainly influenced by the problem content, and do not support Tweney and Yachanin's claim of scientists' competence on the selection task. Memory-cueing plus reasoning-by-analogy is offered as an alternative explanation.

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Keywords

Selection Task, Disconfirmatory Data, Assessing Conditionals, Confirmatory Data, Problem Content, Memory-Cueing, Reasoning-By-Analogy

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