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Another look at eliminative and enumerative behaviour in a conceptual task
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Oaksford, M. (Mike) and Chater, Nick (1994) Another look at eliminative and enumerative behaviour in a conceptual task. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 6 (2). pp. 149-169. doi:10.1080/09541449408520141 ISSN 0954-1446.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09541449408520141
Abstract
There are currently two competing interpretations of hypothesis testing in Wason's (1960) 2-4-6 task: the positivity heuristic (Klayman & Ha, 1987; 1989) and the counterfactual strategy (Farris & Revlin, 1989a; 1989b). We argue that an extension of the counterfactual strategy—the iterative counterfactual strategy—should be preferred over the positive test heuristic because it may resolve the paradox of why subjects succeed on this task while apparently adopting an irrational strategy. We argue that an account of hypothesis generation is required to explain these data and that only the counterfactual strategy is of help here. We discuss the strategy and the 2-4-6 task in the light of contemporary history and philosophy of science, highlighting the rational basis of the strategy and some unrealities of the task.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology | ||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Human behavior | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | European Journal of Cognitive Psychology | ||||||
Publisher: | Psychology Press | ||||||
ISSN: | 0954-1446 | ||||||
Official Date: | 1994 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 6 | ||||||
Number: | 2 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 149-169 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1080/09541449408520141 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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