Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
On the conflict between logic and belief in syllogistic reasoning
Download PDF
Download PDF
  • Open Access
  • Published: 06 August 2013

On the conflict between logic and belief in syllogistic reasoning

  • J. St. B. T. Evans1,
  • Julie L. Barston1 &
  • Paul Pollard1 

Memory & Cognition volume 11, pages 295–306 (1983)Cite this article

  • 7935 Accesses

  • 445 Citations

  • 12 Altmetric

  • Metrics details

Abstract

Three experiments are reported that investigate the weighting attached to logic and belief in syllogistic reasoning. Substantial belief biases were observed despite controls for possible conversions of the premises. Equally substantial effects of logic were observed despite controls for two possible response biases. A consistent interaction between belief and logic was also recorded; belief bias was more marked on invalid than on valid syllogisms. In all experiments, verbal protocols were recorded and analyzed. These protocols are interpreted in some cases as providing rationalizations for prejudiced decisions and, in other cases, as reflecting a genuine process of premise to conclusion reasoning. In the latter cases, belief bias was minimal but still present. Similarly, even subjects who focus primarily on the conclusion are influenced to an extent by the logic. Thus a conflict between logic and belief is observed throughout, but at several levels of extent.

Download to read the full article text

Working on a manuscript?

Avoid the common mistakes

References

  • Begg, I., &Denny, J. P. Empirical reconciliation of atmosphere and conversion interpretations of syllogistic reasoning errors.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969,111, 351–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braine, M. D. S. On the relation between the natural logic of reasoning and standard logic.Psychological Review, 1978,85, 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, L. J. Can human irrationality be experimentally demonstrated?Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 1981,4, 317–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickstein, L. S. The effect of figure on syllogistic reasoning.Memory & Cognition, 1978,6, 76–83. (a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickstein, L. S. Error processes in syllogistic reasoning.Memory & Cognition, 1978,6, 537–543. (b)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickstein, L. S. Inference errors in deductive reasoning.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1980,6, 414–416.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickstein, L. S. Conversion and possibility in syllogistic reasoning.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1981,18, 229–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erickson, J. A set analysis theory of behavior in formal syllogistic reasoning tasks. In R. L. Solso (Ed.),Theories of cognitive psychology: The Loyola Symposium. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ericsson, K. A., &Simon, H. A. Verbal reports as data.Psychological Review, 1980,117, 215–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. St. B. T. Linguistic factors in reasoning.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1977,29, 297–306. (a)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. St. B. T. Toward a statistical theory of reasoningQuarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1977,29, 621–635. (b)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. St. B. T. The psychology of deductive reasoning. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Falmagne, R. J. (Ed.),Reasoning: Representation and process. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feather, N. T. Acceptance and rejection of arguments in relation to attitude strength, critical ability and intolerance of inconsistency.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1964,69, 127–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gorden, R. Attitudes toward Russia on logical reasoning.Journal of Social Psychology, 1953,37, 103–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guyote, M. J., &Sternberg, R. J. A transitive-chain theory of syllogistic reasoning.Cognitive Psychology, 1981,13, 461–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henle, M. On the relation between logic and thinking.Psychological Review, 1962,69, 366–378.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Henle, M., &Michael, M. The influence of attitudes on syllogistic reasoning.Journal of Social Psychology, 1956,44, 115–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inhelder, B., &Piaget, J. The growth of logical thinking. New York: Basic Books, 1958.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janis, I., &Frick, P. The relationship between attitudes toward conclusions and errors in judging logical validity of syllogisms.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1943,33, 73–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janis, I., &Terwilliger, R. An experimental study of psychological resistances to fear arousing communications.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1962,65, 403–410.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson-Laird, P., &Steedman, M. The psychology of syllogisms.Cognitive Psychology, 1978,10, 64–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, H., &Goldstein, S. The effects of emotional value of conclusions upon distortion in syllogistic reasoning.Psychonomic Science, 1967,7, 367–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefford, A. The influence of emotional subject matter on logical reasoning.Journal of General Psychology, 1946,34, 127–151.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Lepper, M. R., & Ross, L. Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effect of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1979,37.

  • Morgan, J., &Morton, J. The distortion of syllogistic reasoning produced by personal convictions.Journal of Social Psychology, 1944,20, 39–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nisbett, R. E., &Ross, L. Human inference: Strategies and short-comings of social judgment. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nisbett, R. E., &Wilson, T. D. Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.Psychological Review, 1977,14, 231–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollard, P. Human reasoning: Logical and nonlogical explanations. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Plymouth Polytechnic, 1979.

  • Pollard, P. Human reasoning: Some possible effects of availability.Cognition, 1982,12, 65–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Revlin, R. Syllogistic reasoning: Logical decisions from a complex data base. In R. Falmagne (Ed.),Reasoning: Representation and process. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1975. (a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Revlin, R. Two models of syIlogistic reasoning: Feature selection and conversion.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1975,14, 180–195. (b)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Revlin, R., &Leirer, V. The effects of personal biases on syllogistic reasoning: Rational decisions from personalized representations. In R. Revlin & R. E. Mayer (Eds.),Human reasoning. Washington, D.C: Winston-Wiley, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Revlin, R., Leirer, V., Yopp, H., &Yopp, R. The belief-bias effect in formal reasoning: The influence of knowledge on logic.Memory & Cognition, 1980,8, 584–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Revlin, R., &Mayer, R. E. (Eds.).Human reasoning. Washington, D.C: Winston-Wiley, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, S. Nonparametric statistics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wason, P. C., &Evans, J. St. B. T. Dual processes in reasoning?Cognition, 1975,3, 141–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, M. The effect of changed material on ability to do formal syllogistic reasoning.Archives of Psychology, 1928,16, 83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. The effect of competition on the speed and accuracy of syllogistic reasoning.Journal of Social Psychology, 1965,65, 27–32.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Winthrop, H. Semantic factors in the measurement of personality integration.Journal of Social Psychology, 1946,14, 149–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodworth, R. S., &Sells, S. B. An atmosphere effect in syllogistic reasoning.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1935,18, 451–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Plymouth Polytechnic, PL4 8AA, Plymouth, England

    J. St. B. T. Evans, Julie L. Barston & Paul Pollard

Authors
  1. J. St. B. T. Evans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julie L. Barston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paul Pollard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

The manuscript was prepared for publication while the first author was on sabbatical leave at the University of Florida.

Rights and permissions

This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.

About this article

Cite this article

Evans, J.S.B.T., Barston, J.L. & Pollard, P. On the conflict between logic and belief in syllogistic reasoning. Memory & Cognition 11, 295–306 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196976

Download citation

  • Received: 06 July 1982

  • Accepted: 31 January 1983

  • Published: 06 August 2013

  • Issue Date: May 1983

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196976

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Keywords

  • Irrelevant Information
  • Syllogistic Reasoning
  • Logical Validity
  • Prose Passage
  • Logic Interaction
Download PDF

Working on a manuscript?

Avoid the common mistakes

Advertisement

Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips

Switch Edition
  • Academic Edition
  • Corporate Edition
  • Home
  • Impressum
  • Legal information
  • Privacy statement
  • California Privacy Statement
  • How we use cookies
  • Manage cookies/Do not sell my data
  • Accessibility
  • FAQ
  • Contact us
  • Affiliate program

Not affiliated

Springer Nature

© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Part of Springer Nature.