On Developmental Research Of Dual Processing In Conditional Reasoning

Research on the development of conditional reasoning indicates that the increasing age and intelligence isn't certainly due to better responses to traditional logic normative standard, on the contrary, in some cases, it may result in an quite different result. While this is unexplainable to traditional cognitive theory and reasoning theory. But the dual-process theory can offer a more reasonable explanation. It shows that there are two completely different cognitive systems among human beings. System 1—implementing fast, paralleling and automatically, heuristic processing. This is a kind of operation of representation of pragmatic and contextual task; System 2—implementing control and analytic processing with effort and cognitive resources. It involves active applying of avanced reasoning ability. The two systems try to control our reasoning act, in which heuristic processing often guides the subject notice unrelated information of logic to cover the subject's underlying logic ability; while analytic processing can overcome this improper response of heuristic processing system. The processing ability of the two systems will increase with age. Therefore the influence of heuristic processing system to adolescents doesn't decrease with the increasing age.This thesis chooses Grade 7, Grade 1 of high school and junior as subjects, it proves that the dual-processing theory can make an effective interpretation of individual and age differences in the perspectives of content effect, logic effect, time pressure, self-confidence assessing, logic training and individual cognitive difference according to the different characteristics of the two systems. The research concludes:(1) The subjects in the three grades are all affected by content. The accuracy of the four inferent types about abstract and concrete material increases with age. In reasoning concrete material, subjects would try to search some information concerning premise in memory. In the conditional reasoning of pragmatic material, the achievement of promise and threatening themes is higher than that of tips and warning. the subject's achievement under high control situation are better than under low control one, but its reasoning accurateness decreases with their age, furthermore, the accurateness of the four inferent types of pragmatic material is generally lower than those of abstract and concrete ones. (2) Logic instruction can partly result in analytic processing and improve reasoning on abstract and concrete materials, but it can only partly improve the subjects' achievement of grade 7 and grade 1 in high school.(3) Time pressure leads to the fact that more testees choose heuristic processing. The influence on junior and senior middle school students' reasoning of abstract condition is more than the impact on the university students. The influence on concrete material conditional reasoning depends on the content of conditional reasoning.(4) All the subjects, self-confidence assessing to the reasoning accuracy of abstract situation improves with age, while the accuracy of concrete situation is much higher. But self-confidence assessing is not correlated to reasoning grade, and the subjects are all over self-confident to each reasoning result of all the materials.(5) Under the two counterexample conditions of concrete material, scores of subjects of higher work memory span in the three grades are all better than those of lower work memory span. Subjects of lower work memory span usually retrieve counterexamples while subjects of higher work memory span usually use the method of inhibiting counterexample searching in reasoning disable counterexamples and the method of retrieving counterexample in reasoning alternative counterexamples. In dual task methodology the three grades' marks on reasoning all reduced, but scores of those of higher work memory span are better than that of lower work memory span.(6) Formal logic curriculum training can surely improve adults' reasoning, but its content is restrained by the nature of the reasoning materials. Logic training can remarkably enhance the reasoning accuracy of abstract and concrete materials, however it just limitedly increase pragmatic material reasoning.