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Related Experiment Video

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Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

Reasoning under time pressure. A study of causal conditional inference.

Jonathan St B T Evans¹, Simon J Handley, Alison M Bacon

¹Centre for Thinking and Language, School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, UK. j.evans@plymouth.ac.uk

Experimental Psychology

|March 6, 2009

Summary

People tend to make fewer logical inferences from statements they disbelieve, a belief bias that is difficult to control even with instructions. This cognitive bias in conditional inference is more resistant to volitional control than in syllogistic reasoning.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Logic and Reasoning

Background:

Beliefs significantly influence human reasoning, often overriding logical validity.
The belief bias affects conditional inference, where individuals are less likely to draw conclusions from disbelief-inducing premises.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if participants can inhibit the belief effect in conditional inference when instructed to assume premise truth.
To compare the controllability of belief bias in conditional inference versus syllogistic reasoning.

Main Methods:

Two experiments were conducted to examine belief effects in conditional inference.
Participants were sometimes instructed to assume the truth of premises, and speeded tasks were employed in some conditions.

Main Results:

The belief bias persisted even when participants were instructed to assume premise truth.
Higher cognitive ability correlated with slightly reduced belief influence.
Speeded tasks did not affect the extent of the belief bias but reduced overall inferences.

Conclusions:

The belief bias in conditional inference is robust and less susceptible to volitional control compared to syllogistic reasoning.
Cognitive ability plays a minor role in mitigating this bias.