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Are we good at detecting conflict during reasoning?
Gordon Pennycook1, Jonathan A Fugelsang, Derek J Koehler
1Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1. gpennyco@uwaterloo.ca
Cognition
|May 12, 2012
Summary
Humans may not be efficient at detecting reasoning conflicts. Longer response times for conflicting problems occurred only with extreme probabilities, challenging previous findings on intuitive and analytic reasoning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Making
- Human Reasoning
Background:
- Previous research indicated high efficiency in detecting conflicts between intuitive and analytic reasoning.
- Studies showed longer reasoning times for conflict problems versus agreement problems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of base-rate probability extremity on conflict detection during reasoning.
- To determine if findings on conflict detection generalize to less extreme probabilities.
Main Methods:
- Five experiments were conducted, varying base-rate probabilities.
- Participant response times were compared for conflict versus non-conflict problems.
Main Results:
- Longer response times for stereotypical responses in conflict problems were observed exclusively with extreme probabilities.
- The effect of conflict on response time diminished with less extreme base-rate probabilities.
Conclusions:
- Humans may not be consistently efficient at detecting reasoning conflicts.
- The efficiency of conflict detection is dependent on the extremity of base-rate probabilities.
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