Which statements are valid regarding Wason’s four-card selection problem (1966)? 1. It is effective because it yields matching outcomes across concrete and abstract formats. 2. Concrete formulations are generally harder to reason through than uncluttered abstract versions. 3. Despite being a pure reasoning test, some concrete variants are easier due to everyday social reasoning strategies. 4. Subjects typically select one card accurately while choosing an incorrect companion card in the original iteration.
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Answer: B. 3 & 4
Explanation
Wason's selection task demonstrates that concrete social rules are easier to evaluate logically. Participants in the original task frequently select one correct card and one incorrect companion card. Logical reasoning performance improves dramatically when abstract problems are framed as social contracts. Peter Wason introduced the four-card selection task in 1966 to study human conditional reasoning. Confirmation bias often leads subjects to choose cards that confirm rather than falsify the rule. Evolutionary psychologists argue that humans possess specialized Darwinian algorithms for social exchange.
Cognitive psychology courses use Wason's task to illustrate human biases in logical deduction. Decision-making research applies these insights to understand why people fail at logical risk assessment. Teaching critical thinking helps students overcome confirmation biases in everyday reasoning. Concrete formulations are generally easier rather than harder to reason through than abstract versions. Statement one is incorrect because concrete and abstract formats yield vastly different outcomes. Selecting alternative option combinations fails to capture the empirically validated statements three and four.
- Subject
- Psychology
- Category
- Psychology
- Topic
- —
- Difficulty
- medium
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