As compared with novices, experts tend to have larger and richer schemata (organized representations of things or events that guide a person’s thoughts and actions), and they possess far greater knowledge in specific domains. The schemata of experts are also highly interconnected, meaning that retrieving one piece of information easily leads to the retrieval of another piece. Experts devote proportionately more time to determining how to represent a problem, but they spend proportionately less time in executing solutions. In other words, experts tend to allocate more of their time to the early or preparatory stages of problem solving, whereas novices tend to spend relatively more of their time in the later stages. The thought processes of experts also reveal more complex and sophisticated representations of problems. In terms of heuristics, experts are more likely to use a working-forward strategy, whereas novices are more likely to use a working-backward strategy. In addition, experts tend to monitor their problem solving more carefully than do novices, and they are also more successful in reaching appropriate solutions. Reasoning
Reasoning consists of the derivation of inferences or conclusions from a set of premises by means of the application of logical rules or laws. Psychologists as well as philosophers typically distinguish between two main kinds of reasoning: deduction and induction. Deduction
Deductive reasoning, or deduction, involves analyzing valid forms of argument and drawing out the conclusions implicit in their premises. There are several different forms of deductive reasoning, as used in different forms of reasoning problems.
In conditional reasoning the reasoner must draw a conclusion based on a conditional, or “if…then,” proposition. For example, from the conditional proposition “if today is Monday, then I will attend cooking class today” and the categorical (declarative) proposition “today is Monday,” one can infer the conclusion, “I will attend cooking class today.” In fact, two kinds of valid inference can be drawn from a conditional proposition. In the form of argument known as modus ponens, the categorical proposition affirms the antecedent of the conditional, and the conclusion affirms the consequent, as in the example just given. In the form known as modus tollens, the categorical proposition denies the consequent of the conditional, and the conclusion denies the antecedent. Thus:
If today is Monday, then I will attend cooking class today. I will not attend cooking class today. Therefore, today is not Monday.
Two other kinds of inference that are sometimes drawn from conditional propositions are not logically justified. In one such fallacy, “affirming the consequent,” the categorical proposition affirms the consequent of the conditional, and the conclusion affirms the antecedent, as in the example:
If John is a bachelor, then he is male. John is male. Therefore, John is a bachelor.
In another invalid inference form, “denying the antecedent,” the categorical proposition denies the antecedent of the conditional, and the conclusion denies the conclusion of the conditionaclass="underline"
If Othello is a bachelor, then he is male. Othello is not a bachelor. Therefore, Othello is not male.
The invalidity of these inference forms is indicated by the fact that in each case it is possible for the premises of the inference to be true while the conclusion is false.
It is important to realize that in conditional reasoning, and in all forms of deductive reasoning, the validity of an inference does not depend on whether the premises and the conclusion are actually (in the “real world”) true or false. All that matters is whether it is possible to conceive of a situation in which the conclusion would be false and all of the premises would be true. Indeed, there are valid inferences in which one or more of the premises and the conclusion are actually false:
Either the current pope is married or he is a divorcé. The current pope is not a divorcé. Therefore, the current pope is married.
This inference is valid because, although the premises and the conclusion are not all true, it is impossible to conceive of a situation in which all of the premises would be true but the conclusion would be false. Examples such as these demonstrate that the validity of an inference depends upon its form or structure, not on its content.
Reasoning skills are often assessed through problems involving syllogisms, which are deductive arguments consisting of two premises and a conclusion. Two kinds of syllogisms are particularly common.
In a categorical syllogism the premises and the conclusion state that some or all members of one category are or are not members of another category, as in the following examples:
All robins are birds. All birds are animals. Therefore, all robins are animals.
Some bachelors are not astronauts. All bachelors are human beings. Therefore, some human beings are not astronauts.
A linear syllogism involves a quantitative comparison in which each term displays either more of less of a particular attribute or quality, and the reasoner must draw conclusions based on the quantification. An example of a reasoning problem based on a linear syllogism is: “John is taller than Bill, and Bill is taller than Pete. Who is tallest?” Linear syllogisms can also involve negations, as in “Bill is not as tall as John.” Induction
Many aspects of problem solving involve inductive reasoning, or induction. Simply put, induction is a means of reasoning from a part to a whole, from particulars to generals, from the past to the future, or from the observed to the unobserved. Whereas valid deductive inferences guarantee the truth of their conclusions, in the sense that it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false, good inductive inferences guarantee only that, if the premises are true, the conclusion is probable, or likely to be true. There are several major kinds of inductive reasoning, including causal inference, categorical inference, and analogical inference.
In a causal inference, one reasons to the conclusion that something is, or is likely to be, the cause of something else. For example, from the fact that one hears the sound of piano music, one may infer that someone is (or was) playing a piano. But although this conclusion may be likely, it is not certain, since the sounds could have been produced by an electronic synthesizer. (See also induction, problem of.)
In a categorical inference, one makes a judgment about whether something is, or is likely to be, a member of a certain category. For example, upon seeing an animal one has never seen before, a person with a limited knowledge of dogs may be confident that what he is seeing is a dog but less certain about the specific species.
In reasoning by analogy, one applies what one has learned to another domain. Aristotle stated the formulae for two possible analogical inferences: “As A is to B, so C is to D”; and “As A is in B, so C is in D.” Analogical inference involves applying the outcomes of a known situation to a new or unknown situation. A risk in this approach, however, can occur if the two situations are too dissimilar to merit the analogous comparison. Robert J. Sternberg Other types of thinking Judgment
A simple form of realistic thinking—i.e., thinking that is oriented toward the external environment—underlies the ability to discriminate discrete objects or items of information (e.g., distinguishing a lion from a tiger). The outcome is a judgment, and accordingly the process may be called decision making. The availability of information, the rate at which it is presented, the expectations of the person making the judgment, and the number of alternatives available influence the judgment’s accuracy and efficiency. Redundancy (or surplus) of information facilitates judgment. For example, a lion may be identified on the basis of a number of different sensory cues, such as being tan or brown, lacking stripes, having a mane, and so on. Concept attainment