Peter Wason

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Cathcart Wason (born April 22, 1924 in Bath , England , † April 17, 2003 in Wallingford , England) was an English psychologist .

He was one of the leading researchers in experimental thought psychology . With his three paradigmatic experiments, the 2-4-6 task , the selection task and the THOG task , he started a worldwide research activity that continues to this day.

Life

Wason comes from a progressive, liberal, politically active family. His great-grandfather, Peter Rigby Wason, and his great-uncle, Cathcart Wason, were both members of the House of Commons .

After the war, which he spent as a liaison officer in Normandy, he first went to New College (Oxford) to study English. After a short time as a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen , he decided in 1950 to study psychology at University College London , where he stayed for more than 30 years.

Peter Wason was an International Master in correspondence chess . He was married twice and had two daughters.

plant

Wason was one of the first to use experimental means to investigate which systematic errors are made in thinking.

2-4-6 task

The experimenter has come up with a rule that produces certain triples of numbers (for example: "any three numbers in ascending order"). One of these triples, e.g. B. 2-4-6, he calls the test person. Their job is to find out the rule in question through trial and error. To do this, she should give the experimenter triples of numbers, who then replies with “Yes, this triple corresponds to my rule” or “No, this triple does not correspond to my rule”. The test person is therefore dependent on guesswork, so they will make hypotheses (e.g. "even numbers") and then test. It was now shown that the majority of the test persons preferred a positive test strategy . So you often name triples like “8-10-12” and so on and always get a “yes” for it without getting any closer to the solution. In the present case, a falsifying test strategy would make more sense, since the obvious rule (“even numbers in ascending order”) is more narrowly defined than the actual rule.

Selection Task

There are four cards in front of the test person. They show E, K, 4, 7. Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other. The experimenter claims, “If there is a vowel on one side of the card, then there is an even number on the other side.” Which cards does the test subject have to turn over to check the rule?

Almost all test subjects correctly checked the “E” card ( mode ponens ), many additionally (incorrectly) the “4” card, hardly anyone (which would be correct) the “7” card ( mode tollens ).

Later, other researchers have shown that the right choice is made much more often if the content is realistic, i.e. less abstract, and / or deontic (“Anyone who wants to drink alcohol must be at least 18 years old”).

THOG task

THOG task

There are four cards in front of the test person. They show:

  1. a black square
  2. a white square
  3. a black circle
  4. a white circle

The experimenter says: “I have chosen a color (black or white) and a shape (square or circle). A card that has exactly one of these properties, but not both, is a THOG. The black square is a THOG. What can you say about the other three cards (is a THOG / is not a THOG / cannot be decided)? "

The difficulty of this task arises from the fact that a lot of information has to be considered at the same time, which means a heavy load on the working memory.

The solution is: The white circle is a THOG, the other two cards do not show any THOGs.

Publications

  • with Philip Johnson-Laird : Thinking and Reasoning. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1968
  • with Philip Johnson-Laird: Psychology of Reasoning: Structure and Content. 1972; Paperback: Harvard University Press, 1990, ISBN 0674721276
  • with Philip Johnson-Laird: Thinking: Readings in Cognitive Science. Cambridge University Press, 1977, ISBN 0521217563
  • with William Hartston: The Psychology of Chess. Facts on File, 1983, ISBN 0871962268

literature

  • Stephen Newstead & Jonathan St. BT Evans (Eds.): Essays In Honor Of Peter Wason. Psychology Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-86377-358-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rüdiger F. Pohl (Ed.): Cognitive Illusions. A Handbook on Fallacies and Biases in Thinking, Judgment and Memory . Psychology Press, Hove and New York 2004, ISBN 978-1-84169-351-4 .
  2. ^ PC Wason: On the failure to eliminate hypotheses in a conceptual task. In: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 12, 1960, pp. 129-140
  3. ^ PC Wason: Reasoning about a rule. In: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 20, 1968, pp. 273-281
  4. ↑ If you solve this puzzle you will have brain damage. In: NZZ Folio . 12/07.
  5. ↑ Wason Four Cards Test (PDF; 28 kB). Presentation for a seminar by Friedel Bolle , website of the European University Viadrina
  6. ^ PC Wason, PG Brooks: THOG: The anatomy of a problem . In: Psychological Research . 41, No. 1, 1979, pp. 79-90. doi : 10.1007 / BF00309425 .
personal data
SURNAME Wason, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wason, Peter Cathcart
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English thought psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Bath , England
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 2003
Place of death Wallingford , England