The Inductive Benefit of Being Far Out: How Spatial Location of Evidence Impacts Diversity-based Reasoning
Mentor 1
Christopher Lawson
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
Inductive reasoning, using previous evidence to come to new conclusions, is something all humans utilize every day. Humans tend to about a key principle of induction, the diversity principle – the tendency to make stronger inductive generalizations when provided with diverse samples of evidence rather than homogenous samples of evidence. For example, if you were tasked to identify the overall quality of hundreds of pounds of green coffee being shipped overseas, it would be more beneficial to take samples of green coffee from a diverse sample of green coffee (different bags, different parts of the ship, etc.) rather than taking from homogenous samples (same bag, bags next to each other, etc.). People pay attention to what is included within samples. Here we examined whether the method of presenting evidence influence their attention to diversity: Does how evidence is presented matter? In two experiments, participants were presented with spatially distant evidence and spatially near evidence. The first experiment utilized photos of animals, while the second experiment utilized typed labels of animals. We found that in both experiments, participants made stronger inductive generalizations when the evidence presented was diverse and spatially distant. In addition, participants made stronger inductive generalizations when evidence was homogenous and spatially near. These findings add to a growing and existing discussion about the effects and variables of inductive reasoning within adults.
The Inductive Benefit of Being Far Out: How Spatial Location of Evidence Impacts Diversity-based Reasoning
Union Wisconsin Room
Inductive reasoning, using previous evidence to come to new conclusions, is something all humans utilize every day. Humans tend to about a key principle of induction, the diversity principle – the tendency to make stronger inductive generalizations when provided with diverse samples of evidence rather than homogenous samples of evidence. For example, if you were tasked to identify the overall quality of hundreds of pounds of green coffee being shipped overseas, it would be more beneficial to take samples of green coffee from a diverse sample of green coffee (different bags, different parts of the ship, etc.) rather than taking from homogenous samples (same bag, bags next to each other, etc.). People pay attention to what is included within samples. Here we examined whether the method of presenting evidence influence their attention to diversity: Does how evidence is presented matter? In two experiments, participants were presented with spatially distant evidence and spatially near evidence. The first experiment utilized photos of animals, while the second experiment utilized typed labels of animals. We found that in both experiments, participants made stronger inductive generalizations when the evidence presented was diverse and spatially distant. In addition, participants made stronger inductive generalizations when evidence was homogenous and spatially near. These findings add to a growing and existing discussion about the effects and variables of inductive reasoning within adults.
