Necessidade de cognição, memória de trabalho e recuperação de contra-exemplos para condicionais causais

Abstract

The search for counterexamples is probably the most important stage during deductive reasoning as it guarantees that the conclusion is true. The most widespread explanation concerning the low search for counterexamples is the limited working memory capacity (Markovits & Barrouillet 2002; De Neys, Schaeken & d’Ydewalle, 2002; 2003; 2005a; 2005b) however this does not seem enough to account for the low initiative on using counterexamples as a verifying strategy (Oakhill, & Johnson-Laird, 1985). The present study tested the hypotheses that the need for cognition (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982) has influence on the retrieval of counterexamples for causal conditional inferences, aiming to provide insight on why reasoners fail on searching for counterexamples during deductive reasoning. Bearing this in mind, 60 subjects (15 undergraduate students, 15 PhD students, 15 factory workers and 15 waiters) underwent 3 tests: the need for cognition scale (Silva & Garcia-Marques, 2006), a reasoning task, and a working memory capacity test (Guerreiro, Quelhas & Garcia-Madruga, 2006). Results indicate that the counterexample retrieval process is moderated by the need for cognition and that this influence is not only significant but more important than the influence of the working memory capacity.