Errors in Judgment of Good and Poor Problem Solvers

References and Notes

• Tate, M. W., Stanier, B. and Harootunian, B. Differences Between Good and Poor Problem Solvers. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, School of Education, 1959. (This study was made at the University of Penn. pursuant to a contract with the Office of Educ., U. S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare.)
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• Burt, C. “The Development of Reasoning in School Children,” Journal of Experimental Pedagogy and Training College Record, V (1919) pp. 68–77.
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• The test was constructed by Dr. Ethel Maw of Bryn Mawr College. It is similar to the subtest Inferences of the Watson-Glaser Test of Critical Thinking, published by Harcourt, Brace and World. The following is an example of the paragraphs and statements. There are many kinds of storms. Some storms are destructive, but most storms are very useful. They help to circulate the air. They bring rain. They clear the air of dirt, soot, and smoke. T PT NE PF F Some storms do great damage. T PT NE PF F There is some good in every evil. T PT NE PF F Storms are more often destruction useful. T PT NE PF F The next storm to pass through your neighborhood will be a destructive one. T PT NE PF F If it weren’t for storms, this world would not be such a pleasant place to live.
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• Brigham, C. C. A Study of Error. Princeton, New Jersey: College Entrance Examination Board, (1932).
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• Ennis, R. H. “A Concept of Critical Thinking,” Harvard Educational Review, XXXII (1962) pp. 81–111.
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• Johnson, D. M. The Psychology of Thought and Judgment (New York: Harper, 1955).
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• More than 40 years ago, Thorndike observed (Journal of Educational Psychology, VIII, 1917, pp, 323–32), Understanding a paragraph… consists in selecting the right elements of the situation and putting them together in the right relations… The mind… must select, repress, soften, emphasize, correlate, and organize, all under the influence of the right mental set.
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• One of the tests, Missing Facts, used by Tate, Stanier and Harootunian consisted of 30 problems in arithmetic. Some of the problems could not be solved because necessary information was missing. The subjects were asked to list the facts needed where information was missing and to write nothing where all necessary information was given. of the 55 comparisons of good and poor problem solvers in various group and individual tests, Missing Facts most sharply discriminated between the two groups. It continued to show marked and highly significant discrimination in analysis of covariance with control on reading comprehension and arithmetic reasoning.
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• Whether impulsiveness and ambiguity intolerance, as they operate in the objective test situation, are essentially the same thing is a moot question. Messick and Hills (Education and Psychological Measurement, XX, 1960, pp. 685–98) speculate that the dynamics underlying the two variables may differ considerably and believe that more research is needed to distinguish between the two and to demonstrate any interrelationships.
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• On six of the questions, 15 graduate students and 38 college sophomores judged the best two answers to be equally good, for example, about half of the two groups marked the first answer to Ques. 28, Table 2, as best; about half marked the third answer as best. For such questions, no reversal errors were recognized.
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• Wechsler, D. Measurement of Adult Intelligence. (Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1944).
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• Glaser, E. M. An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking (New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1941).
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• Maw, Ethel. An Experiment in Teaching Critical Thinking in the Intermediate Grades, Unpublished Doctor’s dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1959.
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