CUES THAT ELICIT ANALYTIC‐DEDUCTIVE METHODS IN CONCEPT ATTAINMENT*
Wayne A. Wickelgren · British Journal of Psychology · 1964
In inference concept attainment some subjects draw conclusions about concepts (global‐hypothesis method) and some subjects draw conclusions about the relevance or irrelevance of dimensions (analytic‐deductive method). Experiments were performed to determine whether the presence or absence of certain cues accompanying inference concept attainment problems would affect the incidence of analytic‐deductive methods in these problems. Two such cues were identified. One effective cue was a series of three ‘informational‐analysis’ questions which asked the subject what information he had, whether he had enough information to guess the concept, and, if not, what information he needed. The other effective cue was the introduction of multiple‐choice answers using only analytic‐deductive terms like ‘relevant’ and ‘irrelevant’, but permitting both global‐hypothesis conclusions and analytic‐deductive conclusions to be drawn using these terms. Both of the cues that elicited analytic‐deductive conclusions to inference problems produced positive transfer to a selection concept attainment problem in which totally different responses were required.