Dissertations / Theses: 'Theory of motivated reasoning'

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Trippas, Dries. "Motivated reasoning and response bias : a signal detection approach." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2853.

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The aim of this dissertation was to address a theoretical debate on belief bias. Belief bias is the tendency for people to be influenced by their prior beliefs when engaged in deductive reasoning. Deduction is the act of drawing necessary conclusions from premises which are meant to be assumed as true. Given that the logical validity of an argument is independent of its content, being influenced by your prior beliefs in such content is considered a bias. Traditional theories posit there are two belief bias components. Motivated reasoning is the tendency to reason better for arguments with unbelievable conclusions relative to arguments with believable conclusions. Response bias is the tendency to accept believable arguments and to reject unbelievable arguments. Dube et al. (2010) pointed out critical methodological problems that undermine evidence for traditional theories. Using signal detection theory (SDT), they found evidence for response bias only. We adopted the SDT method to compare the viability of the traditional and the response bias accounts. In Chapter 1 the relevant literature is reviewed. In Chapter 2 four experiments which employed a novel SDT-based forced choice reasoning method are presented, showing evidence compatible with motivated reasoning. In Chapter 3 four experiments which used the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) method are presented. Crucially, cognitive ability turned out to be linked to motivated reasoning. In Chapter 4 three experiments are presented in which we investigated the impact of cognitive ability and analytic cognitive style on belief bias, concluding that cognitive style mediated the effects of cognitive ability on motivated reasoning. In Chapter 5 we discuss our findings in light of a novel individual differences account of belief bias. We conclude that using the appropriate measurement method and taking individual differences into account are two key elements to furthering our understanding of belief bias, human reasoning, and cognitive psychology in general.

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Wang, Di. "The Effect of Motivation on Political Selective Exposure and Selective Perception." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/311554.

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This study examines the effect of motivation on political selective exposure and selective perception using an online experiment. Studies have found that though people have a preference for like-minded political information over counter-attitudinal information, they do not avoid counter-attitudinal political information altogether (Garrett, 2009; Garrett, Carnahan, & Lynch, 2011; Stroud, 2008). This study examines under what conditions people are likely to expose themselves to more like-minded information than counter-attitudinal information and under what conditions people are likely to seek out more counter-attitudinal information than like-minded information. Based on the theory of motivated reasoning and Hart et al. (2009)'s model, I proposed a model that explained selective exposure and selective perception based on motivation. Defense motivation, the motivation to hold attitude-consistent cognitions with one's original attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors, was predicted to increase selective exposure and selective perception. Accuracy motivation, the motivation to arrive at the correct conclusion, was predicted to reduce selective exposure and selective perception. Finally, information utility motivation, the motivation to choose information that has the highest utility, was predicted to reduce selective exposure when counter-attitudinal information was equally useful as attitude-consistent information, but increase selective exposure when attitude-consistent information was more useful than counter-attitudinal information. In both cases, it was predicted that the selective perception pattern would not be changed. The study also tested the additive effect of the three motivations and examined which motivation can override other motivations in determining selective exposure and selective perception. Results showed that accuracy motivation was effective in reducing selective exposure for both strong partisans and those who were not strong partisans. Accuracy motivation can override defense motivation in affecting selective exposure. Information utility alone, defense motivation alone, and the combination of the three motivations produced mixed results. Accuracy motivation was effective in reducing selective perception for those who were not strong partisans. The link between selective exposure and selective perception was not found.

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Braman, Eileen Carol. "Motivated reasoning in legal decision-making." Connect to this title online, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1091730982.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xvi, 213 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-213). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

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Powell, Aric Christopher. "Studying the Effects of Motivated Reasoning on Appraisals of Message Strength." PDXScholar, 2018. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4707.

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This study was designed to investigate decision-making as it relates to message appraisal, and determine what effect, if any, identification with the message source has on those appraisals. For the purpose of study, message appraisal was operationalized as message strength ratings. Furthermore, the study investigated how the political ideology of message receivers and the perceived partisanship of message senders might influence identification, and message appraisal by extension. The study used the theory of motivated reasoning to explain the role of identification in the process of message appraisal. The results indicate that there is a relationship between identification and message strength ratings, which suggests identification can produce motivated reasoning. However, the study did not show support for an interaction effect between the political ideology of participants, the perceived partisanship of message senders, and identification when considering message strength ratings.

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Costa, Leite Manuel da. "Hypothetical reasoning in scientific discovery contexts : a preliminary cognitive science-motivated analysis." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.259709.

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Blackburn, Jessica L. "MOTIVATED REASONING: A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING HIRING MANAGERS' INTENTIONS TO USE PERSONNEL SELECTION INSTRUMENTS." Connect to this title online, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1156188913.

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Carlucci, Lorenzo. "Some cognitively-motivated learning paradigms in Algorithmic Learning Theory." Access to citation, abstract and download form provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company; downloadable PDF file 0.68 Mb., p, 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3220797.

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Barthel, Senja Dominque. "Some topics in topological graph theory motivated by chemistry." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/55134.

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Topological graph theory is a field of geometric topology. The mathematical objects of interest are embeddings of graphs in 3-space. The image is a so called spatial graphs. A spatial graph can be seen as a generalised knot. In addition to the resulting richer structure, questions about spatial graphs can also be motivated from other natural sciences. In particular, there are many applications to chemistry since molecules can be modelled as graphs embedded in R3. This text consists of two parts. Both cover pure mathematical problems which are motivated by questions from synthetic chemistry. The aim is to find materials with new chemical/physical properties. The structural richness of entangled, catenated and knotted structures has long been a target for synthetic chemistry. The first part investigates the behaviour of entanglements in spatial graphs that are not caused by knotted or linked subgraphs with respect to the surfaces the spatial graphs embed in. We show that all nontrivial embeddings of abstractly planar graphs on the torus contain either a nontrivial knot or a nonsplit link. It follows that ravels do not embed on the torus which was conjectured by Castle, Evans and Hyde in 2008. Our results provide general insight into properties of molecules that are synthesised on a torus. The second part predicts the topologically possible braided structures of 1-dimensional coordination polymers. Given the common way of synthesising via self-assembly, these coordination polymers can be modelled by pure braids with n rigidly congruent strands up to chirality. We discuss the properties and symmetries of 1-dimensional coordination polymers with up to five strands. This project is part of a collaboration with Prof D. M. Proserpio, Dr I. A. Baburin and Dr F. D.-H. Lau.

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Strannegård, Anna, and Ola Nyrinder. "Intrinsically motivated or externally regulated?" Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-22320.

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Unga vuxna är en viktig målgrupp att uppmana till att anta en miljövänlig livsstil, då stadiet mellan tonår och vuxenliv präglas av förändring och utveckling av livsstil och vanor. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka unga vuxnas vanor gällande miljöbeteende och vilken typ av motivation de har för att handla miljövänligt. Genom en enkätundersökning som inkluderar 294 svar har denna studie funnit att unga vuxna är motiverade till att vara miljövänliga. Studien visar att identified regulation är den mest dominanta typen av reglering till miljöbeteende. De huvudsakliga barriärerna mot ökat engagemang kan härledas till de tre grundläggande psykologiska behoven autonomi, kompetens och tillhörighet. Nyckelord: motivation, miljöbeteende, unga vuxna, SDT, miljö
Individuals experience a fundamental change upon becoming adults. They develop lifestyles and habits that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their life. Therefore urging this group to adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle is vital. The purpose of this study is to identify environmental habits and motivation for pro-environmental behaviour among emerging adults in Sweden. Through a questionnaire survey including 294 responses, the study has found that emerging adults are motivated to engage in environmental activities with identified regulation as the predominant type of regulation. The main barriers for further engagement are the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness.Keywords: motivation, pro-environmental behaviour, emerging adults, SDT, environment

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Anthony, Tom. "Self-motivated composition of strategic action policies." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2299/21088.

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In the last 50 years computers have made dramatic progress in their capabilities, but at the same time their failings have demonstrated that we, as designers, do not yet understand the nature of intelligence. Chess playing, for example, was long offered up as an example of the unassailability of the human mind to Artificial Intelligence, but now a chess engine on a smartphone can beat a grandmaster. Yet, at the same time, computers struggle to beat amateur players in simpler games, such as Stratego, where sheer processing power cannot substitute for a lack of deeper understanding. The task of developing that deeper understanding is overwhelming, and has previously been underestimated. There are many threads and all must be investigated. This dissertation explores one of those threads, namely asking the question "How might an artificial agent decide on a sensible course of action, without being told what to do?". To this end, this research builds upon empowerment, a universal utility which provides an entirely general method for allowing an agent to measure the preferability of one state over another. Empowerment requires no explicit goals, and instead favours states that maximise an agent's control over its environment. Several extensions to the empowerment framework are proposed, which drastically increase the array of scenarios to which it can be applied, and allow it to evaluate actions in addition to states. These extensions are motivated by concepts such as bounded rationality, sub-goals, and anticipated future utility. In addition, the novel concept of strategic affinity is proposed as a general method for measuring the strategic similarity between two (or more) potential sequences of actions. It does this in a general fashion, by examining how similar the distribution of future possible states would be in the case of enacting either sequence. This allows an agent to group action sequences, even in an unknown task space, into 'strategies'. Strategic affinity is combined with the empowerment extensions to form soft-horizon empowerment, which is capable of composing action policies in a variety of unknown scenarios. A Pac-Man-inspired prey game and the Gambler's Problem are used to demonstrate this selfmotivated action selection, and a Sokoban inspired box-pushing scenario is used to highlight the capability to pick strategically diverse actions. The culmination of this is that soft-horizon empowerment demonstrates a variety of 'intuitive' behaviours, which are not dissimilar to what we might expect a human to try. This line of thinking demonstrates compelling results, and it is suggested there are a couple of avenues for immediate further research. One of the most promising of these would be applying the self-motivated methodology and strategic affinity method to a wider range of scenarios, with a view to developing improved heuristic approximations that generate similar results. A goal of replicating similar results, whilst reducing the computational overhead, could help drive an improved understanding of how we may get closer to replicating a human-like approach.

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Potocki, Bridget. "Preventing Sexual Assault: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management." The Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337788798.

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Bellman, Suzanne Beth. "I would rather be happy than right: Consumer impulsivity, risky decision making, and accountability." Diss., University of Iowa, 2012. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2821.

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Consumer impulsivity accounts for a large percentage of purchases yet this aspect of personality is measured with a variety of instruments. Three studies were conducted to examine how measures of consumer impulsiveness relate to each other, other measures of trait level impulsivity, and a variety of decisions and judgments. These studies looked at the relationship between biases resulting from motivated reasoning and the trait of impulsiveness. Motivated reasoning and impulsiveness was considered within the context of consumer and other choice decisions. Consumer impulsivity was found to be related to both general measures of trait level impulsivity as well as containing a lot of content overlap among the three measures considered here. One measure was distinct and formed its own factor in a factor analysis suggesting it may be the most specific measure of consumer impulsivity. The other measures of consumer impulsivity overlapped quite a bit with general impulsivity. The Iowa Gambling Task was used to measure both choice behavior and anticipatory SCR, however no significant results were found. The cups task, a risky decision making task, was also administered and results mirrored classic findings such that participants were more risk averse in the domain of gains than losses. Additionally, both expected value and outcome magnitude influenced results. Individuals who scored higher on the UPPS urgency subscale made more risk advantageous choices when looking at sensitivity to expected value. The third task assessed differences in purchase time for hedonic and utilitarian items. Impulsive consumers reported they would purchase both hedonic and utilitarian items sooner than their less impulsive counterparts.

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Lukits, Stefan Hermann. "Information theory and partial belief reasoning." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/58193.

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The dissertation investigates the nature of partial beliefs and norms governing their use. One widely accepted (though not uncontested) norm for partial belief change is Bayesian conditionalization. Information theory provides a far-reaching generalization of Bayesian conditionalization and gives it a foundation in an intuition that pays attention principally to information contained in probability distributions and information gained with new evidence. This generalization has fallen out of favour with contemporary epistemologists. They prefer an eclectic approach which sometimes conflicts with norms based on information theory, particularly the entropy principles of information theory. The principle of maximum entropy mandates a rational agent to hold minimally informative partial beliefs given certain background constraints; the principle of minimum cross-entropy mandates a rational agent to update partial beliefs at minimal information gain consistent with the new evidence. The dissertation shows that information theory generalizes Bayesian norms and does not conflict with them. It also shows that the norms of information theory can only be defended when the agent entertains sharp credences. Many contemporary Bayesians permit indeterminate credal states for rational agents, which is incompatible with the norms of information theory. The dissertation then defends two claims: (1) the partial beliefs that a rational agent holds are formally expressed by sharp credences; and (2) when a rational agent updates these partial beliefs in the light of new evidence, the norms used are based on and in agreement with information theory. In the dissertation, I defuse a collection of counter-examples that have been marshaled against entropy principles. More importantly, building on previous work by others and expanding it, I provide a coherent and comprehensive theory of the use of information theory in formal epistemology. Information theory rivals probability theory in formal virtue, theoretical substance, and coherence across intuitions and case studies. My dissertation demonstrates its significance in explaining the doxastic states of a rational agent and in providing the right kind of normativity for them.
Arts, Faculty of
Philosophy, Department of
Graduate

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Thomas, Chanta. "What's My Motivation: The Effect of Motivated Reasoning and Accountability on the Determination of Internal Control Effectiveness." OpenSIUC, 2015. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1109.

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When conducting integrated audits, auditors are susceptible to motivated judgment biases that may negatively affect their judgment quality. In a 2012 report, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found evidence of auditor judgment failures during their quality inspections of audit firms. In this experimental study with 160 senior auditors, I explore the effects motivated reasoning (outcome goal vs. no outcome goal) and accountability (outcome accountability vs. judgment accountability) have on determining internal control effectiveness. I posit that AS No. 5 encourages auditors to have an outcome-motivated goal when conducting internal control audits, which encourages information seeking behaviors. These information seeking behaviors encourage the auditor to attend more to confirmatory information that supports their motivated goal more than information that conflicts with the motivated goal. I hypothesize that auditors who conduct integrated audits are more likely to rate internal control effectiveness higher compared to auditors conducting a non-integrated audit. I also hypothesize that having a judgment based accountability will help to mitigate the biased effects when auditors have outcome-motivated goals.

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Ma, Mingye. "Studies on social learning and on motivated beliefs : theory and evidence." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31335.

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This thesis contains four chapters presenting theory and empirical evidence for two distinct aspects of human behaviour: social learning and motivated beliefs. I develop a simple theory to revisit the classical social learning models by challenging the assumption of freely available information. My model suggests that when it is costly to acquire information, social learning (herding) is prevalent, and people do not have incentives to acquire private information (e.g. to form their own judgements). Classical information cascade models suggest that although herding is observed, information aggregation is still possible with communication channels (e.g. a survey); however, my model indicates that information aggregation is unattainable because people in the herd do not acquire private information. We then test my model in a laboratory and find that, as predicted, subjects can learn from others successfully. Also, individual heterogeneity exists in: there are herd animals biased against private information, lone wolves who are biased toward it and subjects who behave optimally. In aggregate, there is no overall bias for or against private information. We also document a new cognitive bias involved in processing social information. Individual characteristics, especially the cognitive ability, seems to be a very good indicator of subjects' behaviour. Subjects with higher cognitive scores choose optimal information more frequently and follow information more frequently. Overconfidence can be driven by the consumption motive (e.g. savouring future payoff/self-image) and the instrumental motive (e.g. being optimistic about the outcome of effort for motivation). I develop a simple model incorporating these two motives and suggest that individuals hold a dynamic pattern of overconfidence. Then I conduct an online field experiment with students to test the theory. The experimental findings indicate that students are likely to adopt overconfident beliefs as a commitment device to deal with their self-control problem. However, I do not find evidence for the consumption motive of overconfidence.

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Wang, Xiao. "Knot Theory and Algebraic Structures Motivated by and Applied to Knots." Thesis, The George Washington University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10810197.

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This dissertation consists of four parts. In the first part we prove that two different types of set-theoretic Yang-Baxter homology theories lead to the same homology. In 2004, Carter, Elhamdadi and Saito defined a homology theory for set-theoretic Yang-Baxter operators (we will call it the “algebraic” version in this thesis). In 2012, Lebed [Leb] and Przytycki [Prz4] independently defined another homology theory for pre-Yang-Baxter operators which has a nice graphic visualization(we will call it the “graphic” version in this thesis). We show that they are equivalent when restricting to set-theoretic Yang-Baxter operators. The “graphic” definition have both one-term and two-term homology comparing to the one-term and two-term rack homology respectively. In the two-term case, we found torsion in homology of the Yang-Baxter operator that yields the Jones polynomial.

In the second part of the thesis, we focus on torsion in Khovanov Homology. Khovanov homology is a powerful link invariant that categorifies the Jones polynomial. Khovanov homology has been computed for many links, and computation results show abundance of Z₂-torsion, however, torsion of orders other than two appears rare. We study Khovanov homology of twist deformations of torus links and find counterexamples to the PS braid conjecture [PS] by our method. Moreover, we provide some examples showing that the Khovanov homology of the flat 2-cabling of a given knot may have interesting torsion subgroups. For example, we found Z_2r for 0 ≤ r ≤ 23We find the possibility to obtain information of Khovanov homology of more general links via Hochschild homology based on the relation discovered by Przytycki [Prz2] between Hochschild homology of the Frobenius algebra Z[x]/(x²) and Khovanov homology of (2,–n)–torus links.

In the third part, we study the Kauffman bracket skein module and algebra of the thickened sphere with four holes. Frohman and Gelca established a complete description of the multiplicative operation, leading to the famous product-to-sum formula, see [FG] for detail. We study the multiplicative structure of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra of the sphere with four holes. Namely, we present an algorithm allowing us to compute the product of any two elements of the algebra, and give an explicit formula for some families of curves.

In the last part, we introduce our work on the plucking polynomial of rooted trees. Motivation of this work comes from Kauffman bracket skein module. When we try to understand (m × n)–lattice crossings (generalized crossings) in the Kauffman bracket skein module, the plucking polynomial in variable q is closely related to the coefficient of the Catalan state of the lattice; from this one can construct the rooted tree. We classify rooted trees which have strictly unimodal plucking polynomials. We also give criteria for a trapezoidal shape of a plucking polynomial. We generalize results of Pak and Panova [Pak-Pan] on strict unimodality of q-binomial coefficients. We discuss which polynomials can be realized as plucking polynomials and when two rooted trees have the same plucking polynomial.

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Amin, Yazdi Seyed Amir. "Theory of mind reasoning in Iranian children." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.289636.

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Ma, Jiefei. "Distributed abductive reasoning : theory, implementation and application." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/9163.

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Abductive reasoning is a powerful logic inference mechanism that allows assumptions to be made during answer computation for a query, and thus is suitable for reasoning over incomplete knowledge. Multi-agent hypothetical reasoning is the application of abduction in a distributed setting, where each computational agent has its local knowledge representing partial world and the union of all agents' knowledge is still incomplete. It is different from simple distributed query processing because the assumptions made by the agents must also be consistent with global constraints. Multi-agent hypothetical reasoning has many potential applications, such as collaborative planning and scheduling, distributed diagnosis and cognitive perception. Many of these applications require the representation of arithmetic constraints in their problem specifications as well as constraint satisfaction support during the computation. In addition, some applications may have confidentiality concerns as restrictions on the information that can be exchanged between the agents during their collaboration. Although a limited number of distributed abductive systems have been developed, none of them is generic enough to support the above requirements. In this thesis we develop, in the spirit of Logic Programming, a generic and extensible distributed abductive system that has the potential to target a wide range of distributed problem solving applications. The underlying distributed inference algorithm incorporates constraint satisfaction and allows non-ground conditional answers to be computed. Its soundness and completeness have been proved. The algorithm is customisable in that different inference and coordination strategies (such as goal selection and agent selection strategies) can be adopted while maintaining correctness. A customisation that supports confidentiality during problem solving has been developed, and is used in application domains such as distributed security policy analysis. Finally, for evaluation purposes, a flexible experimental environment has been built for automatically generating different classes of distributed abductive constraint logic programs. This environment has been used to conduct empirical investigation of the performance of the customised system.

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Gerken, Mikkel. "Epistemic reasoning and the mental." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2007. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1495960101&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

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Roth, Abraham Cornelis. "Case-based reasoning in the law a formal theory of reasoning by case comparison /." [Maastricht : Maastricht : Universiteit Maastricht] ; University Library, Maastricht University [Host], 2003. http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=7482.

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Pitt, François. "A quantifier-free string theory for ALOGTIME reasoning." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape3/PQDD_0018/NQ53696.pdf.

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Boaheng, Paul B. "Skepticism and practical reasoning in Hume's ethical theory." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ51302.pdf.

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Vogel, Carl M. "Inheritance reasoning : psychological plausibility, proof theory and semantics." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/524.

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Default inheritance reasoning is a propositional approach to non monotonic reasoning designed to model reasoning with natural language generics. Inheritance reasoners model sets of natural language generics as directed acyclicgraphs,and inference corresponds to the specification of paths through those networks. A proliferation of inheritance proof theories exist in the literature along with extensive debate about the most reasonable way to construct inferences, based on intuitions about interpretations of particular inheritance networks. There has not been an accepted semantics for inheritance which unifies the set of possible proof theories, which would help identify truly ill motivated proof theories. This thesis attempts to clarify the inheritance literature in the three ways indicated in the title: psychological plausibility, proof theory and semantics.

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Beckmann, Philipp Ulrich. "Preferences, counterfactuals and maximisation : reasoning in game theory." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2005. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1876/.

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This thesis explores two kinds of foundational issues in game theory. The first is concerned with the interpretation of the basic structure of a game, especially the definitions of outcomes and payoffs. This discussion leads to the second issue; namely the nature of solution concepts and their relation to both explicit and implicit assumptions in game theory concerning hypothetical reasoning. Interpreting utility functions in game theory, I argue that the notion of revealed preferences is ill-suited for counterfactual reasoning and for taking account of the implicit normativity of instrumental rationality. An alternative interpretation is outlined that treats preferences as determinants of choice. Accordingly, outcomes have to be individuated so as to capture everything that matters to an agent. I consider whether this is problematic when properties of outcomes depend on choice processes themselves. Turning to a decision theoretic problem, I question Verbeek's (2001) claim that modal outcome individuation conflicts with axioms of consequentialism. Next, I critically assess Rabin's (1993) model of fairness equilibria. Hypothesising about unilateral deviation is shown to be incompatible with belief-dependent utility definitions. Counterfactuals in games are then analysed more generally. It proves to be crucial for solution concepts whether our formal framework allows us to differentiate between indicative and subjunctive conditionals. Stalnaker's (1996) prima facie counterexample to Aumann's (1995) theorem that common knowledge of rationality implies a subgame perfect equilibrium is questioned on the grounds of a plausibility criterion. Again drawing on what has been established about the structure of a game and the meaning of its elements, Gauthier's (1986) notion of constrained maximisation, an attempt to overcome the non-cooperative equilibrium of the finitely iterated prisoner's dilemma, is shown to be incompatible with orthodox game theoretical methodology. The approach of treating the unit of agency as endogenous is addressed.

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Chorley, Alison. "Reasoning with legal cases seen as theory construction." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2006. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.443914.

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Poulsen, Shannon. "An exploration of cognitive reflection, identity threats, and directional information processing." The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532001627639449.

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Guthrie, Cynthia. "The Effects of Reputation Threat and Whistle-Blowing Report Source on Chief Audit Executives' Investigation Decisions." VCU Scholars Compass, 2008. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1609.

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This study examines the effects of reputation threats and anonymous whistle-blowing channels on Chief Audit Executives’ (CAEs) decisions to investigate whistle-blowing allegations. Participants were 94 CAEs and Deputy CAEs from publicly traded companies in the eastern half of the United States. Participants received whistle-blowing reports from either an anonymous or a non-anonymous source. In the high reputation threat condition the whistle-blowing report alleged that the wrongdoing was perpetrated by the exploitation of substantial weaknesses in internal controls that had been previously evaluated by external auditors and the internal audit function. The report in the lower threat condition alleged that the wrongdoing was accomplished by the circumvention of internal controls. Findings show that CAEs found anonymous whistle-blowing reports to be significantly less credible than non-anonymous reports. Although CAEs assessed lower credibility ratings for the reports alleging wrongdoing by the exploitation of substantial weaknesses in internal controls, they perceived greater personal and departmental responsibility in this condition. CAEs did not, however, perceive a significant reputation threat in either the Exploitation or Circumvention condition. Regardless of report source credibility, perceived reputation threat, or felt responsibility, CAEs’ resource allocation decisions consistently demonstrated a determination to thoroughly investigate the allegations of wrongdoing and uncover the truth.

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Trelstad, Anne. "Keeping Church Goers Motivated: Church Worship Communication Study." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2012. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5536.

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At a time when mainline Protestant churches in America are concerned with stagnant or declining worship attendance (Duin, 2008) a better understanding of worshippers' motivations could help church leaders plan and create positive worship experiences (Katt & Trelstad, 2009). This study extends the scope of the previous research of Katt and Trelstad by employing a larger sample of purposively selected churches. It attempts to more clearly answer the following question more clearly: What types of incidents serve as motivator and de-motivator factors in the church worship service setting? A sample of 105 church members from thirty-eight churches participated in a survey, either in person or online. The results indicate that there are motivators and de-motivators for attendees of a church worship service which are specific to the context. This research could provide practical information for churches concerned about member motivation and further extend the scope of Herzberg's theory into another context.
M.A.
Masters
Communication
Sciences
Communication; Interpersonal Communication

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García, Figueroa Alfonso. "Neo-Constitutionalism and Legal Reasoning." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2017. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/115635.

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This paper aims to explore the functions of the theory of legal argumentation (TLA) on Constitutional States and will especially focus on the political and self-reflective functions of the TLA within the framework of a neo-constitutionalistic legal theory. The first part of the paper includes a definition of the TAL and an analysis of its main functions. At the end of the paper the author provides the bases for the development of a neoconstitutionalistic legal theory.
Este trabajo pretende explorar las funciones de la teoría de la argumentación jurídica (TAJ) en los Estados constitucionales y se concentrará en subrayar las funciones políticas y autorreflexivas de la TAJ en el marco de una teoría del Derecho neoconstitucionalista. La primera parte incluye una definición de la TAJ y un examen de sus funciones generales. En la parte final, el autor ofrece un programa para el desarrollo de una teoría neoconstitucionalista.

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Heeren, Alexander Heeren. "Identifying the Problem or Identifying with the Solution?The Role of Motivated Reasoning and Identity Politics in Environmental Science." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1468073451.

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31

Barrett, Gilbert. "COLLABORATIVE CONTEXT-BASED REASONING." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2007. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/2722.

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This dissertation explores modeling collaborative behavior, based on Joint Intentions Theory (JIT), in Context-Based Reasoning (CxBR). Context-Based Reasoning is one of several contextual reasoning paradigms. And, Joint Intentions Theory is the definitive semantic framework for collaborative behaviors. In order to formalize collaborative behaviors in CxBR based on JIT, CxBR is first described in terms of the more popular Belief, Desire, and Intention (BDI) model. Once this description is established JIT is used as a basis for the formalism for collaborative behavior in CxBR. The hypothesis of this dissertation is that this formalism allows for effective collaborative behaviors in CxBR. Additionally, it is also hypothesized that CxBR agents inferring intention from explicitly communicating Contexts allows for more efficient modeling of collaborative behaviors than inferring intention from situational awareness. Four prototypes are built and evaluated to test the hypothesis and the evaluations are favorable. Effective collaboration is demonstrated through cognitive task analysis and through metrics based on JIT definitions. Efficiency is shown through software metric evaluations for volume and complexity of code.
Ph.D.
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Engineering and Computer Science
Computer Engineering PhD

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32

Baillie, Penny. "The synthesis of emotions in artificial intelligences: an affective agent architecture for intuitive reasoning in artificial intelligences." University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Business, 2002. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/archive/00001408/.

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[Abstract]: This dissertation addresses several highly-critical issues in affective computing and agent architecture design including knowledge representation, motivation, emotion appraisal and affective decision making. The approach presented integrates motivational drives, goals and associated behaviours via a multi-dimensional Affective Space. The research focuses on an emotionally motivated artificial intelligence (EMAI) architecture. This architecture dispenses with the ideas implemented in contemporary affective agent architectures where individual emotional states are modelled as individual variables, integrated and processed using complex algorithms. Contemporary approaches required significant programming effort to modify them for domains outside their realm, integration of new emotional states and high-level complex affective decision making. Unlike contemporary affective agent architectures, the EMAI architecture reasons using a multi-dimensional decision making process where emotional states are modelled as coexisting locations in a six-dimensional affective continuum called the Affective Space. Through use of the Affective Space, an EMAI agent can predict the effect that certain behaviours will have on its emotional state and in turn decide how to behave. Furthermore, the agent can use the emotions produced from its behaviour to update its beliefs about particular events and entities. The nature of the Affective Space also allows an EMAI agent to deal with processes related to emotion synthesis in a more effective manner than contemporary architectures. These processes include the natural diminishing of an emotional state's strength over time, the way in which emotions can influence an agent's perspective of a situation and the way in which an agent can migrate from one emotional state to another. This dissertation contributes crucial and unique concepts and formalisations of emotion based intelligence for agent construction to the domain of Artificial Intelligence (in particular Affective Computing). It introduces a unique process for emotionally motivated decision making based on holistic and atomic appraisals made with respect to events. The thesis contained within has been supported through experimentation that has confirmed the effectiveness of the emotion synthesis technique in the EMAI architecture and how this is used to produce intelligent agents capable of emotional reasoning and decision making.

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Cavedon, Lawrence. "A channel theoretic approach to conditional reasoning." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/523.

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Channel Theory is a recently developed mathematical model of information flow, based on ideas emanating from situation theory. Channel theory addreses a number of important properties of information flow, such as context-dependence, modularity of information, and the possibility of error. This thesis is concerned with the use of channel theory as a formal framework for various constructs relating to conditional sentences. In particular,the main concern is to obtain logics for reasoning about conditionals,generics and default properties within the channel theoretic framework.

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Merry, Alexander. "Reasoning with !-graphs." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:416c2e6d-2932-4220-8506-50e6b403b660.

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The aim of this thesis is to present an extension to the string graphs of Dixon, Duncan and Kissinger that allows the finite representation of certain infinite families of graphs and graph rewrite rules, and to demonstrate that a logic can be built on this to allow the formalisation of inductive proofs in the string diagrams of compact closed and traced symmetric monoidal categories. String diagrams provide an intuitive method for reasoning about monoidal categories. However, this does not negate the ability for those using them to make mistakes in proofs. To this end, there is a project (Quantomatic) to build a proof assistant for string diagrams, at least for those based on categories with a notion of trace. The development of string graphs has provided a combinatorial formalisation of string diagrams, laying the foundations for this project. The prevalence of commutative Frobenius algebras (CFAs) in quantum information theory, a major application area of these diagrams, has led to the use of variable-arity nodes as a shorthand for normalised networks of Frobenius algebra morphisms, so-called "spider notation". This notation greatly eases reasoning with CFAs, but string graphs are inadequate to properly encode this reasoning. This dissertation firstly extends string graphs to allow for variable-arity nodes to be represented at all, and then introduces !-box notation – and structures to encode it – to represent string graph equations containing repeated subgraphs, where the number of repetitions is abitrary. This can be used to represent, for example, the "spider law" of CFAs, allowing two spiders to be merged, as well as the much more complex generalised bialgebra law that can arise from two interacting CFAs. This work then demonstrates how we can reason directly about !-graphs, viewed as (typically infinite) families of string graphs. Of particular note is the presentation of a form of graph-based induction, allowing the formal encoding of proofs that previously could only be represented as a mix of string diagrams and explanatory text.

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35

Barnhart, Miller Amy Michelle. "Motivated Stereotyping of Women: Sources of Justification for Derogating Female Therapists." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1225154800.

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36

Nowak, Krzysztof Zbigniew. "Conceptual reasoning : belief, multiple agents and preference /." Title page, table of contents and abstract only, 1998. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phn946.pdf.

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Griffith, Todd W. "A computational theory of generative modeling in scientific reasoning." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/8177.

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Garigliano, R. "A formal model through homogeneity theory of adaptive reasoning." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.376906.

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Shi, Shengli. "On reasoning with uncertainty and belief change." Thesis, University of Ulster, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.339316.

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West, Stacy M. "Determinants of Active Pursuit of Kidney Donation: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management." VCU Scholars Compass, 2016. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/4632.

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End stage renal disease (ESRD) is a growing epidemic impacting the United States. While the optimal treatment for ESRD is renal replacement, barriers exist making this treatment difficult and sometimes impossible for patients to pursue. One potential solution to existing barriers is to encourage patients to actively seek living donors. This is an inherently communicative and social process. The Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM) offers a framework for understanding factors that contribute to patients’ conversations about transplantation with their social networks. It is also possible that Patient Empowerment can add to this model, and inform future patient education. Specific variables related to the TMIM and Patient Empowerment are analyzed in bivariate and logistic regression analyses. Variables that were significant in bivariate analysis did not rise to the level of significance when included in a full logistic regression analysis. Study results and outcomes suggest that further research is warranted.

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Minyard, Michael. "Highly Motivated, High-Achieving, Economically Disadvantaged Middle School Students: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2019. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1609141/.

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To conduct this qualitative dissertation study, a phenomenological approach was utilized. The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives of highly motivated, economically disadvantaged, middle school students to discover the factors that they identified as integral to their overall development and their intrinsic motivation, over time, to learn. A key component of this study was to give voice to the students who participated in this study and utilize their perspectives as a primary data source. Participants in this study included six middle school students, identified as economically disadvantaged, two from fifth grade and four from the seventh grade. Self-determination theory was used as a theoretical framework to guide and inform the analysis of students' perspectives, obtained through individual, semi-structured interviews with each student and classroom observations. Six themes, related to students' intrinsic motivation to learn and succeed in school, were identified. Extrinsic factors were also prominent. Although students expressed a true love of learning, they also acknowledged that external factors such as grades and testing influenced their motivation to learn. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness were major factors at play in the school, classrooms, and homes of these students. Recommendation for practice suggest that teachers, administrators, and parents shift their emphasis away from testing and grades to a greater focus on the internal factors that motivate students to learn so students will be more likely to enjoy the learning process and develop, both in school and over their life span, a love of learning in the process.

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M, Dube Chad. "Dual-process theory and syllogistic reasoning a signal detection analysis /." Amherst, Mass. : University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/242/.

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43

Daniel, Lionel. "Paraconsistent probabilistic reasoning : applied to scenario recognition and voting theory." Paris, ENMP, 2010. http://pastel.archives-ouvertes.fr/pastel-00537758.

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Les humains raisonnent souvent en présence d'informations contradictoires. Dans cette thèse, j'ébauche une axiomatisation du sens commun sous-jacent à ce raisonnement dit paraconsistant. L'implémentation de cette axiomatisation dans les ordinateurs autonomes sera essentielle si nous envisageons de leur déléguer des décisions critiques ; il faudra également vérifier formellement que leurs réactions soient sans risque en toute situation, même incertaine. Une situation incertaine est ici modélisée par une base de connaissances probabilistes éventuellement inconsistante ; c'est un multi-ensemble de contraintes éventuellement insatisfiable sur une distribution de probabilité de phrases d'un langage propositionnel, où un niveau de confiance peut être attribué à chaque contrainte. Le principal problème abordé est l'inférence de la distribution de probabilité qui représente au mieux le monde réel, d'après une base de connaissances donnée. Les réactions de l'ordinateur, préalablement programmées puis vérifiées, seront déterminées par cette distribution, modèle probabiliste du monde réel. J. B. Paris et al. Ont énoncé un ensemble de sept principes, dit de sens commun, qui caractérise l'inférence dans les bases de connaissances probabilistes consistantes. Poursuivant leurs travaux de définition du sens commun, je suggère l'adhésion à de nouveaux principes régissant le raisonnement dans les bases inconsistantes. Ainsi, je définis les premiers outils théoriques fondés sur des principes pour raisonner de manière probabiliste en tolérant l'inconsistance. Cet ensemble d'outils comprend non seulement des mesures de dissimilarité, d'inconsistance, d'incohérence et de précision, mais aussi un processus d'inférence coïncidant avec celui de J. B. Paris dans le cas consistant. Ce processus d'inférence résout un problème de la théorie du vote, c'est-à-dire l'obtention d'un consensus parmi des opinions contradictoires à propos d'une distribution de probabilité telle que la répartition d'un investissement financier. Finalement, l'inconsistance n'est qu'une forme d'incertitude qui ne doit pas entraver notre raisonnement, ni celui des ordinateurs : peut-être qu'une plus grande confiance leur sera accordée s'ils fondent leurs décisions sur notre sens commun
If we envisage delegating critical decisions to an autonomous computer, we should not only endow it with common sense, but also formally verify that such a machine is programmed to safely react in every situation, notably when the situation is depicted with uncertainty. In this thesis, I deem an uncertain situation to be a possibly inconsistent probabilistic propositional knowledge base, which is a possibly unsatisfiable multiset of constraints on a probability distribution over a propositional language, where each constraint can be given a reliability level. The main problem is to infer one probabilistic distribution that best represents the real world, with respect to a given knowledge base. The reactions of the computer, previously programmed then verified, will be determined by that distribution, which is the probabilistic model of the real world. J. B. Paris et al stated a set of seven commonsensical principles that characterises the inference from consistent knowledge bases. Following their approach, I suggest adhering to further principles intended to define common sense when reasoning from an inconsistent knowledge base. My contribution is thus the first principled framework of paraconsistent probabilistic reasoning that comprises not only an inference process, which coincides with J. B. Paris's one when dealing with consistent knowledge bases, but also several measures of dissimilarity, inconsistency, incoherence, and precision. Besides, I show that such an inference process is a solution to a problem originating from voting theory, namely reaching a consensus among conflicting opinions about a probability distribution; such a distribution can also represent a distribution of a financial investment. To conclude, this study enhances our understanding of common sense when dealing with inconsistencies; injecting common sense into decision systems should make them more trustworthy

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Smerilli, Alessandra. "New perspectives on cooperation and team reasoning : theory and experiments." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2014. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/50550/.

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Players' use of cooperative strategies in Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) games and their achievement of coordination in some kinds of coordination games are among the most studied issues in both theoretical and experimental game theory. The present thesis is a collection of three article on this topic. Chapter 2 of the thesis focuses on cooperation, by developing an evolutionary model of a repeated Prisoner's Dilemma game, using replicator dynamics. The evolution of cooperation is analysed in terms of the interaction of different strategies, which represent the heterogeneity of forms of cooperation in civil life. One of the results of the paper is the conclusion that cooperation is favoured by heterogeneity: the presence of different kinds of strategies enhances cooperation. A theory that can explain both cooperation and coordination is team reasoning. Chapter 3 represents a development of Bacharach's theory of team reasoning. Starting from a detailed review of Bacharach's writings, and in order to clarify some issues linked to reasoning and frames, I propose a 'vacillation' model in which agents are allowed to have both I and we-concepts in their frames, and can easily switch from one to another. The theoretical model presented in Chapter 3 is followed by an experiment, reported in Chapter 4. The experiment aims at identifying which features of the structure of payoffs in coordination games favour the use of team reasoning, using Level-k theories as the benchmark for the modelling of individual reasoning. We find mixed evidence about level-k and team reasoning theories. In particular team reasoning theory fails to predict choices when it picks out a solution which is Pareto dominated and not compensated by greater equality. This could represent a step forward in investigating the roles of team reasoning and level-k reasoning in explaining coordinating behaviour.

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Froese, Thomas Michael. "Implementing Dempster-Shafer theory for inexact reasoning in expert systems." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28383.

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The work described in this thesis stems from the idea that expert systems should be able to accurately and appropriately handle uncertain information. The traditional approaches to dealing with uncertainty are discussed and are shown to contain many inadequacies. The Dempster-Shafer, or D-S, theory of evidence is proposed as an appealing theoretical basis for representing uncertain knowledge and for performing inexact reasoning in expert systems. The D-S theory is reviewed in some detail; including its approaches to representing concepts, to representing belief, to combining belief and to performing inference. The D-S implementation approaches pursued by other researchers are described and critiqued. Attempts made early in the thesis research which failed to achieve the important goal of consistency with the D-S theory are also reviewed. Two approaches to implementing D-S theory in a completely consistent manner are discussed in detail. It is shown that the second of these systems, a frame network approach, has led to the development of a fully functional prototype expert system shell called FRO. In this system, concepts are represented using D-S frames of discernment, belief is represented using D-S belief functions, and inference is performed using stored relationships between frames of discernment (forming the frame network) and D-S belief combination rules. System control is accomplished using a discrete rule-based control component and uncertain input and output are performed through an interactive belief interface system called IBIS. Each of these features is reviewed. Finally, a simple but detailed example of an application of a frame network expert system is provided. The FRO system user's documentation is provided in the appendix.
Applied Science, Faculty of
Civil Engineering, Department of
Graduate

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46

Carnahan, Dustin. "Why Motivations Matter: Information-Processing Goals and Their Implications for Selective Exposure to Political Information." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1427123218.

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47

Crighton, Lindsay. "CEO Icon to GOP Hopeful: A Quantitative Analysis Exploring Politically Motivated Celebrity CEOs." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/76998.

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This study examined the perceptions of celebrity CEOs potentially transitioning to political candidates. Using Carly Fiorina's campaign for Senator of California, this study identified how young voters perceive celebrity CEOs as politicians, their identification of celebrity CEOs, and the evaluations of CEOs and their companies. Results indicate a more favorable evaluation of Fiorina resulted in a more favorable reaction to Hewlett- Packard. Results also confirm the use of media messages to prime young voters about political candidates. Finally, political party affiliation was found to significantly influence the findings of this study while gender and political cynicism did not. Theoretical implications and areas of future research in celebrity and politics are discussed.
Master of Arts

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48

Ferreira, de Mendonça Guilherme Abel. "Acting theory as poetic of drama : a study of the emergence of the concept of 'motivated action' in playwriting theory." Thesis, Brunel University, 2012. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7331.

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Playwriting theory has, from its beginning, been concerned with the search for the essential nature of dramatic writing. Early playwriting treatises (poetics) defined the essential aspects of drama as being the plot (creation of sequences of fictional events), the moral character of its heroes, the idea of enactment, or the rhetorical and lyrical qualities of the text. These categories were kept through later treatises with different emphasis being put on each category. An understanding of drama as a sequence of fictional events (plot) has been central in acting theory. Modern theories and techniques centred on Stanislavsky’s ideas rely heavily on rehearsal methods that carefully establish the sequence of actions of the characters in a play as a result of psychological motivations. This method was described by Stanislavsky in An Actor’s Work on a Role, published in 1938, and is known as the Method of Physical Actions. This thesis reassesses the definition of playwriting as consisting essentially in the creation of a plot populated by suitable characters. Rather than discussing playwriting theory in isolation it attempts a bridge between acting theory and playwriting theory by using the Method of Physical Actions as an equivalent to plot. Acting theory is thus considered as a theoretical justification for the centrality of plot. The method used is hermeneutic — a systematic interpretation of poetics, unveiling in almost an archaeological manner the relevance of the essential definitions of drama, such as character, source, genre, and language to the concept of plot. The chronological path of development of dramatic theories is shown to be gradual: from the strict obedience to the narrative line imposed by the mythic sources, in classical treatises; through to an interest in the lyrical expression of the predicament of specific characters, in neoclassical theory; to an awareness of specific social types in the eighteenth century; and, finally, to the conception of the plot as a product of the mental life of individual characters in modern theory.

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Kutys, Jennifer M. "Juror Decision Making: The Impact of Attractiveness and Socioeconomic Status on Criminal Sentencing and an Examination of Motivated Reasoning in Mock Jurors." Wright State University Professional Psychology Program / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wsupsych1340655235.

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50

Oaksford, Michael Robert. "Cognition and inquiry : the pragmatics of conditional reasoning." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6608.

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This thesis reports the results of both normative and empirical investigations into human conditional reasoning, i.e. reasoning using if ... then and related constructions. Previous empirical investigations have concentrated on experimental paradigms like Wason's Selection Task, where subjects must assess evidence relevant to the truth or falsity of a conditional rule. Popperian falsification provided the normative theory by which to assess errorful behaviour on these tasks. However, it is doubtful whether this is an appropriate normative theory from which to derive a competence model of human reasoning abilities. The relationship between normative theory and competence model need not be direct, no more than the relationship between competence model and performance needs to be. However, research in this area has imported a theory directly into individual psychology from the philosophy of science. On the apparently orthodox assumption of directness, continued adherence to this import may stand in need of re-assessment in the light of the quite radical descriptive inadequacy of falsification as a model of rational scientific inquiry. However, this model also possesses the virtue of relating the interpretation of the rule directly to the normative task strategy. Hence, this thesis has two aims: first, to retain the virtue of a direct relation between normative task strategy and interpretation while simultaneously offering a competence model which is consistent with more recent and descriptively adequate accounts of the process of scientific inquiry. In Part I, this will involve introducing a semantic theory (situation semantics) and showing that the process of inquiry implicit in this semantic theory is consistent with recent normative conceptions in the philosophy of science. The second aim is to show that the competence model derived in Part I can provide a sound rational basis for subjects' observed patterns of reasoning in conditional reasoning tasks. In Part II, chapter 5, the data obtained from the Wason Selection Task using only affirmative rules is discussed and the behaviour observed rationally reconstructed in terms of the competence model of Part I. A central concept of that model is partial interpretation (motivated by concerns of context sensitivity). Prima facie evidence for partial interpretation is provided by the observation of defective truth tables. However, in conditional reasoning experiments using negated constituents, this evidence has been interpreted differently. A subsidiary aim of Part II (which will constitute the largest section of this thesis) therefore concerns the empirical demonstration of the consistency of this data with the competence model.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Theory of motivated reasoning'

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