Abstract
Deductive and logical reasoning is a crucial topic for cognitive psychology and has largely been investigated in adults, concluding that humans are apparently irrational. Yet, from a pragmatic approach, the logical level of meaning is only one of possible communicative interpretations, and the least likely to be assigned if the intent of the task is not adequately transmitted. Indeed, new formulations of the mathematical tasks (syllogisms, selection task, class inclusion task, prolem solving), of greater relevance to the problem and to its aim, greatly improved adults’ logical performance. The current study tested whether pragmatic manipulations of task instructions influenced in a similar way children’s performance in deductive and logical tasks (Experiment 1) and in insight problems (Experiment 2). We found that, when task instructions were in accordance with the conversational rules of communication, 10-year-old children substantially improved their performance. We suggest that language use imposes constraints in terms of informativeness and relevance which are crucial in teaching logic and mathematics.
Highlights
Natural language and logic are both intended to transmit meaning effectively or, in other words, to express thoughts
We argue that for a better understanding of children’s difficulties in solving logical tasks and insight problems, it is crucial to consider that children as well as adults can encounter interpretative difficulties linked to the adoption of natural language and conversational rules
With the modified version of the task, it emerges that children of 10 years of age can correctly solve this type of probabilistic task to a greater extent than would have been detectable with the original version
Summary
Natural language and logic are both intended to transmit meaning effectively or, in other words, to express thoughts. In natural language, the speaker constantly exploits the expressive richness of words, and the intended meaning of an utterance can be understood only by considering the relevant context. Improving Mathematical Performance via Pragmatics sophisticated intention-attribution and inferential processes. The study of these processes pertains to the field of pragmatics (Grice, 1989; Mosconi, 1990, 2016; Levinson, 1995; Sperber and Wilson, 1995). The Gricean theory of implicature postulates that meaning should be reduced to intention and, that semantics has to be reduced to psychology (Grice, 1975)
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