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Missing the point or missing the norms?Epistemological norms as predictors of students
ability to identify fallacious arguments
M. Weinstock, Y. Neuman, I. Tabak
Contemporary Educational Psychology (2004)
Presented by:
Jeremy Wang
EPSY 81141 March 2009
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Outline
Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials Results
Discussion Questions
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Outline
Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials Results
Discussion Questions
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Why argumentation?
ClimateGate
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Why argumentation?
Same-Sex Marriage
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Why argumentation?
Crucial for
participation in democratic society
championing ones ideas
rebut opposition withstanding rhetorical tactics
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Outline
Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials Results
Discussion Questions
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Fallacies: Formal ArgumentsForm:
If A, then B
B
Therefore, A
Example:
If the Twins signed Joe Mauer, then I will be
happy. I am happy.
Therefore, the Twins signed Joe Mauer.
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Fallacies: Formal ArgumentsBase Rate Fallacy (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974)
1% of women at age forty who participate inroutine screening have breast cancer. 80% ofwomen with breast cancer will get positive
mammographies. 9.6% of women without breastcancer will also get positive mammographies. Awoman in this age group had a positivemammography in a routine screening. What isthe probability that she actually has breastcancer?
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Fallacies: Informal Arguments
Unlike formal arguments, they cannot be
detected by examining the form or thestructure of the argument
Need to detect by
Context (the goal and rules applied)
Content (meaning of words, vagueness)
Informal argument fallacies have implicationsfor epistemological understandings
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Outline
Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials Results
Discussion
Questions
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Episte-WHAT???
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and
justified belief (Stanford EoP) What are the necessary and sufficient conditions
of knowledge?
What are its sources?
What makes justified beliefs justified?
Example: How do you know the Eiffel Towerexists?
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Episte-WHAT???
4 basic dimensions of nature of knowledge
(Hofer, 2001):1. Certainty
2. Simplicity
3. Justification4. Source
Theory-in-action approach:
your epistemological beliefs are invoked inreal-world cognitive activities
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Norms of Argumentation
Two-sided nature of argumentation
Helpful in generating alternative arguments
Need to use evidence and coordinate it with
the best explanation Involved evaluating evidence and connecting it to
explanations with sound logic
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Assumptions
A sound reasoner should be able to claim that
certain arguments are illegitimate byrecognizing violations of argumentation norms
(rather than the content)
Therefore, one should be able to distinguish a
critical discussion from a quarrel or debate
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Outline
Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials Results
Discussion
Questions
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Method: Participants
281 students in Israel
57 8th graders
65 9th graders
60 10th graders
48 11th graders
51 12th graders
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Method: Materials Fallacy identification task
Differed on two aspects Context (scientific vs. school debate)
Type of fallacy (3 types)
Students asked 3 questions Do you think there is a problem with the argument?
(yes/no)
If you think there is a problem, what is it? (open
ended) What is the main reason for the debate? (forced
choice)
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Method: Materials
Ad populum (appeal to popularity)
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Methods: Materials
Ad hominem (attack on person)
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Methods: Materials
Ad ignorantiam (appeal to ignorance)
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Methods: Materials
Argumentation Norms Task
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Outline
Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials
Results
Discussion
Questions
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Results
>
Appears that students can identify fallacies (may be an
artifact of the task), but are not good at explaining
Only used explanation scores in further analysis
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Results
Students are generally familiar with these different types
of fallacies more so for Ad hominem than for the others
I dont know students were not included in furtheranalysis
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Results
According to Mann-Whitney U tests, all of these differences
were significant Still, rather low correlation between knowing a norm and
being able to explain what was wrong with the argument
Interaction with content???
>
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Outline
Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials
Results
Discussion
Questions
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Discussion
Goal of study:
Examine whether a familiarity withargumentation norms explains students
ability to identify informal reasoning fallacies
Results support this hypothesis
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DiscussionDo students really recognize fallacies?
Students can recognize, but they dontnecessarily have explicit rules or language to
attach to these fallacies
Reflects underlying epistemological
understandings rather than learned rules,
skills or rhetorical moves
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DiscussionThe relationship between epistemological
understanding and argumentation skill iscomplicated.
Just because students have epistemological
awareness does not automatically mean they
can apply argumentation skills
necessary but not sufficient
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Outline Why argumentation?
Fallacies: Formal and Informal
Episte-WHAT????
Methods: Participants and Materials Results
Discussion
Questions
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QuestionsDiscussion:
Which comes first knowledge of norms or recognition offlawed arguments? (important to know from educationalstandpoint)
Tasks:
Greater number of tasks? (similarity GRE writing items???)
Methods:
Other statistical tests? (might have given them moreinteresting information)
What about age-level of students? What about interactions between content and
argumentation skill?
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END