Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: A bstractForm ul at i on and i nt erpret at i on of condi t i onal i nst ruct i ons (condi t i onal s rel at i ng t he occurrence of an event t o t he t aki ng of an act i on) are st udi ed from a pragm at i c st andpoi nt : I t i s argued t hat f orm ul at i ons of t he i nst ruct i ons di ffer i n percei ved nat ural ness as a funct i on of t he adequacy bet w een t he necessi t y and suffi ci ency rel at i ons t hey em bed and t he goal -st ruct ure of t he si t uat i on.Tw o experi m ent s are report ed t o support t hi s cl ai m .C ondi ti onal Instructi ons as a Pecul i ar Subcl ass of C ondi ti onal Statem ents A s A ust i n (1962) has observed, w e use w ords t o get t hi ngs done -and t here are i ndeed l ot s of t hi ngs w e can get done by usi ng t he w ord "i f", t hat i s, by assert i ng a condi t i onal st at em ent .W i t h a condi t i onal st at em ent , w e can t el l ot hers w hat concl usi on t hey shoul d draw (e. g. , "i f i t i s a t hree-st ar rest aurant , t hen t he food t here i s cert ai nl y di vi ne"), or w hat act i on t hey shoul d t ake (e. g. , "i f you w ear t hi s sui t , you w i l l m ake a very good i m pressi on on her") -and i n part i cul ar, especi al l y i n w orki ng si t uat i ons, w e can gi ve ot hers i nst ruct i ons t o fol l ow w oul d a speci fi c si t uat i on occur (e. g. , "i f a cust om er buys t w o m ake-up product s, offer her a sam pl e of t hi s perfum e").It i s com m on know l edge am ong psychol ogi st s t hat peopl e do not do very w el l i n condi t i onal reasoni ng t asks.For exam pl e, t hey have a di st urbi ng t endency t o deri ve t he w rong concl usi ons from a condi t i onal argum ent (e. g. , t hey com m i t t he fal l aci es of A ssert i ng t he Consequent : "If P t hen Q ; Q ; t herefore P, " and of D enyi ng t he A nt ecedent : "If P t hen Q ; not -P; t herefore not -Q ") and not t o deri ve t he ri ght ones (e. g. , t hey do not appl y M odus Tol l ens: "If P t hen Q ; not -Q ; t herefore not -P").(See Evans, N ew st ead, & Byrne, 1993, for a revi ew .) D oes t hi s poor perform ance ext end t o t hi s subcl ass of condi t i onal st at em ent s w e j ust dubbed
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2768095791