Influence of Levels of Abstractness on Reasoning Ability

Retarded, Normal, and Superior Subjects' Attainment of Verbal Concepts at Two Levels of Inclusiveness

“…However, the results obtained herein agreed with relationships reported by Long and Welch (1942) who studied intellectually superior Ss at several age levels and Osler and Fivel (1961) who studied intellectllally superior and normal Ss at several age levels. Generally, these pairs of investigators observed that their Ss attained concepts with similar facility at two levels of inclusiveness corresponding to the levels used in the present study; they observed this similarity when words as well as pictures were used to portray specific instances.…”

Chapter IV: Psychology of Learning

“…Long and Welch, following Mill's joint method of agreement and difference in inductive reasoning, found that those who were able to give adequate verbal explanations on picture block tests did better than those whose explanations were inadequate (106), that qualitative changes (shifts in the abstractness of concepts) were particularly effective in reducing the score (53), that difficulties increased in passing from the first to the higher levels of abstractness (objects, species, classes), and that better progress was made by those who discovered the first prin ciple without any hint (54). Goldstein and Sheerer (29) concluded, on the basis of various testing procedures, that abstract thinking includes, in addition to the "real" stimulus, such modes of behavior as assumption of a mental set, shifting from one aspect of a situation to another, holding in mind simultaneously various aspects of a problem, abstraction of common properties, and planning ahead ideationally.…”

Psychology of Learning

“…Long and Welch, following Mill's joint method of agreement and difference in inductive reasoning, found that those who were able to give adequate verbal explanations on picture block tests did better than those whose explanations were inadequate (106), that qualitative changes (shifts in the abstractness of concepts) were particularly effective in reducing the score (53), that difficulties increased in passing from the first to the higher levels of abstractness (objects, species, classes), and that better progress was made by those who discovered the first principle without any hint (54). Goldstein and Sheerer (29) concluded, on the basis of various testing procedures, that abstract thinking includes, in addition to the "real" stimulus, such modes of behavior as assumption of a mental set, shifting from one aspect of a situation to another, holding in mind simultaneously various aspects of a problem, abstraction of common properties, and planning ahead ideationally.…”