The Justification of Beliefs in Young Adults: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Recent work on adult thought has focused on the emergence of relativistic, dialectic, or integrative assumptions about knowledge. In 1981, Kitchener and King developed a model of reflective judgment that describes seven sets of assumptions about reality and knowledge and corresponding concepts of intellectual justification. This article reports a 2-year longitudinal study of three groups of adolescents and young adults (n = 59) who were tested on the Reflective Judgment Interview and on the Concept Mastery Test, a measure of verbal aptitude. Significant group (p < 0.01) and time (p < 0.01) main effects were found on both measures, with older subjects scoring higher than younger subjects, and all groups showing increases in scores over the 2-year period. Observed differences in reflective judgment persisted when verbal ability was statistically controlled. A significant (p < 0.05) sex effect favoring males was found when the effects of verbal aptitude were statistically removed. Thus, the sequentiality of the reflective judgment stages was empirically tested, with results indicating support for the seven hypothesized shifts in epistemic assumptions over time.

Critical Thinking Among College and Graduate Students

“…Problem structure may be defined as the degree to which a problem can be described completely and the certainty with which a solution can be identified as true or correct (Wood 1983). For example, puzzles are problems that can be solved using deductive logic (e.g., All men are mortal; Plato was a man; therefore Plato was mortal).…”

Cognition, Metacognition, and Epistemic Cognition

“…1977Broughton. , 1978Diamond and Royce, 1980;Gibbs, 1977;King et al, 1983;Kitchener and King, 1981;Labouvie-Vief, 1982;Moshman, 1979;Perry, 1970] have converged to sup port the claim that what we have been calling epistemic cognitive processes play a critical role in the reasoning of older adolescents and adults. These investigators argue that changes in assumptions about knowledge in the epistemic sense underlie the ability of adults to deal with conflicting ideas and sys tems in considering issues of logic, ethical choice, and reality.…”

Distinguishing Practical and Theoretical Reasoning: A Critique of Deanna Kuhn's Theory of Informal Argument

“…These theories represent the various and often implicit attitudes that subjects hold concerning the general nature of knowledge and beliefs. Kuhn measures her subjects epistemological beliefs using a framework that is based on work by Perry (1970) and others (Kitchener & Fischer, 1990;King, Kitchener, Davison, Parker, & Wood, 1983). Epistemic maturity was assessed by asking subjects how their own views would stack up against an expert opinion and then by comparing these responses to the three levels summarized in Table 2.…”