Syllogisms in Education
People’s
Inability to Reason
As professionals in the field of education, one
encounters a great variety of student issues that are simply hard to explain
why they actually take place. And after having one of those particular student
issues in one of my classes, the need to comprehend aggressive behavior against
professors and the inability to reason beyond one’s perception of reality made
me try to find at least a convincing explanation to this puzzling situation: How good are
university students with aggressive behavior at reasoning?
Based on Baron’s book (1997) Fundamentos de Psicología, humans are not that good when it comes
to reasoning; for some people, their rational, reasoning abilities are even
less that appropriate for rationalizing logical argumentation. But why is it
that individuals have trouble reasoning? One of the possible justifications or
answers for this question relies on the fact that, as Baron (1997) states,
emotion and reasoning cannot walk together. Pointed out by Forgas and Bower
(1988), the way in which we feel, that is our mood and emotions, can greatly
affect several aspects of cognition.
It’s not surprising to realize that emotions and beliefs
–emotionally charged- can greatly influence one’s cognitive reasoning
abilities. Based on this premise, let’s now explore the case of a student whom
we call –from now on- Fedor who has had several episodes
of aggressive behavior against his instructors due to his poor performance
along several terms at the university where he studies.
1. Fedor
is the kind of student who pushes his teachers to get extra assignments or
credit and who curses them when they do not consider appropriate to help him
pass a course. Since Fedor is someone who barely hits his books or seldom takes
time to review what has been studied in prior sessions, his evaluations show
that oftentimes he has no clue of what is being studied or covered along the
term. And –of course- in Fedor’s eyes, his professors are to blame for his poor
school performance.
2. From
Fedor’s point of view, and whose beliefs and convictions are already biased and
emotionally charged against his instructors and their way of reasoning in
regards to his course performance, Fedor can and will alter the real meaning of
the reasoning premises employed by his teachers. Furthermore, as stated by
Baron (1997), Fedor is bound to “recall” reasons and factors that were never
uttered by his teachers, especially when addressing “his problem” with the
school authorities and/or with other fellow students.
3. Paraphrasing
Baron’s idea about logics (1997), the moment emotions and strong beliefs clash
against logical arguments, the latter tends to lose. For this reason, Fedor’s
case is a good example of this sentence based on the following way of
reasoning.
A. Inability to
understand syllogisms
Fedor cannot really understand this way of logical
reasoning because his emotionally charged ideas against his instructors are in
the way to real cognitive analysis of his present situation.
How do you think Fedor will answer these syllogisms? In
the same way that you would probably do it?
Syllogism 1
|
- People who often study and review the course
subject-matter usually get good grades.
- Charlie doesn’t normally get good or even passing
grades.
- Does Charlie often study?
|
Syllogism 2
|
- If I often study and review the course content, I will
usually get good grades.
- I’m not normally getting good or just passing
grades.
- Am I really studying?
|
Syllogism 3
|
- Every time people take a class with Professor James,
they usually get low grades or fail quizzes and exams.
- I’m now taking a class with Professor James.
- Will I fail?
|
B. The omission bias
Individuals like Fedor cannot understand (or refrain
themselves from comprehending) that people use their selectivity to examine
flaws depending on the importance of facts perceived by them. In other words,
Fedor’s instructors’ reasons for not helping him with extra points (usually
backed up by the school regulations) are irrational, no matter how logical and
valid those arguments are.
C. The confirmation
bias
Students like Fedor possess an inability to consider
information that can question or counterattack their emotionally charged
beliefs and arguments. In other words, “anyone else is wrong,” Pedro would say;
“I’m right and a victim of my instructors.” Professors’ argumentation cannot be
rationalized because it threatens students’ convictions and their strong
beliefs since in their minds, they hold the monopoly of truth; consequently,
anyone else opposing their point of view is sounding wrong.
D. The a posteriori perception
As Baron (1997) suggests, this type of perception is one’s
belief that I can predict a given happening prior to knowing it already
happened. Such forecasting of future events is a good example of one’s wrong
way of reasoning, and Fedor uses it most of the time since it cannot arrive at
the “appropriate” answers when dealing with syllogisms applied to his condition
as a university student.
To sum up, university students like our “fictitious”
Fedor are rather common in our classrooms, and finding the way to deal with
their aggressive behavior, threats, and temper tantrums should not be the sole
responsibility of a professor. University (or school) authorities, with the
assistance of psychologists’ coaching, must train their teachers, especially
when students like Fedor do not want to be helped by their “hateful”
instructors or taken to the counseling office for an in-depth study of their
learning conditions and limitations.
ETo
fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research
and expand these areas:
1
|
Syllogisms in education
|
2
|
The omission bias
|
3
|
The confirmation bias
|
4
|
The a posteriori
perception
|
5
|
Coaching in student aggressive behavior
|
Professor
Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT
Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in Central America
For
further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at
the university are:
Baron, R. (1997) Fundamentos de Psicología. 3rd Ed.
Translated by María Elena Ortiz Salinas. Mexico: Prentice Hall Hispanoamericana
Get a copy of the article over here.
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
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