Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (MindTap Course List)
Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (MindTap Course List)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9781285763880
Author: E. Bruce Goldstein
Publisher: Cengage Learning
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Chapter 11.3, Problem 1TY
Summary Introduction

Introduction

Inference refers to interpreting the meaning of a sentence or text by going beyond what is given and by using one's own knowledge and prior experiences.

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Bransford and Johnson (1973) conducted a study to demonstrate inference in language. In this experiment, the participants were instructed to read certain passages and their memory of what the passage contained was then tested. One of the passages was about an individual named John. It described how he was trying to fix a birdhouse and how his father came to assist him. Bransford and Johnson found that after reading the passage, the participants often responded that John used a hammer to fix the birdhouse, even though it was never explicitly mentioned in the text.

Thus, this experiment showed how people extract information from the text and use their own understanding and knowledge to draw inferences. Therefore, this study provides evidence for instrumental inference, which refers to making inferences about the methods or tools in a text from the given information and one's general knowledge about the world.

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