Related resources
Search for item elsewhere
University researcher(s)
Academic department(s)
An investigation of belief-bias and logicality in reasoning with emotional contents
Eliades, M., Mansell, W., Stewart, A., & and Blanchette, I
Thinking and Reasoning. 2012;18:461-479.
Access to files
Full-text and supplementary files are not available from Manchester eScholar. Use our list of Related resources to find this item elsewhere. Alternatively, request a copy from the Library's Document supply service.
Abstract
The effects of emotion and belief on logicality have been examined independently in the literature. The aim of this paper is to explore the possible effect of emotion on both logicality and belief-bias. We also examined the nature of the belief-bias associated with emotion in terms of Type 1 versus Type 2 processes. In two studies, we employed a categorical syllogisms task to compare reasoning about emotional and neutral contents. Study 1 was conducted with women from the general population and Study 2 included victims of sexual abuse in addition to control participants. The categorical syllogisms were manipulated in terms of logical validity (valid/invalid), believability (believable/unbelievable) and content type (generally emotional/sexual abuse-specific/neutral). The results from control participants and victims were in line with the literature, indicating that reasoning about emotional contents is associated with decreased logicality compared to neutral contents. We also found some evidence that emotion leads to an increase in Type 1 belief-bias. These results indicate that belief-bias effects, specifically those underlined by Type 1 processes, may well be one of the factors modulating the effect of emotion on logicality.
Keyword(s)