Abstracts Psychology

Cognitive and social influences on reasoning in groups and dyads

by Michael Douglas. Dama

The three studies that constitute this thesis investigated the influence of cognitive and social factors on reasoning in social environments. The key research issues investigated were: (a) the influence of status on distributed reasoning, (b) the influence of social interactions and status on the type of representational change, and (c) identifying the mechanisms of social interactions that cause representational change. Study one investigated how the status of scientists presenting their research at laboratory meetings influenced distributed reasoning. When the presenter was of high status, the Principal Investigator was an important influence on the distributed reasoning. When the presenter was of low status, other lab members were more likely to contribute to distributed reasoning. Study two examined if social interactions between scientists at laboratory meetings result in minor or major representational change. Also investigated in study two was if the status of the laboratory members influenced the type of representational change that occurred during social interactions. The results showed that a scientist changes her or his representation by generalizing over two or more representations that were discussed during social interactions. The Principal Investigator was a key contributor to representational change involving generalization. Study three examined how dyadic social interactions influenced representational change. It was found that the individual who initiates representational discussion after identifying a problem with her or his representation is the dyad member who is most likely to change her or his representation. Representational change also required that the other dyad member clarify the initiator's representation problem. It was also found that representational change for the initiator involved incorporating a certain representation that was provided by the other dyad member into an incomplete representation. Finally, it was found that the op