POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE INSTANCES IN CONCEPT IDENTIFICATION PROBLEMS MATCHED FOR LOGICAL COMPLEXITY OF SOLUTION PROCEDURES

Previous research has confounded the positive-negative instance difference with a logically irrelevant difference in the difficulty of procedures required to identify the concepts. The present experiment separates the 2 factors by inverting the problem for 1/2 of 60 undergraduates. Results show that a general detrimental effect of negative instances is either weak or absent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.