| Show women succeed b by y taking hints but may not no reason as well as the mal males es if women do not reason as well we 11 as do men they are better at taking hints with the result that they may more nearly approach tip the achievements of men this Is one conclusion drawn from a series of reasoning tests given asi students at the university of michigan by dr norman it II H baler of the university psychology department reported in the ariti sh journal of psychology using students in the beginning be inning psychology Y course as subjects doctor maier divided them into two groups one of which received some general hints flints on what not to do when solving tile the problems presented the second group received no suggestions the problems varied from abstract a puzzles such as dividing equally an odd shaped diagram to constructive work with simple material available the group receiving suggestions were from 20 to 40 per cent more efficient in a variation of the experiment the as 1 students were subjected to two problems of equal difficulty dilli culty the hints were given in connection with one of 1 these problems ind and it was solved by twice as many as the other problem because the suggestions were in general ad advice vice against depending on habitual patterns or of thought and blind persistence in attempts attempting ng to solve problems and because the tasks were best done when the hints flints are given it Is concluded from the experiments that tile the type of reasoner rca most successful in problem solving Is the one who can suppress or inhibit ills his habitual lines of thought to allow free play of new ideas and thought patterns new york herald tribune |
