Here's a second problem, once again from Peter Wason; try again to
solve it, and record your answer and justification.
Suppose that there are four possible kinds of objects:
- an unhappy dodecahedron
- a happy dodecahedron
- an unhappy cube
- a happy cube
Suppose as well that I have written down on a hidden piece of paper one of the attitudes (unhappy or happy) and one of the shapes (dodecahedron or cube). Now read the following rule carefully:
- An object is a GOKE if and only if it has either the attitude I have written down, or the shape I have written down, but not both.
I will tell you that the unhappy dodecahedron is a GOKE. Which of the other objects, if any, is a GOKE?
If your answer is `happy cube' you are right. If you missed this problem
(known originally as the THOG problem) you're not alone: only about 10% of the
educated adult population gets the right answer.
Though these problems are still catalyzing new research today, they were
devised decades ago by Wason. Let's turn now to a recent problem, an
ingenious one devised by Johnson-Laird
[Johnson-Laird and Savary, 1995]: