Are there differences between mathematics students reasoning and general population? The dual theory of reasonig and the selection task of Wason

Abstract

Inglis and Simpson hold that there are significat differences between Mathematics university students reasoning and general population reasoning, since, in an experiment based on selection task presented by them in 2006, Mathematics students obtained better outcomes that other students. They tried to explain this fact by means of dual process theory of reasoning. We present in this paper a similar experiment. Our experiment does not show significantly different executions between Mathematics students and other students. For this reason, we conclude that it is possible that selection task is not an appropriate task for describing the different students reasoning and we need more evidences for confirming that Mathematics students reason in a different way.