Formal Operational Thought among African and Canadian College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine evidence for formal operational thought among Canadian and African college students, drawn from Edmonton, Canada and Umtata, Transkei, South African, who were tested on propositional and proportional reasoning. Both Canadian and African students surpassed the 75% criterion for propositional reasoning, whereas only Canadians attained the 50% success criterion on proportional reasoning. There was a cultural difference in favour of Canadians on performance of both tasks.

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