Prototype effect and the persuasiveness of generalizations

An argument that makes use of a generalization activates the prototype for the category used in the generalization. We conducted two experiments that investigated how the activation of the prototype affects the persuasiveness of the argument. The results of the experiments suggest that the features of the prototype overshadow and partly overwrite the actual facts of the case. The case is, to some extent, judged as if it had the features of the prototype instead of the features it actually has. This prototype effect increases the persuasiveness of the argument in situations where the audience finds the judgment more warranted for the prototype than for the actual case (positive prototype effect), but decreases persuasiveness in situations where the audience finds the judgment less warranted for the prototype than for the actual case (negative prototype effect)

Nanostructured Tungsten Materials by Chemical Methods

Tungsten based-materials are used in many different technical fields, particularly in applications requiring good temperature and/or erosion resistance. Nanostructuring of tungsten alloys and composites has the potential to dramatically improve the materials’ properties, enhancing the performance in present applications or enabling totally new possibilities. Nanostructured WC-Co composites have been the focus of researchers and industries for over two decades. New methods for powder fabrication and powder consolidation have been developed. However, the fabrication of true nanograined WC-Co materials is still a challenge. Nanostructured tungsten composites for applications as plasma facing materials in fusion reactors have in recent years attracted a growing interest. This Thesis summarizes work on the development of chemical methods for the fabrication of two different types of nanostructured tungsten based materials; WC-Co materials mainly aimed at cutting tools applications and W-ODS composites with rare earth oxide particles, intended as plasma facing materials in future fusion reactors. The approach has been to prepare powders in two steps: a) synthesis of uniform powder precursors containing ions of tungsten and the doping elements by co-precipitation from aqueous solutions, and b) further processing of the precursors into W or WC based nano-composite powders. Highly homogenous W and Co containing powder precursors for WC-Co composites were prepared via two different routes. Keggin-based precursors ((NH4)8[H2Co2W11O40]) with agglomerates of sizes up to 50 μm, were made from sodium tungstate or ammonium metatungstate and cobalt acetate. The powder composition corresponded to 5.2 % Co in the final WC-Co composites. In a second approach, paratungstate-based precursors (Cox(NH4)10-2x[H2W12O42]) were prepared from ammonium paratungstate (APT) and cobalt hydroxide with different compositions corresponding to 3.7 to 9.7 % Co in WC-Co. These particles had a plate-like morphology with sides of 5-20 μm and a thickness of less than 1 μm. Both precursors were processed and sintered into highly uniform microstructures with fine scale (<1μm). The processing of paratungstate-based precursors was also further investigated. Nanostructured WC-Co powders with grains size of less than 50 nm by decreasing processing temperatures and by applying gas phase carburization. W-ODS materials were fabricated starting from ammonium paratungstate and rare earth elements (Y or La). Paratungstate-based precursors were prepared with different homogeneity and particle sizes. The degree of the chemical uniformity varied with the particle size from ca 1 to 30 μm. Tungsten trioxide hydrate-based precursors made from APT and yttrium nitrate under acidic conditions had dramatically higher homogeneity and smaller particle size. The crystallite size was decreased to a few nanometers. These precursors were further processed to composite nanopowder and sintered to a nanostructured W-1.2%Y2O3 composite with 88% relative density. In summary, APT can be converted to highly homogenous powder precursors of different compositions. The transformations are carried out in aqueous suspensions as a solvent mediated process, in which the starting material dissolves and the precursor precipitates. Powders with fine scale morphologies are obtained, e.g. plate-like particles with thickness less than 1 μm or spherical particles with size of a few nanometers. These precursors were processed further in to nano-sized composite powders and sintered to highly uniform tungsten composites with fine microstructures.QC 2011101

The Effect of Imprecise Expressions in Argumentation-Theory and Experimental Results

We investigate argumentation where an expression is substituted with a less precise expression. We propose that the effect that this deprecization has on the audience be called deprecization effect. When the audience agrees more with the less precise version of the argument, there is a positive deprecization effect. We conducted an experiment where the participants were presented with a court room scenario. The results of the experiment confirm the following hypothesis: If the participants find it hard to agree with the precise version of the argument and accept the use of the imprecise term, they will agree more with the imprecise version of the argument. Furthermore, we show that a person who reacts in this way to deprecization commits the fallacy of equivocation

Generalization in Legal Argumentation

When interpreting a natural language argument that generalizes over a contextually relevant category, audiences are likely to activate the category prototype and transfer its characteristics onto category instances. A generalized argument can thus appear more (respectively less) persuasive than one mentioning a specific category instance, provided the argument’s claim is more (less) warranted for the prototype than for the instance (positive and negative prototype effect). To investigate this effect in legal contexts using mock-scenarios, professional and lay judges at Swedish courts evaluated the persuasiveness of arguments giving a generalized or a specific description of an eyewitness. The generalized version described the witness either as an alcohol-intoxicated person or as a child, while the specific version varied both the amount of alcohol consumed (two vs. five glasses of wine) and the child’s age (four vs. 12 years). To investigate the effect of legal expertise on argument selection, moreover, law and social science students evaluate the persuasiveness of both argument versions. Though we observed statistically significant prototype effects as well as expertise effects, results were mixed and sometimes ran counter to normative expectation