Authority figures do not increase persuasion for formal proofs, regardless of proof complexity or author eminence¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3 · i0 negligible
Currency · newest study 2008 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i0 Neither students nor researchers were more persuaded by a textbook induction proof when its source was known. → Matthew Inglis 2008 q3 i0 Replacing the textbook proof with a more complex proof attributed to George Pólya still produced no condition difference among mathematicians. → Matthew Inglis 2008 (2)

Evidence¶

Matthew Inglis 2008¶

Matthew Inglis, Juan Pablo Mejia-Ramos. (2008). The Effect of Authority on the Persuasiveness of Mathematical Arguments. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000802584513

q3 · i0 · causal · r2

Experiment 1 induction-argument analysis: both groups rated the formal proof highly persuasive (means around 80%) with "no main effect for condition"; the negligible effect is coded from Fs<1.

"The researchers found the induction argument to be more persuasive than the students, F(1,352)=4.40, MSE=914.8, p=0.037. However, there was no main effect for condition, nor a groupcondition interaction, Fs<1."

Matthew Inglis 2008 (2)¶

Matthew Inglis, Juan Pablo Mejia-Ramos. (2008). The Effect of Authority on the Persuasiveness of Mathematical Arguments. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000802584513

q3 · i0 · causal · r2

Experiment 2 with 71 research-active mathematicians used a more complex Pólya proof; "there was no difference between the mean reported level of persuasion" between named and anonymous conditions.

"However, in the Pólya argument, there was no difference between the mean reported level of persuasion, t(58)=0.003, NS, with participants in both conditions rating the argument as highly persuasive."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Authority effects on heuristic and visual arguments persist when instructions push participants toward evaluating conviction, ruling out an instruction-interpretation artifact — related
• Knowing an argument was written by an expert mathematician increases reported persuasion for a heuristic argument among both students and researchers — related
• Students and researchers gave systematically different types of explanatory comments about the visual argument, with students rejecting pictures as proofs — related
• An argument's named authoritative author increased mathematicians' persuasiveness ratings, but the authority effect vanished for deductive proofs — related
• A majority of surveyed mathematicians report believing proofs are correct because of journal publication, journal quality, or a trusted authoritative source — reports the opposite