CLOSURE AND FLEXIBILITY OF CLOSURE AS IT RELATES TO PERCEPTION AND INDUCTIVE REASONING

• Published in: Etc. Vol. 78; no. 3-4; pp. 299 - 306
• Main Author: Agostino, Joseph N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of General Semantics 01.07.2021
• Subjects: Adaptability (Psychology); Closure (Rhetoric); Form perception; Form perception (Psychology); Induction (Logic); Inductive reasoning; Interdisciplinary research; Psychological aspects; Canada
• ISSN: 0014-164X; 2168-9245

The present study, which investigated closure and flexibility of closure as it relates to perception and inductive reasoning, was based on the assumption that closure processes, as understood in perception, were the same or similar to closure processes in inductive reasoning. The study provided an overview of research that investigated closure in perception and closure in reasoning, and identified flexibility of closure as a dynamic function inherent in Wertheimer's laws of perceptual organization. Flexibility of closure was considered a fundamental component of perception and inductive reasoning. Flexibility of closure in perception facilitated the presentation of images in the old-woman young-woman illusion, and maintained a closed image of each that was well-defined, regular, and simplistic. Flexibility of closure in inductive reasoning facilitated the incorporation of observed events that supported the premise (a statement of the relationship between the observed event and the identification of that event), and maintained as a closed unit until it became necessary to modify the premise. Flexibility of closure in perception and flexibility of closure in inductive reasoning have yet to endure the rigours of scientific investigation. In the present study, flexibility of closure in perception provided a fruitful approach to the study of optical illusions, and flexibility of closure in inductive reasoning contributed toward an understanding of the inductive reasoning process.