The experimenter says:
"I have picked one colour (black or white) and one shape (square or circle). A symbol that possesses exactly one of the properties I have picked, is called a THOG. The black circle is a THOG. For each of the other symbols, are they a) definitely a THOG, b) undecidable, or c) definitely not a THOG?"
Thanks to Peter Cathcart Wason - Wikipedia
White square is definitely not a THOG
White circle and black square are undecidable.
I think that the answer is that the experimenter has picked/chosen exactly 1 of the 4
Alternative interpretations.
So only 1 object is a THOG - the one he chose !
If he had said that any other combination was his choice and asked the user
To interpret his decision - then he would have stated it in the same sentence
As ‘The ... is a tHOG’
However you put it - there is no way you can see from his diagrams
What he is talking about.
There is a dog and a cat One is white and One is black
And then saying the Black Cat is a THOG.
Did he choose it from the options or is he declaring it ?
Whatever the THOG is - we , but not the experimenter - have not got
Enough information to determine what is or is not a THOG.
However we do have enough information to say that the experimenter
Has raised an interesting login problem. DO we believe him/her or not ?
Good luck with this problem
Helpful but Confused.
I'm busy with a few projects, including a CAD design of a clip to keep the trigger engaged on my tire inflator; and then 3D print it; plus working on a Rails project and other tasks (and 3D printing some other little things)....... so taking a quick look at this problem, it seems on the surface to be a basic logic problem using AND and OR (or simply set theory), but I did not look at it in detail to insure there are no other logic operators than AND and OR.
Sorry, I cannot draw the symbols for sets (union, etc), so will just make it up:
X1 = C && W
X2 = C && B
X3 = S && W
X4 = S && B
THOG = X2 = C || B
Is C || B in the set of X1 ? YES
Is C || B in the set of X3 ? NO
Is C || B in the set of X4 ? YES
So, it then follows:
X1 == THOG
X2 == THOG
X3 != THOG
X4 == THOG
What did I miss?
one more note: it's not as easy as it looks. So far no presented solution has been correct.
Spoiler:
We know that the black circle matches exactly one property, and we can infer that the two properties must belong to one of the two sets:
P1 = { Black, Square } or P2 = { White, Circle }
The truth tables are then:
P1 = { Black, Square }
Color Shape THOG # Matching
____________________________________________
| White | Square | True | 1 |
| White | Circle | False | 0 |
| Black | Square | False | 2 |
| Black | Circle | True | 1 |
----------------------------------------------
P2 = { White, Circle }
Color Shape THOG # Matching
____________________________________________
| White | Square | True | 1 |
| White | Circle | False | 2 |
| Black | Square | False | 0 |
| Black | Circle | True | 1 |
----------------------------------------------
From the tables above, we can see that:
I do have a comment to make. This was taken from a study in logical biases, but unless one draws out the truth tables, the solution is not at all obvious.
I initially did not see the post from perk32725, then noticed it in the middle of completing the tables. I came to the same conclusion as perk32725 and was about to blow off completing the tables, not to mention wondering why the OP claimed the solution had not yet been found.
So, this was a good puzzle in terms of using the tools of logic, but not a good test to determine if the average person has 'logical' biases, according to Peter Cathcart Wason (See the Wikipedia link in the problem statement).
HI @yamex5,
your solution is of course precise and correct. And as you have noticed yourself, the solution is quite difficult to find without tools. But the task is less related to logical than to confidential bias, which was the main 'research object'.
I found this puzzle years ago and it has always stuck in my mind because of its simple and elegant construction, but rather difficult solution, at least without tools. The selection task is also very interesting.
Yes, he chose it so that we know one of the two properties that he chose is either circular or black. It could not be a THOG if both or neither properties was true for the object he selected.
There is enough information, but you will need to work at it.
I would strongly suggest getting out paper and a pencil/pen and organize the combinations using any logical tools that you are familiar with.
First of all, congratulations on an excellent moniker! Bender was probably my favorite Futurama character, although they were all great.
I am confused by your classification of the solution being less related to logic than 'confidential' bias.
My first question is, do you perhaps mean 'confirmation' bias?
My second question is, was the test not so much about determining the correct answer, but in seeing how the participants justified their answers?
EDIT: I searched confirmation bias, and found the following link:
Teaching Confidentiality . . . and Confirmation Bias | Behavioral Legal Ethics
The author linked a variant of the problem you posted here:
The Famous Four Card Task
But I'm still not getting the connection with confirmation bias.
Is the bias in the selections we make for the correct answer or in how we defend our answers, or both?
in fact, i wasn't sure which one to take 
Zap Brannigan and Calculon are also my favourites, they are so hilarious.
Yes that was a typo, sorry. My english is a bit weak.
And you are right about the bias, too. I confused that with the selection task resp. four card task i've monetioned in the previous post (The confirmation bias played a large part in this result, as participants usually chose cards to confirm their hypothesis, instead of eliminating it, from Wason's wiki entry).