In her view, in most educational settings the ‘facts’ (of the world) are presented as unconditional truths. ‘This is the capital of ...’, ‘2 + 2 =4’, ‘The golden age was from ... till ...’, etc.
What will happen if uncertainty is allowed in? An experiment was conducted. Langer and a co-worker introduced a collection of different objects which they identified in one group of subjects in a ordinary, unconditional way. For instance ‘This is a hairdryer’, ‘This is a dog’s chew toy, etc.
In another group the objects were introduced in conditional terms: For instance ‘This could be a hairdryer’, ‘This could be a dog’s chew toy, etc. Just a small difference in presentation from ‘This is ’ into ‘This could be’.
After the objects had been introduced, the subjects were given a pencil and asked to fill in a form. In giving instructions on purpose some errors were made. The only way to solve the problem was to erase the ratings in the form.
The dog’s chew toy, being a piece of clean rubber, was a good eraser. However, only those subjects introduced to the toy conditionally thought to use it in this novel way.
