New Paradigm Psychology of Reasoning

<p>In recent years the psychology of reasoning has undergone radical change which can only be seen as a Kuhn-style scientific revolution. This shift has been dubbed ‘New Paradigm’. For years psychologists of reasoning focused on binary truth values and regarded the influence of belief as a bias. In contrast to this the new paradigm puts probabilities and subjective degrees of belief centre stage. It also emphasises subjective psychological value or utility; the way we reason within our own social environment (‘social pragmatics’); and the crucial role of dual process theories. Such theories distinguish between fast intuitive processes and effortful processes which enable hypothetical thinking. </p><p>The new paradigm aims to integrate the psychology of reasoning with the study of judgement and decision making leading to a much more unified field of higher mental processing. This collection showcases these recent developments with chapters on topics such as the difference between deduction and induction a Bayesian formulation of faint praise the role of emotion in reasoning and the relevance of psychology of reasoning to moral judgement. This book was originally published as a special issue of <i>Thinking & Reasoning.</i></p>