Contents: Preface. Conceptualizing Rationality: Some Preliminaries. Performance Errors and Computational Limitations, With R.F. West.The Inappropriate Norm Argument. The Problem of Rational Task Construal. Dual-Process Theories and Evolutionary Adaptation Versus Normative Rationality. Thinking Dispositions and Decontextualized Reasoning, With R.F. West, W.C. Sá.The Fundamental Computational Bias. Has Human Irrationality Been Empirically Demonstrated?
Keith E. Stanovich
"Stanovich and his colleagues have done an absolutely remarkable
job in exploring individual differences. I think this will be the
definitive work on this topic for decades. The book...is necessary
reading for anyone who plans to work on this topic, whether as a
philosopher or a psychological researcher."
—Contemporary Psychology"This is an important book."
—Informal Logic"This is an ambitious book. Any book that sets out
with the goal of addressing fundamental issues of human rationality
has its work cut out for it. What is impressive about this book is
the extent to which it succeeds: Stanovich poses an interesting
question and examines the issue from a novel prespective. The
scholarship of the book is impressive, and his command of the
literature and analysis of the issues produce a thoughtful and
thoroughly articulated viewpoint. His arguments are carefully
reasoned, and are supported by meticulous and rigorous experimental
evidence.
"...it is an excellent summary of the important issues and current
perspectives in the rationality debate, readers interested in
knowing more about the broader issues are also likely to find this
book to be a useful source."
—Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology"The results of this
project contribute to resolving the on-going debate over whether
humans are fundamentally rational or irrational creatures. No one
with a strong interest in judgment, decision-making, reasoning,
rationality, or thinking styles should overlook this interesting,
readable, and well-organized book....This book says something new
and important about human rationality and is a great contribution
to the field."
—Cognitive Science Society Newsletter"The book is clearly
structured and easy and interesting to read. All major arguments,
positions and empirical studies relevant to the topic are
discussed..."
—Theory & Psychology"This book gives the definitive account of the
relation between reasoning ability and intelligence."
—Philip Johnson-Laird
Princeton University"This book describes an important project which
shows consistent individual differences across a variety of
reasoning problems. The consistencies involve a much wider range of
tasks than those that have been studied before in this way. The
tasks include many of those used to study fallacies and biases in
judgments, decisions, and reasoning. The findings constrain what
can be said about the relevance of normative models to prescriptive
and descriptive models of judgment and reasoning. For example, they
raise a problem for the view that prescriptive models designed to
improve reasoning (according to the usual normative standards) are
self-defeating. This book will be of interest to scholars at all
levels with interests in reasoning, judgment, decision making, and
individual differences in mental abilities, as well as to those in
social and developmental psychology who have explored related
issues."
—Jonathan Baron
University of Pennsylvania"This remarkable book has emerged from an
exciting research programme which provides some of the clearest
evidence to date that the study of individual differences in task
performance can lead to theoretical advances in our understanding
of mental processes. Professor Stanovich provides a discussion of
rationality and thought processes which is equally impressive for
its breadth of scholarship as for its depth of intellectual
argument. The issues he discusses are of central importance for
cognitive scientists and deserve attention from all serious
students of this fascinating topic."
—Jonathan Evans
University of Plymouth
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