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Disfluency attenuates the reception of pseudoprofound and postmodernist bullshit Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-11-21 Ryan E. Tracy, Nicolas Porot, Eric Mandelbaum, Steven G. Young
Four studies explore the role of perceptual fluency in attenuating bullshit receptivity, or the tendency for individuals to rate otherwise meaningless statements as “profound”. Across four studies,...
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The skeptical import of motivated reasoning: a closer look at the evidence Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-11-08 Maarten van Doorn
Central to many discussions of motivated reasoning is the idea that it runs afoul of epistemic normativity. Reasoning differently about information supporting our prior beliefs versus information c...
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When word frequency meets word order: factors determining multiply-constrained creative association Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-10-28 Wangbing Shen, Bernhard Hommel, Yuan Yuan, Qiping Ren, Meifeng Hua, Fang Lu
Creative association is inherent and essential to creativity and insight. Here we utilised a Chinese compound Remote Associates Task (cRAT) to identify the potential impact of word order (i.e., sol...
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Mindset effects on the regulation of thinking time in problem-solving Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-10-27 Rakefet Ackerman, Liat Levontin
Understanding time investment while solving problems is central to metacognitive research. By the Diminishing Criterion Model (DCM), time regulation is guided by two stopping rules: a confidence cr...
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Elementary probabilistic operations: a framework for probabilistic reasoning Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-29 Siegfried Macho, Thomas Ledermann
The framework of elementary probabilistic operations (EPO) explains the structure of elementary probabilistic reasoning tasks as well as people’s performance on these tasks. The framework comprises...
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Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-28 Paweł Brzóska, Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska, Jarosław Piotrowski, Bartłomiej Nowak, Peter K. Jonason, Constantine Sedikides, Mladen Adamovic, Kokou A. Atitsogbe, Oli Ahmed, Uzma Azam, Sergiu Bălțătescu, Konstantin Bochaver, Aidos Bolatov, Mario Bonato, Victor Counted, Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon, Jano Ramos-Diaz, Sonya Dragova-Koleva, Walaa Labib M. Eldesoki, Carla Sofia Esteves, Valdiney V. Gouveia,
Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale...
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Responsibility attribution about mechanical devices by children and adults Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-25 Cristina Gordo, Jesica Gómez-Sánchez, Sergio Moreno-Ríos
We investigated the causal responsibility attributions of adults and children to mechanical devices in the framework of the criticality-pivotality model. It establishes that, to assign responsibili...
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Examining the role of deliberation in de-bias training Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-25 Esther Boissin, Serge Caparos, Wim De Neys
Does avoiding biased responding to reasoning problems and grasping the correct solution require engaging in effortful deliberation or can such solution insight be acquired more intuitively? In thi...
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Open-minded and reflective thinking predicts reasoning and meta-reasoning: evidence from a ratio-bias conflict task Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-22 Henry W. Strudwicke, Glen E. Bodner, Paul Williamson, Michelle M. Arnold
Dispositional measures of actively open-minded thinking and cognitive reflection both predict reasoning accuracy on conflict problems. Here we investigated their relative impact on meta-reasoning. ...
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Gain-loss domain and social value orientation as determinants of risk allocation decisions Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-21 Ming-Hong Tsai, Verlin B. Hinsz
People often make less risky decisions for themselves than others. We examined how people allocated risks (i.e., determining the ratio of uncertain outcomes to certain outcomes) between themselves ...
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The implicit perception of harm following moral violations in autism Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-20 Gabriele Osler, Laura Franchin, Giulia Guglielmetti, Stefano Calzolari, Rocco Micciolo, Luca Surian
Previous studies showed that when reading a scenario depicting a harmless moral violation in the domain of purity, people nevertheless implicitly infer that harm was involved. In this study, we ass...
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Argument evaluation and production in the correction of political innumeracy Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-09-21 Martin Dockendorff, Hugo Mercier
The public is largely innumerate, making systematic mistakes in estimating some politically relevant facts, such as the share of foreign-born citizens. In two-step or multistep flow models, such mi...
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Initial judgment of solvability: integrating prior expectations with experience-based heuristic cues Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-06-29 Tirza Lauterman, Rakefet Ackerman
Initial Judgment of Solvability (iJOS) is a metacognitive judgment that reflects solvers’ first impression as to whether a problem is solvable. We hypothesized that iJOS is inferred by combining pr...
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How are beliefs represented in the mind? Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-06-22 Markus Knauff, Lupita Estefania Gazzo Castañeda
Abstract The commentators of our target article present several detailed arguments to refute the opposing theory. The real issue, however, seems to be the fundamental question of how the mind represents the content of beliefs. We distinguish between qualitative, quantitative and comparative approaches to modeling uncertain beliefs. We describe which theory falls into which of these classes. We also
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Verbal and numeric probabilities differentially shape decisions Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-06-14 Robert N. Collins, David R. Mandel, Brooke A. MacLeod
Experts often communicate probabilities verbally (e.g., unlikely) rather than numerically (e.g., 25% chance). Although criticism has focused on the vagueness of verbal probabilities, less attention...
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Robust intuition? Exploring the difference in the strength of intuitions from perspective of attentional bias Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-06-08 Yunhong Wang, Wei Bao, Edward J. N. Stupple, Junlong Luo
The logical intuition hypothesis proposes a difference in the strength between logical and heuristic intuitions. The labels of logical and heuristic intuitions are exclusive to conventional reasoni...
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The effect of cardinality in the pigeonhole principle Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-05-31 Baptiste Jacquet, Jean Baratgin
The pigeonhole principle is a well-known mathematical principle and is quite simple to understand. It goes as follows: If n items are placed into m containers, and if m
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The temporal dynamics of third-party moral judgment of harm transgressions: answers from a 2-response paradigm Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-05-11 Flora Schwartz, Anastasia Passemar, Hakim Djeriouat, Bastien Trémolière
Recent work supports the role of reasoning in third-party moral judgment of harm transgressions. The dynamics of the underlying cognitive processes supporting moral judgment is however poorly under...
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Political ideology and environmentalism impair logical reasoning Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-04-21 Lucas Keller, Felix Hazelaar, Peter M. Gollwitzer, Gabriele Oettingen
People are more likely to think statements are valid when they agree with them than when they do not. We conducted four studies analyzing the interference of self-reported ideologies with performan...
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Bullshit blind spots: the roles of miscalibration and information processing in bullshit detection Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-03-14 Shane Littrell, Jonathan A. Fugelsang
The growing prevalence of misleading information (i.e., bullshit) in society carries with it an increased need to understand the processes underlying many people’s susceptibility to falling for it....
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Expertise overcomes impasse to yield far transfer and insight in problem-solving Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-02-23 Thomas C. Ormerod, Harriet Gross
Sources of difficulty in insight problem-solving have been identified, but current theories are less successful at explaining discovery of solution ideas. Here, we explore the role of expertise in ...
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Law and order: the timing of mitigating evidence affects punishment decisions Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Emily B. Conder, Christopher Brett Jaeger, Jonathan D. Lane
When we hear about a transgression, we may consider whether the perpetrator’s individual circumstances make their transgression more understandable or excusable. Mitigating circumstances may reduce...
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Insight problem solving ability predicts reduced susceptibility to fake news, bullshit, and overclaiming Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-11-25 Carola Salvi, Nathaniel Barr, Joseph E. Dunsmoor, Jordan Grafman
The information humans are exposed to increased demands upon our information selection strategies, resulting in reduced fact-checking and critical-thinking time. Research showed that problem-solvin...
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Towards an empirically informed normative Bayesian scheme-based account of argument from expert opinion Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-10-19 Kong Ngai Pei, Chin Shing Arthur Chin
This article seeks, first, to show that much of the existing normative work on argument from expert opinion (AEO) is problematic for failing to be properly informed by empirical findings on expert ...
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What inspires us? An experimental analysis of the semantic meaning of irrelevant information in creative ideation Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-10-17 Serena Mastria, Sergio Agnoli, Giovanni Emanuele Corazza, Michele Grassi, Laura Franchin
Past research showed that apparently irrelevant information for a creative task at hand can lead to higher creative performance, especially in open-minded individuals. Through two diverse experimen...
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“The game would have been better for me if…”: children’s counterfactual thinking about their own performance in a game Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-10-13 Marta Stragà, Angela Faiella, Ingrid Santini, Donatella Ferrante
In two studies, we investigated for the first time the content of children’s counterfactual thoughts about their own experiences. Results showed that the majority of children aged 8-13 were able to...
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Conceptual clarity and empirical testability: Commentary on Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (2023) Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-08-16 Nicole Cruz
Abstract Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (2022) criticise the use of the term “new paradigm” in the psychology of reasoning and raise important issues about how to advance research in the field. In this commentary I argue that for the latter it would be helpful to clarify further the concepts that reasoning theories rely on, and to strengthen the links between the theories and the empirical observations
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The impact of working memory on divergent thinking flexibility Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-08-10 Jarosław Orzechowski, Aleksandra Gruszka, Kamil Michalik
The current study focuses on the relationship between working memory (WM) and flexibility, which is a dimension of divergent thinking. The research consisted of two experiments in which the partici...
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Who detects and why: how do individual differences in cognitive characteristics underpin different types of responses to reasoning tasks? Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-08-08 Nikola Erceg, Zvonimir Galić, Andreja Bubić, Dino Jelić
People can solve reasoning tasks in different ways depending on how much conflict they detected and whether they were accurate or not. The hybrid dual-process model presumes that these different ty...
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Different incubation tasks in insight problem solving: evidence for unconscious analytic thought Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-07-11 Laura Caravona, Laura Macchi
This paper explores the effect of different types of incubation task (visual, numerical and verbal) with various levels of attentional focus and cognitive effort (non-demanding, low-demanding and h...
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Information about the human causes of global warming influences causal attribution, concern, and policy support related to global warming Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-07-11 Parrish Bergquist, Jennifer R. Marlon, Matthew H. Goldberg, Abel Gustafson, Seth A. Rosenthal, Anthony Leiserowitz
Abstract Scientists know that human activities, primarily fossil fuel combustion, are causing Earth’s temperature to increase. Yet in 2021, only 60% of the US population understood that human activities are the primary cause of global warming. We experimentally test whether information about the human causes of global warming influences Americans’ beliefs and concerns about global warming and support
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The link between transitive reasoning and mathematics achievement in preadolescence: the role of relational processing and deductive reasoning Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-07-05 Terry Tin-Yau Wong, Kinga Morsanyi
The link between logic and mathematics has been recognized by theorists from different fields, but empirical investigations on this link remain scarce, and even less is known about the mechanisms u...
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Flexible use of tactics in Sudoku Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-06-30 Thea Behrens, Max Räuker, Michelle Kalbfleisch, Frank Jäkel
When solving problems people flexibly apply different tactics. Here, we use Sudoku to study this flexibility. In a think-aloud study participants use at least two tactics, a cell-based and a number...
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Both a bioweapon and a hoax: the curious case of contradictory conspiracy theories about COVID-19 Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-06-21 Marija Petrović, Iris Žeželj
Amidst the flow of conspiracy theories (CTs) about the COVID-19 pandemic, many were logically incompatible. We aimed to map the psychological profile of their endorsers. Upon pretesting for familia...
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Semantic memory and creativity: the costs and benefits of semantic memory structure in generating original ideas Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-05-24 Roger E. Beaty, Yoed N. Kenett, Richard W. Hass, Daniel L. Schacter
Abstract Despite its theoretical importance, little is known about how semantic memory structure facilitates and constrains creative idea generation. We examine whether the semantic richness of a concept has both benefits and costs to creative idea generation. Specifically, we tested whether cue set size—an index of semantic richness reflecting the average number of elements associated with a given
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Conflict detection predicts the temporal stability of intuitive and deliberate reasoning Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-05-19 Aikaterini Voudouri, Michał Białek, Artur Domurat, Marta Kowal, Wim De Neys
Although the susceptibility to reasoning biases is often assumed to be a stable trait, the temporal stability of people’s performance on popular heuristics-and-biases tasks has been rarely directly...
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Voters’ wishful thinking in an unprecedented event of three national elections repeated within one year: fast thinking, bias, high emotions and potential rationality Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-05-18 Refael Tikochinski, Elisha Babad
Abstract Wishful thinking (WT) of Israeli voters was measured in the unprecedented event of three failing national elections repeated within one year. WT is considered as Type 1 fast/intuitive thinking leading to bias. A novel method for measuring WT – including relevant campaign information and distinguishing between “WT for self” and “WT for others” – was introduced. WT components of voters in leading
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Elaborative feedback and instruction improve cognitive reflection but do not transfer to related tasks Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-05-11 Dustin P. Calvillo, Jonathan Bratton, Victoria Velazquez, Thomas J. Smelter, Danielle Crum
Abstract Cognitive reflection, or the ability to inhibit intuitive and incorrect responses in favour of correct responses, predicts performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. The present study examined interventions to improve cognitive reflection. In two experiments, college students (N = 491) were assigned to one of three conditions, completed two versions of a cognitive reflection test (CRT),
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Bullshit receptivity, problem solving, and metacognition: simply the BS, not better than all the rest Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-05-02 Tim George, Marta K. Mielicki
Abstract People are often inaccurate in their predictions of performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. We tested whether receptivity to bullshit – the tendency to perceive meaningless statements as profound – would relate to the accuracy of metacognitive judgments on several problem-solving tasks. Individuals who were highly receptive to bullshit were less accurate in their predictions of performance
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Out of the blue: on the suddenness of perceived chance events Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-03-09 Karl Halvor Teigen, Alf Børre Kanten
Abstract People commonly use terms like ‘random’, ‘by chance’, or ‘accidentally’ when they describe occurrences that sidestep the normal course of events, with no apparent causal link to ongoing activities. Such intrusive events are typically perceived as happening all of a sudden. This was demonstrated in seven experiments (N = 1299) by asking people to identify statements they believed belonged to
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Metacognitive control in single- vs. dual-process theory Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-03-07 Caleb Dewey
Abstract Recent work in cognitive modelling has found that most of the data that has been cited as evidence for the dual-process theory (DPT) of reasoning is best explained by non-linear, “monotonic” one-process models. In this paper, I consider an important caveat of this research: it uses models that are committed to unrealistic assumptions about how effectively task conditions can isolate Type-1
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Searching for the cognitive basis of anti-vaccination attitudes Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-03-04 Marjaana Lindeman, Annika M. Svedholm-Häkkinen, Tapani J. J. Riekki
Abstract Research on the reasons for vaccine hesitancy has largely focused on factors directly related to vaccines. In contrast, the present study focused on cognitive factors that are not conceptually related to vaccines but that have been linked to other epistemically suspect beliefs such as conspiracy theories and belief in fake news. This survey was conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic (N = 356)
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Thinking about climate change: look up and look around! Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-02-21 Colin J. Davis, Stephan Lewandowsky
Abstract We introduce this special issue on Thinking about Climate Change by reflecting on the role of psychology in responding adaptively to catastrophic global threats. By way of illustration we compare the threat posed by climate change with the extinction-level threat considered in the recent film Don’t Look Up [McKay, A. (Director). (2021). Don’t Look Up [Film]. Hyperobject Industries]. Human
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The influence of varying positive affect in approach-motivation intensity on creative idea generation and creative idea evaluation: an fNIRS study Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-02-16 Xuewei Wang, Yadan Li, Xinyi Li, David Yun Dai, Weiping Hu
Abstract The aim of this study was to explain previous inconsistent results regarding the effects of positive affect on creative cognition based on the motivational dimensional model of affect theory and provide the underlying neural correlates of the effects of different approach-motivation intensities of positive affect on creative processes (creative idea generation and creative idea evaluation)
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Motivated formal reasoning: Ideological belief bias in syllogistic reasoning across diverse political issues Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-02-12 Julia Aspernäs, Arvid Erlandsson, Artur Nilsson
Abstract This study investigated ideological belief bias, and whether this effect is moderated by analytical thinking. A Swedish nationally representative sample (N = 1005) evaluated non-political and political syllogisms and were asked whether the conclusions followed logically from the premises. The correct response in the political syllogisms was aligned with either leftist or rightist political
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Is the new paradigm a new paradigm? Commentary on Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (2023) Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-01-18 Igor Douven
Abstract Many cognitive psychologists have come to regard graded belief as fundamental to our understanding of how humans reason and many have also come to think of probability theory as providing at least part of the norms of correct reasoning. David Over has characterized this development as the emergence of a new paradigm in the Kuhnian sense. The target article argues that the choice of this term
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The seductive allure effect extends from neuroscientific to psychoanalytic explanations among Turkish medical students: preliminary implications of biased scientific reasoning within the context of medical and psychiatric training Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-01-17 Necati Serkut Bulut, Süha Can Gürsoy, Neşe Yorguner, Gresa Çarkaxhiu Bulut, Kemal Sayar
Abstract Research suggests that people tend to overweight arguments accompanied by neuroscientific terminology, which is dubbed as the seductive allure of neuroscience explanations (SANE) in the literature. Such an effect might be of particular significance when it comes to physicians and mental health professionals (MHP), given that it has the potential to cause significant bias in their understanding
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What happened to the “new paradigm”? Commentary on Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (2023) Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2022-01-10 P. N. Johnson-Laird, Sangeet Khemlani
Abstract Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (this issue) critique the "new paradigm" – a framework that replaces logic with probabilities – on the grounds that there existed no "old” paradigm for it to supplant. Their position is supported by the large numbers of theories that theorists developed to explain the Wason selection task, syllogisms, and other tasks. We propose some measures to inhibit such facile
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Mental models, computational explanation and Bayesian cognitive science: Commentary on Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (2023) Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-12-30 Mike Oaksford
Abstract Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (2022) object to using the term “new paradigm” to describe recent developments in the psychology of reasoning. This paper concedes that the Kuhnian term “paradigm” may be queried. What cannot is that the work subsumed under this heading is part of a new, progressive movement that spans the brain and cognitive sciences: Bayesian cognitive science. Sampling algorithms
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The new paradigm and massive modalization: Commentary on Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda (2023) Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-12-30 David E. Over
Abstract Knauff and Gazzo Castañeda argue as much in support of revised mental model theory (RMMT) as they argue against talk of a new paradigm caused by the probabilistic approach in the psychology of reasoning. They claim that RMMT is not essentially different from classical mental model theory (CMMT) and not essentially different from the probabilistic approach. There are many serious questions
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Why can it be so hard to solve Bayesian problems? Moving from number comprehension to relational reasoning demands Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-12-13 Elisabet Tubau
Abstract Over the last decades, understanding the sources of the difficulty of Bayesian problem solving has been an important research goal, with the effects of numerical format and individual numeracy being widely studied. However, the focus on the comprehension of probability numbers has overshadowed the relational reasoning demand of the Bayesian task. This is particularly the case when the statistical
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Understanding the relationship between rationality and intelligence: a latent-variable approach Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-11-26 Alexander P. Burgoyne, Cody A. Mashburn, Jason S. Tsukahara, David Z. Hambrick, Randall W. Engle
Abstract A hallmark of intelligent behavior is rationality – the disposition and ability to think analytically to make decisions that maximize expected utility or follow the laws of probability. However, the question remains as to whether rationality and intelligence are empirically distinct, as does the question of what cognitive mechanisms underlie individual differences in rationality. In a sample
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Investigating lay evaluations of models Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-11-09 Patrick Bodilly Kane, Stephen B. Broomell
Abstract Many important decisions depend on unknown states of the world. Society is increasingly relying on statistical predictive models to make decisions in these cases. While predictive models are useful, previous research has documented that (a) individual decision makers distrust models and (b) people’s predictions are often worse than those of models. These findings indicate a lack of awareness
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Diversity effects in subjective probability judgment Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-11-09 Constantinos Hadjichristidis, Janet Geipel, Kishore Gopalakrishna Pillai
Abstract Previous research has shown that the judged probability of an event depends on whether its description mentions examples (“What is the probability that a randomly chosen Italian businessman will travel during the next month to Warsaw, Budapest, Prague or some other European city?”) or does not mention examples (“What is the probability that a randomly chosen Italian businessman will travel
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When beliefs and evidence collide: psychological and ideological predictors of motivated reasoning about climate change Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-10-28 Zachary A. Caddick, Gregory J. Feist
Abstract Motivated reasoning occurs when we reason differently about evidence that supports our prior beliefs than when it contradicts those beliefs. Adult participants (N = 377) from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) system completed written responses critically evaluating strengths and weaknesses in a vignette on the topic of anthropogenic climate change (ACC). The vignette had two fictional scientists
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The stability of syllogistic reasoning performance over time Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-10-28 Hannah Dames, Karl Christoph Klauer, Marco Ragni
Abstract How individuals reason deductively has concerned researchers for many years. Yet, it is still unclear whether, and if so how, participants’ reasoning performance changes over time. In two test sessions one week apart, we examined how the syllogistic reasoning performance of 100 participants changed within and between sessions. Participants’ reasoning performance increased during the first
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When nomenclature matters: Is the “new paradigm” really a new paradigm for the psychology of reasoning? Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-10-19 Markus Knauff, Lupita Estefania Gazzo Castañeda
Abstract For most of its history, the psychology of reasoning was dominated by binary extensional logic. The so-called “new paradigm” instead puts subjective degrees of belief center stage, often represented as probabilities. We argue that the “new paradigm” is too vaguely defined and therefore does not allow a clear decision about what falls within its scope and what does not. We also show that there
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Comparing the functional benefits of counterfactual and prefactual thinking: the content-specific and content-neutral pathways Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-10-12 Dominic K. Fernandez, Heather H. M. Gan, Amy Y. C. Chan
Abstract We investigated the preparatory benefits of counterfactual and prefactual thinking towards cognitive task performance. Experiment 1 replicated the robust finding that individuals focus more on mutating internally controllable elements when thinking prefactually about their future task performance than when thinking counterfactually about a past performance. We also replicated the finding that
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Increasing climate efficacy is not a surefire means to promoting climate commitment Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-10-02 Aishlyn Angill-Williams, Colin J. Davis
Abstract People’s perception of their own efficacy is a critical precursor for adaptive behavioural responses to the threat posed by climate change. The present study investigated whether components of climate efficacy could be enhanced by short video messages. An online study (N = 161) compared groups of participants who received messages focusing on individual or collective behaviour. Relative to
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A motivational systems approach to investigating opinions on climate change Thinking & Reasoning (IF 2.915) Pub Date : 2021-09-28 Daniel C. Molden, Robin Bayes, James N. Druckman
Abstract Understanding how people form opinions about climate change has proven to be challenging. One of the most common approaches to studying climate change beliefs is to assume people employ motivated reasoning. We first detail how scholars in this area have applied motivated reasoning perspectives, identifying a variety of different judgment goals on which they have focused. We next argue that