• By Howard Margolis

One of the most exciting recent innovations in the social sciences has been the emergence of 'behaviour economics', which extends the notion of rational choice to allow for both motivation beyond self-interest and intuitions that cannot be reduced to the logic of a situation. This new book by Howard Margolis demonstrates how an account of widely-discussed topics, from tipping points in social choice to cognitive illusions and experimental anomalies, can be brought within a coherent framework.

Starting from Darwin's own comments on the origins of moral concerns and from a review of notorious cognitive illusions, Margolis shows how rational choice theory can be extended to incorporate social as well as self-interested motivation, but allowing for the cognitive complications that can be expected in domains well-outside familiar experience. This yields a coherent account of many otherwise mystifying results from cooperation experiments.

This book will be of great interest not only to students and researchers in behavioral and experimental economics but across the social sciences.

ISBN: 9780415701976

Published October 31 2007 by Routledge.

The Psychology of Decision Making

• By Benjamin R. Newell, David A. Lagnado, David R. Shanks

We all face a perplexing array of decisions every day. Straight Choices provides an integrative account of the psychology of decision making, in which clear connections are made between empirical results and how these results can help us to understand our uncertain world.

Throughout the text, there is an emphasis on the relationship between learning and decision making. The authors argue that the best way to understand how and why decisions are made is in the context of the learning and knowledge acquisition that precedes them and the feedback that follows them. The mechanisms of learning and the structure of environments in which decisions are made are carefully examined to explore the ways in which they act on our choices. From this, the authors go on to consider whether we are all constrained to fall prey to biases or whether with sufficient exposure can we find optimal decision strategies and improve our decision making.

This novel approach integrates findings from the decision and learning literatures to provide a unique perspective on the psychology of decision making. It will be of interest to researchers and students in cognitive psychology, as well as researchers in economics and philosophy interested in the nature of decision making.

ISBN: 9781841695884

Published June 14 2007 by Psychology Press.

Dual Processes in Reasoning and Judgement

• By Jonathan St. B. T. Evans

Hypothetical thought involves the imagination of possibilities and the exploration of their consequences by a process of mental simulation. Using a recently developed theoretical framework called Hypothetical Thinking Theory, Jonathan St. B. T. Evans provides an integrated theoretical account of a wide range of psychological studies on hypothesis testing, reasoning, judgement and decision making.

Hypothetical thinking theory is built on three key principles, implemented in a revised and updated version of Evans' well-known heuristic–analytic theory of reasoning. The central claim of this book is that this theory can provide an integrated account of some apparently very diverse phenomena including confirmation bias in hypothesis testing, acceptance of fallacies in deductive reasoning, belief biases in reasoning and judgement, biases of statistical judgement and a number of characteristic findings in the study of decision making. The author also provides broad ranging discussion of cognitive biases, human rationality and dual-process theories of higher cognition.

Hypothetical Thinking draws on and develops arguments first proposed in Evans’ earlier work from this series, Bias in Human Reasoning. In the new theory, however, cognitive biases are attributed equally to analytic and heuristic processing and a much wider range of phenomena are reviewed and discussed. It will therefore be of great interest to researchers and post-graduates in psychology and the cognitive sciences, as well as to undergraduate students looking for a comprehensive review of current work on reasoning and decision-making.

ISBN: 9781841696607

Published May 17 2007 by Psychology Press.

Domain General Versus Domain Specific Processes in Higher Cognition

• Edited by Maxwell J. Roberts

There are currently several debates taking place simultaneously in various fields of psychology which address the same fundamental issue: to what extent are the processes and resources that underlie higher cognition domain-general versus domain-specific? Extreme Domain Specificity argues that people are effective thinkers only in contexts which they have directly experienced, or in which evolution has equipped them with effective solutions. The role of general cognitive abilities is ignored, or denied altogether.

This book evaluates the evidence and arguments put forward in support of domain specific cognition, at the expense of domain generality. The contributions reflect a range of expertise, and present research into logical reasoning, problem solving, judgement and decision making, cognitive development, and intelligence. The contributors suggest that domain general processes are essential, and that domain specific processes cannot function without them. Rather than continuing to divide the mind’s function into ever more specific units, this book argues that psychologists should look for greater integration and for people’s general cognitive skills to be viewed as an integral part of their lives.

Integrating the Mind will be valuable reading for students and researchers in psychology interested in the fields of cognition, cognitive development, intelligence and skilled behaviour.

ISBN: 9781841695877

Published January 25 2007 by Psychology Press.

Representations, Community and Culture

• By Sandra Jovchelovitch

This book explores the relationship between knowledge and context through a novel analysis of processes of representation. Sandra Jovchelovitch argues that representation, a social psychological construct relating self, other and object-world, is at the basis of all knowledge. Understanding its genesis and actualisation in individual and social life explains what ties knowledge to persons, communities and cultures. It is through representation that we can appreciate the diversity of knowledge, and it is representation that opens the epistemic function of knowing to emotional and social rationalities.

Drawing on dialogues between psychology, sociology and anthropology, Jovchelovitch explores the dominant assumptions of western conceptions of knowledge and the quest for a unitary reason free from the ‘impurities’ of person, community and culture. She recasts questions related to historical comparisons between the knowledge of adults and children, ‘civilised’ and ‘primitive’ peoples, scientists and lay communities and examines the ambivalence of classical theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Freud, Durkheim and Lévy-Bruhl in addressing these issues.

Against this background, Jovchelovitch situates and expands Moscovici’s theory of social representations, developing a framework to diagnose and understand knowledge systems, how they relate to different communities and what defines dialogical and non-dialogical encounters between knowledges in contemporary public spheres. Diversity in knowledge, she shows, is an asset of all human communities and dialogue between different forms of knowing constitutes the difficult but necessary task that can enlarge the frontiers of all knowledges.

Knowledge in context will make essential reading for all those wanting to follow debates on knowledge and representation at the cutting edge of social, cultural and developmental psychology, sociology, anthropology, development and cultural studies.

ISBN: 9780415287340

Published August 10 2006 by Routledge.

• By Laura M. Taylor

Interest in cognitive development has been resurgent in recent years as a result of continuing improvements in technology and the new methods of research these enable. Introducing Cognitive Development brings a new focus and clarity to this theoretically complex area. Using numerous illustrations and examples it describes the specific changes that occur in cognition from infancy and throughout childhood.

The reader is introduced to the topic with a review of traditional approaches to the study of cognitive development and a consideration of recent advances in the field, particularly in cognitive science. Key issues, including the relative contributions of nature and nurture, domain generality versus domain specificity and the child’s own role in his/her development are considered in relation to a range of topics such as:

• the development of representational abilities
• theory of mind and social cognition
• development of language.

This book provides an accessible introduction to cognitive development suitable for undergraduate students in psychology and related disciplines, as well as anyone involved in working with children.

ISBN: 9781841693521

Published October 06 2005 by Psychology Press.

• Edited by David R. Mandel, Denis J. Hilton, Patrizia Catellani

This book provides a critical overview of significant developments in research and theory on counterfactual thinking that have emerged in recent years and spotlights exciting new directions for future research in this area. Key issues considered include the relations between counterfactual and casual reasoning, the functional bases of counterfactual thinking, the role of counterfactual thinking in the experience of emotion and the importance of counterfactual thinking in the context of crime and justice.

ISBN: 9780415322416

Published July 28 2005 by Routledge.

Essays in Honour of Paolo Legrenzi

• Edited by Vittorio Girotto, Philip N. Johnson-Laird

ISBN: 9781841693446

Published February 24 2005 by Psychology Press.

• Edited by Robin Morris, Geoff Ward

ISBN: 9781841693330

Published January 27 2005 by Psychology Press.

Individual Differences in Reasoning Strategies

• Edited by Elizabeth J. Newton, Maxwell J. Roberts

ISBN: 9781841693958

Published November 11 2004 by Psychology Press.