Reasoning, Judging, Deciding

Dr Colin Wastell has been teaching and researching in the area of human thinking for the past 15 years. His interests in the field are diverse. He has published on the concept of the modularity of the mind as well as the thinking processes that underly belief in the supernatural.  Dr Stephanie Howarth is a cognitive research psychologist from the UK. Born in Surrey, she grew up in the midlands and then spent most of her adult years in Devon. Intrigued by the application of hypnosis she trained and practiced as a clinical hypnotherapist for several years before focusing on research. She was awarded a scholarship at Plymouth University to complete her PhD in the area of reasoning, with a focus on belief bias. In 2016 she moved to Sydney to continue her research career at Macquarie University, where she is currently involved in various threads of research relevant to thinking, reasoning and decision making.

"Thinking is the most fun you can have on your own, but we all do it differently. This book is an entertaining guide down the rabbit hole so that we can find out how we think about thinking and what we think about it. There is no doubt that this will help us understand not only ourselves but others too."

• Chapter 1. Inheritors of the EnlightenmentChapter 2. A Cognitive Revolution? When the mind began to matter!Chapter 3. Thinking Under Uncertainty: Expected Utility TheoryChapter 4. Prospect Theory: Heuristics and some biasesChapter 5. Ecological Rationality: Are humans effective thinkers?Chapter 6. Dual Process Models: Is the mind made up of two components?Chapter 7. Mind: Modular and Extended: Is the mind made up of many components, internal and external?Chapter 8. Deduction, Induction, Abduction: Reasoning formal and speculativeChapter 9. Problem Solving Including Analogical Reasoning: Learning to answer the question that is asked!Chapter 10. Imagination: The play space of the mindChapter 11. Nudge: Making good outcomes more commonChapter 12. Expertise: How do experts think?Chapter 13. Moral Reasoning: How do people decide on what is right?Chapter 14. Cognitive Science of Religion: What can models of the mind tell us about belief in the supernatural?Chapter 15. Artificial Intelligence: Computer thinking: What kind of thinking can computers really do?Chapter 16. Argumentative Theory: Is the construction of arguments central to human thinking?Chapter 17. Three Thinking Illusions: How much of our thinking is done alone?Chapter 18. Thinking and Uncertainty: What effect does not knowing for certain have on our thinking?Chapter 19. Thinking Scientifically: Easy or hard?Chapter 20. Conspiratorial Thinking: Why are people so suspicious of governments and big business?Chapter 21. Sceptical Thinking: How to avoid being duped by fake news!