Psychology Press eBooks· 2015· Book chapter
Cognition as Intuitive Statistics
- 435citations
- 2015year
Short summary
Theories in psychology, particularly the metaphor of the mind as an intuitive statistician, often emerge from statistical tools that institutionalized cognitive processes.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Psychological theories, particularly those concerning cognition, often arise from the adoption of statistical tools.
- The 'inference revolution' institutionalized statistical methods, paving the way for cognitive theories.
- The metaphor of the mind as an 'intuitive statistician' is a prime example of a theory derived from statistical concepts.
- Statistical concepts have significantly transformed the understanding of major areas within cognitive psychology.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Originally published in 1987, this title is about theory construction in psychology. Where theories come from, as opposed to how they become established, was almost a no-man’s land in the history and philosophy of science at the time. The authors argue that in the science of mind, theories are particularly likely to come from tools, and they are especially concerned with the emergence of the metaphor of the mind as an intuitive statistician. In the first chapter, the authors discuss the rise of the inference revolution, which institutionalized those statistical tools that later became theories of cognitive processes. In each of the four following chapters they treat one major topic of cognitive psychology and show to what degree statistical concepts transformed their understanding of those topics.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Psychology Press eBooks, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: History and Philosophy of Science
History and Philosophy of ScienceArts and Humanities