Thinking and Reasoning

In this textbook on the psychology of thinking and reasoning, Alan Garnham and Jane Oakhill cover a broad range of research on these topics. Although the book reflects the diversity of approaches to questions about thinking and reasoning in the psychological literature, the authors attempt to integrate their material where possible and to identify the broad underlying issues. In particular, they focus on the question of when thinking is best characterized as the following of abstract rules and when as the building and manipulation of mental models of concrete situations. Topics covered include: historical background, the building blocks of thought, induction, hypothesis-testing, decision-making, deductive reasoning, problem-solving and game-playing, expertise, creativity, the development of thinking, applications of research on thinking and reasoning.