This book explores the idea that we have two minds
- automatic, unconscious, and fast, the other
controlled, conscious, and slow. In recent years there
has been great interest in so-called dual-process
theories of reasoning and rationality. According to such
theories, there are two distinct systems underlying
human reasoning - an evolutionarily old system that is
associative, automatic, unconscious, parallel, and fast,
and a more recent, distinctively human system that is
rule-based, controlled, conscious, serial, and slow.
Within the former, processes the former, processes are
held to be innate and to use heuristics that evolved to
solve specific adaptive problems. In the latter,
processes are taken to be learned, flexible, and
responsive to rational norms.
Despite the
attention these theories are attracting, there is still
poor communication between dual-process theorists
themselves, and the substantial bodies of work on dual
processes in cognitive psychology and social psychology
remain isolated from each other. This book brings
together leading researchers on dual processes to
summarize the state-of-the-art, highlight key issues,
present different perspectives, explore implications,
and provide a stimulus to further work. It includes
new ideas about the human mind both by contemporary
philosophers interested in broad theoretical questions
about mental architecture and by psychologists
specialising in traditionally distinct and isolated
fields. For all those in the cognitive sciences, this is
a book that will advance dual-process theorizing,
promote interdisciplinary communication, and encourage
further applications of dual-process approaches.
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