Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - April 2011 - Volume 34, Issue 02  

Open Peer Commentary

Spontaneous inferences provide intuitive beliefs on which reasoning proper depends

James S. Ulemana1, Laura M. Kressela1 and SoYon Rima1

a1 Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003. jim.uleman@nyu.edu http://www.psych.nyu.edu/uleman lmk323@nyu.edu https://files.nyu.edu/lmk323/public/ soyon.rim@nyu.edu

Abstract

Spontaneous inferences are unconscious, automatic, and apparently ubiquitous. Research has documented their variety (particularly in the social domain) and impact on memory and judgment. They are good candidates for Mercier and Sperber's (M&S's) “intuitive beliefs.” Forming spontaneous inferences is highly context sensitive, varying with the perceiver's conscious and unconscious goals, and implicit and explicit theories about the domain in question.

(Online publication March 29 2011)

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    Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber Philosophy, Politics and Economics Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104. hmercier@sas.upenn.edu http://sites.google.com/site/hugomercier/; Jean Nicod Institute (EHESS-ENS-CNRS), 75005 Paris, France; Department of Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. dan@sperber.fr http://www.dan.sperber.fr