•  19
    Scientific and Technological Thinking (edited book)
    with M. Gorman, D. Gooding, and A. Kincannon
    Erlbaum. 2005.
    This book describes empirically ways to analyze and then to effectually utilize cognitive processes to advance discovery and invention in the sciences. It also explains how to teach these principles to students.
  • Cognitive-historical approaches to the understanding of science
    In Gregory J. Feist & Michael E. Gorman (eds.), Handbook of the psychology of science, Springer Pub. Company, Llc. 2013.
  •  10
    Imagery Effects on Recall of Minimally Counterintuitive Concepts
    with D. Jason Slone, Afzal Upal, Lauren Gonce, and Kristin Edwards
    Journal of Cognition and Culture 7 (3-4): 355-367. 2007.
    Much experimental evidence shows that minimally counterintuitive concepts, which violate one intuitive ontological expectation of domain-specific natural kinds, are remembered as well as or better than intuitive concepts with no violations of ontological expectations, and much better than maximally counterintuitive concepts with more than one violation of ontological violations. It is also well established that concepts rated as high in imagery, are recalled better than concepts that are low in …Read more
  •  27
    The Creative Structuring of Counterintuitive Worlds
    with Kristin Edwards, Lauren Gonce, D. Jason Slone, and M. Afzal Upal
    Journal of Cognition and Culture 6 (3-4): 483-498. 2006.
    Recent research has shown a memory advantage for minimally counterintuitive concepts, over concepts that are either intuitive or maximally counterintuitive, although the general result is heavily affected by context. Items from one such study were given to subjects who were asked to create novel stories using at least three concepts from a list containing all three types. Results indicated a preference for using MCI items, and further disclosed two styles of usage, an accommodative style and an …Read more
  •  13
    Replication and the Experimental Ethnography of Science
    Journal of Cognition and Culture 4 (3-4): 731-758. 2004.
    The present paper attempts to define an experimental ethnography as an approach to the understanding of scientific thinking. Such an ethnography relies upon the replication of contemporary and historical scientific practices as a means of capturing the cultural and cognitive meanings of the practices in question. The approach is contrasted to the typical kind of laboratory experiment in psychology, and it is argued that replications of scientific practices can reveal dimensions of the microstruc…Read more
  •  3
    Wundt for the 21st Century
    Science & Education 26 (3-4): 417-424. 2017.
  • Hypothesis testing: The role of confirmation
    with M. E. Doherty and C. R. Mynatt
    In Ryan D. Tweney, Michael E. Doherty & Clifford R. Mynatt (eds.), On Scientific Thinking, Columbia University Press. pp. 115--128. 1981.
  • Null hypothesis testing, confirmation bias and strong inference
    with M. E. Doherty and C. R. Mynatt
    In Ryan D. Tweney, Michael E. Doherty & Clifford R. Mynatt (eds.), On Scientific Thinking, Columbia University Press. pp. 262--267. 1981.
  •  11
  •  8
    Based upon papers given at a 2011 conference at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, this book crosses many boundaries. Most obviously, it includes a balanced set of contributions by philosophers and cognitive scientists from a variety of countries: Nine of the authors are based in Europe, eight in Asia, and one in North America. The conference was the latest of three held in Guangzhou between 2004 and 2011; the editors are to be congratulated for their extensive and continuing efforts to…Read more
  • The Future of Cognitive Studies of Science and Technology
    with Michael E. Gorman, David C. Gooding, and Alexandra P. Kincannon
    In M. Gorman, R. Tweney, D. Gooding & A. Kincannon (eds.), Scientific and Technological Thinking, Erlbaum. 2005.
  •  40
    Wegner's “illusion” anticipated: Jonathan Edwards on the will
    with Amy B. Wachholtz
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 27 (5): 676-676. 2004.
    Wegner's The Illusion of Conscious Will (2002) ignores an important aspect of the history of the concept: the determinism of Jonathan Edwards (1754) and the later response to this determinism by William James and others. We argue that Edwards's formulation, and James's resolution of the resulting dilemma, are superior to Wegner's.
  •  44
    Mathematical Representations in Science: A Cognitive–Historical Case History
    Topics in Cognitive Science 1 (4): 758-776. 2009.
    The important role of mathematical representations in scientific thinking has received little attention from cognitive scientists. This study argues that neglect of this issue is unwarranted, given existing cognitive theories and laws, together with promising results from the cognitive historical analysis of several important scientists. In particular, while the mathematical wizardry of James Clerk Maxwell differed dramatically from the experimental approaches favored by Michael Faraday, Maxwell…Read more
  •  6
    Postscript: Untangling the gambler’s fallacy
    with Yanlong Sun and Hongbin Wang
    Psychological Review 117 (2): 704-705. 2010.
  •  12
    Psychology and the foundations of rational belief
    with Michael E. Doherty and Clifford R. Mynatt
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6 (2): 262-263. 1983.
  •  1
    Eloge: David Charles Gooding, 1947–2009
    Isis 101 (3): 607-609. 2010.
  •  9
    Contextualizing Counterintuitiveness: How Context Affects Comprehension and Memorability of Counterintuitive Concepts
    with M. Afzal Upala, Lauren O. Gonce, and D. Jason Slone
    Cognitive Science 31 (3): 415-439. 2007.
    A number of anthropologists have argued that religious concepts are minimally counterintuitive and that this gives them mnemic advantages. This paper addresses the question of why people have the memory architecture that results in such concepts being more memorable than other types of concepts by pointing out the benefits of a memory structure that leads to better recall for minimally counterintuitive concepts and by showing how such benefits emerge in the real‐time processing of comprehending …Read more
  •  2
    On bureaucracy and science a response to Fuller
    Philosophy of the Social Sciences 21 (2): 203-213. 1991.
  •  7
    The effect of sign language grammatical structure on recall
    with Gary W. Heiman
    Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 10 (4): 331-334. 1977.
  •  12
    Procedural Representation in Michael Faraday's Scientific Thought
    PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986. 1986.
    The scientific activity of Michael Faraday is examined by focusing on the procedural aspects of his activity. Procedurality is shown to be a fundamental characteristic of his work at a variety of levels: metacognitive, heuristic, schematic, and theoretical. The evolution of his ideas about the goals of science is shown to reflect fundamental roots in a procedural epistemology, closely tied to his concept of field. The implications of this analysis for the philosophy of science are briefly consid…Read more
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