Heuristic and analytic processing: Age trends and associations with cognitive ability and cognitive styles
Abstract
Developmental and individual differences in the tendency to favor analytic responses over heuristic responses were examined in children of two different ages (10- and 11-year-olds versus 13-year-olds), and of widely varying cognitive ability. Three tasks were examined that all required analytic processing to override heuristic processing: inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning under conditions of belief bias, and probabilistic reasoning. Significant increases in analytic responding with development were observed on the first two tasks. Cognitive ability was associated with analytic responding on all three tasks. Cognitive style measures such as actively open-minded thinking and need for cognition explained variance in analytic responding on the tasks after variance shared with cognitive ability had been controlled. The implications for dual-process theories of cognition and cognitive development are discussed.
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Superstitious thinking has been found to predict probabilistic reasoning.
“Superstitious thinking has been found to predict probabilistic reasoning (Kokis, Macpherson, Toplak, West, & Stanovich, 2002;Toplak, Liu, Macpherson, Toneatto, & Stanovich, 2007).”
From The Cognitive Reflection Test as a predictor of performance on heuristics-and-biases tasks (2011) · cites this paper as Kokis, Macpherson, Toplak, West, & Stanovich, 2002
Ten to eleven year olds are more likely than older adolescents (age 13-14) to use a problem solving strategy that more heavily weights personally experienced recent outcomes.
“Ten to eleven year olds are more likely than older adolescents (age 13–14) to use a problem solving strategy that more heavily weights personally experienced recent outcomes”
From Does puberty mark a transition in sensitive periods for plasticity in the associative neocortex? (2017) · cites this paper as Kokis et al., 2002
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References 123 · Cited by 274
- Authors
- Kokis, J. V., Macpherson, R., Toplak, M. E., West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Hospital for Sick Children (CA)
- James Madison University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stanovich, Keith E.
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-09
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 26-52
- ISSN
- 0022-0965 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2087182533
- Cited by
- 274
- References
- 123
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 4.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- heuristic processing, analytical processing, dual-process theory, cognitive development, cognitive ability, cognitive style, open-mindedness, need for cognition, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, belief bias, probabilistic reasoning, children
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Psychology, Adolescent, Age Factors, Analysis of Variance, Child, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Regression Analysis
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