The Adaptive Character of Thought
Abstract
This important volume examines the phenomena of cognition from an adaptive perspective. Rather than adhering to the typical practice in cognitive psychology of trying to predict behavior from a model of cognitive mechanisms, this book develops a number of models that successfully predict behavior from the structure of the environment to which cognition is adapted. The methodology -- called rational analysis -- involves specifying the information-processing goals of the system, the structure of the environment, and the computational constraints on the system, allowing predictions about behavior to be made by determining what behavior would be optimal under these assumptions. The Adaptive Character of Thought applies this methodology in great detail to four cognitive phenomena: memory, categorization, causal inference, and problem solving.
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The Bayesian framework connects to a venerable tradition of understanding cognition as rational or optimal within constraints.
“Moreover, the Bayesian framework connects to a venerable tradition of understanding cognition as rational or optimal within constraints (Anderson 2013; Chater and Oaksford 1999).”
From The myth of the Bayesian brain (2025) · cites this paper as Anderson 2013
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- Authors
- Anderson, J. R.
- Corresponding author
- Anderson, John R.
- ORCID
- Anderson, John R.
- Venue
- Psychology Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Psychology Press
- Published
- 2013-01-11
- OpenAlex
- W4214560811
- Cited by
- 84
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.38
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Keywords
- adaptive cognition, rational analysis, behavior prediction, computational resource constraints, environmental structure, memory, categorization, causal inference, problem solving, optimal behavior
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