Without inductive reasoning, we couldn't generalize from one instance to another, derive scientific hypotheses, or predict that the sun will rise again tomorrow morning. Despite the widespread nature of inductive reasoning, books on this topic are rare. Indeed, this is the first book on the psychology of inductive reasoning in twenty years. The chapters survey recent advances in the study of inductive reasoning and address questions about how it develops, the role of knowledge in induction, how best to model people's reasoning, and how induction relates to other forms of thinking. Written by experts in philosophy, developmental science, cognitive psychology, and computational modeling, the contributions here will be of interest to a general cognitive science audience as well as to those with a more specialized interest in the study of thinking.

Inductive Logic is number ten in the 11-volume Handbook of the History of Logic. While there are many examples were a science split from philosophy and became autonomous (such as physics with Newton and biology with Darwin), and while there are, perhaps, topics that are of exclusively philosophical interest, inductive logic — as this handbook attests — is a research field where philosophers and scientists fruitfully and constructively interact. This handbook covers the rich history of scientific turning points in Inductive Logic, including probability theory and decision theory. Written by leading researchers in the field, both this volume and the Handbook as a whole are definitive reference tools for senior undergraduates, graduate students and researchers in the history of logic, the history of philosophy, and any discipline, such as mathematics, computer science, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence, for whom the historical background of his or her work is a salient consideration. - Chapter on the Port Royal contributions to probability theory and decision theory - Serves as a singular contribution to the intellectual history of the 20th century - Contains the latest scholarly discoveries and interpretative insights

This comprehensive and balanced text has been written so that the "doing" of social research is closely and consistently linked to important social issues by using real social data. End-of-chapter discussion questions, research proposal development exercises and SPSS exercises help measure and enhance students’ understanding.

Inductive Logic is a ‘thematic compilation’ by Avi Sion. It collects in one volume many (though not all) of the essays, that he has written on this subject over a period of some 23 years, which all demonstrate the possibility and conditions of validity of human knowledge, the utility and reliability of human cognitive means when properly used, contrary to the skeptical assumptions that are nowadays fashionable. This volume includes essays on the laws of thought, credibility, logical modality, contextuality, adduction, theory formation and selection, induction of actual and modal propositions, factorial induction (factor selection and formula revision), the phenomenological approach, experience, conceptualization, generalization and particularization, causation and its determinations, volition (freewill) and influences thereon, negation, and existential import.

The Psychology of Learning and Motivation series publishes empirical and theoretical contributions in cognitive and experimental psychology, ranging from classical and instrumental conditioning to complex learning and problem solving. - Volume 57 of the highly regarded Psychology of Learning and Motivation series - An essential reference for researchers and academics in cognitive science - Relevant to both applied concerns and basic research