Similarity and Analogical Reasoning

Stella Vosniadou (Edited by), Andrew Ortony (Edited by)

9780521389358, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 July 1989

608 pages
23 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm, 0.875 kg

Similarity and analogy are fundamental in human cognition. They are crucial for recognition and classification, and have been associated with scientific discovery and creativity. Successful learning is generally less dependent on the memorization of isolated facts and abstract rules than it is on the ability to identify relevant bodies of knowledge already stored as the starting point for new learning. Similarity and analogy play an important role in this process - a role that in recent years has received much attention from cognitive scientists. Any adequate understanding of similarity and analogy requires the integration of theory and data from diverse domains. This interdisciplinary volume explores current developments in research and theory from psychological, computational, and educational perspectives, and considers their implications for learning and instruction. Well-known cognitive scientists examine the psychological processes involved in reasoning by similarity and analogy, the computational problems encountered in simulating analogical processing in problem solving, and the conditions promoting the application of analogical reasoning in everyday situations.

Preface
Similarity and analogical reasoning: a synthesis Stella Vosniadou and Andrew Ortony
Part I. Similarity and the Structure of Concepts: 1. Similarity, typicality, and categorization Lance J. Rips
2. Similarity and decision making Edward E. Smith and Daniel N. Osherson
3. Intraconcept similarity and its implications for interconcept similarity Lawrence W. Barsalou
4. Two-tiered concept meaning, inferential matching, and conceptual cohesiveness Ryszard S. Michalski
5. From global similarities to kinds of similarities: the construction of dimensions in development Linda B. Smith
6. Comments on Part I. Psychological essentialism Douglas Medin and Andrew Ortony
Part II. Analogical Reasoning: 7. The mechanisms of analogical learning Dedre Genter
8. A computational model of analogical problem solving Keith J. Holyoak and Paul R. Thagard
9. Use of analogy in production system architecture John R. Anderson and Ross Thompson
10. Toward a microstructural account of human reasoning David E. Rumelhart
11. Analogy and the exercise of creativity Philip N. Johnson-Laird
12. Comments on Part II. Levels of description in information-processing theories of analogy Stephen E. Palmer
13. Comments on Part II. The role of explanation in analogy
or, the curse of an alluring name Gerald Dejong
Part III. Similarity and Analogy in Development, Learning and Instruction: 14. Analogical learning and transfer: what develops? Ann L. Brown
15. Analogical reasoning as a mechanism in knowledge acquisition: a developmental perspective Stella Vosniadou
16. Remindings in learning and instruction Brian H. Ross
17. New approaches to instruction: because wisdom can't be told John D. Bransford, Jeffery J. Franks, Nancy J. Vye and Robert Sherwood
18. Multiple analogies for complex concepts: antidotes for analogy-induced misconception in advanced knowledge acquisition Rand J. Spiro, Paul J. Feltovich, Richard L. Coulson and Daniel K. Anderson
19. Comments on Part III. The activation and acquisition of knowledge William F. Brewer
Afterword Allan Collins and Mark Burstein
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR]