Cognitive Sophistication and the Development of Judgment and Decision-Making

Cognitive Sophistication and the Development of Judgment and Decision-Making reviews the existing literature on the development of reasoning, judgment and decision-making, with a primary focus on measures from the heuristics and biases tradition. The book presents a model based on cognitive sophistication to examine the development of judgment and decision-making, including age related differences in developmental samples, associations with intellectual abilities and executive functions, and associations with dispositional tendencies that support judgment and decision-making. Additional sections cover the empirical findings of a longitudinal study conducted over seven years that tie together the discussed aspects related to cognitive sophistication.

This book will provide a much-needed description of the theoretical and conceptual issues, a review of empirical findings, and an integrative summary of the implications for developmental models of reasoning, judgment and decision-making.

"Understanding what underlies the large individual differences in reasoning abilities is a critical question, for both theoretical and practical reasons. In this book, Maggie Toplak has provided a remarkably detailed and theoretically rich account of the development of rational reasoning skills, much of which is based on her own work. The impact of a variety of different components on reasoning is clearly detailed, and the consequences for real-world functioning are highlighted. I would highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in understanding the complex web of factors that impact how individuals reason."—Henry Markovits, Professor, Psychology Department, Université du Québec à Montréal