Exploratory thought - Wikipedia Exploratory thought From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Part of a series on Psychology Outline History Subfields Basic types Abnormal Behavioral genetics Biological Cognitive/Cognitivism Comparative Cross-cultural Cultural Differential Developmental Evolutionary Experimental Mathematical Neuropsychology Personality Positive Quantitative Social Applied psychology Applied behavior analysis Clinical Community Consumer Counseling Critical Educational Environmental Ergonomics Forensic Health Humanistic Industrial and organizational Legal Medical Military Music Occupational health Political Religion School Sport Traffic Lists Disciplines Organizations Psychologists Psychotherapies Publications Research methods Theories Timeline Topics  Psychology portal v t e Exploratory thought is an academic term used in the field of psychology to describe reasoning that neutrally considers multiple points of view and tries to anticipate all possible objections to, or flaws in, a particular position, with the goal of seeking truth. The opposite of exploratory thought is confirmatory thought, which is reasoning designed to construct justification supporting a specific point of view. Both terms were coined by social psychologist Jennifer Lerner and psychology professor Philip Tetlock in the 2002 book Emerging Perspectives in Judgment and Decision Making.[1] The authors argue that most people, most of the time, make decisions based on gut feelings and poor logic, and reason through issues primarily to provide justification, to themselves and to others, of what they already believe. Lerner and Tetlock say that when people expect to need to justify their position to external parties, and they already know those parties' views, they will tend to adopt a similar position to theirs, and then engage in confirmatory thought with the goal of bolstering their own credibility rather than reaching a good conclusion. However, if the external parties are overly aggressive or critical, people will disengage from thought altogether, and simply assert their personal opinions without justification.[2] Lerner and Tetlock say that people only push themselves to think critically and logically when they know in advance they will need to explain themselves to external parties who are well-informed, genuinely interested in the truth, and whose views they don't already know.[3] Because those conditions rarely exist, they argue, most people are engaging in confirmatory thought most of the time.[4] Contents 1 In statistics 2 See also 3 References 4 Further reading In statistics[edit] Princeton statistician John Tukey wrote about selection between confirmation or rejection of existing hypotheses and exploration of new ones, focusing on how practicing statisticians might decide between the two modes of thought at various junctures.[5] Subsequent statisticians, philosophers of science, and organizational psychologists have expanded on the topic.[6][7] See also[edit] Empirical research Exploratory research Impartiality Neutrality (philosophy) References[edit] ^ Schneider, ed. by Sandra L.; Shanteau, James (2003). Emerging perspectives on judgment and decision research. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 438–9. ISBN 052152718X.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) ^ Schneider, ed. by Sandra L.; Shanteau, James (2003). Emerging perspectives on judgment and decision research. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 445. ISBN 052152718X.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) ^ Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The Righteous Mind : Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon Books. pp. 1473-4 (e-book edition). ISBN 978-0307377906. ^ Lindzey, edited by Susan T. Fiske, Daniel T. Gilbert, Gardner (2010). The handbook of social psychology (5th ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. pp. 811. ISBN 978-0470137499.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) ^ Tukey, John W. (1980). "We Need Both Exploratory and Confirmatory". The American Statistician. 34 (1): 23–25. doi:10.2307/2682991. JSTOR 2682991. ^ Hurley, A. E. et al. (1997) "Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis: guidelines, issues, and alternatives" Journal of Organizational Behavior 18:667-83 ^ Thompson, B. (2004) Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis: Understanding concepts and applications (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association) ISBN 1591470935 Further reading[edit] Dayton, C.M. (2002) "Some Key Concepts for the Design and Review of Empirical Research" ERIC Digest report no. ED470591 Shields, P. and Tajalli, H. (2006) "Intermediate Theory: The Missing Link in Successful Student Scholarship" Journal of Public Affairs Education 12(3):313-34 v t e Epistemology Epistemologists Thomas Aquinas Augustine of Hippo William Alston Robert Audi A. J. Ayer George Berkeley Laurence BonJour Keith DeRose René Descartes John Dewey Fred Dretske Edmund Gettier Alvin Goldman Nelson Goodman Paul Grice Anil Gupta Susan Haack David Hume Immanuel Kant Søren Kierkegaard Peter Klein Saul Kripke Hilary Kornblith David Lewis John Locke G. E. Moore John McDowell Robert Nozick Alvin Plantinga Plato Duncan Pritchard James Pryor Hilary Putnam W. V. O. Quine Thomas Reid Bertrand Russell Gilbert Ryle Wilfrid Sellars Susanna Siegel Ernest Sosa P. F. Strawson Baruch Spinoza Timothy Williamson Ludwig Wittgenstein Nicholas Wolterstorff Vienna Circle more... 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Related articles Outline of epistemology Faith and rationality Formal epistemology Meta-epistemology Philosophy of perception Philosophy of science Social epistemology Category Task Force Stubs Discussion Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Exploratory_thought&oldid=943881500" Categories: Reasoning Design of experiments Empiricism Concepts in epistemology Hidden categories: CS1 maint: extra text: authors list Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Add links This page was last edited on 4 March 2020, at 11:49 (UTC). 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