Thinking Through Dilemmas

Through a comparison of qualitative data on the ways in which people think about death and dying, paedophilia, and career decision-making, this book advances a blended view of cognition, exploring how people use automatic and deliberate thought processes to think through difficult topics.

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Departing from the sociological dual process model that divides thoughts into automatic and unconscious, or deliberate and conscious occurrences, this book draws on empirical cases to demonstrate the existence of “automatic deliberation.” Through research into the ways in which people address difficult subjects, such as death and dying, pedophilia, and career decision-making, the author sheds light on a mode of thinking which is both habitual and effortful, displaying a combination of habituated understandings and conscious deliberation. Advancing a blended view of cognition by which individuals draw on schemas and frames to think through complex topics, this volume will appeal to sociologists and psychologists with interests in cognition and the ways in which we make decisions.