Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On Explanation

  • Chapter
Annals of Theoretical Psychology

Part of the book series: Annals of Theoretical Psychology ((AOTP,volume 6))

  • 71 Accesses

Abstract

Everyone constructs explanations, but probably only scientists make a profession of it. In his introduction to The Structure of Science, Ernst Nagel wrote: “It is the desire for explanations which are at once systematic and controllable by factual evidence that generates science; and it is the organization and classification of knowledge on the basis of explanatory principles that is the specific goal of the sciences” (1961, p. 4).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bromberger, S. (1966). Why-questions. In R. G. Colodny (Ed.), Mind and Cosmos (pp. 86–111). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey, S. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chipman, S. F., Segal, J. W, & Glaser, R. (1985). Thinking and learning skills, Volume 2: Research and open questions. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, A., & Gentner, D. (1987). How people construct mental models. In D. Holland & N. Quinn (Eds.), Cultural models in language and thought. (pp. 243–265 ). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeJong, G. F. (1981). Generalizations based on explanations. Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (pp. 6769 ). Vancouver, B.C. Los Altos, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeJong, G. F., & Mooney, R. J. (1986). Explanation-based learning: An alternative view. Machine Learning 1, 145–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, M. L. (1986). Children’s explanations: A psycholinguistic study. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. A. (1983). The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frederiksen, N. (1959). Development of the test “Formulating Hypotheses”: A Progress Report. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frederiksen, N. (1984). The real test bias: Influences of testing on teaching and learning. American Psychologist, 39, 193–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frederiksen, N. (1986). Construct validity and construct similarity: Methods for use in test development and test validation. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 21, 3–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fredericksen, N., & Evans, E R. (1974). Effects of models of creative performance on ability to formulate hypotheses. Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 67–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frederiksen, N., & Ward, W. C. (1978). Measures for the study of creativity in scientific problem solving. Applied Psychological Measurement, 2, 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner, D., & Gentner, D. R. (1983). Flowing waters or teeming crowds: Mental models of electricity. In D. Gentner & A. L. Stevens (Eds.), Mental models (pp. 99–129 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, N. (1955). Fact, fiction, and forecast. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammond, K. J. (1986). Learning to anticipate and avoid planning problems through the explanation of failures. Proceedings of the 5th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 1, pp. 556–560 ). Los Altos: Morgan Kaufmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman, G. (1986). Change in view: Principles of reasoning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman, G., Cullingford, R., Bienkowski, M., Salem, K., & Pratt, I. (1986). Default defeaters in explanation-based reasoning. Technical Report No. 3, Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, J., Holyoak, K., Nisbett, R., & Thagard, P. (1986). Induction: Proces- ses of inference, learning and discover. Cambridge,MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kass, A. (1986). Modifying explanations to understand stories. Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 691–696 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kedar-Cabelli, S. T. (1985). Purpose-directed analogy. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society Conference. Irvine, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kempton, W. (1987). Theories used for home heat control. In D. Holland & N. Quinn (Eds.), Cultural models in language and thought (pp. 222–242 ). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, S. P., Frederiksen, N., & Evans, F. R. (1969). Anxiety and learning to formulate hypotheses. Journal of Educational Psychology, Educational, 60, 465–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krupa, M. P., Selman, R. L., & Jaquette, D. S. (1985). The development of science explanations in children and adolescents: A structural approach. In S. F. Chipman, J. W. Segal & R. Glaser (Eds.), Thinking and learning skills, Volume 2: Research and open questions. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langley, P. W, Simon, H. A., Bradshaw, G. L., & Zytkow, J. M. (1987). Scientific discover: Computational explorations of the creative process. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leake, D. B., & Owens, C. C. (1986). Organizing memory for explanation. Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 710–715 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, C. H. (1986a). Understanding what’s happening in system interactions. In D. A. Norman & S. W. Draper (Eds.), User Centered system design: New perspectives on human-computer interaction (pp. 171–185 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, C. H. (1986b). Why and how to learn why: Analysis-based generalization of procedures. Ibchnical Report CS-CU-347–86. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, C. H., & Mack, R. L. (1982). Learning to use a text processing system: Evidence from “thinking aloud” protocols. Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computer Systems (pp. 387–392 ). New York: ACM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mack, R. L., Lewis, C. H., & Carroll, J. M. (1983). Learning to use word processors: Problems and prospects. ACM Transactions on Office Information Systems, 1, 254–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCloskey, M., Caramazza, A., & Green, B. (1980). Curvilinear motion in the absence of external forces: Naive beliefs about the motion of objects. Science, 210, 1139–1141.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDermott, D., & Doyle, J. (1980). Non-monotonic logic I. Artificial Intelligence, 13, 41–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michell, L., Stenning, K. (1983). Explanations in the story-telling of five-toseven-year-olds. Educational Review, 35, 187–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. A. (1979). Images and models, similies and metaphors. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (pp. 202–250 ). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. A. (1986). Dismembering cognition. In S. H. Hulse & B. F. Green, Jr. (Eds.), One hundred years of psychological research in America: G. Stanley Hall and the Johns Hopkins tradition (pp. 277–298 ). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, T M., Keller, R. M., & Kedar-Cabelli, S. T. (1986). Explanation- based generalization: A unifying view. Machine Learning, 1, 47–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mooney, R. J., & Bennett, S. W. (1986). A domain independent explanation-based generalizer. Proceedings of the 5th National Conference onArtificial Intelligence (pp. 551–555 ). Los Altos: Morgan Kaufmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mooney, R. J., & DeJong, G. F. (1985). Learning schemata for natural language processing Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (pp. 681–687 ). Los Altos, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, E. (1961). The structure of science: Problems in the logic of scientific explanation. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Hunan problem solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson, R. S., Perkins, D. N., & Smith, E. E. (1985). The teaching of thinking. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peel, E. A. (1973). The nature of adolescent judgment. London: St. Albans, Crosby, Lockwood & Staples.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. (1929). The child’s conception of the world London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. (1960). The child’s conception of physical causality. lbtowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polya, G. (1957). How to solve it (2nd ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press; New York: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, D. N. (1985). Philosophy of psychology. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, L., Lepper, M. R., & Hubbard, M. (1975). Perseverence in self perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 880–892.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schank, R. C. (1981). Language and memory. In D. A. Norman (Ed.), Perspectives on cognitive science. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schank, R. C. (1982). Dynamic memory: A theory of learning in computers and people. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schank, R. C. (1986a). Explanation: A first pass. In J. L. Koldner, & C. K. Riesbeck (Eds.), Experience, memory and reasoning (pp. 139–165 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schank, R. C. (1986b). Explanatory patterns: Understanding mechanically and creatively. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoenfeld, A. H. (1985). Mathematical problem solving. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segal, J. W, Chipman, S. F., & Glaser, R. (1985). Thinking and learning skills, Volume l: Relating instruction to research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1980). Problem solving and education. In D. T Tùma & F Reif (Eds.), Problem solving and education: Issues in teaching and research (pp. 81–96 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, W C., Frederiksen, N., & Carlson, S. B. (1980). Construct validity of free-response and machine storable tests. Journal of Educational Measurement, 17, 11–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilensky, R. (1983). Planning and understanding: A computational approach to human reasoning. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA

    George A. Miller

Authors
  1. George A. Miller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA

    Daniel N. Robinson

  2. Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Leendert P. Mos

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1990 Plenum Press, New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Miller, G.A. (1990). On Explanation. In: Robinson, D.N., Mos, L.P. (eds) Annals of Theoretical Psychology. Annals of Theoretical Psychology, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0631-3_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0631-3_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7901-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0631-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation