Dual-process theories of reasoning gained widespread interest following Kahneman’s (2011) popularisation of the distinction between “thinking fast” and “thinking slow”. Arguably the most advanced exposition of such dual-process theorising remains Evans and Stanovich’s (2013a, 2013b) account. This draws a separation between Type 1 processes, which are defined as being autonomous and undemanding of working-memory resources, and Type 2 processes, which are defined as requiring working-memory resources and as having a focus on hypothetical thinking through mental simulation and cognitive decoupling (e.g., dissociation from contextual constraints). According to this account, Type 1 processes also tend to be fast, high capacity, parallel, nonconscious, automatic and associative, whereas Type 2 processes tend to be slow, capacity limited, serial, conscious, controlled and rule-based. In this talk, I will outline how dual-process theorising has developed in recent years and continues to have considerable traction in explaining many reasoning phenomena. I will also explore how such explanatory sophistication is especially in evidence when dual-process theorising is overlayed with concepts deriving from research on “metareasoning” (e.g., Ackerman and Thompson, 2017; Ball and Richardson, 2025), which is concerned with the metacognitive processes that monitor and control ongoing thought.

References 

Ackerman, R., and Thompson, V. A. (2017). Meta-reasoning: Monitoring and control of thinking and reasoning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21, 607–617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.05.004.

Ball, L. J. and Richardson, B. H. (Eds.). (2025). Metareasoning: Theoretical and methodological developments. MDPI.

Evans, J. St. B. T., and Stanovich, K. E. (2013a). Dual-process theories of higher cognition: Advancing the debate. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8, 223–241. https://www.mdpi.com/books/reprint/11011-metareasoning-theoretical-and-methodological-developments.

Evans, J. St. B. T., and Stanovich, K. E. (2013b). Theory and metatheory in the study of dual processing: Reply to comments. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8, 263–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613483774

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.