ABSTRACT
This chapter presents theory and data that describe the processes of remembering, generating, and reasoning about arguments. In legal transactions, arguments can be presented in both oral and written form. Although similarities can be found when the two forms of discourse are compared, significant differences are also evident. The chapter explores a person’s memory, understanding, and evaluation of an argument observed between two other people. The acquisition and organization of argument knowledge depends on knowledge about goal conflicts and their resolution. Arguments occur only when two or more people acknowledge conflicting goals. Memory and reasoning are intimately connected to the social nature of the argument process at both encoding and retrieval. Decisions about bringing evidence to bear in support of a stance and memory for an argument are continually regulated by the social goals and attributions of an arguer, independent of development.
