ABSTRACT
The study of deontic inference has the potential to connect the psychology of reasoning to other fields in psychology and related disciplines. It has clear connections to social psychological research on norm following, conformity, persuasion and social influence. Children grow up in societies in which they learn, as a matter of primary importance, how they ought to behave and what they are permitted to do, and hence developmental psychologists are interested in deontic thought and normative behaviour (Cummins, 1996, 2013; Harris & Nuñez, 1996; Rakoczy & Schmidt, 2013). The question of what guides human behaviour is also a central focus of applied researchers interested in how positive social behaviours can be encouraged (Cialdini, Reno & Kallgren, 1990). The new paradigm thus
Deontic reasoning and social norms
offers researchers in the psychology of reasoning a valuable opportunity to engage with other areas of psychology. It is no coincidence that this volume, compiled in honour of Manktelow, contains so many chapters which focus on thinking in everyday life.
