ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the current psychological research that may help shed light on the cognitive mechanisms and processes implicated in the cultivation of the virtue of prudence and human providence, namely through the lens of memory, judgement, and decision making. The two cognitive faculties upon which prudence, or human providence for that matter, relies, are, according to Thomas Aquinas, (1) remembrance of the past (memory) and (2) understanding of the present (judgement and decision making). This chapter first reviews briefly the psychological research on human judgement and decision making from a cognitive perspective. It then turns to the research on memory – primarily autobiographical memory. The chapter ends by considering the way memory and human cognition may serve as apt metaphors for human providence, by placing it within a theological context.
