ABSTRACT
As with many human activities, theorizing in psychology is performed in a variety of styles. The four chapters under discussion amply demonstrate this variety, offering theoretical approaches ranging from the broad conceptual speculation of Corballis, through the descriptive quantification of Nilsson and Gardiner, to the formal models advocated by Hintzman, and exemplified in the chapter by Weber, Goldstein, and Busemeyer. My claim in this commentary will be that in contemporary cognitive psychology, the important task posed by the variety of theoretical styles exemplified in these chapters is not to pick a winner, nor merely to assert passively the right of each style to peaceful co-existence. Rather, it is to evaluate what each has to offer the other, and to distinguish fruitful debate from pointless confrontation. This is the constructive spirit in which the present comments are offered.
