Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analogical Processes in Human Thinking and Learning

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Towards a Theory of Thinking

Part of the book series: On Thinking ((ONTHINKING))

Abstract

Much of humankind’s remarkable mental aptitude can be attributed to analogical ability - the ability to perceive and use relational similarity. In this chapter, we present an overview of analogy and describe its component processes, including structural alignment and inference projection, evaluation, schema abstraction and re-representation. We discuss how these component processes lead to learning and the generation of new knowledge, and review evidence that suggests that greater use of analogy during learning can improve relational retrieval and transfer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bowdle B, Gentner D (1997) Informativity and asymmetry in comparisons. Cogn Psychol 34(3):244-286

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clement J (1988) Observed methods for generating analogies in scientific problem solving. Cogn Sci 12(4):563-586

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clement CA, Gentner D (1991) Systematicity as a selection constraint in analogical mapping. Cogn Sci 15(1):89-132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeLoache JS (1987) Rapid change in the symbolic functioning of very young children. Science 238:1556-1557

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Falkenhainer B, Forbus KD, Gentner D (1989) The structure-mapping engine: algorithm and examples. Artif Intell 41:1-63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forbus KD, Gentner D, Law K (1995) MAC/FAC: a model of similarity-based retrieval. Cogn Sci 19:141-205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forbus K, Gentner D, Everett J, Wu M (1997) Towards a computational model of evaluating and using analogical inferences. In: Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. LEA, Inc., NJ, London, pp 229-234

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D (1983) Structure-mapping: a theoretical framework for analogy. Cogn Sci 7:155-70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D (1989) The mechanisms of analogical learning. In S. Vosniadou, A. Ortony (eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning. London: Cambridge University Press, pp 199-241 (Reprinted in knowledge acquisition and learning, 1993, 673-694).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D (2003) Why we’re so smart. In: Gentner D, Goldin-Meadow S (eds) Language in mind: advances in the study of language and cognition. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 195-236

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D (2005) The development of relational category knowledge. In: Gershkoff-Stowe L, Rakison DH (eds) Building object categories in developmental time. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 245-275

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Christie S (2008) Relational language supports relational cognition in humans and apes. Behav Brain Sci 31:136-137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Markman AB (1995) Similarity is like analogy: structural alignment in comparison. In: Cacciari C (ed) Similarity in language, thought and perception. Brepols, Brussels, pp 111-147

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Markman AB (1997) Structure mapping in analogy and similarity. Am Psychol 52:45-56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Medina J (1998) Similarity and the development of rules. Cognition 65:263-297

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Rattermann MJ (1991) Language and the career of similarity. In: Gelman SA, Brynes JP (eds) Perspectives on thought and language: Interrelations in development. Cambridge University Press, London, pp 225-277

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Toupin C (1986) Systematicity and surface similarity in the development of analogy. Cogn Sci 10(3):277-300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Wolff P (1997) Alignment in the processing of metaphor. J Mem Lang 37:331-355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Rattermann MJ, Forbus KD (1993) The roles of similarity in transfer: Separating retrievability from inferential soundness. Cogn Psychol 25:524-575

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D, Loewenstein J, Thompson L (2003) Learning and transfer: A general role for analogical encoding. J Educ Psychol 95(2):393-408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner D. Loewenstein J, Thompson L, Forbus K (in press) Reviving inert Knowledge: Analogical abstraction supports relational retrieval of past events. Cogn Sci

    Google Scholar 

  • Gick ML, Holyoak KJ (1980) Analogical problem solving. Cogn Psychol 12:306-355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gick ML, Holyoak KJ (1983) Schema induction and analogical transfer. Cogn Psychol 15:1-38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glucksberg S, McGlone MS, Manfredi DA (1997) Metaphor comprehension: how metaphors create new categories. In: Ward T, Smith S, Vaid J (eds) Creative thought: an investigation of conceptual structures and processes. APA, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstone, Day and Son, (2009) Comparison. -- this volume

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstone RL, Medin DL, Gentner D (1991) Relational similarity and the non-independence of features in similarity judgments. Cogn Psychol 23:222-264

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greiner R (1988) Learning by understanding analogies. Artif Intell 35:81-125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heit E, Rubinstein J (1994) Similarity and property effects in inductive reasoning. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 20:411-422

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holyoak KJ, Koh K (1987) Surface and structural similarity in analogical transfer. Mem Cogn 15:323-340

    Google Scholar 

  • Holyoak KJ, Thagard P (1989) Analogical mapping by constraint satisfaction. Cogn Sci 13:295-355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holyoak KJ, Novick LR, Melz ER (1994) Component processes in analogical transfer: Mapping, pattern completion, and adaptation. In: Holyoak KJ, Barnden JA (eds) Advances in connectionist and neural computation theory, Analogical connections, vol 2. Norwood, NJ Ablex, pp. 113-180

    Google Scholar 

  • Hummel JE, Holyoak KJ (1997) Distributed representations of structure: A theory of analogical access and mapping. Psychol Rev 104:427-466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keane MT (1988) Analogical problem solving. Chichester, W. Sussex, England: E. Horwood. Halsted Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane MT (1996) On adaptation in analogy: tests of pragmatic importance and adaptability in analogical problem solving. Q J Exp Psychol 49/A(4):1062-1085

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotovsky L, Gentner D (1996) Comparison and categorization in the development of relational similarity. Child Dev 67:2797-2822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuehne SE, Forbus KD, Gentner D, Quinn B (2000a) SEQL - Category learning as progressive abstraction using structure mapping. In: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Philadelphia, PA, pp 770-775

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuehne SE, Gentner D Forbus KD (2000b) Modeling infant learning via symbolic structural alignment. In: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Philadelphia, PA, pp 286-291

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurtz KJ, Gentner D, Gunn V (1999) Reasoning. In: Rumelhart DE, Bly BM (eds) Cognitive science: handbook of perception and cognition, 2nd edn. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 145-200

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff G, Johnson M (1980) Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenstein J, Gentner D (2001) Spatial mapping in preschoolers: close comparisons facilitate far mappings. J Cogn Dev 2(2):189-219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcus GF, Vijayan S, Bandi Rao S, Vishton PM (1999) Rule-learning in seven-month-old infants. Science 283:77-80

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Markman AB (1997) Constraints on analogical inference. Cogn Sci 21(4):373-418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markman AB (1999) Knowledge representation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Markman AB, Gentner D (1993a) All differences are not created equal: a structural alignment view of similarity. In: Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Boulder, CO, pp 682-686

    Google Scholar 

  • Markman AB, Gentner D (1993b) Splitting the differences: a structural alignment view of similarity. J Mem Lang 32:517-535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markman AB, Gentner D (1993c) Structural alignment during similarity comparisons. Cogn Psychol 25:431-467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medin DL, Goldstone RL, Gentner D (1993) Respects for similarity. Psychol Rev 100(2):254-278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novick LR (1988a) Analogical transfer: processes and individual differences. In: Helman DH (ed) Analogical reasoning: perspectives of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and philosophy. Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 125-145

    Google Scholar 

  • Novick LR (1988b) Analogical transfer, problem similarity, and expertise. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 14:510-520

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ortony A (1979) Beyond literal similarity. Psychol Rev 86:161-180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paik JH, Mix KS (2006) Preschoolers’ similarity judgments: Taking context into account. J Exp Child Psychol 95:194-214

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Penn DC, Holyoak KJ, Povinelli DJ (2008) Darwin’s mistake: Explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds. Brain Behav Sci 31:109-178

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed SK (1987) A structure-mapping model for word problems. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 13:124-139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross BH (1984) Remindings and their effects in learning a cognitive skill. Cogn Psychol 16:371-416

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ross BH (1987) This is like that: the use of earlier problems and the separation of similarity effects. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 13(4):629-639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross BH (1989) Distinguishing types of superficial similarities: Different effects on the access and use of earlier problems. J Exp Psycho Learn Mem Cogn 15(3):456-468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seidenberg MS, Elman J (1999) Do infants learn grammar with algebra or statistics? Lett Sci 284:434-436

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shepard RN (1962) The analysis of proximities: multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function, I. Psychmetrika 27(2):125-140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tversky A (1977) Features of similarity. Psychol Rev 84(4):327-352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff P, Gentner D (2000) Evidence for role-neutral initial processing of metaphors. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 26:529-541

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff P, Gentner, D. (under review) Structure-mapping in metaphor: evidence for a multi-stage model of metaphor processing. Cogn Sci

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan J, Forbus K, Gentner, D (2003) A theory of rerepresentation in analogical matching. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (eds) Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Boston MA, pp 1265-1270

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by ONR Grant N00014-08-1-0040. Correspondence concerning this chapter should be addressed to gentner@northwestern.edu or Dedre Gentner, Psychology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, 60208, IL, USA

    Dedre Gentner & Julie Colhoun

Authors
  1. Dedre Gentner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julie Colhoun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dedre Gentner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Parmenides Foundation, Kardinal Faulhaber Str. 14 a, Munich, 80333, Germany

    Britt Glatzeder

  2. Dept. Psychology, York University, Keele Street 4700, Toronto, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Vinod Goel

  3. Parmenides Foundation, Kardinal Faulhaber Str. 14 a, Munich, 80333, Germany

    Albrecht Müller

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gentner, D., Colhoun, J. (2010). Analogical Processes in Human Thinking and Learning. In: Glatzeder, B., Goel, V., Müller, A. (eds) Towards a Theory of Thinking. On Thinking. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03129-8_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation