Philip Johnson-Laird Explained

Philip N. Johnson-Laird
Birth Date:	1936 10, df=yes
Alma Mater:	University College London
Thesis Title:	An experimental investigation into one pragmatic factor governing the use of the english language
Thesis Url:	https://encore.libraries.london.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1714043__SJohnson-Laird__P0%2C13__Orightresult__U__X4?lang=eng&suite=shl
Thesis Year:	1967
Doctoral Advisor:	Peter Cathcart Wason
Known For:	Mental models

Philip Nicholas Johnson-Laird, FRS, FBA (born 12 October 1936)^[1] is a philosopher of language and reasoning and a developer of the mental model theory of reasoning.^[2] He was a professor at Princeton University's Department of Psychology, as well as the author of several notable books on human cognition and the psychology of reasoning.^[3]

Biography

He was educated at Culford School and University College London where he won the Rosa Morison Medal in 1964 and a James Sully Scholarship between 1964 and 1966. He achieved a BA there in 1964 and a PhD in 1967.^[4] He was elected to a Fellowship in 1994.

His entry in Who's Who (2007 edition) records the following career history:

• Ten years of miscellaneous jobs, as surveyor, musician, hospital porter (alternative to National Service), librarian, before going to university.
• Assistant Lecturer, then Lecturer, in Psychology, UCL, 1966–73
• Visiting Member, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, 1971–72
• Reader, 1973, Professor, 1978, in Experimental Psychology, University of Sussex
• Visiting Fellow, Stanford University, 1980
• Assistant Director, MRC Applied Psychology Unit, University of Cambridge, 1983–89
• Fellow, Darwin College, Cambridge, 1984–89
• Visiting Professorships: Stanford University, 1985; Princeton Univ., 1986.

He joined the department of psychology at Princeton University in 1989, where he became the Stuart Professor of Psychology in 1994. He retired in 2012.^[5]

Johnson-Laird is a member of the American Philosophical Society,^[6] a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the British Academy, a William James Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from: Göteborg, 1983; Padua, 1997; Madrid, 2000; Dublin, 2000; Ghent, 2002; Palermo, 2005. He won the Spearman Medal in 1974, the British Psychological Society President's Award in 1985, and the International Prize from Fyssen Foundation in 2002.

Along with several other scholars, Johnson-Laird delivered the 2001 Gifford Lectures in Natural Theology at the University of Glasgow,^[4] published as The Nature and Limits of Human Understanding (ed. Anthony Sanford, T & T Clark, 2003). He has been a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences since 2007.^[3]

Selected publications

• Mental models and human reasoning. Johnson-Laird. P. N.. 2010. 107. 18243–18250. 10.1073/pnas.1012933107 . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 43 . 20956326 . 2972923 .
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N. How We Reason. 2006. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-856976-3.
• Peirce, logic diagrams, and the elementary operations of reasoning . P. N.. Johnson-Laird. Thinking & Reasoning. 8. 2002. 69–95 . 10.1080/13546780143000099. 5726135 .
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N. Computer and the Mind: An Introduction to Cognitive Science. 1988. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-15616-6. registration.
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N. Human and Machine Thinking (Distinguished Lecture Series). 1993. LEA, Inc.. 978-0-8058-0921-3.
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N (with [[Ruth M. J. Byrne]]). Deduction. 1991. Psychology Press. 978-0-86377-149-1.
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N. Mental Models: Toward a Cognitive Science of Language, Inference and Consciousness. Mental model. 1983. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-56882-2.
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N (with [[Peter Cathcart Wason]]). Thinking: Readings in Cognitive Science. 1977. Cambridge University Press.
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N (with [[George Armitage Miller]]). Language and Perception. 1976. Belknap Press. 978-0-674-50948-1.
• Book: Johnson-Laird, Philip N (with [[Peter Cathcart Wason]]). Psychology of Reasoning: Structure and Content. 1972. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-72127-2. registration.

Notes and References

1. Johnson-Laird, Prof. Philip Nicholas . Who's Who . 1 December 2007 . 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U22156 . 978-0-19-954088-4 . 8 November 2022.
2. Web site: Fellow Detail Page: Philip Johnson-Laird: Biography . The Royal Society . 8 November 2022.
3. Ahmed . F. . 10.1073/pnas.1117174108 . Profile of Philip N. Johnson-Laird . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 2011 . 22065789 . 3250179 . 108 . 50 . 19862–4. 2011PNAS..10819862A . free .
4. Web site: Philip Johnson-Laird. 18 August 2014. 6 January 2017.
5. Web site: Eleven professors retire from faculty . Princeton Alumni Weekly. 6 June 2012.
6. Web site: APS Member History. 2021-05-24. search.amphilsoc.org.