... conditions encourage each type of processing. Cognitive processes are staged. Observed stimulus events must be perceived, then encoded and stored. The encoding and interpretation of the perception is heavily influenced by prior knowledge stored in memory (Fielder & Bless, 2001). Newly encoded perceptions are stored in memory, potentially affecting the assessment of future events (Augoustinos & Walker, 1995). The combination of newly encoded input along with old knowledge in memory provides the basis for further processing, resulting in inferences and judgements (Srull, 1983). Cosmides (1989, cited in Fiedler & Bless, 2001) approach to logical reasoning illustrates the importance of the social component in human thinking/intelligence. Cosmides (1989, cited in Fiedler & Bless 2001) claims that failure in logical reasoning tasks can be attributed to the fact that they are usually detached from the social context in which reasoning ability has evolved. This is illustrated with the Wasons (1966, cited in Wiggins, ...

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