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Other Minds

How Humans Bridge the Divide Between Self and Others

• Edited by Bertram F. Malle, Sara D. Hodges

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• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 354
• Published by: Guilford Press
• Publication Date: 2nd March 2007
• ISBN: 978-1-59385-468-3

About the Book

One of the great challenges of social cognitive science is to understand how we can enter, or "read," the minds of others - that is, infer complex mental states such as beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions. This book brings together leading scholars from psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy to present cutting-edge theories and empirical findings on this essential topic. Written in an engaging, accessible style, the volume examines the cognitive processes underlying mindreading; how interpersonal understanding and empathy develop across the lifespan; connections to language, communication, and relationships; and what happens when mindreading fails, in both normal and clinical populations.

Reviews

'Once upon a time in psychology, other minds were a taboo topic. That's over now, and instead, the hot new topic is how people manage the trick of perceiving other minds - as well as understanding their own minds. This book brings together exciting current views of the process of mind perception from laboratories studying social, cognitive, developmental, and neuroscientific psychology.' - Daniel M. Wegner, PhD, Harvard University, USA

'This excellent and timely volume displays a variety of perspectives on how people approach the 'problem of other minds,' both when mindreading is successfully accomplished and when efforts to do so fall short. Anyone who wants to better understand this subject would be well advised to read this book.' - Thomas D. Gilovich, PhD, Cornell University, USA

'In the age of neo-behaviorism and social neuroscience, this volume shows that mind still matters... Like Fritz Heider before them, Malle, Hodges, and colleagues know that the study of folk psychology offers unique scientific opportunities. The advances in theory of mind, simulation theory, and empathy research, to name a few, reassure us that the day for the total reduction of psychology has not yet come.' - Joachim I. Krueger, PhD, Brown University, USA

Table of Contents

Part I: Questions About the Phenomenon. Moses, Executive Functioning and Children's Theories of Mind. Malle, Three Puzzles of Mindreading. Davis, A "Constituent" Approach to the Study of Perspective Taking: What Are its Fundamental Elements? Hutto, Starting Without Theory: Confronting the Paradox of Conceptual Development. Part II: Reading Behavior, Reading Minds. Fernandez-Duque, Baird, Is There a "Social Brain"?: Lessons From Eye-Gaze Following, Joint Attention, and Autism. Fussell, Kraut, Gergle, Setlock, Visual Cues as Evidence of Others' Minds in Collaborative Physical Tasks. Reeder, Trafimow, Attributing Motives to Other People. Read, Miller, Explanatory Coherence and Goal-based Knowledge Structures in Making Dispositional Inferences. Part III: Reading One's Own Mind, Reading Other Minds. Decety, Perspective Taking as the Royal Avenue to Empathy. Ames, Everyday Solutions to the Problem of Other Minds: Which Tools Are Used When? Perner, Kühberger, Mental Simulation: Royal Road to Other Minds? Bogdan, Why Self-ascriptions Are Difficult and Develop Late. Part IV: Language and Other Minds. Astington, Filippova, Language as the Route into Other Minds. Barker, Givón, Representation of the Interlocutor's Mind During Conversation. Schober, Conceptual Alignment in Conversation. Uleman, On the Inherent Ambiguity of Traits and Other Mental Concepts. Part V: Limits of Mindreading. Barr, Keysar, Mindreading in an Exotic Case: The Normal Adult Human. Van Boven, Loewenstein, Empathy Gaps in Emotional Perspective Taking. Hodges, Is How Much You Understand Me in Your Head or Mine? Ickes, Simpson, Oriña, Empathic Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Close Relationships. Langdon, Theory of Mind in Schizophrenia.

About the Author(s)

Edited by Bertram F. Malle, PhD, and Sara D. Hodges, PhD, both at: Department of Psychology and Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences, University of Oregon, USA.

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