Origins of the Social Mind

This book focuses on the evolutionary and developmental origins of the social mind. Written by leading scientists in the field, the book brings together the currently segregated views on social cognition in the two fields.

During the ? rst few years of life, children acquire knowledge about the relati- ships between their own mental states, their actions, and the social world. This information is then used to understand themselves and others. Humans are born into families, where they are raised and learn to cooperate, compete, and c- municate. We are social creatures, and over the course of development, we learn about people, relationships, social systems, and others' minds. In addition, not only do we live socially, we think socially as well. However, human adults are not the only creatures to live and think socially. In recent years, sophisticated expe- ments have provided new information about social cognition in human infants and nonhuman animals. In this book, we focus on the developmental and evolutionary origins of the social mind, bringing together the currently segregated views on social cognition in the two ? elds. Ever since the term theory of mind was coined by D. Premack nearly 30 years ago, the concept has been the main topic of social cognition research both in developmental psychology and in primatology. However, few attempts have been made to integrate these two research domains. Just recently, researchers from the two areas collaborated to publish a book on this topic, but the volume was little more than a collection of independent papers. This book overcomes that limitation by presenting new data and their implications from both developmental and evolutionary points of view.

From the reviews:

"Origins of the Social Mind is a collection of papers that unites the latest empirical findings and conceptual insights from cognitive development, and primate and avian cognition, written by some of the leading researchers in the respective fields. The chapters are organized into two parts. Overall, Shoji Itakura and Kazuo Fujita edited a valuable, interesting book. Its comprehensiveness and the novelty of the research ensure its appeal to anyone with a vested interest in the question of how the social mind develops." (Henrike Moll, Primates, Vol. 50, 2009)

Contenu
Phylogeny of Social Cognition.- Social Intelligence in Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella).- Communication Between Mother and Infant Chimpanzees and Its Role in the Evolution of Social Intelligence.- Primates' Use of Others' Gaze.- How to Build a Scrub-Jay that Reads Minds.- Cooperation in Keas: Social and Cognitive Factors.- Ontogeny of Social Cognition.- Differences Between Acting as if One Is Experiencing Pain and Acting as if One Is Pretending to Have Pain Among Actors at Three Expertise Levels.- Homo Negotiatus: Ontogeny of the Unique Ways Humans Own, Share and Reciprocate.- Little Liars: Origins of Verbal Deception in Children.- Discovering Mind: Development of Mentalizing in Human Children.- Emergence of the Social Mind: Two Perspectives.