Social cognition and theory of mind

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract

Different species face several social problems that need to be solved in their everyday life. The social intelligence hypothesis states that complex cognition evolved to deal with challenges in the social world. Human have a so-called 'theory of mind'; and so make inferences about others' mental states. Interest in the question of what animals understand about others has increased with regard to the evolution of 'theory of mind'. In recent years, evidence has cumulated that different species show a flexible understanding about others' current and past visual perception. This could be evidence that animals, like humans, understand some mental states.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEncyclopedia of Animal Behavior
EditorsM. Breed, J. Moore
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherAcademic Press Inc.
Pages226-230
Number of pages5
ISBN (Print)9780080453330
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2009

Keywords

  • Competition
  • Corvids
  • Gaze following
  • Group living
  • Mental state attribution
  • Perspective taking
  • Primates
  • Social cognition
  • Social intelligence
  • Theory of mind

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