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 presents theories and empirical findings on this essential topic.
In the age of neo-behaviorism and social neuroscience, this volume shows that mind still matters. Malle and Hodges have brought together a stellar group of investigators to probe the ways in which people perceive and think about 'other minds.' 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, Department of Psychology, Brown UniversityOnce 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, Department of Psychology, Harvard UniversityA great many scholars have noted the inherent difficulty of trying to discern the contents of other minds--a difficulty, it is now clear, we all try to overcome by employing a variety of inferential tools. Fittingly, this excellent and timely volume likewise 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, Department of Psychology, Cornell UniversityIn recent years, the study of 'other minds' has promised the possibility of a rapprochement among various branches of the psychological sciences. This volume achieves this reconciliation as developmental, social, and abnormal psychologies are brought together with linguistic and communication sciences and the burgeoning area of social cognitive neuroscience. Encyclopedic in its range, it will serve as a handbook for all those committed to explaining the human capacity for social understanding.--Chris Moore, PhD, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada-The material in this volume should be a considerable interest to clinicians interested in matters pertaining to empathy, mentalization, projective identification, and countertransference effects.--Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 1/10/2007ffStimulating and provocative and points to future developments.--The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1/10/2007
