Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of MindIn Mindblindness, Simon Baron-Cohen presents a model of the evolution and development of "mindreading." He argues that we mindread all the time, effortlessly, automatically, and mostly unconsciously. It is the natural way in which we interpret, predict, and participate in social behavior and communication. We ascribe mental states to people: states such as thoughts, desires, knowledge, and intentions. Building on many years of research, Baron-Cohen concludes that children with autism, suffer from "mindblindness" as a result of a selective impairment in mindreading. For these children, the world is essentially devoid of mental things. Baron-Cohen develops a theory that draws on data from comparative psychology, from developmental, and from neuropsychology. He argues that specific neurocognitive mechanisms have evolved that allow us to mindread, to make sense of actions, to interpret gazes as meaningful, and to decode "the language of the eyes." A Bradford Book |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 29
Page xv
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 12
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 18
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 19
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 32
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ability action adaptive adults agent amygdala animal Baron-Cohen behavior belief biological blind bonobo brain build triadic chapter child children with autism chimpanzees cognitive complex computational Cosmides cues deficits Dennett Design Stance desires detection Detector Developmental dyadic emotion evidence evolution evolutionary psychology evolved example eye contact eye direction face Figure Frith function gaze genetic goal Gopnik human Humphrey Humphrey's idea identify impaired infants intention Intentional Stance interpret joint attention language Leslie looking mechanisms mental handicap mental-state terms mentalistic mindblindness mindreading system modularity module monkey natural selection normal children object organism perception Perner Perrett person Pinker play predict Premack pretend primates problems proposed sense shared attention Simon Baron-Cohen social interaction someone species stimuli studies suggest superior temporal sulcus Temple Grandin theory of mind things tion TOMM triadic representation understanding Uta Frith visual Wellman Wendy Phillips Whiten