Do Apes Read Minds? A talk from Dr. Kristin Andrews
Do Apes Read Minds?
A talk from Dr. Kristin Andrews
Typically, folk psychology is understood narrowly as
mindreading—attributing beliefs and desires to others. In my book Do
Apes Read Minds? Toward a New Folk Psychology, I defend a new way of
understanding folk psychology that is informed by the best science in
social psychology, developmental psychology, and comparative cognition
research. On the view I develop, the folk do not understand one
another primarily as receptacles of propositional attitudes, but
rather as whole persons with histories, social contexts,
personalities, moods, emotions, and so forth. Folk psychology is
pluralistic in two dimensions—there are different kinds of practices
(e.g. prediction, explanation, justification, coordination,
regulation) and different cognitive tools (e.g. stereotype building
and activation, personality trait attribution, mood or emotion
attribution, knowledge about the situation, inductive reasoning about
past behavior, generalization from self, as well as propositional
attitude attribution) that can be involved in a particular folk
psychological act. Our understanding of others’ beliefs and desires
is derivative of this more basic understanding, and I argue that the
need to think about beliefs and desires is rare—one that arises, for
example, when a person deviates from expected behavior, or violates
the norms of society. This position informs research on the evolution
of mindreading abilities, and how to examine the distribution of the
ability across species.
When: Friday February 1st, 7pm
Where: The Bahen Centre for Information Technology, Room 2135- 40 St. George Street
How Much: $10. FREE for CFI Members (please email jwarner@cficanada.ca to confirm space)
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and
Cognitive Science Program at York University, in Toronto, Canada. My
interests in animal and child social cognition and communication have
always extended beyond the library, and I have worked with dolphins in
Hawaii (Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory), children in Minnesota
(Institute for Child Development), and, most recently, orangutans in
Borneo (Samboja Lestari Reintroduction Project). My main research
interests are, broadly, animal cognition and folk psychology.
My book, Do Apes Read Minds? Toward a New Folk Psychology (MIT 2012)
is a criticism of the mainstream folk psychology and theory of mind
debates, and I develop a novel account of folk psychology, arguing
that most of the behaviors associated with folk psychology do not
require the attribution of propositional attitudes. This book
integrates philosophical research with empirical work done with human
children and great apes, as does my other publications on ape theory
of mind.
I also work on philosophical issues in scientific methodology, and
since I think that a good philosopher of science should engage in
scientific research, I do so whenever I can. In addition to my early
research on the young child’s ability to explain false belief
scenarios, I have recently collaborated with Dr. Anne Russon to
publish on orangutan pantomime behavior. My interest in scientific
methodology has led me to publish on the question of anthropomorphism
in comparative cognition studies.
I am currently working on a book The Critter Mind contracted with
Routledge Press, which will address philosophical issues related to
animal cognition. I am the author of the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy entry “Animal Cognition”, as well as co-author of “Animal
Ethics” for the forthcoming International Encyclopedia of Ethics
(Wiley-Blackwell), and author of “Primatology and Social Science” and
“Folk Psychology” for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Philosophy and
the Social Sciences (Sage).
In addition to my academic research, I am a member of the Executive
Board for the NGO Borneo Orangutan Society Canada.