Understanding Other Minds Perspectives from Autism

by Baron-Cohen, Simon; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Cohen, Donald J.

• ISBN13: 9780192620545
• ISBN10: 0192620541
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-06-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book focuses on the "theory of mind" hypothesis, an important new psychological approach to autism. The theory asserts that autistic children fail to develop the ability to think about mental states--a "theory of mind"--unlike other children, and thus fail to conceptualize behavior in terms of mental processes. Proponents argue that this psychological deficit underlies some of the key features of autism, such as abnormalities in social and communication development. The editors have collected both the evidence and the controversies surrounding the theory, and present a valuable discussion about the nature of what is widely recognized as the most severe childhood psychological disorder. The chapters are written by distinguished scholars from a variety of disciplines, including developmental psychology, neuropsychology, philosophy, psycho-linguistics, primatology, and psychoanalysis.

Table of Contents

Introduction

An Introduction to the Debate

Early Understanding of Mind: The Normal Case

Social Development in Autism: Historical and Clinical Perspectives

The Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis of Autism: The Cognitive Approach

From Attention-Goal Psychology to Belief-Desire Psychology: The Development of a Theory of Mind, and Its Dysfunction

What Autism Teaches Us about Metarepresentation

The Theory-of-Mind Deficit in Autism: Rethinking the Metarepresentation Theory

What Language Reveals about the Understanding of Minds in Children with Autism

The Theory-of-Mind Deficit in Autism: Evidence from Deception

The Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis of Autism: Critical Perspectives

The Theory-of-Mind and Joint-Attention Deficits in Autism

Understanding Persons: The Role of Affect

Pretending and Planning

Narrative Language in Autism and the Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis: A Wider Perspective

Theories of Mind and the Problem of Autism

The Complexity of Social Behavior in Autism

The Development of Individuals with Autism: Implications for the Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis

Wider Perspectives

The Role of Imitation in Understanding Persons and Developing a Theory of Mind

Evolving a Theory of Mind: The Nature of Non-verbal Mentalism in Other Primates

The Comparative Study of Early Communication and Theories of Mind: Ontogeny, Phylogeny, and Pathology

Autism and the Theory of Mind: Some Philosophical Perspectives

Desire and Fantasy: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on the Theory of Mind and Autism

The Theory-of-Mind Deficit in Autism: Some Questions for Teaching and Diagnosis

The Place of this Book in Autism Research

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