Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"This is an important work in a rapidly changing field. The editors and contributors attempt to explain the always-elusive concept of self-awareness. The also attempt to explain that perhaps uniquely human quality of realizing that other, also, are self-aware, and how this ability is crucial in normal human development. Unlike may other books on this subject, the editors approach the concept from several different perspectives and succeed in offering an explanation using all these modalities. The book's usefulness is perhaps limited to researchers and child/development psychologists, but anyone interested in the subject will find it exciting reading."--Doody's
"Updated to integrate changes in theory, method, and data since the 1933 first edition, which was subtitled Perspectives from Autism, 21 studies cover the theory of mind from perspectives of normal development and autism, neurobiological aspects, clinical aspects, and anthropological and evolutionary issues. The range of topics is reflected in the disciplines from which the contributors hail. Among the specific concerns are developmental relationships between language and the theory of mind, the role of the frontal lobes and the amygdala, early diagnosis of autism, teaching the theory of mind to people with autism, whether chimpanzees use their gestures to instruct each other, and paleo-anthropological perspectives."--SciTech Book News
"Understanding Other Minds is a well thought-out text, with all the chapter authors achieving a very high standard of presentation. The book provides an excellent introduction for readers new to the area while also providing an important research synthesis for the more expert. It contains a wealth of material of obvious relevance and interest to psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and developmental psychologists, but will also be of interest to those working in other branches of psychology."--Psychological Medicine
Synopsis
This book is based on several talks and papers presented by Mahbub ul Haq. It is organized in two parts, the first dealing with an emerging development paradigm, and the second with the imperative for a new international dialogue on topics central to human development such as a peace agenda
for the Third World.
Table of Contents
PART I: Introduction
1. An Introduction to the Debate, H. Tager-Flusberg, D. Cohen and S. Baron-Cohen
2. Early Understanding of Mind: The Normal Case, H. Wellman
3. Social Development in Autism: Historical and Clinical Perspectives, F. Volkmar and A. Klin
PART II: The Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis of Autism: The Cognitive Approach
4. From Attention-Goal Psychology to Belief-Desire Psychology: The Development of a Theory of Mind, and Its Dysfunction, S. Baron-Cohen
5. What Autism Teaches Us about Metarepresentation, A. Leslie and D. Roth
6. The Theory-of-Mind Deficit in Autism: Rethinking the Metarepresentation Theory, J. Perner
7. What Language Reveals about the Understanding of Minds in Children with Autism, H. Tager-Flusberg
8. The Theory-of-Mind Deficit in Autism: Evidence from Deception, B. Sodian and U. Frith
PART III: The Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis of Autism: Critical Perspectives
9. The Theory-of-Mind and Joint-Attention Deficits in Autism, P. Mundy, M. Sigman, and C. Kasari
10. Understanding Persons: The Role of Affect, P. Hobson
11. Pretending and Planning, P. Harris
12. Narrative Language in Autism and the Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis: A Wider Perspective, K. Loveland and B. Tunali
13. Theories of Mind and the Problem of Autism, J. Bruner and C. Feldman
14. The Complexity of Social Behavior in Autism, C. Lord
15. The Development of Individuals with Autism: Implications for the Theory-of-Mind Hypothesis, A. Klin and F. Volkmar
PART IV: Wider Perspectives
16. The Role of Imitation in Understanding Persons and Developing a Theory of Mind, A. Meltzoff and A. Gopnik
17. Evolving a Theory of Mind: The Nature of Non-verbal Mentalism in Other Primates, A. Whiten
18. The Comparative Study of Early Communication and Theories of Mind: Ontogeny, Phylogeny, and Pathology, J.C. Gomez, E. Sarria, and J. Tamarit
19. Autism and the Theory of Mind: Some Philosophical Perspectives, J. Samet
20. Desire and Fantasy: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on the Theory of Mind and Autism, L. Mayes, D. Cohen, and A. Klin
21. The Theory-of-Mind Deficit in Autism: Some Questions for Teaching and Diagnosis, S. Baron-Cohen and P. Howlin
22. The Place of this Book in Autism Research, M. Rutter