MINDREADING - Hardcover

O'Connell, S

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434002690 ISBN 13: 9780434002696

Publisher: Random House UK, 1997

Synopsis

An Investigation into How We Learn to Lie O'Connell, Sanjida

About this title

Review

"We are primates who are experts in deceit, double-dealing, lying, cheating, conniving, and concealing." So says science writer Sanjida O'Connell, but we needn't take her word for it--she lets the facts speak for themselves. Citing research conducted with monkeys, apes, and both normal and autistic children, she creates a highly accessible introduction to theory of mind, the ability of most humans (and possibly some animals) to conceive of and infer the mental states of others.

Mindreading discusses research in such fascinating and controversial areas as animal communication, artificial intelligence, and education of autistic children. From remarkable displays of grief and deception in chimpanzees to the equally remarkable lack of such qualities in human sufferers of Asperger's syndrome, the facts presented in this book challenge the ways we think about ourselves and others and upset our notions of what it means to be human. Mindreading itself changes from a science fiction cliché into a perfectly ordinary faculty most of us perform unconsciously all day, every day.

Authors who write about subjects of such fundamental importance to us often also touch on the problems of morality, and O'Connell is no exception. Her closing chapter, "The Moral Mind," explores gender differences in moral reasoning and how they may be based on differences in perceptions of others. Amid further speculation about animal and robot morals, she expresses the belief (and hope) that morality arises from theory of mind and that improvement in the way we see others will lead to improvement in the way we treat them. --Rob Lightner

From Kirkus Reviews

A researcher into primate behavior has turned her Ph.D. thesis on Theory of Mind in chimpanzees into an engaging look at how we humans understand what is going on in each others' minds. ``Theory of Mind is the hallmark of humanity,'' explains O'Connell, for it is the ability to understand that other people have thoughts, desires, and beliefs about the world, thus enabling us to handle complex social relationships and ultimately to develop a moral code. O'Connell, who writes for both academic journals and the popular press in England (the Guardian, the Observer, etc.) examines the nature of this ability and how its foundations are present in very young children and some animals. Her reports on studies with infants and children, which reveal the intermediate steps in the development of Theory of Mind, are fascinating, as are her descriptions of her own and other primatologists work on the mental abilities of chimpanzees, baboons, gorillas, and other apes. We are shown how the ability to lie develops and how the power of the imagination leads to the evolution of empathy and compassion. What happens when Theory of Mind is missing or deficient is demonstrated in her discussions of research on autistic individuals and those with Asperger's syndrome (often called high-functioning autistics, for they may be very intelligent, yet they are unable to show empathy and have poor social and communication skills). Moving on from living creatures to machines, O'Connell is willing to speculate on the possibility of building robots with minds. Her conclusion, supported by accounts of some robots under development, is that we may soon have robots with a simple version of Theory of Mind or perhaps robots that, in a limited context, act as if they have it. Both highly readable and enlighteningscience made simple, not simplistic. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House UK
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0434002690
• ISBN 13: 9780434002696
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272