The Imitative Mind: Development, Evolution and Brain Bases (Cambridge Studies in Cognitive and Perceptual Development, Series Number 6) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1107403278 ISBN 13: 9781107403277

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Modern research demonstrates that imitation is more complex and interesting than classical theories proposed. Monkeys do not imitate whereas humans are prolific imitators. This book provides an analysis of empirical work on imitation and shows how much can be learned through interdisciplinary research ranging from cells to individuals, apes to men, and babies to adults. Covering diverse perspectives on a great puzzle of human psychology, the book is multidisciplinary in its approach to revealing how and why we imitate.

About this title

Book Description

Modern research demonstrates that imitation is more complex and interesting than classical theories proposed. Monkeys do not imitate; but humans are prolific imitators. This book provides analysis of empirical work on imitation and shows how much can be learned through interdisciplinary research ranging from cells to individuals, apes to men, and babies to adults. The book is multidisciplinary, taking diverse perspectives on a great puzzle of human psychology: how and why do we imitate and what does it tell us about the encoding of self and others within our brains?

About the Author

Andrew N. Meltzoff studied psychology at Harvard and Oxford (D. Phil. 1976). He has been a full professor at the University of Washington since 1988. In 2000 he was named Director of the UW Center for Mind, Brain and Learning. Meltzoff is the recipient of a National Institute of Health Merit Award for outstanding research. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and a foreign member of the Norwegian National Academy of Science and Letters. He is the co-author of Words, Thoughts and Theories (1997) and The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us about the Mind (1999). Wolfgang Prinz studied Psychology, Philosophy and Zoology at the University of Muenster, Germany. He took his Ph.D. in 1970 at the Dept. of Psychology at the University of Bielefeld (1975-1990) and at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (1990-1998). Since 1990 he is the Director at the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, Munich. He has published empirical and theoretical work on perception, action, consciousness and attention as well as on the history of psychology.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1107403278
• ISBN 13: 9781107403277
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 364
• Editor: Meltzoff Andrew N., Prinz Wolfgang