Cross-cultural considerations in social cognition

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract / Description of output

How do we understand other people’s behaviours? The standard answer, according to our best philosophy of mind textbooks and social cognition papers, is that we understand another’s behaviour by attributing beliefs and desires to them, and this practice of attributing beliefs and desires to others in order to explain and predict their behaviours is known as ‘commonsense’ or ‘folk’ psychology. These epithets were intended to capture the humdrum nature of such explanations: one need not be a professional psychologist to apply them; any person, without any formal training, can, and indeed does, create explanations of their own behaviours and those of others using the belief-desire framework. It is, as Fodor puts it, the daily psychological strategy deployed by the ‘Man on the Clapham Omnibus’ (1985/1993, p. 272).
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the Social Mind
EditorsJulian Kiverstein
Place of PublicationAbingdon; New York
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter10
Pages172-188
Number of pages17
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9781315530178
ISBN (Print)9781138827691
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Dec 2016

Publication series

NameRoutledge Handbooks in Philosophy
PublisherRoutledge

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