Chimpanzees understand psychological states - the question is which ones and to what extent

M Tomasello*, J Call, B Hare

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

New data suggest that relatively drastic revisions are needed in our theoretical accounts of what other animal species understand about the psychological states of others. Specifically, chimpanzees seem to understand some things about what others do and do not see, or have and have not seen in the immediate past, as well as some things about others' goal-directed activities. This is especially so in competitive situations. They clearly do not have a human-like theory of mind, however, and so the challenge is to specify precisely how ape and human social cognition are similar and different.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)153-156
Number of pages4
JournalTrends in Cognitive Sciences
Volume7
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2003

Keywords

  • SOCIAL COGNITION
  • PAN-TROGLODYTES
  • CONSPECIFICS
  • CHILDREN
  • FOLLOW
  • GAZE

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