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9780198572190

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`In landmark research, Povinelli goes beyond observations of the tool-using capacities of chimpanzees to investigate the cognitive sources of these capacities. His book reads like a great detective story, in which each finding provides the clues that guide the next step of the inquiry. The result is a rich and fascinating portrait of the mind of a species that is so like our own and yet so different.' Elizabeth Spelke, MIT `This is one of the most important books to appear in cognitive science in the last decade. In this rich, engaging and very important book, Povinelli describes his latest research program exploring chimpanzees' understanding of the physical world... everyone who is interested in cognition should read it - not just comparative psychologists, but philosophers, anthropologists, developmentalists, and cognitive scientists of all kinds, and curious laymen too.' Alison Gopnik, University of California at Berkeley `Povinelli and his colleagues have already led the way in revising scientists' ideas about apes' social knowledge. The clever and insightful research described in their important new book will likewise revolutionize ideas about how apes understand the physical world. it signals a fundamental change in the way we view the minds of our closest relatives and should be read by anyone interested in the development and evolution of intelligence.' Sara Shettleworth, University of Toronto `Rumours of Povinelli's revolutionary discoveries about the differences between how apes and humans think about the world have been circulating among academic colleagues - often misrepresented, sometimes only half-believed. Here now is the authorized version , and the conclusions are as compelling as they are shocking... Povinelli's research calls us back to biological reality and demonstrates how greatly human mental capacities have in fact diverged from those of our nearest relatives. The book he has written is gripping, brilliant, and brave.' Nicholas Humphrey, author of A History of the Mind and The Mind Made Flesh `Without doubt, Povinelli is the international leader of the field of non-human primate cognition, and his original and ground-breaking experimental studies have led to new understandings of the minds of monkeys and apes. His previous studies illuminated the limits of social understanding or 'folk psychology' in these animals. In this new book, Povinelli attacks a different domain, that of 'folk physics', to probe how much or how little our primate cousins understand about the important topic of physical causality. In putting their minds under his microscope, Povinelli simultaneously uncovers clues about the evolution of human cognition.' Simon Baron-Cohen, University of Cambridge

reports groundbreaking research ... challenges the assumptions so often made about apes. It offers us a rare glimpse into the workings of another mind. Ethology Ecology & Evolution The book will have broad appeal to evolutionary psychologists, developmental psychologists, and those interested in the sub-disciplines of cognitive science ... The book additionally offers for developmental psychologists some valuable new non-verbal techniques for assessing causal understanding in young children. Ethology Ecology & Evolution

... reports groundbreaking research ... challenges the assumptions so often made about apes. It offers us a rare glimpse into the workings of another mind. Ethology Ecology & Evolution The book will have broad appeal to evolutionary psychologists, developmental psychologists, and those interested in the sub-disciplines of cognitive science ... The book additionally offers for developmental psychologists some valuable new non-verbal techniques for assessing causal understanding in young children. Ethology Ecology & Evolution

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Professor Daniel Povinelli is the recipient of the James McDonnell foundation, Centennial Fellowship in Human cognition ($1,000,000)

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