The Simulation Theory: Objections and Misconceptions

Gordon, Robert M.

doi:10.1111/j.1468-0017.1992.tb00195.x

Cited by 228 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(3 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This allows a role for individual development of social understanding from some time in early or late infancy at least. Fur-ther, there are also non-introspectionist versions of simulation theory (e.g., Gordon 1992).…”

Section: Children's Understanding Of Mind: Constructivist But Theory-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children's social understanding within social interaction

2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Theories of children's developing understanding of mind tend to emphasize either individualistic processes of theory formation, maturation, or introspection, or the process of enculturation. However, such theories must be able to account for the accumulating evidence of the role of social interaction in the development of social understanding. We propose an alternative account, according to which the development of children's social understanding occurs within triadic interaction involving the child's experience of the world as well as communicative interaction with others about their experience and beliefs (Chapman 1991;. It is through such triadic interaction that children gradually construct knowledge of the world as well as knowledge of other people. We contend that the extent and nature of the social interaction children experience will influence the development of children's social understanding. Increased opportunity to engage in cooperative social interaction and exposure to talk about mental states should facilitate the development of social understanding. We review evidence suggesting that children's understanding of mind develops gradually in the context of social interaction. Therefore, we need a theory of development in this area that accords a fundamental role to social interaction, yet does not assume that children simply adopt socially available knowledge but rather that children construct an understanding of mind within social interaction.Keywords: language; Piaget; social interaction; theories of mind; Vygotsky; Wittgenstein et al. 1998;Symons & Clark 2000), mothers' education (Cutting & Dunn 1999), and socioeconomic circumstances (Holmes et al. 1996).Furthermore, a number of studies have found correlations between language and social understanding (e.g., Cutting & Dunn 1999; de Villers 2000; Happé 1995;Jenkins & Astington 1996). In longitudinal studies, forms of family talk about mental states have been found to be related to later success on false belief tests (e.g., Brown et al. 1996;Dunn et al. 1991a;Ruffman et al. 2002). In addition, mothers who think of their children in mentalistic terms ("mindmindedness"), and therefore, presumably talk to their children about the psychological world, have children who are more advanced in understanding beliefs than are other children (Meins & Fernyhough 1999;Meins et al. 1998). Similar correlations between family interaction and the development of children's understanding of emotions have also been reported (e.g., Dunn et al. 1991b;Hooven et al. 1995;Kuebli et al. 1995;Steele et al. 1999). In a longitudinal study, Astington and Jenkins (1999) found that earlier language abilities predict later false belief performance but earlier false belief competence does not predict later language abilities, supporting the conclusion that language is important in social cognitive development.Another source of evidence that social interaction is important for the development of a mentalistic understanding comes from research with deaf children. A number o...

show abstract

Section: Children's Understanding Of Mind: Constructivist But Theory-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children's social understanding within social interaction

2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On Gordon's (1986Gordon's ( , 1995aGordon's ( , 1995b view, an agent, when simulating another person, 'imaginatively transforms himself into the target', by taking directly the perspective of the other person, in order to predict the behavior of that person or to attribute mental states to him. On that view, the simulator does not try to see how he himself would be in the other person's situation, but rather focuses on how the world would be from the very perspective of that other person.…”

Section: Deontic and Epistemic Sentencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The term 'simulation' itself is the core term in a more recent approach in philosophy of mind and cognitive science, namely Simulation Theory (cf. Goldman, 1989Goldman, , 1995Gordon, 1986Gordon, , 1995aGordon, , 1995bHeal, 1986). Simulation Theory is a particular theory about how people ascribe propositional attitudes to others and predict or explain their behavior.…”

Section: Other Semantic Contexts Involving Inference From the First Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generic one, arbitrary PRO, and the first person

Moltmann

2006

Nat Lang Semantics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The generic pronoun one (or its empty counterpart, arbitrary PRO) exhibits a range of properties that show a special connection to the first person, or rather the relevant intentional agent (speaker, addressee, or described agent). Generic one typically leads to generic sentences whose generalization is obtained from a first-person experience or action or else is meant to be immediately applicable to the relevant agent himself (in particular the addressee). I will argue that generic one involves generic quantification in which the predicate is applied to a given entity 'as if' to the relevant agent himself. This is best understood in terms of simulation, a central notion in some recent developments in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science (Simulation Theory): Generic one involves 'generic simulation', roughly 'putting oneself into the shoes of anyone meeting relevant conditions'. Formally, this means that generic one introduces a complex variable, consisting of an ordinary variable and a 'mode of presentation' of the relevant intentional agent, namely the property of being identical to that agent. Generic one, like other pronouns acting as bound variables, may also introduce just an ordinary variable. In both cases, the ordinary variable needs to be bound by a sentential generic operator.

show abstract

“…The ST, in contrast, holds that we explain and predict a target's behavior by using our own minds as a simulation of the other person's mind (Currie & Ravenscroft, 2002;Davies & Stone, 1995b;Gordon, 1992;Heal, 1998). To explain a target's behavior, we put ourselves in another's shoes, so to speak, and imagine what our mental states would be and how we would behave if we were that agent in that particular situation.…”

Section: Theory Of Mindmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do you see what I see? How social differences influence mindreading

Spaulding

2017

Synthese

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Disagreeing with others about how to interpret a social interaction is a common occurrence. We often find ourselves offering divergent interpretations of others' motives, intentions, beliefs, and emotions. Remarkably, philosophical accounts of how we understand others do not explain, or even attempt to explain such disagreements. I argue these disparities in social interpretation stem, in large part, from the effect of social categorization and our goals in social interactions, phenomena long studied by social psychologists. I argue we ought to expand our accounts of how we understand others in order to accommodate these data and explain how such profound disagreements arise amongst informed, rational, wellmeaning individuals.

show abstract

The Simulation Theory: Objections and Misconceptions

Cited by 228 publications

References 9 publications

Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children's social understanding within social interaction

Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children's social understanding within social interaction

Generic one, arbitrary PRO, and the first person

Do you see what I see? How social differences influence mindreading

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About