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Mindreading, Mindshaping, and Evolution

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Abstract

I present and apply some powerful tools for studying humanevolution and the impact of cultural resourceson it. The tools in question are a theory ofniche construction and a theory about theevolutionary significance of extragenetic (and,in particular, of psychological and social)inheritance. These tools are used to show howculturally transmitted resources can berecruited by development and becomegeneratively entrenched. The case study isconstituted by those culturally transmitteditems that social psychologists call`expectancies'. Expectancy effects aremindshaping effects of our mindreadingdispositions. I show how expectancies may havebeen recruited by important human developmentalprocesses (like those involved in languageacquisition and those responsible for genderdifferences) and how they may have becomeentrenched. If the hypothesis is correct, therelation between mindreading and humanevolution is more intricate than usuallythought.

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  1. Philosophy Department, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK

    Matteo Mameli

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Mameli, M. Mindreading, Mindshaping, and Evolution. Biology & Philosophy 16, 595–626 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012203830990

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