Other Minds: How Humans Bridge the Divide between Self and Others

Contemporary cognitive psychology is dominated by an individualistic and mentalistic approach to the mind. This Cartesian heritage is evident in studies of social understanding, that is, how we understand others. It is argued that this approach and metaphors like reading minds have failed, and should be replaced with a discursive approach, where public and shared socio-linguistic intenand normative activities order and shape individual mental activities.