Title: Folk physics for apes : the chimpanzee's theory of how the world works /
Authors: Povinelli, Daniel J.
Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Year: 2000
Subjects: Tool use in animals; Chimpanzees Behavior; Chimpanzees Psychology; Psychology, Comparative.; Cognition in animals.; Pan troglodytes psychology; Cognition; Problem Solving; Psychology, Comparative; Psychomotor Performance
Abstract: "Folk physics for apes outlines a new perspective on the innermost workings of the chimpanzee's mind. It offers a glimpse into the mental life of another species, examining how apes perceive and understand the physical world - an understanding that appears to be both similar to, and yet profoundly different from our own. In teasing apart the human and ape ways of understanding the world, it represents a new goal for all of those interested in mental evolution: to begin to pursue the spectacular mental differences that exist between humans and other animals as vigorously as we have previously pursued the similarities. This book will have broad appeal to evolutionary psychologists, developmental psychologists, comparative psychologists, and all of the subdisciplines of cognitive science (philosophy, cognitive psychology, anthropology). In addition, the book offers developmental psychologists a wealth of valuable new non-verbal techniques for assessing causal understanding in young children."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: An initial word about 'folk physics' -- 1. Folk physics cannot be assumed -- 2. Escaping the argument by analogy -- 3. Causality, tool use, and folk physics: a comparative approach -- 4. The trap-tube problem -- 5. The trap-table problem -- 6. The inverted- and broken-rake problems -- 7. The flimsy-tool problem -- 8. The tool-insertion problem: the question of shape -- 9. The rope, hook, touching-stick, and related problems: the question of physical connection -- 10. The support problem: physical connection revisited -- 11. The bendable-tool and tool-construction problems: the question of tool modification -- 12. Toward a folk physics for chimpanzees.