title: Is a modular cognitive architecture compatible with the direct perception of mental states?
abstract: The Direct Social Perception Hypothesis maintains that we can perceive other people's psychological states. Furthermore, it claims that doing so does not require any cognitive process that is simulative or theory-like, putting it in sharp contrast with mainstream accounts of social cognition. This paper contrasts the DSPH against the modular account of mindreading as proposed by Peter Carruthers and H. Clark Barrett. It maintains that the modularity view can respond to the challenges levelled by the DSPH, and that the positions are not as distinct as they originally appear. Finally, the paper discusses the role of non-folk psychological state concepts in our perceptions of other people.
authors: School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Electronic address: j.s.lavelle@ed.ac.uk.
authors: Jane Suilin
authors: JS
authors: Lavelle
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Computational theory of mind; Direct perception; Mindreading; Modularity; Social cognition