Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Editors
Marjolijn H. Verspoor Wilbert Spooren
University of Groningen Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Advisory Board
Walter Daelemans Leo Noordman
University of Antwerp Tilburg University
Cliff Goddard Martin Ptz
University of New England University of Koblenz-Landau
Roeland van Hout
Radboud University Nijmegen
Volume 12
The Shared Mind. Perspectives on intersubjectivity
Edited by Jordan Zlatev, Timothy P. Racine, Chris Sinha and Esa Itkonen
The Shared Mind
Perspectives on intersubjectivity
Edited by
Jordan Zlatev
Lund University, Copenhagen Business School
Timothy P. Racine
Simon Fraser University
Chris Sinha
University of Portsmouth
Esa Itkonen
University of Turku
The shared mind : perspectives on intersubjectivity / edited by Jordan Zlatev ... [et al.].
p. cm. (Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, issn
1566-7774 ; v. 12)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Intersubjectivity. 2. Language and languages. 3. Communication. 4. Evolution. I.
Zlatev, Jordan.
P107.S535 2008
401--dc22 2008015388
isbn 978 90 272 3900 6 (Hb; alk. paper)
Part I. Development
Colwyn Trevarthen
has to move our self. With compassion we can see causes of actions in another,
even causes that they themselves fail to comprehend or control. All teaching and
therapy, indeed all cooperative activities, depend on this sympathetic insight into
motive impulses and emotions in human moving. I believe that all the inventions
of culture, including the evolving languages that distinguish our different societ-
ies, and the arts and technologies that are necessary instruments of communal life
and treasures of our history, grow from the ability that every young infant has to
enter into the co-creation of a proto-conversational narrative with an entranced
parent. Our stories of meaning are built on mimetic skills we have inherited from
highly sociable animal ancestors, but we are born with new motives for fictional
elaboration of rituals. Even our personality, the who we are and the narrative
of what we have done and known, grants us the role of one protagonist in a so-
cial drama where significant others live as supportive allies or contentious rivals
(Trevarthen 1993, 1998a, 1998b). Thus we become companions or aliens in rela-
tion to a meaningful world. Shared minds create all we know.
Reading this book we sense the authors are glad to be free of a prison built of
ideas that are unaware and unsympathetic of how we really live. They present an an-
tithesis to the computational or representational mind, and seek to define the special
human mind, which is not just conscious and rational, but has a unique intersubjec-
tive awareness that makes up explanations of a shared and artificial world a mind
that builds cultures with power to change nature. Given the exploratory nature of
the topic, inevitably, they come to somewhat different conclusions.
Because several authors make generous reference to my research on commu-
nication in infancy, and the theory of Innate Intersubjectivity I was rash enough
to propose 30 years ago, I feel I should explain the particular scientific experience
that supported the project, and the influence of teachers and colleagues who were
ahead of me in the story. I was trained as a student of biology to master ways of
observing in detail how plants grow and how animals move in adaptive ways. My
undergraduate teachers were plant ecologists, physiologists and ethologists. My
PhD research was on the experimental neuropsychology of visual consciousness
in monkeys with Roger Sperry, who had proposed in 1952 that perceiving must be
understood as information picked up to guide moving that the science of con-
sciousness or mind in the brain should begin by asking how the brain moves the
body in intelligent ways (Sperry 1952). My experiments with split-brain monkeys
proved that willing to do something can indeed determine what a brain sees.
I began work with infants in 1967, in collaboration in with Jerome Bruner,
who wished to examine infant cognition and learning in a different way from
Piagets experiments on infants object concepts; Berry Brazelton, who was pi-
oneering more sensitive and responsive paediatric care for newborns and their
mothers (Brazelton 1979); and Martin Richards, an ethologist of mammalian
Foreword ix
aternal behaviour. Our aim was to observe what came about, rather than exper-
m
iment with a priori hypotheses about infant perception or cognition to record
in as complete detail as possible what could be seen and heard when a mother and
infant were communicating, and to compare it with what the baby would do when
oriented to an inanimate object. We saw complex conversation-like engagements
in which both infant and mother exhibited intuitive competence for sharing their
impulses, and we realised that there was no science to explain this. At about the
same time two other persons anthropologist and linguist Mary Catherine Bate-
son, and developmental psychiatrist Daniel Stern were discovering the same
phenomena and attributing them to innate motivations of an intersubjective kind
(Bateson 1979; Stern 1971). We were, without knowing one another, exploring
out of the psychological box, free to observe the cleverness in infants and their
companions and free to speculate about their significance for human relation-
ships and for cultural learning. All of us were entranced by the infants rhythmic
sympathy with a parents attempts to communicate, and their joint inventiveness.
Through the 1970s, using film and television to record and patiently micro-
analyse, I charted age-related changes in the play and attributed them to innate
motives, the development of new sensory and motor competences in the infant,
and sensitive intuitive support from the mother (Trevarthen 1974). I took the
term intersubjectivity from an inspiring article Joanna Ryan wrote on the de-
velopment of communicative competence before language (Ryan 1974), and her
comparison of the infants tactics with those Jrgen Habermas had defined as the
intersubjective functions or dialogic universals through which conversational
exchanges and cooperative meaning-making are regulated in society (Habermas
1970). At the same time Jerome Bruner led a neo-Vygotskian transformation of
developmental and educational theory that gave primacy to collaborative learning
in meaningful tasks (Bruner 1968, 1990). Children gain the skills and language of
their culture, and learn how to manage the material world in cooperative ways,
by way of their will to share purposes, interests and objects (Sinha and Rodrguez
this volume).
One of my young colleagues, Penelope Hubley, making a careful longitudi-
nal study of mother-infant companionship in the early 1970s, observed changes
from proto-conversations of two-month-olds, through play in games, first of the
body, then with shared interest in objects, to the remarkable transformation of
the infants motives at 9 months when the baby became a different kind of partner
in intent participation (Hubley and Trevarthen 1979). The enjoyment of play-
ful rituals by six-month olds in games with expressive gestures or toys, enjoying
at a new ritualised level the teasing meta-communication that Gregory Bateson
had identified as the critical element in animal play (Bateson 1955), was replaced
by a more serious intent to do work with objects that had some potential for
Colwyn Trevarthen
References
Trevarthen, C. 1999. Musicality and the Intrinsic Motive Pulse: Evidence from human psy-
chobiology and infant communication. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue, 19992000,
Rhythms, musical narrative, and the origins of human communication, 157213. Lige:
European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music.
Trevarthen, C. 2008. The musical art of infant conversation: Narrating in the time of sympa-
thetic experience, without rational interpretation, before words. In Musicae Scientiae, Spe-
cial Issue Narrative in music and interaction. (in press), M. Imberty & M. Gratier (eds).
Lige: European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music.
Zlatev, J. this volume. The co-evolution of intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis.
chapter 1
Intersubjectivity
What makes us human?
1. Introduction
The title of this book, The Shared Mind, conforms to a linguistic schema The
X Mind that has become common within the interdisciplinary fields of cogni-
tive science and consciousness studies. The current volume thus stands in a line
of succession from The Embodied Mind (Varela, Thompson and Rosch 1992), The
Discursive Mind (Harr and Gillet 1994), The Conscious Mind (Chalmers 1996),
The Extended Mind (Clark and Chalmers 1998) and The Social Mind (Valsiner
and van der Veer 2000). Like some of its predecessors, The Shared Mind advances
an anti-thesis to the classical Computational (Jackendoff 1987) or Representa-
tional Mind (Fodor 1987), with its oft-criticised neglect of the role of the body,
phenomenal experience, social interaction and culture.
At the same time, the present volume advances a position (or rather, a set of re-
lated positions) that has not been sufficiently explored by its predecessors. Non-hu-
man animals also have an embodied mind, and there are no good reasons to deny
that at least birds and mammals also have a conscious mind (Edelman1992).
However, although other species may have varying degrees of awareness, they do
not seem be fully aware of the subjectivity of others. And whereas human beings
go on to engage in discursive practices and rely on material and symbolic culture,
both of which have powerful formative effects on the human mind, something
more ontogenetically and phylogenetically basic seems required to be able to ben-
efit from these central aspects of human social life. This foundation seems to be
provided by a uniquely human capacity for intersubjectivity.
In the simplest terms, intersubjectivity is understood by the authors repre-
sented in this book as the sharing of experiential content (e.g., feelings, perceptions,
thoughts, and linguistic meanings) among a plurality of subjects. Although some
non-human species manifest some aspects of the capacity or capacities that make
up intersubjectivity, they appear to lack others. On the other hand, no human be-
ing is entirely devoid of the human intersubjective potential even though they
Jordan Zlatev et al.
There is a primary separation between the self and (the minds of) others.
The individual must bridge this separation either by some form of theory or
simulation of the others mind, a process that is more or less fallible.
The main bodily structures that are directly relevant for the process are
those innate or acquired modules engaged in the inferential or simulation
processes.
Cognition develops essentially from the inside out, with innate or acquired
cognitive skills being eventually transferred or projected onto others for the
purpose of explaining and predicting their behaviour.
From such a point of departure, it is unsurprising that there appears to be not only
a divide, but a veritable gulf between self and others, one that is so wide that it is
doubtful whether it could ever truly be bridged. Such a pessimistic assessment of
the human condition is hard to justify how, if it were so, would young children
be able to coordinate their basic activities with others, and eventually acquire a
shared public language? How could we account for such universal forms of hu-
man experience as mutual affection and sympathy? In contrast to the four claims
. In stating this we are aware that profound and multiple intellectual impairments may raise
empirical questions about this claim, but we make it as a generalization with a fundamental
theoretical status. We also stress that, even given cases of empirical doubt, our claim does not
imply that such individuals should be thought of as not having the status of human beings.
Intersubjectivity: What makes us human?
listed above, the contributors to the present volume broadly agree on the follow-
ing propositions:
The main precursors and originators of these views in the last century were
Husserl, Vygotsky and Wittgenstein. Husserl, the founder of phenomenology,
has only recently been properly understood in the Anglo-Saxon world to be con-
cerned not with the nature of private experience, but with structures of experience
which give us a common life-world, serving as the pre-condition of any objectivity
(Zahavi2003; Moran 2005). Furthermore, he was the first modern thinker to em-
phasize the role of the body for the emotional tone and the perceptual richness of
the life-world, and for our transparent relations with others (cf. Gallagher 2005).
For example, he stated:
I do not first constitute my things and my world solipsistically, then grasp by em-
pathy the other I which too grasps itself solipsistically as constituting its world,
and then and only then, the constituted unity of both are to be identified; my self
unity (Sinneinheit) exists because of the facts that the foreign multiplicity is not
different from mine, it is eo ipso the same
(Husserliana 14:10, translated and quoted by Moran 2005:225)
Other scholars such as Merleau-Ponty (1962), Scheler (1954) and Schutz (1966)
continued this tradition and developed complementary accounts of intersubjec-
tivity (cf. Zahavi 2001) whose common theme is that the basic forms of under-
standing others are not inferential, but rather direct (cf. the chapter by Gallagher
and Hutto). Scheler stresses the implications of this for accounts of perception in
a way that is reminiscent of J. J. Gibsons (1979) ecological psychology:
For we certainly believe ourselves to be directly acquainted with another persons
joy in his laughter, with his sorrow and pain in tears, with his shame in blushing,
with his entreaty in his outstretched hands And with the tenor of his thoughts
in the sound of his words. If anyone tells me that this is not perception, for it
Jordan Zlatev et al.
cannot be so, in view of the fact that a perception is simply a complex of physical
sensations I would beg him to turn aside from such questionable theories and
address himself to the phenomenological facts.
(Scheler 1954, cited in Gallagher 2005:228)
Compare Scheler also to the later Wittgenstein (1980:570), who similarly at-
tempted to dispel the myth of the isolated subject:
We see emotion. As opposed to what? We do not see facial contortions
and make the inference that he is feeling joy, grief, boredom. We describe a face
immediately as sad, radiant, bored, even when we are unable to give any other
description of the features.
Like Wittgenstein, the crucial social semiotic mediational tool for Vygotsky was
language, but he also considered the role of other semiotic resources such as arti-
facts and gestures (cf. the chapters by Rodrguez and Moro; Sinha and Rodrguez)
in the childs cultural development.
Intersubjectivity: What makes us human?
3. Perspectives
Although there is a good deal of coherence between the positions of the phenom-
enologists, Wittgenstein and Vygotsky (as well as those of other classic theorists
who feature in the discussions in the following chapters, such as Durkheim, Mead
and Bateson) with respect to what they reject that is, the notion of a monadic,
individual mind, ultimately incapable of reaching out beyond its confines to the
world and others there are important differences between the positions that
they advocate. In a similar vein, while all the authors represented here agree on
the crucial role of intersubjectivity in human communication and consciousness
of self and other, they offer (as the subtitle of this volume suggests) different an-
swers to questions such as the following:
Because they are addressed within the chapters that follow, we will not attempt
to answer these questions here. But we wish to highlight the following points of
(possible) disagreement between some of the authors, to which the reader may
wish to pay special attention:
The chapters by Gallagher and Hutto, Barresi and Moore and Zlatev adopt
stage-based accounts of the development (and evolution) of intersubjectivity,
while Brinck argues for more continuous development, involving partially
independent capacities.
The chapters by Pika, Zlatev and Verhagen focus on both continuities and
discontinuities between animal and human intersubjectivity, while Leavens,
Hopkins and Bard find support for a strong form of continuity, prior to the
emergence of language.
Hobson and Hobson base their account of autism on an impairment of a spe-
cifically human capacity for identification with others, while Brinck seeks an
account in which more simple skills and developmental patterns combine
and interact in order to yield more general cognitive and emotional endow-
ments.
Susswein and Racine argue that intersubjectivity is primarily a taxonomic
term, used to group together certain kinds of social interactions which we by
definition take to involve one or another form of experiential sharing, rather
than a term denoting hidden mental or neurological processes (in contradis-
tinction to e.g., Barresi and Moore).
Finally, while most authors adopt a definition of intersubjectivity such as the
sharing and understanding of experiential content, Sinha and Rodrguez con-
clude the volume by stressing the primacy of participatory engagement, and
the need to extend inter-mentality to encompass inter-corporeality and
inter-objectivity.
In another sense of the word perspectives, this volume brings together approach-
es and insights from a variety of disciplines: philosophy, linguistics, primatology,
evolutionary theory, neuroscience and typical and atypical human development.
The authors do not limit themselves to their disciplinary confines, a fact that
strengthens the dialogic aspect of the book. Nevertheless, for the sake of perspi-
cuity, we have organised the contributions thematically into three parts dealing
primarily with Development, Evolution and Language respectively.
Intersubjectivity: What makes us human?
Autism is further discussed by Hobson and Hobson, who highlight the piv-
otal significance of the human propensity to identify with other persons, which
they suggest is compromised in children with autism. In reviewing a number of
their recent studies, the authors argue that in order to share experiences, typi-
cally developing children are psychologically linked to the other person and at
the same time differentiated. Hobson and Hobson argue further that these early
forms of sharing, and the varieties of communication that they support, provide
the foundations for the conceptual understanding of self and other that emerges
around the middle of the second year of life. Methodologically, the authors show
that our human capacity for reflective intersubjectivity is necessary for analysts to
be able to make their judgments in the coding of overt behaviour, and that such
rating is itself a second-person phenomenon, rather than a matter of detached
observation.
Rodrguez and Moro also adopt the use of a qualitative, clinical method in
analyzing parent-infant triadic interactions. They draw on Vygotsky and Wittgen-
stein to show that long before a child is able to produce his or her first symbolic
and ostensive uses of objects, the first pointing gestures and the first words, the
adult acts with the child as a symbol maker. That is, the adult produces ostensive
actions with objects, points to them to make clear his or her intentions, using
them in a canonical manner and talking to the child almost constantly. Rodrguez
and Moro argue that this implies a long process and a variety of levels of intersub-
jective adult-baby agreement on the use of objects, which serves as a precondi-
tion for subsequent social and cognitive development. On a more general level
they argue against the assumption (basic to ToM approaches) of the opacity of
social reality.
Brinck proposes a conceptual clarification of intersubjectivity as the shar-
ing of experiences, suggesting that it divides into a multitude of sub-concepts
depending on the understanding of the terms sharing and experiences. She
distinguishes, following Stern (1985), three kinds of shared experiences: emotion,
attention, and intention. However, Brinck argues for a more external, behaviour-
based way of defining them (thus implicitly disagreeing methodologically with
Hobson and Hobson). Brinck argues that different combinations of these forms of
intersubjectivity enable corresponding intentionally communicative behaviours,
providing a novel explanation of why intentional communication first appears at
the end of the first year, despite the fact that its ingredients are manifest much
earlier. It is, she claims, the ability to decontextualize and combine the various
intersubjective skills in a flexible manner that underlies the emergence of inten-
tional communication, rather than this being the culmination of a stage model.
Susswein and Racine take a more deflationary approach than the preceding
chapters, exploring the distinction between causal and definitional issues in order
Intersubjectivity: What makes us human?
the use of the body for communicative and representational purposes. He reviews
evidence from primatology to suggest that feral and captive apes are at least to a
degree capable of the first two levels (involving e.g., empathy, shared attention
and imitation), but not of the third level, triadic mimesis, which involves an un-
derstanding of communicative intentions. Enculturated, language-trained apes,
on the other hand, show some aspects of triadic mimesis, suggesting how our
predecessors could have bootstrapped themselves to this level without language
and may have inherited a biological bias for it. The emergence of language, on
the other hand, opened the way to higher levels, allowing (consistently with the
proposal of Gallagher and Hutto in Part I) the understanding of beliefs and the
use of folk psychology.
Hutto develops a similar evolutionary scenario in more detail, arguing that
an innate theory of mind mechanism is neither necessary nor sufficient to ac-
count for the evolutionary course of hominid social interaction. Such a purported
module, he argues, fails to explain the remarkable technical advances and the
imitative capacities of Homo ergaster/erectus lying somewhere between those of
apes and modern humans. Hutto considers the evidence instead for a Mimetic
Ability Hypothesis and invokes the notion of re-enactive imagination in deter-
mining what this ancient adaptation was likely to have involved. He argues that
this hypothesis provides a better explanation of the kinds of intersubjectivity that
would have been necessary for the development of language, thereby undercut-
ting the strongest argument for positing the existence of innate theory of mind
modules, namely the support they lend to intention-based semantics.
Part III takes up and develops the theme of the relationship between inter-
subjectivity and language. It is widely acknowledged that language requires inter-
subjectivity, most straightforwardly because one needs to know what another is
referring to in order to learn a language. But this consensus conceals a good deal
of debate concerning the nature of language and its relation to thought and con-
sciousness, and the extent to which language might stretch and reshape our basic
intersubjective capacities.
Itkonen opens this section by focusing on the central role of normativity for
language and linguistics, an issue discussed in brief by Zlatev in Part II, as well as
the other contributors of this section. He supports his argument by Wittgensteins
private language argument, showing that language is impossible without pub-
lic criteria of correctness. Itkonen further presents and defends the ontology of
the social as third-level common knowledge, and suggests a dialectical synthesis
between collectivism and individualism: common knowledge consist of men-
tal states in particular configurations, being therefore both based on and irreduc-
ible to (individual) consciousness. Finally, he spells out a number of ramifica-
tions of his arguments for theoretical and empirical linguistics and concludes by
Intersubjectivity: What makes us human? 11
5. Conclusion
c omparing the points of view of the entire volume, helped us, as editors, real-
ize how much our agreement outweighs whatever differences remain. Although
this book is a polyphonic enterprise, the voices of the different chapters do not
always blend harmonically. This is only to be expected in addressing such a quint-
essentialy interdisciplinary topic as intersubjectivity. In this introductory chapter,
we have attempted to show the reader both how a focus on intersubjectivity offers
a different (and we believe more productive) perspective to social cognition than
the theory of mind approach, and to highlight some of the controversies within
this approach, thereby contributing to defining prospects for further empirical
and conceptual investigations. Without meaning to seem unduly nave, we offer
this volume to the reader as a source for reflection on human nature, and on the
possibilities for good and ill that are potentiated by the Shared Mind in our shared
world.
References
Valsiner, J. and van der Veer, R.2000. The Social Mind: Construction of the Idea. Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.
Varela, F., Thompson, E. and Rosch, E. 1992. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human
Experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L. 1978. Mind in Society. The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wittgenstein, L. 1980. Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology, Volume 2 (translated by
C.G.Luckhardt and M.A.E. Aue). Oxford: Blackwell.
Zahavi, D. 2001. Beyond empathy. Phenomenological approaches to intersubjectivity. Journal
of Consciousness Studies 8: 151167.
Zahavi, D. 2003. Husserls Phenomenology. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
part i
Development
chapter 2
1. Introduction
doubt that either of these theories can give an accurate or adequate account of our
everyday intersubjective abilities for understanding the intentions and the behav-
iours of other persons (see Gallagher 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007a, 2007b; Hutto 2004,
2005, 2006a, 2007a, 2007b, 2008). We will briefly summarize that critique here,
but our main purpose is to set out a more positive account of just these everyday
intersubjective abilities and show that they are not reducible (or inflatable) to the
mind-reading or mentalizing described by approaches to social cognition which
presume a theory-of-mind.
This positive account involves three kinds of processes which together are
sufficient to deliver the nuanced adult capacity for understanding (as well as for
mis-understanding) others. These processes include (1) intersubjective percep-
tual processes, (2) pragmatically contextualized comprehension, and (3) narrative
competence. We argue on the basis of evidence from developmental psychology
that the capacity for understanding others is, on average, well established by the
time the child reaches four or five years of age, and that it continues to be enriched
on the basis of further experience as we become mature adults.
Theory theory (TT) and simulation theory (ST), the standard and dominant
approaches to social cognition, share the important supposition that when we
attempt to understand the actions of others, we do so by making sense of them
in terms of their mental processes to which we have no direct access. That is,
we attempt to mind read their beliefs, desires, and intentions, and such mind
reading or mentalizing is our primary and pervasive way of understanding their
behaviour. Furthermore, both TT and ST characterize social cognition as a pro-
cess of explaining or predicting what another person has done or will do. TT
claims that we explain another persons behaviour by appealing to either an
innate or acquired theory of how people behave in general, a theory that is
framed in terms of mental states (e.g., beliefs and desires) causing or motivat-
ing behaviour. ST claims that we have no need for a theory like this, because
we have a model, namely, our own mind, that we can use to simulate the other
persons mental states. We model others beliefs and desires as if we were in
their situation.
Claims that such theory or simulation processes are explicit (conscious) are
dubious from a phenomenological point of view. That is, if in fact such processes
are primary, pervasive, and explicit, they should show up in our experience in
Primary interaction and narrative practice 19
the way that we experience others and they rarely do. The phenomenological
critique also rejects the idea, clearly found in TT, that our everyday dealings with
others involve an observational, third-person stance toward them observing
them and trying to come up with explanations of their behaviour. Rather, our
everyday encounters with others tend to be second-person and interactive.
Claims that the processes described by TT or ST are implicit (or not explic-
itly conscious) run into a different set of objections. In the case of TT, there is no
evidence that such processes are implicit, or even clarity about what precisely that
means. Moreover, although TT appeals to false-belief experiments, such experi-
ments are set up to test for explicit rather than implicit theory-of-mind processes
(Gallagher 2001) subjects are asked to explicitly consider the meanings of an
observed third-partys behaviour. Implicit approaches to ST appeal to the neu-
roscience of mirror neurons and shared representations (cf. Barresi and Moore
this volume), but there is no justification for calling these subpersonal processes
simulation, since according to ST, simulation involves the instrumental use of
a first-person model to form third-person as if or pretend mental states. In
subpersonal processes, (1) there is no first- or third-person (activation of mir-
ror neurons, for example, are considered to be neutral in regard to who the
agent is) (see e.g., deVignemont 2004; Gallese 2005; Hurley 2005; Jeannerod and
Pacherie2004); (2) nothing (or no one) is using a model; and (3) neuronal pro-
cesses cannot pretend. As vehicles neurons either fire or they dont. More impor-
tantly, in terms of relevant content, if they are neutral with respect to first- and
third-person, pretence in just these terms (I pretend to be you) is not possible.
In effect, simulation, as defined by ST, is a personal-level concept that cannot be
legitimately applied to subpersonal processes.
. This is not to deny that in some circumstances, for example, in observing puzzling cases
of another persons behaviour, we may in fact explicitly appeal to theory or employ simulation.
The claim here is simply that most of our everyday interactions are not of this sort. Puzzling
cases are the exception.
. Goldman and Sripada (2005:208), acknowledging the discrepancy between the ST defini-
tion of simulation and the working of subpersonal mirror processes, propose a minimal defini-
tion of simulation: Applied to mindreading, a minimally necessary condition [for simulation]
is that the state ascribed to the target is ascribed as a result of the attributors instantiating, un-
dergoing, or experiencing, that very state. In the case of successful simulation, the experienced
state matches that of the target. If this is a necessary condition, it cannot be a sufficient one,
because on this minimal definition and without something further, its not clear what would
motivate me to ascribe the state that I was undergoing to someone else. Furthermore, if this
were as automatic as mirror neurons firing, then it would seem that we would not be able to
attribute a state different from our own to someone else. But we do this all the time. Practically
speaking, this proposal also raises puzzles about interacting with more than one other person.
20 Shaun Gallagher and Daniel D. Hutto
Long before the child reaches the age of four, the capacities for human inter-
action and intersubjective understanding are already accomplished in certain
embodied practices practices that are emotional, sensory-motor, perceptual,
and nonconceptual. These practices include proto-mimesis (Zlatev, this vol-
ume), imitation, the parsing of perceived intentions (Baldwin, Baird, Saylor and
Clark2001), emotional interchange (Hobson 2004), and generally the processes
that fall under the heading of primary intersubjectivity (Trevarthen 1979). These
embodied practices constitute our primary access for understanding others, and
they continue to do so even after we attain our more sophisticated abilities in this
regard (Gallagher 2001).
In most intersubjective situations, that is, in situations of social interaction,
we have a direct perceptual understanding of another persons intentions because
their intentions are explicitly expressed in their embodied actions and their ex-
pressive behaviors. This understanding does not require us to postulate or in-
fer a belief or a desire hidden away in the other persons mind. What we might
Is it possible to simulate the neural/mental/emotional states of two other people at the same
time if in fact our simulations must be such that we instantiate, undergo, or experience, those
two (possibly very different) states? (see Gallagher 2007b). We suggest that these issues would
also have to be addressed by Barresi and Moore (this volume) in order to clarify their proposal
for a matching system.
Primary interaction and narrative practice 21
. In citing Gopnik and Meltzoff s claim about the necessity for innate mappings we are not
thereby endorsing their theory-theoretic construal of what this involves. Indeed, much of the
evidence developed by Meltzoff and cited by Gopnik and Meltzoff supports the idea of a strong
intersubjective perceptual capacity in the infant.
Primary interaction and narrative practice 23
4. Pragmatic intersubjectivity
If human faces are especially salient, even for the youngest infants, or if we contin-
ue to be capable of perceptually grasping the meaning of the others expressions
and intentional movements, such face-to-face interaction does not exhaust the
possibilities of intersubjective understanding. Expressions, intonations, gestures,
and movements, along with the bodies that manifest them, do not float freely in
the air; we find them in the world, and infants soon start to notice how others
interact with the world. When infants begin to tie actions to pragmatic contexts,
they enter into what Trevarthen calls secondary intersubjectivity. Around the age
of 1 year, infants go beyond the person-to-person immediacy of primary intersub-
jectivity, and enter into contexts of shared attention shared situations in which
they learn what things mean and what they are for (see Trevarthen and Hubley
1978). Behaviour representative of joint attention begins to develop around 914
months (Phillips, Baron-Cohen and Rutter 1992). In such interactions the child
looks to the body and the expressive movement of the other to discern the inten-
tion of the person or to find the meaning of some object. The child can under-
stand that the other person wants food or intends to open the door; that the other
can see him (the child) or is looking at the door. This is not taking an intentional
stance, i.e., treating the other as if they had desires or beliefs hidden away in their
minds; rather, the intentionality is perceived in the embodied actions of others.
They begin to see that anothers movements and expressions often depend on
meaningful and pragmatic contexts and are mediated by the surrounding world.
Others are not given (and never were given) primarily as objects that we encoun-
ter cognitively, or in need of explanation. We perceive them as agents whose ac-
tions are framed in pragmatic contexts. It follows that there is not one uniform
way in which we relate to others, but that our relations are mediated through the
various pragmatic circumstances of our encounters. Indeed, we are caught up in
such pragmatic circumstances, and are already existing in reference to others,
from the very beginning (consider for example the infants dependency on others
. Of course, the fact that anothers feelings can be hidden is completely consistent with ex-
pressivism of this sort. As Wittgenstein says One can say He is hiding his feelings. But that
means that it is not a priorithey are always hidden (Wittgenstein 1992:35e). The point is that
our initial, basic engagements with others are not estranged, even if sophisticated creatures like
us are capable of hiding or faking their emotions.
24 Shaun Gallagher and Daniel D. Hutto
for nourishment), even if it takes some time to sort out which agents provide sus-
tenance, and which ones are engaged in other kinds of activities.
As we noted, children do not simply observe others; they are not passive ob-
servers. Rather they interact with others and in doing so they develop further
capabilities in the contexts of those interactions. If the capacities of primary in-
tersubjectivity, like the detection of intentions in expressive movement and eye
direction, are sufficient to enable the child to recognize dyadic relations between
the other and the self, or between the other and the world, something more is
added to this in secondary intersubjectivity. As noted, in joint attention, begin-
ning around 914 months, the child alternates between monitoring the gaze of the
other and what the other is gazing at, checking to verify that they are continuing
to look at the same thing. Indeed, the child also learns to point at approximately
this same time. Eighteen-month-old children comprehend what another person
intends to do with an instrument in a specific context. They are able to re-enact
to completion the goal-directed behaviour that someone else fails to complete.
Thus, the child, on seeing an adult who tries to manipulate a toy and who appears
frustrated about being unable to do so, quite readily picks up the toy and shows
the adult how to do it (Meltzoff 1995; Meltzoff and Brooks 2001).
Our understanding of the actions of others occurs on the highest, most ap-
propriate pragmatic level possible. That is, we understand actions at the most rel-
evant pragmatic (intentional, goal-oriented) level, ignoring possible subpersonal
or lower-level descriptions, and also ignoring interpretations in terms of beliefs,
desires, or hidden mental states. Rather than making an inference to what the
other person is intending by starting with bodily movements, and moving thence
to the level of mental events, we see actions as meaningful in the context of the
physical and intersubjective environment. If, in the vicinity of a loose board, I
see you reach for a hammer and nail, I know what your intentions are as much
from the hammer, nail, and loose board as from anything that I observe about
your bodily expression or postulate in your mind. We interpret the actions of oth-
ers in terms of their goals and intentions set in contextualized situations, rather
than abstractly in terms of either their muscular performance or their beliefs.
The environment, the situation, or the pragmatic context is never perceived neu-
trally (without meaning), either in regard to our own possible actions, or in re-
gard to the actions and possibilities of others. As Gibsons theory of affordances
. Our understanding of the performance of mimes who work without props depends on
their excellent ability to express intentions in their movements, but also on our familiarity with
contexts. The mimes talent for expressive movements is clearly demonstrated in contrast to
what we often experience in the game of charades or pantomime when we havent a clue about
what the player is trying to represent.
Primary interaction and narrative practice 25
(e.g., Gibson 1979) suggests, we see things in relation to their possible uses, and
therefore never as a disembodied observer. Likewise, our perception of the other
person, as another agent, is never of an entity existing outside of a situation, but
rather of an agent in a pragmatic context that throws light on the intentions (or
possible intentions) of that agent.
Theory-of-mind approaches, which involve theory (as an application of folk
psychology) or simulation, and which focus on the acquisition of the concept of
mental states (like belief) around age 3 or 4 years, miss some basic and impor-
tant capacities for social cognition. Yet, the acknowledgement of capabilities for
understanding others that define primary and secondary intersubjectivity the
embodied, sensory-motor (emotion informed) capabilities that enable us to per-
ceive the intentions of others (from birth onward), and the perceptual and action
capabilities that enable us to understand others in the pragmatically contextual-
ized situations of everyday life (from 1218 months onward) is not sufficient to
address what are clearly new developments around the ages of 2, 3 and 4 years.
The elephant in the room around the age of 2 years is, of course, language. But
if language development itself is something that depends on some of the capabili-
ties of primary and secondary intersubjectivity, language also carries these capa-
bilities forward and puts them into service in much more sophisticated social
contexts (on this point, from a different perspective, also see Zlatev this volume).
Do children, upon passing explicit false-belief tests, acquire the final con-
ceptual component needed for their mature understanding of reasons, as is the
pervasive claim in the theory-of-mind literature? Or does their newfound un-
derstanding of false belief simply equate to a capacity to recognize that the other
(whether Maxie, or Sally-Ann, or Snoopy, etc.) has a divergent point of view from
their own, and no more? And, what lies at the root of this sort of understanding?
Is this sort of mastery of the concept of belief a natural consequence of the matu-
ration of theory-of-mind modules, grounded in introspective acts of ostensive
denotation or the product of extensive, evidence-based theorizing on their part?
We propose that none of these proposals hold up well under close scrutiny (see
Hutto 2008:Chs. 9 and 10). If so it is more plausible to think that an understand-
ing of divergent cognitive perspectives is the result of children beginning to par-
ticipate in conversations of the kind that require recognition of conflicting points
of view. This sort of activity can be seen as a natural extension of those forms of
imaginative pretend play that require children to occupy different character roles
and adopt personas that are different to their own (Hutto 2008:Ch. 7).
A childs initial understanding of the concept of belief is likely to depend on
many things but it is notable that many false-belief tests are presented in the form
of a narrative and could be interpreted as tests for a certain level of narrative
competency. It also worth observing that the strongest data concerning successful
26 Shaun Gallagher and Daniel D. Hutto
The ability and motivation to use ones knowledge of false belief in a wider explan-
atory context, it seems, is late-developing. It comes into play only after children
gain an explicit, practical mastery of the concept of belief. This suggests that false
belief understanding is not the crowning moment in their early understanding of
other minds; children must develop further still if they are to make sense of ac-
tions in terms of reasons. What does this involve?
Lets focus on an example. Someone might ask: Why is Laura going to India?
If I dont really know Laura, and if Ive never heard her say why she is going to
India, then I may attempt to get at her reasons in the third-person. This is surely
something we do regularly. This sort of speculative attempt at folk-psychological
explanation might run as follows. Laura is a young, American college student.
Why do young American college students travel to India? Laura, like many young
American college students, may believe that India is a romantic place and that
she can learn about Eastern meditation practices there and have an adventure. So
Laura might desire to go to India for such reasons. One reaches this conclusion
by calling on background knowledge general knowledge or beliefs about what
American college students tend to think and value as well as ones knowledge and
beliefs about widely held beliefs about India. The attributed reason may be correct
Primary interaction and narrative practice 27
or incorrect in Lauras case, but lacking detailed information about Laura, one is
forced to appeal to generalizations informed by knowledge of an impersonal sort.
Two things are worthy of note. First, this kind of speculation is not likely to be
very reliable in most interesting cases. Second, there is no obvious reason to think
that the background knowledge or beliefs in question is theoretical. To say that
one is operating with theories about India and theories about the belief-forming
tendencies of American students in such cases is surely to stretch the notion of
theory beyond reasonable limits.
Lets modify the example slightly. If I know Laura, but do not know precisely
why she is going to India, I will be able to make a more informed guess about her
reasons. Laura is the kind of person who really wants to help children in the third
world, so that is probably why she is going to India. I will have learnt this about her
from my previous exchanges with her or on the basis of what others have told me
about her. In this case too, my attribution is knowledge-based but the knowledge
in question this time is particular and personal. Although, again, hardly theoreti-
cal my attribution remains speculative and suppositional.
Heres a third case. Knowing Laura I may already know her reason for going
to India or I might get at it by a much more reliable means. I may know why she is
going because she may have already told me so. If not, I could always ask her. Of
course, she may be lying or self-deceived, but even acknowledging those possibili-
ties direct conversation is undeniably the most secure route to her reasons.
It is important to stress that in each of these cases the capacity to understand
why Laura acted (or might have acted), and our ability to digest these answers
is framed by the activity of checking to see if her reason, as it were, makes sense.
Guessing at or learning of a persons reason is only a small part of the story of
our everyday understanding of why others act. It is also necessary to situate and
evaluate reasons in wider contexts and against certain normative assumptions.
Would it make sense for anyone go to India for that sort of reason? In particular,
does it make sense for Laura to go? Is doing so in line with her character, her
larger ambitions, her existing projects, or her history? What does it say about her?
Does it make her a generous person, an idealist or merely nave? Understanding
reasons for action demands more than simply knowing which beliefs and desires
have moved a person to act. To understand intentional action requires contextu-
alizing these, both in terms of cultural norms and the peculiarities of a particular
persons history or values.
In this light, reasons for acting are best thought of as the elements of a pos-
sible storyline (Velleman 2000:28). As such, making explicit a persons narrative
is the medium for understanding and evaluating reasons and making sense of
28 Shaun Gallagher and Daniel D. Hutto
How do we get this sort of complex and nuanced understanding of why people
do what they do? People do not wear their reasons for action on their sleeves
and they cannot be readily discerned or understood by deploying the kind of
embodied heuristics described earlier in this paper. We suggest that the pervasive
presence of narrative in our daily lives, and the development of specific kinds of
narrative competency, can provide a more parsimonious alternative to theory or
simulation approaches, and a better way to account for the more nuanced un-
derstandings (and mis-understandings) we have of others. Competency with dif-
ferent kinds of narratives enables us to understand others in a variety of ways.
Distinctive kinds of narrative encounters are what first allow us to develop our
folk psychological competence. Hutto calls this the narrative practice hypoth-
esis. It claims that children normally achieve [folk psychological] understand-
ing by engaging in story-telling practices, with the support of others. The stories
about those who act for reasons i.e., folk psychological narratives are the foci
of this practice. Stories of this special kind provide the crucial training set needed
for understanding reasons (Hutto 2007b:53).
Accordingly, children acquire their skilled competence in understanding rea-
sons by being exposed to and by engaging with narratives when appropriately and
actively supported by their care givers. For example, in acts of storytelling, such
Primary interaction and narrative practice 29
active support takes the form of children being prompted to answer certain ques-
tions and by having their attention directed at particular events. In the case of folk
psychological narratives this will normally involve jointly attending to mentalistic
terms such as wish, believe and know and discussing what the story charac-
ters know, feel and want. During this process children learn how these states of
mind behave in relation to each other and other terms in the psychological fam-
ily. Importantly, these attitudes exist in a wider context such that children learn
how and why these attitudes matter to the protagonists of such stories. Time and
time again reasons for acting, of different types and complexity, are put on show
in this way.
By attending to enough of these exemplars, it is possible for children to de-
velop an implicit practical understanding of how to make sense of persons as
those who act for reasons. This is nothing like fashioning the concepts of the
attitudes by means of theorizing or having a core theory about how they inter-
relate. Coming to understand what it is to act for a reason to understand folk
psychologically requires being trained by means of a specific kind of narrative
practice. They can achieve this because even simple folk psychological narratives,
like their more sophisticated cousins represent the moment by moment experi-
ences of fictional minds, as well as the coloration that those experiences acquire
from the characters broader cognitive and emotional stances towards situations
and events (Herman 2007:147).
This proposal is consistent with a number of recent empirical studies that
have established that there are important links between narrative abilities and
our capacity to understand others (Astington 1990; Dunn 1991; Feldman, Bruner,
Renderer and Spitzer 1990; Lewis 1994, Lewis, Freeman, Hagestadt and Douglas
1994; Nelson 2007, Peterson and McCabe 1994). Exposure to stories is a critical
determiner of folk-psychological abilities and it has been shown that this relation
is stronger than mere correlation. Apparently narrative training causally influ-
ences what are considered to be basic theory-of-mind skills for the better (Gua-
jardo and Watson 2002). Controlled studies have shown that narrative training
is responsible for improving performances on false belief tasks. Thus, it has been
concluded that narrative is an effective tool for at least modest improvements in
childrens theory of mind development (Guajardo and Watson 2002:320). Simi-
larly, it has been observed that frequent conversations about the mind can accel-
erate growth of a ToM (Garfield, Peterson and Perry 2001:513).
A complementary idea is that other kinds of narrative competencies enable
a less mediated interpretation of the others actions and intentions, that is, with-
out the mediation of folk psychology. After all, folk psychological explanation
is just one kind of narrative practice. We argue here that how we go about de-
veloping a nuanced understanding of others may involve one or both of these
30 Shaun Gallagher and Daniel D. Hutto
What are narratives? This is a tricky question and providing a good answer to it is
beyond the scope of this paper. A very minimal definition will suffice for our pur-
poses. Larmarque tells us that for something to be a narrative at least two events
must be depicted in a narrative and there must be some more or less loose, albeit
non-logical relation between the events. Crucially, there is a temporal dimension
in narrative (Lamarque 2004:394; see also Lamarque and Olsen 1994:225). This
neutral characterisation easily lends itself to the idea that there are different types
of narratives and that these can be classified by such common features as their
constituents and subject matter. Folk psychological narratives as exemplified
by Little Red Riding Hood are distinguished by being about agents who act for
reasons. Importantly, narratives of this kind can play their special role in devel-
opment by being the objects of joint attention in early learning. That is the core
claim of the NPH.
In this light it should be emphasised that, as social cognizers, we do not use
folk psychological narratives nearly as often as the tradition supposes. They are
not, for example, the basis of all interpersonal interaction. On the contrary, they
generally only come into play in those cases in which the actions of others deviate
from what is normally expected in such a way that we encounter difficulty under-
standing them. In such cases the others actions become noticeable, falling into
the spotlight for special attention and explanation and potentially, explanations
of a specific sort that involve understanding the others reasons for taking the
particular action where this is not in some way obvious or already known. Folk
psychology is needed only in rare cases where we are not already familiar with
the other persons story, or are perplexed by anothers actions. For When things
are as they should be, the narratives of folk psychology are unnecessary (Bruner
1990:40). Appeal to folk psychology may come into play when culturally-based
expectations are violated. For the most part, well-rehearsed patterns of behaviour
and coordination dominate. By and large, we get by without having to make any
folk psychological attributions at all and without seeking explications from others
because most everyday social interaction takes place in normal (and normalized)
environments.
Again, we can learn a great deal from developmental psychology. Around the
age of two, children are in secure possession of an early intentional understand-
ing of persons having internal goals and wants that differ from person to person
Primary interaction and narrative practice 31
(Wellman and Phillips 2001:130; Bartsch and Wellman 1995). Young children are
somewhat practiced in understanding things as other people understand them in
pragmatic contexts, and when the capacities associated with primary and second-
ary intersubjectivity are combined with several other newly acquired capacities,
young children are ready to understand things and people in emerging narrative
structures. And in this context it must be acknowledged that many other kinds of
narratives those of the non-folk psychological variety can take us a long way
to the understanding we seek, without resorting to the folk psychological frame-
work per se (or at least without always having to do so).
We learn to make sense of persons (others as well as ourselves) in dramatic
and narrative ways as young children. When children listen to stories, or play-act
(and the same applies to adults who are exposed to parables, plays, myths, novels,
etc.) they become familiarized with sets of characters and with a range of ordi-
nary or extra-ordinary situations, and the sorts of actions appropriate to them, all
of which helps to shape their expectations. An education in narratives of many
sorts even of the more general and less personal variety provides knowledge
of what actions are acceptable and in what circumstances, what sort of events are
important and noteworthy, what can account for action, and what kind of expla-
nations constitute the giving of good reasons.
Moreover, children are well supported in this process. Typically, they are
provided with running commentaries on stories that teach them not only which
actions are suited to particular situations but also which reasons for acting are
acceptable and which are not. It is by absorbing such standards that we first learn
how to judge an actions appropriateness (though, of course, in time such stan-
dards are sometimes questioned and overturned). Quite generally, stories real
or fictional teach us what others can expect from us, but just as importantly,
what we can expect from others in certain situations. This is not just coming to
know what others ought to (and thus are likely to) do, but what they ought to (and
thus are likely to) think and feel, as indexed to the sort of people they are. Narra-
tives provide an important source of guidance for staking out the boundaries of
what is acceptable and what is not. Through them we learn the norms associated
with social roles that pervade our everyday environments shops, restaurants,
homes and theatres.
. There are two aspects of childrens narrative activity which are too often treated in mu-
tual isolation: the discursive exposition of narratives in storytelling and their enactments in
pretend play (see Richner & Nicolopoulou 2001:408). Childrens first narrative productions
occur in action, in episodes of symbolic play by groups of peers, accompanied by rather than
solely through language. Play is an important developmental source of narrative (Nelson
2003:28).
32 Shaun Gallagher and Daniel D. Hutto
We have argued that the abilities for intersubjective interaction and understanding
that start with primary and secondary intersubjectivity, develop along a route that
in most ordinary cases exploits narrative competency rather than the procedures,
subpersonal or explicit, associated with traditional theory-of-mind accounts.
This should provide the means of staving off a common worry about the
NPH. Janet Astington (1990) has argued that acquiring narrative competency
requires having a theory of mind. Citing Bruners concept of the landscape of
Primary interaction and narrative practice 33
consciousness (what those involved in the action know, think, or feel, or do not
know, think, or feel [Bruner 1986:14]), she suggests that to understand narra-
tive we need access to the characters minds, and to have the latter requires us to
have a theory-of-mind. But Bruner himself offers good experimental evidence
against the necessity of the landscape of consciousness (LC) for understanding
narratives. Feldman, Bruner et al. (1990), in a study of narrative comprehension
in adults, presented two different versions of the same story to two groups, re-
spectively. The first and original story mentioned the mental states of the charac-
ters as the story develops, and so was rich in LC. The second story was the very
same story stripped of mental terms, leaving only the landscape of actions (LA).
The results showed no significant differences (1) in subjects using reader-related
mental verbs when they recount the LC narrative; (2) in recounting the facts of
the stories the retellings were virtually indistinguishable; (3) in recounting the
order of events; and (4) when providing a meaning summary (gist) for the story
there is no version difference in the kind of gist given. A likely explanation of
these results is that the structure of these person-narratives, as revealed explicitly
in basic plots, can be identified, responded to and described on several levels and
ways. Often this happens all at once. But not everyone is equally proficient at this.
It is possible to be alive to the major events in a drama without always being able
to decipher, with full clarity or perhaps not at all, the reasons why a protagonist
will have acted. It is thus possible to have some sense of what is going on in an
unfolding drama without understanding it in toto (this is apparently a common
experience for those first encountering Shakespearean plays).
What is important is that seeking a narrative understanding of the others
reasons is not a matter of characterizing the others inner life if this is under-
stood as a series of causally efficacious mental states. What we are attempting to
understand is much richer, it is the others reasons as they figure against the larger
history and set of projects, and that is best captured in a narrative form. Coming
to understand anothers reasons should not be understood as designating their
discrete mental states but their attitudes and responses as whole situated persons.
I encounter the other person, not abstracted from their circumstances, but in
the middle of something that has a beginning and that is going somewhere. I see
them in the framework of a story in which either I have a part to play or I dont.
The narrative is not primarily about what is going on inside their heads; its about
the events going on in the world around them, the world that we share with them,
. For further discussion of the distinction between properly folk psychological narratives
and those dramatic re-enactments which only involve intentional attitudes, yet which share the
same basic formats (see Hutto 2006).
34 Shaun Gallagher and Daniel D. Hutto
and in their lives and the way they understand and respond to such events. Cru-
cially, coming to appreciate the others story to see why they are doing what they
are doing does not require a capacity for mentalizing inferences or simulations.
Our understanding of others is ordinarily not based on attempts to get into their
heads; typically we do not need to access a landscape of consciousness since
we already have access to a landscape of action which is constituted by their
embodied actions and the rich worldly contexts within which they act contexts
that operate as scaffolds for the meaning and significance of actions and expres-
sive movements.
9. Conclusions
In this chapter we have argued that there is no need to appeal to standard theory-
of-mind and simulative explanations of how we understand others as the basis
for making sense of them folk psychologically. What begins as perceptual and
emotional resonance processes in early infancy, which allow us to pick up the
feelings and intentions of others from their movements, gestures, and facial ex-
pressions, feeds into the development of a more nuanced understanding of how
and why people act as they do, found in our ability to frame their actions, and our
own, in narrative ways. Our everyday abilities for intersubjective engagement and
. This is not to deny that some narratives are more psychological than others those of James
Joyce or Dostoyevsky, as Jordan Zlatev suggests (private correspondence). Luckily Joyce, Dos-
toyevsky and other novelists put us in the heads of their characters and we do not have to theo-
rize or simulate our way in there. The NPH does not deny that human beings are complicated
psychological creatures, or that the psychological lives of Stephen Dedalus or Raskolnikov are
not fascinating in ways that outstrip an understanding in folk psychological terms. The issue is
how we come to understand people in our everyday interactions with them.
. The idea that narrative understanding does not rest on or presuppose ToM abilities per
se (including simulation capacities that involve making belief/desire predictions and explana-
tions) is in line with Greg Curries (2007) recent claim that our skills in comprehending narra-
tives involve the adoption of frameworks through which we identify with (and are effectively
asked to take on) certain personas, which can be understood as embodied stances that par-
ticular narratives invite us to adopt. The activity of framework adoption is quite distinct from
understanding a storys content as detailed in its plot or fabula. As Currie characterizes it,
adoption or attention to a narrative framework activates our subpersonal mechanisms for imi-
tative and emotional responding thus it is something that engages us viscerally. He contrasts
this with the idea that attention to narrative framework involves developing a theory (even if
a not very explicit one) about the persona embedded in narrative; although he does not wholly
reject the latter proposal since he acknowledges it may have a role when it comes to communi-
cating about narratives.
Primary interaction and narrative practice 35
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chapter 3
How do we understand and engage with the purposeful, emotional and mental
activities of other people and how does this knowledge develop? What can
recent work on mirror neurons in monkeys and human beings teach us about
how the brain supports social understanding? According to Intentional Rela-
tions Theory (Barresi and Moore 1996), the understanding of the self-other
equivalence requires concurrent knowledge of mind from both a first- and a
third-person point of view and that any mental concept must directly match
and link these two ways of knowing it. In this chapter we will argue that Inten-
tional Relations Theory is consistent with and can help interpret recent neuro-
physiological findings on mirror neurons that fire equivalently for intentional
relations (i.e., object-directed actions, emotions, and mental activities) of self
and other.
1. Introduction
Human beings, like many other social animals, spend an enormous amount of
time engaged in activities that require quick adjustments to socially transmitted
information. By observing others we learn to adapt effectively to changes in the
environment as well as to the actions and reactions of our social peers. How do
we do it? To what extent do we need to understand the mental processes gov-
erning our own and others actions or can we function socially based on simple
mechanisms by which we come to share psychological states with others, without
understanding them? In other words, to what extent does a skill at mind sharing
function as a form of social understanding well before we come to a level of mind
understanding? Furthermore, how do these two capacities mind-sharing and
mind-understanding relate to each other?
In the Theory of Mind (ToM) approach to social understanding emphasis is
placed on sophisticated abilities to understand mental states in particular the
ability to attribute representational mental states such as beliefs to self and other.
It is the ability to attribute false beliefs that is taken as a hallmark of the specifical-
ly human form of mentalistic social understanding that characterizes a theory of
40 John Barresi and Chris Moore
of self and other. However, it differs from these other accounts, as well as from
ToM accounts, in explicitly addressing the genesis of the recognition of self-other
equivalence and difference, as involving a developmental shift from mind-sharing
to mind-understanding. The key notion in IRT is that the first-person informa-
tion that we have about our own IRs (e.g., the feeling of love for someone) is
distinctly different from the third-person information that we have about the IRs
of others (e.g., anothers behavior toward the object of love), and that in order
to develop uniform concepts or representations of IRs that can be applied equally,
but distinctly, to self and other, we need to match these two types of information
in a single concept or form of knowledge that contains both types of information.
In Barresi and Moore (1996) we posited an intentional schema to integrate this
multimodal combination of first- and third-person information initially derived
from self and other. On this view, being in love should not be defined primarily
as a private, subjective experience, as in the ST view, nor as a mental intentional
state that can be inferred from behavior, as in the TT view, but as an embodied IR
between the agent and object, that, in the case of love, involves both feelings and
concomitant behavioral expressions. Moreover, in learning the concept of love
or any other IR, it is supposed that we must learn both the first-person, inner
aspect, of the IR, as well as the third-person, outer aspect; otherwise, we fail to
have the concept. For instance, one can be in love, say for the first time, without
knowing it, because all one knows about love is the outer aspect, and one does not
recognize this outer aspect in ones feelings for another until ones concomitant
behavior is pointed out to one. Of course, love in our culture is primarily a social
concept and learned to a large extent through language. But other more basic IRs,
like fearing, seeing, or picking up are more fundamental, and may be understood
to some extent by an organism without the mediation of language.
In the rest of the chapter, we consider in more detail Intentional Relations
Theory and specifically the issue of how 1st and 3rd person information about in-
tentional relations are integrated. We go on to review the neuroscientific findings
that support this approach to social understanding. We then consider autism as a
case of failure to integrate 1st and 3rd person information in the understanding
of self and other.
similar multilevel model). At level 1, the organism represents the activities of self
and other in distinctly different ways and neither in terms of IRs. We suggested
that most animals typically operate at this level and it may also characterize so-
cial understanding in certain forms of psychopathology such as autism. We will
return to consider this level and the case of autism in Section 5. In the rest of this
section we review 3 levels of social understanding in which first and third person
information about IRs are integrated. We devote most attention to how such inte-
gration is possible in the first place.
In order to understand IRs at all, the organism must be able to combine first
person information about IRs with third person information about IRs into in-
tegrated representations involving an agent, an intentional relation and an object
that can be equally applied both to the IRs of self and the IRs of others or to the
joint activity of self and other. This combination occurs at level 2 of our model
when there is matched first- and third-person information about intentional ac-
tion available to the organism. There are various ways in which such matching can
come about. Our suggestion is that matching occurs normally in human develop-
ment when infant and mother engage in interactions, initially dyadic and later
triadic. These interactions are typically patterned in such a way that the infant
and mother both express and experience similar psychological activity. For ex-
ample, in dyadic interactions, infant and mother may smile and vocalize in close
synchrony. Whether the synchrony between an infant and adult in interactions
of this sort is based on innate contagious mechanisms, or occurs through a form
of mimicry initiated at first by the adult, it seems clear that there is a matching in
such cases, where first-person information about self can be experienced concur-
rently with matched third-person information about the other. We believe that
in such early dyadic communicative interactions the infant acquires integrated
knowledge of first- and third-person aspects of emotional expressions, though
not yet of intentional relations involving those expressions directed at objects.
Dyadic interactions do not revolve around objects so the intentionality of
the shared psychological activity is at best implicit. However, in the triadic inter-
actions that develop at about 9 months of age, the patterned interaction is now
object-focused so that both infant and mother may share psychological activ-
ity to a particular object they may look at the same object or produce similar
object-directed actions through imitation. We have argued that such interactive
experiences are crucial for the development of understanding IRs because it is
The neuroscience of social understanding 45
in these interactions that the infants first-person experience of her own object-
directed psychological activity is coordinated reliably with their corresponding
third-person experience of the mothers object-directed psychological activity.
Reliable coordination of the available first- and third-person information allows
the construction of representations of intentional activity that integrate both
forms of information and are thereby applicable to the joint activity of self and
other, and subsequently with further development to individual activities of ei-
ther self or other.
Although dyadic and triadic interactions provide the normal context for the shar-
ing of psychological activity in human development, it is probably not necessary
for there to be joint engagement of either dyadic or triadic kinds for a degree
of matching of intentional relations to occur. For instance, as indicated earlier,
research on monkeys seems to show that they can represent the goal-directed ac-
tions of another organism in the same manner as they represent their own actions
(Gallese et al. 1996; Rizzolatti et al. 1996). The pre-motor mirror neurons me-
diating these representations fire in the planning and execution of the monkeys
own actions, but also in perceiving comparable goal-directed actions in another
animate being. While we do not wish to exclude the possibility of innate forms of
matching between self and other, for instance in emotional expressive domains
where unlearned forms of mimicry may be the basic mechanism for matching,
in the case of action understanding a learning mechanism needs to be involved.
Matching between perception and action may come about because for certain
forms of psychological activity such as object-directed reaching, the organism
gains information about its own action via more than one perceptual modality
(Keysers and Perrett 2004). When a monkey reaches for objects, it is reliably pro-
vided with both visual and proprioceptive information about its own reaching,
and an integrated multimodal representation of the action will result. Then vi-
sion may mediate the connection to the action of others. The same multimodal
representation will later be activated by only the relevant visual information and
thereby can be applied to the experience of seeing another organism perform
the action. Vision here serves as a third-person bridging modality that can be
applied to both self and other, thus linking the strictly first-person information
of proprioception to the available third-person information about goal-direct-
edness. In this way a representation of action that is similarly applicable to the
actions of both self and other may be achieved. However, it should be noted that
46 John Barresi and Chris Moore
all that is involved here is the understanding of the action, per se, not of an agent
performing the action. Thus the representation is at a sub-personal rather than
at a personal, or agent, level of representation. Hence, an organism does not here
understand intentional relations involving agents, but only sub-personal actions
directed at objects. There is evidence that such a process may also operate in early
human development. Woodward (1998) has shown that infants are able to rec-
ognize the goal-directed reaches of others at about the same time as they them-
selves engage in visually guided reaching. Importantly, teaching infants to make
object-directed reaches at an early age is correlated with their representation of
similar reaching actions of another person (Sommerville, Woodward, and Need-
ham 2005). Thus, at least for simple actions, it seems that learning to succeed at
an action, which involves coordination of first-person (e.g., proprioceptive) and
typically third-person (e.g., visual) information of ones own action, may be cor-
related with representing the similar actions of others.
It will be recognized that the latter route to representations of actions that are
equally applicable to self and other will only serve for those actions, such as man-
ual reaching, for which the same perceptual information is available for both self
and other. It is in such circumstances that a common code for the perception and
production of action can bear fruit both in monkeys and humans, with a sub-per-
sonal level of understanding of goal-directed actions. However, in the understand-
ing of intentional relations more is required. The difference between the human
case and the cases of monkeys is that the dyadic and triadic interactive contexts
of early human development provide multiple instances in which there are richly
elaborated structures of shared intentional relations. For example, in a typical
episode of a joint attentional (triadic) interaction, there may be shared emotional
experience (e.g., smiling), shared object-directed action (e.g., object exchange)
and shared epistemic activity (e.g., gaze following). These interactive structures
therefore provide not just experiences in which a particular, simply observable,
action intentional relation is shared but experiences in which a variety of different
yet complementary intentional relations of various types are shared. As a result,
there is the opportunity for infants to acquire complex representations of inten-
tional activity that combine and integrate the first-person information pertaining
to their own activity and the third-person information pertaining to the activity
of others across a range of intentional relations. This difference between the hu-
man and animal cases, such as monkeys, is important because it may explain why
humans step onto the path of development that leads ultimately to an agent level
The neuroscience of social understanding 47
form of social understanding, whereas monkeys appear not to. To see why, it is
important to examine whether the earliest forms of integrated representations of
intentional relations are recognized to be at a personal or at a subpersonal level.
Some authors (e.g., Tomasello 1999) have argued that the phenomena of triadic
interactions arising at about 9 months signal the development of a concept of an
intentional agent that can be applied equally to self and other agents. However,
a plausible alternative is that concepts of intentionality are initially acquired in a
more piecemeal way. For example, Woodward and her colleagues research (for a
review see Woodward 2005) has shown that infants represent the object-direct-
edness of different actions at different points in development. Whereas reaching
is represented as object-directed before 6 months, gaze is not represented as ob-
ject-directed until the end of the first year. Furthermore, when such intentional
relations are first being acquired, the acquisition does not appear to be correlated
so that infants who represent gaze as object-directed may not represent pointing
as object-directed and vice versa. To explain this pattern of results, Moore (2006)
proposed the notion of intentional islands (cf. Tomasello 1992, on verb islands
in language acquisition), whereby intentional representations start out as separate
sub-personal islands relevant to particular object-directed actions and are only
gradually integrated into more complex concepts at a personal level relevant to
goal-directed agents. We suggest that it is the richly structured patterns of in-
tentional relations that occur in triadic interactions, which allows the generation
of the more complex representations of goal-directed agents. In contrast, while
other animals such as monkeys may acquire sub-personal integrated represen-
tations of object-directed actions, such as reaching, without experience of rich
combinations of shared intentional relations, they do not proceed to construct
representations of goal-directed agents.
. Great apes provide evidence that they stepped onto a new path similar to, but not the same
as, our own. Chimpanzees, and probably other apes, engage in intense social interactions that
promote an understanding of others actions on an individual level, through what Zlatev (this
volume), ascribes to dyadic mimesis and which, we (Barresi and Moore 1996) originally hy-
pothesized was associated with their general imitative ability. Recent research suggests that the
evolutionary path taken here may be different from our own in that while learning in dyadic
interactions between infant and mother chimpanzees involves an apprenticeship relationship
(Matsuzawa 2007) human dyadic and triadic relationships between human infant and adults is
much more intensely communicative and collaborative (Tomasello et al. 2005). A consequence
of this latter form of interaction results in what Zlatev calls triadic mimesis, which is roughly
similar to level 2 interactions transforming to level 3 interactions in our own model.
48 John Barresi and Chris Moore
alone mediates the conceptual development that occurs at this time, which allows
one to distinguish ones own from the others embodied mental states. Indeed,
their narrative interpretation of how children distinguish mental states of self and
other, seems to focus on only representational mental states such as false beliefs, a
capacity for which we provide a separate account in the next section.
In the fourth year, pre-school children achieve yet another level of social under-
standing, when they can imagine both first- and third-person properties of a
mental state. This results in children developing knowledge of mental representa-
tion as such, which allows them to show evidence of the conceptual understand-
ing of mind seen in traditional ToM tasks. However, according to IRT, the levels of
intentional understanding at which there is an understanding of individual minds
derive from previous shared intentional activities where first- and third-person
information originally became associated. It is the derivation from shared psy-
chological activity that enables the concepts of mind that humans have, yielding
notions like love having both internal bases involving feelings and external bases
involving behavior. All levels of social understanding which depend originally on
the integration of first- and third-person information are held to be different from
Level 1 forms of understanding of self and other, which rely separately on first-
person information alone to understand self and third-person information alone
to understand others. Consideration of level 1 will become important later in the
chapter when we discuss autism (see Section 5). We turn now to research on the
neuroscience of social understanding to see to what extent there is support for
the model of social understanding we have outlined here. We should note, how-
ever, that whereas the evidence from neuroscience indicates a particular pattern
of brain organization underlying social understanding in adult human beings as
well as nonhuman primates, there is of course no guarantee that the same organi-
zation exists at all earlier stages of human development.
Since the discovery of mirror neurons in the premotor cortex in monkeys that
respond to the goal-directed actions of others (Rizzolatti et al. 1996), studies have
investigated whether evidence can be found for similar neural structures in hu-
mans. A standard paradigm used in a number of these studies is to compare an
observation condition, where participants watch the activity of another person, an
execution condition where participants perform the action on cue, and an imitation
condition, where participants perform the action that they observe another per-
son perform. Transitory Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) studies affecting processing
in the relevant neural systems have attempted either to facilitate/produce actions
in observation conditions, or to interfere with actions in action or imitation con-
ditions (see Iacoboni 2005, for a review). Taken together these studies affirm that
premotor and parietal cortices in humans show mirror properties similar to those
in individual neurons of monkeys. Both of these areas are active when performing
the actions or observing the actions of others, and more active than in either of
these conditions when these actions are both observed and imitated. In contrast
to the additional activation found in these two regions (premotor and parietal)
when imitating compared to mere observing, a third region, the Superior Tem-
poral Sulcus (STS), tends to show the same level of activation in both observation
and imitation conditions but is inactive in the action-only condition.
Iacoboni, Kaplan and Wilson (in press) have proposed a model incorporating
IRT in accounting for these findings. They propose that the STS provides third-
person visual information of the action that is being performed. This information
is transferred to the Posterior Parietal, where it is matched with first-person infor-
mation on the kinesthetic, kinematic and somatosensory properties that might go
Figure 1. Essential components of Intentional Relations Theory and possible anatomical correlates. Third-person information involves exte-
rior senses, which tend to apply more to others than to self; first-person information involves action intentions and interior senses, which tend
to apply more to self than to others. Intentional schemas are posited to involve multimodal association areas where first- and third-person
information get integrated. Although our main focus is on object-directed intentional relations, non-object directed integration are expected
to occur at body-schema levels as well. The central site for the integration of first- and third-person information involving agents in intentional
relations is hypothesized to be the temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) and/or inferior parietal (IP), which is hypothesized to involve an egocen-
tric or first-person representation of the agent in space in the right hemisphere and a connected allocentric or third-person representation of
the agent in the left. Second order, or reflective representations of intentional relations are hypothesized to occur in the prefrontal cortex. The
directions of arrows represent the dominant direction of information processing, though feedback and other connections also occur between
anatomical regions both within and between boxes of the model.
The neuroscience of social understanding
51
52 John Barresi and Chris Moore
Typically, when dealing with action IRs, first-person information directly involves
motor plans, proprioception, and kinesthetic feedback, while third-person infor-
mation directly involves visual and auditory information. The integration of these
54 John Barresi and Chris Moore
What the Singer et al. (2004) study seems to show is that the areas involved
in conscious perception or feeling of ones own pain, are also active for the an-
ticipated pain of another. Without instructions to do so, the participants seem
to participate empathically in the anticipated pain of the other, thus sharing in
it, and presumably being aware of their pain by sharing in it. Further support for
this interpretation comes from the fact that dispositional measures of empathic
ability were obtained in this study and a correlation between degree of disposi-
tional empathy and degree of activation in the Insula and CC for the observe-
other condition was found. Therefore, not only does the third-person perception
of the others behavioral situation apparently result in a conceptual understanding
of the feeling state of the other, but it actually induces a comparable feeling state
in the observer, which may be the ground upon which conceptual understand-
ing is based. The degree to which this internal feeling state is induced seems to
depend on the capacity for empathy, or sympathetic imagination, of the observer.
However, as a subsequent study shows (Singer et al. 2006), it also depends on how
one feels about the other person. If one has reason to like the other, then there is
a stronger tendency to show an empathic response to the others pain, than if one
has reason to dislike the other person. In the latter case, men, but not women,
were shown not to have this empathic response to the others pain, but instead
showed evidence of personal pleasure at seeing the other in pain. So the story here
is fairly complex. Unlike the action mirror system in the pre-motor area, which
seems to depend only on attention to the activity of the other, the degree of iden-
tification with or caring for the other may matter in representing the feeling states
of the other in the same mode as ones own feeling states.
In the original Singer, et al. (2004) study, as well as in similar studies on ob-
serving touch (Keysers et al. 2004), and disgust (Wicker et al. 2003) in others,
primary sensory areas could be used to provide first-person information that dis-
tinguished between self and other. However, subsequent research on observation
of localized pain inducing stimuli on another person raises the issue of whether
primary sensory areas are immune to empathically induced responses. For in-
stance, Avenanti et al. (2005) had participants observe needles being pierced into
the hand of another person and found TMS motor cortex induced inhibitory re-
sponses of hand muscles that matched those that would have occurred in their
own case. Based on this and other findings, Singer and Frith (2005) have suggest-
ed that whether one is attending to or imagining the emotional response of the
other person or the sensory quality of the pain may be what distinguishes these
two kinds of results. The implication of this is that to the extent that one can proj-
ect oneself into the particular situation and experiential state of the other to that
extent will one tend to display a matching embodied state. According to IRT, it is
the fact that one has at ones disposal this personal shared experiential base upon
56 John Barresi and Chris Moore
which to understand the state of the other person that one succeeds in accurately
imagining that state. But to elicit such an internal state that typically applies to self
when observing another, a matching must occur between the expressed state of
the other and ones own associated experience of being in a comparable state, or
be elicited by attending to the situation that the other is in as if it were shared. In
the case of an expressed state this requires matching of first-person information
about the appropriate internal state to third-person information about expressed
state. So motor aspects of the behavior of others may be a mediating factor in
situations where we have no direct personal experience of emotional responses in
those situations, or where we would respond differently from the other person.
Several other studies conducted by Iacoboni and his colleagues indicate that
mirroring of expressed affective states may be an important basis for understand-
ing emotions in others. In these studies fMRI brain imaging of participants oc-
curred either while they were engaged in observing or imitating a variety of emo-
tional expressions depicted in photos (Carr et al. 2003; Dapretto et al. 2006). In
the study reported by Carr et al. (2003), observing and imitating emotional ex-
pressions in others activated regions involved in those emotional expressions for
self, in particular the amygdala and insula were involved, but also the pre-motor
area and STS. Again these results can be interpreted as eliciting from third-per-
son information (STS) the matching first-person action information necessary
to understand the internal state of the other individual. Because the observation
and imitation condition had similar pre-motor findings to action studies, this
suggests that implicit if not explicit matching of emotional expression is involved
in emotional empathy, which may feed into the representation of the feeling self
in the insula.
So far we have seen that matching between first- and third-person informa-
tion seems to occur when observing another persons affective state, and it may
not require active use of imagination to feel and understand anothers affective
IRs in that a form of affective sharing may occur directly in response to the situa-
tion or the others expression. Indeed, from a phylogenetic as well as developmen-
tal perspective contagion of emotional states from one organism to another is the
original basis of emotional sharing (cf. Zlatev this volume). However, as we have
argued, sharing a psychological state is not the same as understanding that state.
Other evidence suggests that understanding affective states in the sense of attrib-
uting emotions and other affective states to individuals as well as discriminating
ones own from anothers emotional state, likely requires frontal activity, and oc-
curs later in human development. It appears necessary to have the involvement
of frontal areas, in particular, the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC), in order to
reflect on and understand the mental state as either ones own, or anothers.
The neuroscience of social understanding 57
The role of the MPFC in understanding at a reflective level pain states in self
and other is highlighted in another recent study directly comparing imagination
of self and other in pain as compared to damage to a manikin figure (Jackson et
al. 2006). While in a magnet, participants viewed images of arms and legs appar-
ently from a first-person perspective in situations likely to be painful or neutral.
They were told to imagine the body part as their own, or another persons, or that
of a manikin. In line with the notion that the MPFC is involved in representing
second order IRs, there was a strong response in this region only for the humans,
but not for the manikin. In addition, there was differential activation in the pos-
terior cingulate, which responded to pain in self and other, and to the inferior
parietal. As in previous studies the insula and ACC were responsive to both self
and other in a comparison between pain and non-pain conditions. But differences
between self and other also occurred. The comparison between self and other
found several regions of difference, indicating different routes to representing the
same pain state in self and other, and the ability to distinguish between our own
and anothers pain.
Taken together the results on emotional processing show that matching can
occur not only in the motor system where actions or expressions of others are
mimicked, perhaps subpersonally, but that feeling states that are connected to those
expressions in ourselves are often also active when observing others or in infer-
ring their emotional states in conditions where sympathetic contagion or empathy
might be elicited. These internal feeling states are then processed further in frontal
areas when we are attempting to understand the emotional state of the other as dis-
tinguished from our own emotional response. Both the matching in the premotor
area and in the feeling self can be viewed as first-person aspects of emotional IRs,
while the visual expressions can be viewed as third-person aspects. However, for
second-order representations of these IRs, frontal activity is necessary.
A considerable amount of research has been devoted to establishing the brain ba-
sis of the understanding of the more complex intentional relations characteristic
of theory of mind. The focus of studies using ToM tasks is on determining brain
regions functionally involved in the interpretation of complex stories of social
interaction that are visually or verbally presented and in attributing mental states
to individuals in these stories. Two brain regions have been shown to be most ac-
tive in brain imaging studies using various techniques, when compared to control
conditions involving comparable processing of non-ToM stimuli: (1) The Tem-
poral/Parietal Junction (TPJ; including neighboring Superior Temporal regions
58 John Barresi and Chris Moore
i ncorporating STS as well as Inferior Parietal regions, cf. Decety and Grezes 2006);
(2) The Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC).
The TPJ is believed to be an area in which complex visual stimuli, often in-
volving biological motion and social interaction, are analyzed or represented per-
ceptually and semantically. In the section on action IRs our discussion of the TPJ
focused only on intentional actions of a single agent, but the TPJ is also crucial
for social interactions and for interpreting more complex mental states than ac-
tions. Hence, in terms of IRT the TPJ, at least on the left side, can be understood as
representing the third-person information about IRs of one or more organisms,
involved in simple or complex object and interpersonal interactions. For instance,
even in monkeys this area has individual neurons that are sensitive to eye direc-
tion of a person being observed by the monkey and the congruence with the per-
sons behavior involving another object, with their direction of gaze. Comparable
findings with humans, involving more complex IRs, for instance, involving inten-
tions, have been made using fMRI (see, e.g., Pelphery et al. 2004). So this region
can pick up epistemic as well as action IRs and is also involved in emotion IRs,
involving multiple agents. The second region of importance for the ToM tasks is
the MPFC. This region appears to be important for decoupling (Leslie 1994), or
creating second order representations of IRs that can be attributed to individu-
als. Reflective or conceptual understanding of the intentionality of the behavior
seems an important activity for this region. Indeed, merely noting a stimulus as
an act of an intentional agent rather than a machine seems sufficient to involve
this region (Ramani and Miall 2004). But this region has a number of other func-
tions of a metacognitive, or executive, sort, and there appear to be subregions
with specialized functions, some of which we will consider shortly.
Some recent elegant research using simple false belief tasks presented in sto-
ries and in videos, along with a number of important controls, to brain dam-
aged patients with frontal and/or temporal-parietal lesions (Apperly, Samson,
Chiavarino and Humphreys 2004; Samson, Apperly, Chiavarino and Humphreys
2004; Samson, Apperly, Kathirgamanathan, and Humphreys 2005) has provid-
ed evidence in partial congruence with these imaging studies. They found that
damage to the left TPJ produces a fairly specific deficit in false belief reasoning
about others, but that damage in the frontal regions does not. So it appears that
a functional TPJ at least on the left (no tested patients had right TPJ damage) is
necessary for false belief reasoning. By contrast, it appears that the impact of brain
damage in frontal regions is less specific and more diverse, including effects on
performance on tasks involving executive function but not on ToM tasks. Indeed,
in one of their patients with frontal damage, there was evidence that problems oc-
curred only on false belief tasks that required the inhibition of first-person knowl-
edge of the real location but not on false belief tasks for which the participant
The neuroscience of social understanding 59
did not have knowledge of the real location (Samson et al. 2005). This result is
congruent with other findings which suggest that executive function associated
with frontal activity may be necessary to differentiate between mental states of
self and other, and thus for attributing distinct mental states to individuals. In
these circumstances a single mental state that is shared between self and other
that might be used in cases of passive observation or empathic responding, will
not be sufficient for mental state attribution.
If we consider just the two main regions involved in research with complex
ToM tasks, these results fit well with what we would expect based on the theory
theory (TT) approach to social understanding. The TPJ provides third-person
behavioral analysis of animate activity or apparently animate activity, while the
MPFC decouples or represents abstractly IRs, presumably in a theoretical or con-
ceptual format. That the same behavioral analysis and conceptual representation
could be applied to self and other is suggested by the fact that the MPFC shows
overlap in activity for a variety of tasks involving self and other (e.g., see Decety
and Sommerville 2003, for a summary of this research). It is possible that, in line
with TT, TPJ analyzes and represents animate activity and IRs based mostly on
visual or third-person information. As such the matching problem may not arise
if the IRs of self and other are both analyzed in a behavioristic (or third-person)
mode. MPFC could then provide decoupled (second order) representations of
intentional relations of agents, whether they are of self or other (or jointly self
and other).
However, the fact that the MPFC (and perhaps the TPC, particularly on the
right side) is activated in cases of self-representation that seem not to be based
entirely on third-person information about the self suggests that integrated rep-
resentations involving both first- and third-person information of the kind pos-
tulated by IRT are involved. Furthermore, the frontal region and other regions
along the midline have been postulated to be part of a system for representa-
tion and regulation of self (Northoff and Bermpohl 2004). So, perhaps, the MPFC
generates a second order representation of anothers mental states, through prior
association between a third-person behavioral analysis mainly from the left TPJ
that applies more often to another person than to self and a simulation of first-
person components of mental states found in the rest of the typically right-sided
self-system. This latter interpretation is consistent with studies showing differen-
tial responses for self and other in high level processing of social stimuli (e.g., Lou
et al. 2004).
The main conclusion to be drawn from these studies is that complex ToM
tasks involve two main regions of the brain, a posterior one associated with per-
ceptual representation of IRs and an anterior one associated with metarepresen-
tation of these perceptual representations. Furthermore, there is a good deal of
60 John Barresi and Chris Moore
overlap between the regions involved in representing self and other. Nevertheless,
differences that occur suggest a mapping of third-person information typical of
what we have from others to first-person information more typically associated
with self. While the need for perceptual and metarepresentational processes for
understanding individual IRs in complex ToM tasks is congruent with TT, the
overlap between self and other, and use of first-person information as well as
third-person information in these tasks fits better with the IRT approach to social
understanding.
Finally, it is worth mentioning some imaging research that supports the notion
that representations of intentional relations can occur in distinct forms. Dapretto
et al. (2006) studied high functioning autistic children and matched controls us-
ing the same imitation task as in the Carr et al. (2003) study mentioned earlier.
However, in addition to observing and imitating emotional expressions, the au-
tistic participants were measured on severity of autism, using several standard-
ized scales. The behavioral findings were that the autistic participants were as
able to imitate emotional expressions as other children, but the imaging findings
suggested that the means that they used were different. The typically developing
children replicated the results of the adult study, where mirror neuron pre-motor
and insula areas were involved in observation and imitation of emotions, along
with other areas. But in autistic children these mirror neuron areas were not as
involved, and degree of involvement of these areas during imitation was inversely
related to severity of autism in the social domain. Furthermore, other areas, the
left anterior parietal and the right visual association areas, were more involved for
autistic than for typical children. It was suggested that these latter areas served as
an alternative route to imitation in this group instead of the usual one involving
the mirror neuron system.
These results, combined with other findings, support the notion put forward
by Barresi and Moore (1996) that the main reason why autistic people have dif-
ficulty in ToM tasks as well as emotion understanding and imitation is that they
do not match and integrate first- and third-person information through an in-
termodal intentional schema, hence that they acquire and deploy independent
first-person (or egocentric) and third-person (or allocentric) theories of mind. At
the time that we wrote our article we had no idea how the notion of intentional
schema might relate to brain activity. However, with the discovery of mirror neu-
rons at about the same time, we, as well as others (e.g., Iacoboni et al. 2007) have
The neuroscience of social understanding 61
been able to make the connection. The Dapretto et al. study probably provides the
best confirmation for the view that it is the lack of matching of these two types
of information through an intentional schema that is at the heart of problems
in social understanding of autistic individuals. The inability to readily transform
third-person perceptions into first-person matching experiences, as well as to
make the reverse mapping, and thus to engage in mind sharing, makes it difficult
for autistic individuals to make sense of mind, because of the absence of a direct
connection between the two necessary, inseparably tied aspects of all mental phe-
nomena, an externally available bodily expressive component, and an internally
available feeling component. As a result of this deficiency in ability to share mind
with others, they lose interest in other people, and have difficulty learning from
them. Eventually, if they do attempt to reflect on and understand mind in self and
others, they form two radically different accounts: on the one hand they develop
rather complex TT-like accounts of mind from a third-person view of their own
and other peoples behavior; and on the other hand they overgeneralize in appar-
ent simulation their own egocentric first-person perspective to others (cf. Frith
and de Vignemont 2005). Because of lack of mind sharing during infancy and
beyond, they are faced with intractable problems in understanding mind beyond
those that appear as purely third-person TT types, or purely first-person ST types,
instead of integrated theories where matching of first- and third-person informa-
tion is involved as we have proposed in IRT.
6. Conclusion
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chapter 4
The first study we shall report appeared in a paper entitled: Hello and goodbye:
A study of social engagement in autism (Hobson and Lee 1998). In order to cap-
ture the spontaneous greetings and farewells of children and adolescents with and
without autism relating to an unfamiliar person, a colleague Tony Lee videotaped
participants as they entered and departed from a familiar but empty classroom in
which there was a stranger (PH, the first author) to whom they were introduced,
and from whom they later took their leave.
In outline, the findings were as follows. Compared with participants without
autism, there were about half as many of those with autism who gave spontaneous
expressions of greeting in the Hello episode, and a substantial proportion failed
to respond even after prompting. All the young people without autism made eye
contact, but a third of those with autism failed to do so; no fewer than 17 out of
24 of the former group smiled, but only six out of 24 of those with autism. In the
Goodbye episode, half the individuals without autism but only three of those
with autism made eye contact and said a goodbye. And not only were there few
participants with autism who waved in response to PHs final prompt, but also
their waves were strangely uncoordinated and limp.
When we designed this study, we were aware that behavioural data would
fail to do justice to the intersubjective phenomena we were attempting to cap-
ture, even though such conventional ratings might do the job of highlighting
atypical forms of social exchange. We expected that we should have to resist oth-
ers attempts to impose a conceptual framework in which the phenomena were
reduced to the social transmission of non-verbal communicative cues. There-
fore we also asked our judges to look at the greeting episode up to the time the
child sat down at the table, and to rate the degree of personal engagement with
PH. It turned out that different judges who made these ratings independently
were in good agreement with each other. The results were that 14 participants
without autism but only two with autism were judged to be in the most strongly
engaged category, and only two without autism but 13 with autism in the least
engaged category.
What do these findings really mean? Here is how one female adolescent with
autism negotiated the greeting and farewell. This person gave only the briefest
70 Peter Hobson and Jessica A. Hobson
glance towards PH as she entered, and then looked away. As Tony said This is
Peter, she continued to look away for about a second, then looked towards PH
without moving her rather set facial expression, and gave a brief and toneless
Unn in acknowledgement of PHs presence. Then she looked away to one side,
and maintained this lack of eye contact as she walked across the room with her
hands linked together in front of her body. She sat down without looking at PH.
Once seated, she did not look up at PH across the table. She fixed her gaze towards
her lap. Throughout the sequence, she gave little sense of any emotional contact
with either adult present. Then when she was told that our session was over, she
stood up rather abruptly without making eye contact with PH, and only made any
gesture towards PH when he said a first, rather insistent Goodbye as she turned
to leave. Even here, the gesture was to flap her left hand behind her vaguely in
PHs direction a wave that hardly seemed like a wave, especially since she was
still looking away and her only remark was a rather nasal and flat Bye. PHs
final Goodbye was met with the faintest of head-turns, another quiet (and hardly
expressive) Bye, and what seemed like a stiff extension of her right wrist behind
her body, which might have been a further wave. Although she had seemed aware
of PHs presence, he felt this involved little sense of himself as a person.
When we reviewed the videotapes, something else struck us. This concerned
PHs own behaviour. Although he had been trying to relate to each participant in
a consistent manner, it seemed that in being unable to sustain a fluency and spon-
taneity of exchange with the participants who had autism, his own behaviour and
gestures became stiff and forced. We shall return to this observation in due course.
When we first submitted our paper for publication, it carried the title: Hello
and goodbye: A study of interpersonal engagement in autism. The journal edi-
tor who dealt with our manuscript favoured something more neutral about the
greeting and farewell behaviors of the children we studied. Thanks to our ratings
of engagement, we were able to negotiate a compromise title, replacing the word
interpersonal with social. We had weathered what was to prove the first of a
succession of encounters over our attempts to measure and describe patterns of
intersubjective relatedness.
2.2 Head-nodding
The second study (Garca-Prez, Lee and Hobson 2007) arose out of a previous
investigation in which Tony Lee had engaged adolescents with and without au-
tism in conversation in the form of a semi-structured interview (Lee and Hobson
1998). We had videotaped the interviews, and now we wanted to test whether, as
we supposed, the intersubjective impairments that characterize autism would be
Engaging, sharing, knowing 71
What might this set of results signify? In our view, it probably signifies that
children with autism are limited in the degree to which they identify with an-
other person in conversation. We suggest that in the case of people who do not
have autism, one individual nods in accordance with what he/she is saying when
he/she is talking, and nods in accordance with him/herself in identification with
the other person when the other person is talking. In other words, it is because
of the kind of engagement people have with the stance (and corresponding ideas)
expressed by the other persons speech and expressive behaviour an engagement
that leads one to adopt the other persons cognitive-affective orientation in the act
of comprehending the other that the natural, unselfconscious kind of nodding-
in-communicating follows. Individuals with autism are specifically impaired in
this kind of intersubjective linkage and attunement. This interpretation accords
with other recent evidence that children with autism are limited in the degree to
which they identify with the actions of others in imitative contexts (Hobson and
Lee 1999; Hobson and Meyer 2005; Meyer and Hobson 2004). And it is in keeping
with the fact that there were marked group differences in affective engagement
and the flow of interpersonal exchanges during conversation.
In fact, half-way through the study we made one additional prediction. We
reasoned that if children with autism have a lowered propensity to identify with
and feel moved by another person, then the other person might have a reciprocal
difficulty in identifying with individuals who have autism. Therefore we predict-
ed that the interviewer would also show less head-shaking/nodding specifically
when the participant was talking, owing to the interviewers difficulty in iden-
tifying with the stance of the participant. This prediction was borne out even
though the interviewer did not look significantly less to the participants with au-
tism when they were talking, nor was he lacking in smiles. Therefore the result
was not simply a reflection of his looking less to the participants, nor showing
less feeling. It was, we considered, a reflection of the fact that the intersubjective
system of two people in relation to one another was awry. We were reminded of
PHs own stiffness towards participants with autism in the Hello-Goodbye study.
In both cases, the workings (or not-workings) of intersubjectivity were reflected
in each individuals behaviour, and in all probability each individuals experience,
towards the other.
When we submitted this paper for publication, the reviews were positive.
However, one anonymous reviewer expressed concern that the interviewer had
failed to interview all the participants in the same way, and recommended that
we should control for this effect statistically. Otherwise, the reviewer explained, it
is not possible to be sure that it was the participants rather than the interviewer
who contributed to the outcome on measures of intersubjective engagement. Of
course this raises an important point, for it is possible (though much in the results
Engaging, sharing, knowing 73
suggested was not actually the case) that the interviewer was systematically biased
in his approach to the participants with autism. Yet here the dangers of trying to
dissect the essentially interpersonal phenomenon of intersubjectivity into inde-
pendent parts threatened to undermine the measurement of what was (necessar-
ily) expressed by both components in an interlinked system.
Our third study (Hobson and Hobson 2007) proved the most problematic of all
when it came to arguing for its scientific respectability. This was because we in-
vited independent raters to watch videotapes of participants interacting (one at a
time) with an adult, and to judge the quality of each look they made to the adults
face. We had not anticipated how strongly other researchers would contest the ap-
propriateness or even the feasibility of judging what we defined as sharing looks
in distinction to checking looks or orientating looks.
The set-up (originally described in Meyer and Hobson 2004), involved a tes-
ter demonstrating actions that might or might not be imitated from the testers
viewpoint, and then instructing the child: Now you. Imitation of self/other-orien-
tation occurred when the child adopted the examiners demonstrated self/other-
anchored orientation, thereby reversing the positioning of the object and direct-
edness of the action. An example of this is when they saw the tester rolling a
wheel far-from-herself and close-to-the-participant, and imitated by rolling the
wheel far-from-themselves and close-to-the-tester. It turned out that participants
with autism were less likely to respond in this way. What we now wanted to test,
was our prediction that those participants who imitated the testers self/other-ori-
entation would also be those most likely to manifest sharing looks towards the
tester in the imitation task itself. The rationale was that sharing looks, too, serve
as indices of the quality of intersubjective engagement that implicates a degree of
identification with the person related-to.
The methodology was as follows. As a first step, two raters were found to
agree in the amounts of time for which children directed their gaze to the tester.
The next stage involved raters judging each look with respect to the quality and/or
function of the look according to the following mutually exclusive and exhaustive
scheme. Sharing looks were defined as those looks directed to the tester that
could be seen to express a participant sharing experience through interpersonal
contact with the tester. They involved a deep gaze which conveyed personal in-
volvement with reciprocity, depth and affective contact, in contrast to checking
looks that involved superficial glances at the tester and were more superficial and
lacking in mutuality. Checking looks were defined as those looks towards the
74 Peter Hobson and Jessica A. Hobson
tester that were used in order to assess or check out either the situation, the testers
response, or to determine what might happen next. Orientating looks were those
that appeared to occur in direct response to an action, sound, or movement on the
part of the tester. It proved that mostly, such looks were easily distinguished: two
independent judges agreed on 89% of the sample of looks they rated according to
this three-way classification.
The results were that each of the three forms of looking were less prevalent
among participants with autism, and most of the participants in each group
showed some checking and orientating looks. However, two-thirds of partici-
pants with autism never showed a sharing look, whereas this was the case for
one-third of the comparison group. Concerning our critical prediction that shar-
ing looks, and only sharing looks, would relate to imitation of self/other-orienta-
tion, it turned out that indeed, participants in each group who showed sharing
looks tended to be those who imitated the demonstrators self/other-orientation,
whereas all those with the lowest scores of self/other-orientation also showed a
complete absence of sharing looks. Our interpretation of the findings was that
sharing involves a structure of interpersonal engagement (involving identifica-
tion) that is easily overlooked until it becomes manifest through imitative self/
other-orientation.
When the paper describing this study was sent out for review, all three of the
anonymous reviewers made criticisms of the ratings and/or definition of sharing
looks. The essence of their objections was that, despite the fact that we had estab-
lished how the ratings could be made with high inter-rater reliability, there need-
ed to be some better kind of behavioural operationalization that defined when a
look could be considered a sharing look.
We shall hold back from citing chapter and verse of the reviewers points,
because this seems uncharitable when they are not here to argue their case. It
should be evident from the two studies already described that we are not averse
to measuring the kinds of behavioural components of communicative exchanges
that these reviewers had in mind for our sharing looks. Yet it seems important to
make two observations that, in our view, have a bearing on methodological ap-
proaches to measuring or evaluating intersubjectivity.
Firstly, was it the case that we had failed to operationalize the concepts in
terms of which our hypotheses and predictions were framed? Is it not standard
science, for example in the domains of psychiatry and social psychology, to ap-
praise all kinds of goings-on through human beings judgements of complex
processes with the only requirement being that independent judges arrive at
acceptable levels of agreement in their ratings? Why would one suppose that al-
ternative kinds of behavioural ratings would provide more reliable or more valid
estimates of sharing looks? Of course this might be so, although as a matter of
Engaging, sharing, knowing 75
fact, our subsequent attempts to find some behavioural indices that corresponded
with judgements of sharing looks failed miserably, so that (for example) they were
often but often not accompanied by smiles, and participants sometimes showed
smiles that were associated with other kinds of looks. The issue here is whether
the kinds of subjective ratings applicable to intersubjective phenomena are going
to be accorded the kind of status that appears to be justified providing, of course,
the usual scientific criteria of inter-rater reliabilities in judgement are satisfied.
Secondly, and related to this, recall that our hypothesis was specifically con-
cerned with looks that reflected sharing of experiences. Why? Because we con-
sidered that it was in virtue of the fact that sharing was happening that the looks
reflected how a participant was so engaged with the tester through identification,
that the imitation of self/other-orientation would be likely to occur. Now if this is
the case, how are we to establish that any behavioural index or indices of sharing
do indeed reflect sharing, without also making subjective judgements of sharing?
Such behavioural components do not come ready-flagged, as it were. One review-
er pointed out that previous researchers had found ways of making behavioural
ratings that (in his/her view) seemed to capture phenomena that were similar to
those we were trying to measure. Yet if this judgement was not corroborated by
ratings of sharing, then it seems the interpretation of the data as reflecting shar-
ing must be questionable. At some point, measures of sharing need to enter the
picture if claims are going to be made about the behavioural expressions and de-
velopmental implications of sharing.
One theme has gained prominence through this research. In the Hello-Goodbye
study, we saw that individuals with autism are less likely to orientate to and af-
fectively engage with a stranger, or to depart with typical gestures of farewell.
For example, all the participants with autism who waved did so with a strangely
configured and ill-directed gesture that hardly seemed a wave at all. Why should
that be? How do children without autism come to adopt and shape their waving,
so that observed waves-from-others-to-self become waves-from-self-to-others?
In the study of non-verbal communication during conversations involving a per-
son with autism, again there was a lack of smooth and affectively co-ordinated
exchanges, but also evidence of a subtle but deep failure of each conversational
partner to link in with the subjective states that found bodily expression in head-
shakes and nods. Finally, in the tests of imitation and sharing looks, there ap-
peared to be a relation between adopting the self/other-orientation of someone
else, and making a connection with that person through sharing looks (see also
76 Peter Hobson and Jessica A. Hobson
Barresi and Moore this volume). Connectedness through identifying with an-
other persons psychological stance is what makes intersubjectivity a system of
selves-in-relation-to-other.
Studies such as these yield fresh insights into qualities of interpersonal en-
gagement that are pivotal for human social and cognitive development. It is with
clinical observations and research on childhood autism firmly in mind, that we
turn to consider the nature and implications of intersubjectivity.
The answer we give to the rhetorical question with which we began, is that it is
only by bothering with intersubjectivity, that one can pinpoint what is essential
to the social relations of human beings. If this were not enough, it is only if we
accord intersubjectivity an appropriate place within our account of early human
development that we shall be able to explain how social and cognitive develop-
ment take the course that they do. Our purpose in the remainder of this chapter
is to explicate what is involved in these claims, from two points of view; firstly,
what intersubjectivity entails in terms of person-with-person engagement, and
secondly, why it is so central an influence on the growth of the human mind, and
so indispensable when we come to consider the kind of profound social impair-
ment that occurs among children with autism.
One important line of development that threads its way through an account of
very young childrens increasingly differentiated and sophisticated social and cog-
nitive lives concerns their ability to acquire concepts of other people that encom-
pass peoples experiences and psychological orientations their minds as well as
bodies. We put the matter this way, with explicit reference to persons, for reasons
that will soon become clear; in short, relative neglect of how the mind is a feature
of embodied persons and selves has been damaging for much recent theorizing in
developmental psychology. Having said this, such theorizing has also been hugely
beneficial in re-focussing attention on the intimate connections among interper-
sonal understanding (as broadly conceived), communication, and thought.
Our first claim, then, is that intersubjective relations between bodily ex-
pressive persons are at the core of what is irreducibly interpersonal. Perhaps
the quintessential, but by no means only, example of intersubjectivity is to be
found in human forms of sharing. To put it bluntly: you cannot share experi-
ences with a stone, a tree, or a squirrel. It is only in a very limited sense that you
can share experiences with a dog or chimpanzee more limited, we believe,
than with a two-month-old human infant, and infinitely more limited than with
a 10-month-old. Already, then, we may distinguish between what is social, and
Engaging, sharing, knowing 77
and Bakeman 1985). Mundy et al. (1992) considered how such measures of posi-
tive affect in joint attention may contribute to operationalizing aspects of intersub-
jectivity, or the sharing of ones inner subjective experiences with others.
The important thing here is not to allow such concepts as joint attention, dis-
plays of positive affect, or even smiles to displace the meaning of intersubjective
engagement, and in particular, to diminish the importance of joint attention as an
expression of the human propensity to share the experience of sharing. In order to
avoid this, it is essential to return to the meaning of what has been operationalized.
By way of illustration, here are two examples of studies which seek behavioural
evidence for what might be referred to as sharing looks (Venezia, Messinger, Thorp
and Mundy 2004) and knowing looks (Rakoczy, Tomasello and Striano2005). Both
approaches involve the timing of smiles in relation to looks at a social partner dur-
ing triadic experiences with objects, and both remain alert to the need to consider
the intersubjective meaning toward which the evidence points.
Venezia et al. (2004) provided evidence to suggest that although the frequen-
cy of smiling during joint attention remains stable between eight and 12 months,
the timing changes so that the older infants begin to smile in anticipation of shar-
ing the event with a social partner. These anticipatory smiles involve smiling at
an object and then gazing at the tester while smiling. The authors suggest that
this developmental change may reveal increasing ability to communicate pre-ex-
isting positive affect about an object to another person, or be an index of social
referencing in which the infants attempt to confirm their emotional response, but
they also go further when they raise the possibility that anticipatory smiling may
index an intersubjective sense of the social partner as someone with whom ex-
periences can be shared(Venezia et al. 2004:404). We would argue even further
that such sharing looks might reflect the pleasure of psychological linkage with
another person vis--vis a shared world and after all, the infant is more likely to
be smiling in the first place, if someone else is there sharing the experience. The
smile toward the person with whom one is sharing might be expressive of sharing
rather than communicating information. It might even be part of the communi-
cative act: We are enjoying this together.
Consider this vignette. A 15-month-old toddler seated across the table from a
tester utters the word Look as he extends his index finger into a point while gaz-
ing intently at the testers face. He ascertains that he has her attention, and then
begins to point vaguely to one side while turning to a poster just behind him.
He seems to pass this by, as he swings his body to look and point definitively to
another poster on the wall to his right side. At the moment he extends his arm
to a fully-fledged point, he looks back to the testers face with a broad smile. His
gaze and smile seem to affirm that he has created an experience for them to share.
80 Peter Hobson and Jessica A. Hobson
The key idea here is that it takes emotional engagement to be moved by others, not
least to be moved into sharing experiences. Movements in subjective orientation
are essential for much of what is so special about human life for transitions in
thought as well as feeling and their early beginnings are well illustrated by the
phenomena of social referencing (e.g., Sorce et al. 1985). An especially impor-
tant developmental implication of the ability to apprehend, respond to, and be
moved by the subjective states of other people in relation to the world, is that
such movements create mental space for negotiating attitudes and meanings. It
is only once an infant has experience of shifting across person-anchored stances
through assimilating another persons attitudes but at the same time, registering
the source of those attitudes as other that it becomes possible for the infant to
achieve understanding of what it means to have and to pass through alternative
perspectives.
Engaging, sharing, knowing 81
6. Methodology revisited
In this final section of the chapter, we return to issues of methodology. We have al-
ready indicated how one way to investigate intersubjectivity is to study human be-
ings in whom the ability to engage with others is compromised, specifically those
with childhood autism. Here we turn the argument around, and consider how in
order to understand the nature of autism, and even to diagnose the condition,
we need to be attuned to the significance of intersubjective engagement. What-
ever the resistances to according intersubjective phenomena a central place in our
84 Peter Hobson and Jessica A. Hobson
abnormalities related to autism). Some of the items are as follows (and these are
just a few examples): unusual eye contact, quality of social overtures, quality of
social response, and overall quality of rapport. Note the degrees of appropriately
subjective judgement in the ratings. Or again, here are a few examples of items
from the Parent Interview for Autism (PIA: Stone and Hogan 1993). Parents are
asked whether the child enjoys interacting with familiar adults, enjoys playing
with other children, looks through people as if they werent there, seems to be
hard to reach or in his or her own world.
Our point here is that intersubjective judgements are a necessary and im-
portant part of conventional diagnostic procedures. So why is there such resis-
tance to incorporating them into the broader domain of scientific investigation?
Even though informally, eminent researchers will refer to the lack of emotional
sparkle in imitative events (Rogers 2006) or the absence of warm, joyful expres-
sions (Wetherby 2006) among children with autism both examples from pre-
sentations at the recent International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in
Montreal we have a long way to go before the developmental significance of the
phenomena that such expressions capture is fully appreciated.
As a final flourish, here is one last study of our own (Hobson et al. 2006). In
this study, we asked children and adolescents to pose for a picture. While one
tester took the participants photograph with a Polaroid camera, a second tester
filmed the encounter. All of the participants looked at the camera when their
photograph was taken, and there were no group differences in the tendency to
sustain or avert gaze during the episode. But when it came to the quality of these
looks, there were marked and highly significant differences between the partici-
pants with and without autism. The participants without autism were judged to
show self-consciousness in their looks away and their looks to the tester. Those
with autism were judged to give blank looks away and to the tester. So, even
when the numbers of looks were similar, the quality of the encounter the feel
of the exchange contrasted sharply between the groups. Once again, here were
looks that raters could judge reliably. Although one might now try to track down
which behavioral/expressive characteristics corresponded with the self-con-
sciousness of participants looks, it was only through the ratings of intersubjec-
tively attuned human beings that such looks could be identified as self-conscious
in the first place.
These issues matter when we think about treatment for children with autism.
It is only when those involved in treatment cease to consider emotion recogni-
tion or interpersonal skills as abilities that can be taught or trained (even by
computer), and instead seek ways to foster development in intersubjective engage-
ment through efforts to draw individuals into appropriate kinds of socially co-or-
dinated experience by providing manageable and positively engaging exchanges
86 Peter Hobson and Jessica A. Hobson
(e.g., Gutstein, Burgess and Montfort 2007) do we come closer to finding ways to
help children with autism shift to a more fruitful developmental trajectory.
To conclude: there are indeed intersubjective foundations for engaging, shar-
ing, and knowing. Intersubjectivity has self-other structure, in our view a struc-
ture inherent in the process of identifying with others. One way to explore this
claim is to study children with autism. And one of the most promising starting-
points for understanding, diagnosing, and treating autism is to consider how in-
tersubjective engagement shapes the development of social relations and creative
symbolic thinking.
Acknowledgements
This chapter was written while we were at the Center for Advanced Study in the
Behavioural Sciences, Stanford, California. We are hugely grateful to the Center,
and also to the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, for making our stay possible
and so rewarding.
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chapter 5
Coming to agreement
Object use by infants and adults
1. Introduction
The ways in which the subject approaches the object constitutes one of the major
themes in early cognitive development in one way or in another the whole Ge-
neva School was devoted to this issue. Despite this and the growing recent influ-
ence of Vygotsky, the naturalistic view of the object is predominant in studies of
infant cognitive development. This naturalistic view implies that the child relates
to the object in a natural, direct, and spontaneous way, often eliminating not only
any action and use by the child upon the object, but also any adult-baby joint com-
municative action on the world (Rodrguez 2007). According to this viewpoint,
the child is supposed to promote his early cognitive development through his en-
counters with an obvious and transparent reality which can be accessed without
the need for any educational guidance through semiotic mediation, in order for
him to share different degrees of meaning with the people surrounding him. The
myth underlying this spontaneous encounter between the subject and the world
is the existence of a literal, obvious, transparent, non-social physical reality,
which declares itself nakedly, as opposed to the opacity of the social reality that
90 Cintia Rodrguez and Christiane Moro
2.1 Referential opacity of the social versus the evident physical reality
The vast influence of the theory of mind perspective when trying to explain what
is missing in children with autism is well known. Autistic children have diffi-
culties in pretend play, in true and false belief and in communication, whereas
such impairment will not fundamentally affect [their] apprehension of physi-
cal artifacts, including representational artifacts such as photographs or maps
(Leslie and Roth 1993:92, emphasis in original). According to this view, autistic
children should have no difficulties in their dealings with objects. In other words,
the literal reality of objects that is assumed to be directly evident is unproblem-
atic. Since the 1980s, this position has been extremely influential regarding views
about what should be looked at in early stages of development. Although we can-
not develop this here, we would like to stress that this view of the good relation
. We would like to refer here to the claim made by Jeremy Carpendale and Charlie Lewis
(2004) in relation to childrens developing understanding of mind. They consider that the de-
velopment of childrens social understanding occurs within triadic interaction involving the
childs experience of the world as well as communicative interaction with others about their
experience and beliefs (2004:79). There is maybe only a small, subtle difference in what we say:
We consider that not only social understanding, but development (included what is called cog-
nitive development) occurs within triadic interaction, following Vygotskys well known maxim:
The path going from the child to the world, goes through another person.
92 Cintia Rodrguez and Christiane Moro
The naturalistic view of the object in early cognitive development is not only the
result of the impact of the classical theory of mind perspective, but is also char-
acteristic of the enormous influence of the mainstream cognitive approaches that
have typically ignored the world when trying to explain the mind. We encourage
readers to have a careful look at the different sections included in recent infant de-
velopment textbooks. Almost invariably one will find a section devoted to social
development, clearly differentiated from another section dedicated to cognitive
development. Now we invite the reader to concentrate on the cognitive develop-
ment and see what it says about the relation between the child and the objects
presented (or represented).
In research, babies are frequently situated in a context (usually the laboratory)
on their own, with no other people to interact with, thus implicitly eliminating
social interaction as a cause of any cognitive development. In this solitary context
their (active) actions on the world are neglected in favour of their (passive) reac-
tions to the stimuli presented to them. When any characteristic of the object is
included, most of the time it is merely shape or color (e.g., Bremner et al. 2005).
In such contexts, the child becomes a big solitary looking eye who does not
transform anything in the world but only reacts on his own towards what is being
presented.
A good example of this is Spelkes nativist approach, according to which in-
fants, from a very early age, have object permanence and representations of ob-
jects as coherent wholes without any social intervention, and without any action
by the child. Her comment that newborn infants also may have a functional sys-
tem of object representation (Spelke 1998:185) seems an extremely vague and
general statement. Mandler (2000, 2004b), for instance, adds something to this
early representation of objects when she says that there is more than one kind of
object categorization. She distinguishes two types: perceptual categorization and
conceptual categorization. The latter is based not on what objects look like, but on
what objects do (2000:3), and meaning accrues from what things do, not what
they look like (2004a:168). Both perceptual and conceptual categories serve dif-
ferent functions: Infants, just like adults, make their inductive generalizations
on the basis of kind, not on the basis of perceptual similarity (2004a:199), and
Coming to agreement 93
when discussing the classification of animals by infants, she notes that these data
are at least partly culturally determined (2004a:204). Adding this pragmatic level
seems to us essential. Nevertheless, it is extremely surprising to find Mandler go
on to conclude with the further claim, especially in a chapter in a book entitled
The Development of the Mediated Mind, dedicated to Katherine Nelson.
In contrast to other chapters in this book, there was no mention here of the influ-
ence of sociocultural context. That is because infants are to some extent shielded
from such influence by their lack of languageby and large, the early development
of the ability tocategorize objects and to learn the important basics of language
such as that it is used for communication, are all governed by universal factors
common to infants in all cultures. It is when the foundations have been laid down
and the naming practices of the culture begin to teach the infant which details are
important that more cultural influence can be seen.
(Mandler 2004b:2728, emphases added)
But how is it that the baby is shielded from the influence of other people precise-
ly at a time when they are most vulnerable, and completely dependent on them
for every aspect of their existence? Our own findings about how children start
using everyday objects in a conventional way by the end of the first year stress the
cultural and social aspects. If children start to understand objects as sign of their
[public] use, it is because adults deploy an intense semiotic activity when using
the objects with, or in the presence of, children. Thanks to this, children come
to categorize them according to their social and public use (as adults do). The
mediation through signs (not all signs are linguistic) with the object itself is the
central tool of adult-child communication allowing the child to appropriate, over
an extended process, these public meanings of use (Rodrguez and Moro 1998,
1999; Moro and Rodrguez 2005). It is possible that later concepts have their roots
in this kind of canonical uses. The first conventional uses of objects could be re-
garded as concepts in action (Rodrguez 2006).
The permanence of the object has been investigated over many years. According
to Piaget, the child is able during the second half of the first year to remove an
obstacle in order to grasp the hidden object. In more recent research, in orders
to test whether the child does or does not have object permanence earlier than
Piaget suggested, images of autonomous moving objects on their own are pro-
jected into screens (Moore and Meltzoff 1999; Bremner et al. 2005). The visual
reaction of the child is then recorded. There is no doubt that important findings
are obtained with this method. Nevertheless, two things should be said. First, the
94 Cintia Rodrguez and Christiane Moro
infants knowledge of the object is an extremely complex thing that involves a long
process of shared meanings through ontogenesis, at many levels, which cannot
be simply reduced to its permanence as assessed with this paradigm. Given these
preconceptions, it is hardly surprising to read that: infant object permanence is
still an enigma after four decades of research (Moore and Meltzoff 1999:623).
According to Piaget (1937), there are degrees of permanence. In fact, he considers
the object as a limit, in the mathematical sense: one is continually approaching
objectivity but the object itself is never reached.
However, there is another kind of permanence of objects functional perma-
nence which is related to their everyday uses, social meanings and cultural func-
tions whose acquisition by children takes place in educational contexts (Rodrguez
and Moro 1998). This kind of permanence was largely ignored by Piaget and by
mainstream cognitive psychology (Rodrguez 2006). Such functional permanence
is different from the abstract conceptual categorization that is assumed in modern
cognitive theory to be independent of education and culture, and it cannot be cap-
tured in the appearance/disappearance paradigm which simply ignores the func-
tion and cultural use of objects. (We will come later to this problem.) Third, in real
life, as we previously pointed out, objects do not engage in their own spontaneous
motion back and forth without the intervention of intentional agents. Finally, in
real life, children are active subjects, not mere re-acting entities.
Many voices from the ecological tradition are very active nowadays against
the passivity imposed on subjects in experimental situations. As Alan Costall
(2004:76) has put it, if we really did spend all our lives just waiting for things to
happen to us (as the participants in psychology experiments are typically required
to do), then whatever activity is involved in perceiving would necessarily be
confined to internal processing. Eleanor Gibson and Ann Pick (2000:14), in op-
position to common accounts of perception, refer with a great sense of humor to
theories that begin with a motionless creature haplessly bombarded by stimuli.
The stimuli presented belong to the evident, transparent and obvious reality to
which the baby is supposed to be directly confronted.
A similar objection to the absence of action is identified by some research-
ers in relation to the paradigm used, which tells only part of the story about
the cognitive abilities of very young infants, as the visual observation paradigm
treats the infant as a couch potato who merely sits, watches, and offers an opinion
(by showing varying degrees of interest) (Willatts 1997:132). If we check our
not-so-remote past, this complaint about the neglect of actions in the world when
Coming to agreement 95
The situation in early developmental psychology has not always been the same. If
we look back through the 20th century to the classics, the picture we find is very
different the American biologist Stephen Jay Gould, when complaining against
the anti-intellectualist varnish of American culture, used to say that the nuggets
of the authentic discoveries abound in the primary literature (1998:14). Over the
last 50 or 60 years when researchers are involved with cognitive development they
usually look only at babies and objects. This was the classical Piagetian position.
For him, the social world of conventions and communication had nothing to do
with the origin of the intelligence, as there is no causal link between social facts
and psychological development (Bronckart 1997). Nevertheless, Piaget was very
much concerned with babies actions in the world not just their responses to
stimuli. The method employed by Piaget was observation of common situations
from everyday life, which allowed him to look at microgenetic processes from a
very qualitative standpoint; the complexity of the object was beyond doubt. Ac-
cording to Costall, both Piaget and Gibson insisted upon the primacy of being
in the world (2004:85) since Contrary to the dominant approaches within cog-
nitive psychology and artificial intelligence, they did not take our capacities for
representation and symbolism for granted, but saw clearly that representational
activities need to grounded in our interactions with our surroundings. A classical
objection had been addressed to Piaget in relation to the primacy of action: How
active must a subject be to be considered active (see Moore 2004)? The recent dis-
covery of mirror neurons in humans (see Barresi and Moore this volume; Zlatev
this volume) a number of areas of the brain are activated when people make a
movement that involves reaching out and grasping an object, as well as when they
watch grasping movements made by others (Corballis 2002:47) will provide
probably answers to this important question.
It is not by accident that Piaget was very much influenced by Khlers work
on chimpanzees. If we look at the kind of situations Khler considered as in-
dicating that there was intelligence without language, we have to bear in mind
that chimpanzees always had some practical problem to solve. They were active
subjects inventing new solutions (see Leavens, Hopkins and Bard this volume,
Pika this volume).
Two other important figures in European Developmental Psychology are
Vygotsky and the French psychologist Henri Wallon. Vygotsky is ambiguous
about how many protagonists should be considered in early cognitive develop-
ment. Sometimes it seems that there is room only for the child and the object.
Whereas in his manuscript about the first year of life, Vygotsky says explicitly that
the main way babies engage in activities at this early age is through other persons.
He says something very important: objects appear and disappear from the childs
visual field thanks to the others will (1984/1996:285). The subject considered
by Vygotsky and by Wallon (1942/1970) was active, always involved in the trans-
formation of the world thanks to the use of tools and signs. Wallon, for instance,
used to say that biology is socially oriented.
As stressed earlier, if we compare this situation with the subject being studied
during the last 50 years by mainstream cognitive psychology, the picture is quite
different:
Coming to agreement 97
1. No room is made for education and communication with other people (simi-
lar to Piaget).
2. The object under consideration is assumed to be self-evident, constitutes the
literal reality, and is neither defined by its social use (absence of pragmatics
of the object), nor by its roles in the communicative activities of the people
about it, around it, and with it.
3. The subject no longer acts anymore, but only reacts following the stimuli pre-
sented by the experimenter (who is playing the active role).
4. There is an almost total lack of interest in the processes of construction, in
microgenesis. There is also a disregard of qualitative analysis and longitudinal
studies.
know how the long process of joint action on the world involving babies in inter-
action with adults works. In other words, we need to understand how the place of
the adult as a mediator between the child and the world changes.
If we agree that objects have functions (Nelson 1974), shared meanings, that
are part of the social history, and which belong to systems of uses shared by the
community (Sinha 2005), an important question then to ask as developmental
psychologists is how, when, and through which processes, babies come to ap-
propriate the pragmatics of objects situated in communicative contexts and used
for doing things. How do children achieve, through diverse semiotic systems in
contexts of triadic interactions very different degrees of agreement with adults
about the meaning and uses of objects? These different agreements between adults
and children are possible thanks to a long process of construction in which babies
are actively involved with other people.
This means putting back on the agenda of early development the study of
processes with the help of observational and microgenetic methods. Our focus on
objects according to their uses is far removed from the culture-free scenario of
mainstream cognitive psychology. There are two major differences. Firstly, early
cognitive development is not such a solitary business. We need to understand
how the educative influences of other people on the baby operate in commu-
nicative contexts, which semiotic systems are at work in ontogenesis, and how
they develop. This means substantially extending the Vygotskian hypothesis ac-
cording to which communication through signs is taken to be a central cause of
cognitive development. Secondly, there is an urgent need to restore to children
their status as active agents, thereby rescuing them from the characteristic passive
position where they can only re-act to stimuli. As a consequence, we reach the
triadic interaction between baby-object-adult, in which both adults and children
act together and communicate by different degrees of shared meanings about the
uses they make of objects in the world. We come to an exceptional online scenario
in which development takes place and new meanings grow from shared uses, and
different levels of adult-child agreement are possible. Understanding these means
seriously taking into account materiality as a central focus around which two
different subjects communicate and establish a process of new, more powerful,
shared meanings and conventions.
The reality of objects, with their everyday social meanings of use, is a very
complex issue. Our studies concerning the uses of objects made by children,
Coming to agreement 99
uring the second half of their first year and first half of the second, indicate that
d
many levels of representation, of meaning and use have to be carefully specified
(Rodrguez and Moro 1998; Moro and Rodrguez 2005). When objects are con-
sidered from a social point of view, rather than reduced to a non-social physical
reality, they may have multiple meanings, and can be used according to very
different functions, both by the children and by the adults in the interaction. Dis-
tinguishing these different functions, putting them into a developmental perspec-
tive, and understanding the adults influence as a cause of cognitive development
is an urgent task that early developmental psychology must address.
As we pointed out when considering the permanence of the object from its
functional perspective, adults in their interactions with babies use objects as per-
manent long before the babies themselves are able to consider them as permanent
entities. This has important consequences for the child since children already live
in a world that is considered and treated as permanent by those surrounding them.
The same thing can be said about symbols. Before children are able to produce
their first symbolic uses of objects the adults surrounding them produce symbols
(see below, observation 1) when using objects with different functions. This has
various didactic purposes, to show how things should be done, when producing
gestures, or when referring to absent things, actions or events. The adult acts with
the child as a symbol maker, thus introducing them into symbolic scenarios of
uses of objects long before they are able to understand symbols as symbols, or, of
course, to produce them.
The same must be said in relation to other semiotic systems as ostensive signs
involving objects. Before children are able to produce their first ostensive signs,
giving or showing (Moro and Rodrguez 1991), or with a private self-reflexive
function (Rodrguez and Palacios 2007), the adult segments the world by high-
lighting certain aspects of it in a space of joint action, thus provoking shared
meanings whose complexity grows through development. First objects appear in
childrens life when they are used by another person in a communicative con-
text (see observations below). The same can be said about the conventional uses
of objects. Adults use objects in the everyday life in a conventional way almost
constantly, introducing directly the child into these practices, a long time before
objects become for the child signs of their social and public use. Objects are first
used (in shared contexts) before being understood by the child. After all, meaning
arises from use.
The same thing happens with indicative gestures. Before the child indicates
with the help of a sophisticated pointing gesture, adults manage in very different
ways to make clear which events or actions are indicated, provoking situations
of joint action and attention. Of course the same thing happens with language.
100 Cintia Rodrguez and Christiane Moro
All this implies a long process and a variety of levels of adult-baby agreement in
communicative contexts about the meaning of objects and events. This variety of
levels of agreement involves different semiotic systems with different degrees of
complexity.
According to our view, infants do not begin to interact with objects only from
5 or 6 months of age as is usually claimed in the literature (Messer 1997). It de-
pends how things are analysed, in which context, and how many partners are
considered. When we look microgenetically at babies as young as 2 months in
naturalistic interactions with adults and objects, we can see how adults bring ba-
bies into contact with objects in the world and how they do things with them. Of
course, the main responsibility and the initiative come from the adult since the
baby is not yet capable of finding them on their own. We will consider all this in
the next section.
. Of course, these observations are only illustrations of what happens at each age.
Coming to agreement 101
Through these illustrative observations we will see how different levels of agree-
ment between adults and infants can be reached about the same object. At the
beginning the adult focuses on the easiest uses at the level at which the child can
be included (ostensive signs are very important then), mainly shaking the hoops
as rattles (see observations 13). Later the tendency is to use the object in more
complex ways and place them onto the pivot (see observations 4 and 5).
The child is not only confronted with an object, but an object intentionally used
by his father presented to him in a certain way as a result of a particular point
of view, with particular intentions, constituted by meanings of use by the adult.
When an object is being used, this implies that a choice is being made, a perspec-
tive is being adopted; it is an object regarding which certain signs are applied. If
we look carefully at the fathers action, we see that he is using different semiotic
systems to communicate different things about and through the hoop to his son.
Through its use, he transforms the object into something else, this particular thing
that would not be accessible to this very young child in isolation. The hoop shown
to the baby becomes something to look at, to listen to, and eventually to be used
conjointly. The hoop becomes an object of shared attention and, in some degree,
of shared action by both protagonists. This is only possible thanks to the fathers
ostensive gestures when using the object, although this does not mean that the
meaning given by each of them is identical.
At the beginning of the observation, Alejandro looks at his fathers face with
interest. Only after a while does he shift his attention and look at the ostensive ac-
tions of his father with the hoop. The father uses several semiotic systems and at a
certain point the ostensive signs (hoop shown as a rattle) become a symbol for the
father (when it is used as a hat or as a bracelet). Looking at this situation carefully
allows us to understand that babies are exposed to complex uses related to differ-
ent systems of signs (including symbols and language) from a very early age, long
before they are able to understand them as such, as symbols or as words, and of
producing them.
Even with a two-month-old child, we are far from dealing with a re-acting
subject, as a big looking eye. This is so because adults introduce the child con-
stantly into their own ongoing meaningful activity. They intentionally introduce
the child into different semiotic systems long before the child is able to understand
and share the same meanings. The child himself is active at three levels: (1) As a
subject who is very much interested in the others actions. (2) The adult introduces
the child constantly into his own uses. (3) The child himself acts at his level with
his own resources; at the very end he directs his arm towards the hoop used by his
father, and this provokes in his father a symbolic new use of the object as bracelet.
Alejandro is sitting on his fathers lap. Both are looking towards the support
with the hoops very close on the table. The father puts three hoops on his
hands, two empty ones that are yellow and orange and one transparent with
little pieces inside, and presents all of them to the child while exclaiming:
which one do you want? This one makes a sound shaking the transparent
as a rattle, then leaves it on the table. Or do you want this one? showing the
orange one which has nothing inside (there is no sound). Alejandro, who is
looking with great interest at what his father is doing, stretches out his hand
and takes the orange one. He opens his mouth thus indicating he is going to
use it for sucking, which is what he immediately does. Then, his father pulls
out from the support another transparent hoop with little pieces inside and
then creates new ostensive signs when showing them all again to Alejandro.
Alejandro keeps the orange hoop in his hands and looks at the two others
his father is showing him: or do you prefer those? [] Alejandro drops the
orange ring and stretches his hand out towards the rattle hoop, trying to
grasp it. But it is too far away to reach, and then he starts crying [].
As in observation 1, here the interaction between the two protagonists takes place
through the use of the hoops, and once again the father does not perform the
complex conventional use of introducing the hoops inside the support, as it
would be too difficult to be shared with Alejandro at such an early age. Instead of
this, he focuses on the easiest conventional use of some hoops as a rattle. He seg-
ments his presentation, realising a series of ostensive signs when showing them,
according to a classification/categorization, from the point of view of the sounds
that can be obtained versus no sounds when shaken. In his ostensive presentation
the father is organizing the reality showed to the child according to this rhyth-
mic musical criterion. This raises a very interesting question about the degree to
which the early childrens categorisations are actually spontaneous. We see here
how Alejandros father is active at providing a meaningful framework to the child
according to the uses that can be made of the hoops. His intervention provides the
child with a shared context of classification (of meaning subsequently). It comes
to be a really important way of discretization, of putting order into the reality
from a rhythmic musical and pragmatic point of view.
As in observation 1, Alejandro is, at his level, very active. He gets readily
involved in his fathers ostensive signs when he shows the hoops from a rhythmic
point of view. The big difference with what happened at 2 months is that now he
is much more involved with the uses of the hoops he is able to perform himself.
He readily understands the meaning of the ostensive signs of his father as take
them and do something most of the time Alejandro just sucks them. A very
important shift takes place now in relation to the place of the object in the interac-
tion, as Alejandro participates always actively making a certain selection before
104 Cintia Rodrguez and Christiane Moro
the ostensive signs with the objects realised by his father. In this sense, it is a
triadic interaction, with joint action. Both the father and child share important
degrees of agreement about what to do with what is being shown. The father puts
the object into a certain framework of meaning. The child accepts this point of
view and does something with it. Whereas at 2 months Alejandro got involved
most of the time in the uses made by his father, he is now able to use and choose
the objects in a much more autonomous way.
5.3 The object as sign of its social use for the child related to its musicality
If we compare this observation with the previous ones, we see a major difference.
In observation 1, it is the father who, through different ostensive signs, presents
the hoops and introduces the child directly into their use: the sounds they can
produce when shaken. In the second observation he presents several hoops mak-
ing an ostensive sign, proposing to the child to make a choice from the point of
view of the musicality, something that Alejandro does at once. Whereas in this
third observation the child is already able of doing it, obtaining with the hoops
two types of musicality (when hitting the table or the support). The common
agreement shared between the child and the father about the use of the object
Coming to agreement 105
is very easy to see. In this case the father does not give the hoops to the child, he
only brings them closer in such a way that the child himself can realise and explore
different uses related to their musicality. Both share the meaning of an object to be
taken. The father reads his intentions and makes adjustments to facilitate the child
to take the hoops. These adjustments are far less ostensive (bringing to attention)
than the ostensive signs when presenting the hoops (observations 1 and2) be-
cause, (1) the hoops are already the object of the childs attention, (2) both protag-
onists share the definition of the (easiest) conventional use of the object (if hoop,
then take and produce musicality with it). At 6 months of age the child is able to
explore different kinds of rhythmic sounds on his own.
The common feature of these three observations is that the uses selected, pro-
moted and facilitated by the father are related to sonority and rhythm (uses more
basic than those related to introduce the hoops into the support). What is different
is the degree of involvement of each protagonist in the use. We will see that the
situation is quite different in the next observations with Javier, a 9-month-old child
and with Nerea, a 12-month-old girl, where as we will see theirs mothers promote
the more complex conventional use of introducing the hoops into the support.
5.4 The child understands the ostensive signs but does not understand
the pointing gestures related to the more complex conventional
use of the object
indicative gesture as related to the conventional use of the object of inserting the
hoop into the support. Then the mother says, [the hoop] has pellets inter-
preting maybe the interest of the child in looking at the hoop, does it sound?
After attending to the hoop, Javier once again takes the support, brings the
hoop towards it but without trying to insert it. Then he puts the support far
away to the right, while keeping hold of the hoop in his other hand [].
Compared with the previous observations, this is the first time the mother uses
highly elaborated conventional indexical signs (pointing gestures), as semiotic
mediators, and, this time, not only as ostensive signs with the object, as was the
case in the previous observations. This is first time also that the mother tries to get
the child to recognise the more complex conventional use of the hoop by introduc-
ing it inside the support. In the previous observations the adult was much more
concerned about the use of the hoops according to their sounds (the other pos-
sible conventional use of the object). It is true that the degree to which the child
is introduced into this use is very different from what happened with Alejandro
in observation 1 (where the musicality comes from the fathers use) to observa-
tion3 (where the child explores different sonorities and rhythms). What seems to
us evident is that at his level Alejandro from 2 to 6 months was always part of this
universe of sound and rhythm.
Now we would like to stress how the ostensive signs function here. The moth-
er shows/offers the hoop and Javier readily understands his mothers intentions
about this particular use of the object: he takes the object being offered. Clearly,
there is no problem with this level of agreement between mother and child. Both
share this kind of meaning related to this object use. Nevertheless, with the in-
dexical signs (the pointing gestures in relation to the conventional use expected)
things are quite different. The mother points towards the support and shows her
intentions about the way the child should use the object (i.e., the more complex
conventional use of the hoops by introducing them into the support), but Javier
does not follow her intentions in relation to this particular use. He does not inter-
pret the signs according to the use she proposes. To interpret correctly the point-
ing gesture of the mother means to use this indexical sign as a tool to help doing
the conventional use of the hoop by introducing it into the support. To make this
inference: if pointing gesture, then introduce this hoop into this support, is very
complex and non-transparent. This requires sharing several levels of signs (and
several semiotic systems involving the meaning of the pointing, the social mean-
ing of the object, as sign of its use, and the articulation between both, consider-
ing that the object becomes a sign of its use thanks to the ostensive and indexical
signs applied to it). Objects themselves do not demonstrate how they should be
used. We always have to do that on their behalf. This is why objects are opaque
Coming to agreement 107
attempt to insert it, but it runs away and falls down. The mother takes it, and
segments her action into two phases: First she brings the hoop towards the
support, and says, look, and then she stops for a while with the hoop in the
air above the pivot. In the second phase, she says like this, inserts the hoop
and thus completes the action. And now, the orange one, she says, show-
ing/giving this new hoop to Nerea. Nerea, who was reaching out towards her
mothers action, immediately takes it. The mother says here pointing to the
support, and Nerea reads her mothers intentions as she interprets correctly
the meaning of the pointing as related to the use of the object directing the
hoop towards the place indicated by her mother. Finally she inserts the to
hoop around the support and her mother claps her hands, very good. Now,
the yellow one says the mother, giving it to Nerea, who again without hesita-
tion takes it and direct towards the support. However, as she brings the hoop
towards the support at the wrong angle (i.e. parallel rather than vertically),
the hoop hits the support and so she fails to insert it. Even though she did not
succeed, her intention was to achieve the conventional use of the object.
As an open question for further research, we would like to stress that on an-
other study concerning the private ostensive and pointing gestures that Nerea pro-
duces with the hoops and the support at 18 months (Rodrguez and Palacios2007)
we see certain parallelism with the segmentations of the use made by her mother
that we have seen in this last observation. Whether or not there is any connection
between both activities needs further research.
6. Conclusions
Twentieth century philosophy has centered its reflection on language (Eco 1997).
The linguistic turn has strongly affected our vision of language putting the
question of its meaning into a pragmatic perspective of everyday contexts of use
(Wittgenstein 1953; see Itkonen, this volume). There is no need to remind how this
pragmatic position has been influential in Psychology. Bruners work with babies
is an excellent example (Tomasello 2001; Shotter 2001). However, this pragmatic
perspective has hardly been extended to objects, the very things we do things with.
The emphasis placed by Bruner (1975) on contexts-of-use in relation to language
acquisition has, paradoxically, not been applied to objects. Everything happens as
if language was used, but objects were not. Perhaps this happens because objects
seem to be evident, no matter how complex they may be. The naturalistic view of
objects, according to which they are obvious and show their meaning in a literal
and direct way, is predominant nowadays in early developmental research (Ro-
drguez 2006, 2007).
This position has been challenged in this chapter. In opposition to the over-
simplification implied by the naturalistic view of objects, we have situated them
from a semiotic and pragmatic position. That is to say, we have considered their
use(s) in the everyday life. Objects cannot be reduced to any physical self-evident
non-social reality (Costall 2004; Rodrguez and Moro 1999, 2002; Sinha 2005,
Sinha and Rodrguez this volume). Many of the things we do with them are only
possible within communicative contexts, and communication itself changes ac-
cording to the object or use selected. From a developmental perspective, very dif-
ferent levels of adult-baby agreement can be reached when they interact around
an object.
As examples illustrating this oversimplification, we have focussed on a few
topics extremely well known in the literature, such as the dichotomy in the theory
of mind research between the opacity of the social world versus the evident physi-
cal reality. This dichotomy does not fit with our findings when looking at baby-
object-adult interaction. The so-called physical reality is complex as objects are
included into normative practices.
110 Cintia Rodrguez and Christiane Moro
Our position is not far from Racines (2004) who, following Wittgenstein, dis-
tances himself from a naturalistic logic of meaning: intentions, beliefs and
desires are not in our head; they exist and are understood in language-games
(2004:271). What Racine says is that the theories of mind we use should not be
placed exclusively inside the head because they are actually born, and take place
in language-games. Our focus here refers to what happens below the level of lan-
guage games. This means that it exists, taking Wittgensteins words, in sign-games
with objects (Rodrguez 2006) long before and probably as a pre-condition
for the language games to appear later in development. Two subjects, such as an
adult and a 2 months old baby, can reach important levels of agreement around
the use of an object because adults make clear their intentions when using objects
in a communicative context.
Concerning the question of the subject when dealing with objects, in our view,
there is an urgent need to place the active child back on the agenda of Psychology,
in place of a merely reactive one. Often studies in early cognitive development
belong to the kingdom of spontaneity, ignoring that children interact with oth-
ers since the beginning of their life in contexts of joint action. The permanence
of the object is another important but oversimplified topic. How many kinds of
object permanence are there? According to our view, it is necessary to include
something like a pragmatic permanence that takes into account its social use. After
all, if objects have public names, they have also public functions. How does this
affect the conventional use of the object (once the child has got it) to the objects
permanence? Is there any link? After all, objects are used according to certain
rules shared by the community and these represent some kind of stability. The
conventional use procures for the object a permanence of its social use, a sort of
label of use (Rodrguez 2007). This means a detachment from the concrete and
strict individuality of the case.
A similar thing can be said in relation to early categorizations. Is there any
relation between the public uses of objects and early conceptual categorizations?
To use an object in a conventional way implies the application of a certain level
of categorization. Maybe we should conclude that early categorisations made by
children are not so culture free, not as spontaneous as it has been widely as-
sured.
When we put the object into this pragmatic position, and examine the uses of
objects microgenetically within triadic interactions baby-object-adult- we dis-
cover the multiple scenarios at work and how each new shared meaning emerges
through use in such communicative contexts. Objects do not afford the same
things in different moments in ontogenesis and cannot be excluded from norma-
tive practices. Adults seem to know this very well.
Coming to agreement 111
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Alan Costall and the Editors of this book for their excel-
lent comments and suggestions on this chapter.
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chapter 6
Ingar Brinck
The present account explains (i) which elements of nonverbal reference are
intersubjective, (ii) what major effects intersubjectivity has on the general
development of intentional communication and at what stages, and (iii) how
intersubjectivity contributes to triggering the general capacity for nonverbal
reference in the second year of life. First, intersubjectivity is analysed in terms of
a sharing of experiences that is either mutual or individual, and either dyadic or
triadic. Then it is shown that nonverbal reference presupposes intersubjectivity
in communicative intent indicating and referential behaviour, and indirectly in
modifications of previous behaviour in response to communication failure. It is
argued that different forms of intersubjectivity entail different types of commu-
nicative skills. A comprehensive analysis of data on gaze-related intersubjective
behaviour in young infants shows that interaffectivity and interattentionality
enable referential skills early in development and together allow for complex
behaviour. Early referential skills, it is proposed, arise by other mechanisms
than in nonverbal reference. Reliable and consistent use of nonverbal reference
occurs when interaffectivity and interattentionality coalesce with interintention-
ality, which affords general cognitive skills that together permit a decontextuali-
sation of communicative behaviour.
Few people would disagree with the statement that intersubjectivity plays a critical
role for language acquisition and is central to nonverbal reference, yet not many
would agree about its exact significance. Intersubjectivity is a complex relation
that manifests itself in many types of context and in different ways, which makes
it difficult to elucidate exactly how it contributes to these capacities. The aim of
the present chapter is to account for the role that intersubjectivity plays for the
116 Ingar Brinck
. In line with current praxis in developmental psychology and research on language acquisi-
tion, the term intentional communication will be used to refer to nonverbal, referential com-
munication by gesture, gaze, vocalisation, etc., in preverbal human infants.
. Experiences are felt qualities, i.e., the qualitative ways in which objects, states, and events
present themselves to conscious awareness when perceived from a first-person perspective.
They vary in intensity and vividness, and are sometimes value-laden.
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 117
be triadic (relating two subjects relative to a third element) or dyadic (relating two
subjects). In the former case, the subjects are said to exchange experiences around
an object. In the latter case, the experiences concern the subjects themselves and
the interaction between them, and therefore reflect the fundamental reflexivity of
the relation of intersubjectivity.
The definition of intersubjectivity as a sharing of experiences draws atten-
tion to the interactive aspect of the relation. Intersubjectivity first materializes in
the form of early imitation between the newborn infant and an adult (usually its
caretaker), and soon develops into mutual engagement. During these exchanges,
infant and adult characteristically take a second-person perspective toward each
other. Mutual engagement develops in the first month from the repetitive but ac-
tive and rhythmic matching of facial expressions of emotion between adult and
infant. In turn, proto-conversation is built around turn-taking, that is, the recip-
rocal co-ordination and sequencing of more or less spontaneous behaviours and
actions in time (Trevarthen 1979; Trevarthen and Aitken 2001). By two months,
the infant can produce differentiated responses to the adults attention and so take
turns, and one month later, begins to actively call others attention to the self, as it
seems, to initiate mutual engagement (Reddy 2005).
The newborn infants primordial experience of similarity with the other is a
precondition for developing intersubjectivity. Repeated episodes of mutual en-
gagement during the first months in life further promote the implicit recognition
of similarity between self and other. Meltzoff and Brooks (2001) argue that this
recognition is based in a cross-modal mapping of felt and observed actions, which
prepares the infant for adjusting his or her individual behaviour to the needs and
demands of the other, as in later and more complex forms of interaction. It seems
reasonable to think that the cross-modal mapping of actions causally depends
on activity in the mirror neurons. Research on mirror neurons has revealed that
manual actions are recognised by a mapping of the observed action onto a mo-
tor representation of it in the observers brain. When an observer is watching an
agent perform an action, there is a concurrent activation of the motor circuits
that would have been recruited had the observer performed the action herself
(Gallese, Keysers and Rizzolatti 2004:397). Furthermore, noticing another agents
facial expressions of emotion will activate similar areas of the observers brain as
of the agent whose face is observed, and gives rise to similar sensations and nega-
tive or positive experiences (Gallese et al. 2004; Rizzolatti et al. 2002; Wicker et
al. 2003; Barresi and Moore, this volume). In line with this, the neural correlates
. Other brain regions, e.g., the inferior prioretal cortex, make it possible for the brain (hence,
the agent) to discriminate actions of the self from those of another (observed) agent. See Barresi
and Moore (this volume) on the role of mirror neurons for intersubjectivity.
118 Ingar Brinck
. The present view has affinities to the theory advanced by Goldman (2006), who argues that
mind-reading is simulation, and that some forms of mind-reading, which do not depend on
verbal capacities, are based in the mirror neuron system.
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 119
others from observations of their behaviour relative to salient entities in the local
context, is a generic form of individual sharing (Brinck 2004).
A mutual sharing of experiences occurs when two agents gain access to each
others experiences via either observation or attention contact. Mutual sharing is
bi-directional. It does not necessarily entail attention contact, because the agents
may be looking repeatedly towards each others faces but not simultaneously.
It will still be a case of mutual sharing, since each agent is aware of the others
experiences even if they are not mutually aware of sharing experiences. Two
examples of mutual sharing that do include attention contact are (triadic) joint
attention and (triadic) ritualised behaviour in the form of structured play. Thus,
consider the repeated giving and taking back of an object while exchanging emo-
tions around it by vocalisation and facial expression, as illustrated by the toddler
who repeatedly hands an old sock to her parents dinner guest, expecting to re-
ceive it in return from the adult.
. The present analysis of intentional communication globally agrees with the analyses in
Bard (1992), Bates et al. (1979), Leavens, Hopkins and Thomas (2004), and Leavens, Russell,
and Hopkins (2005), and applies to human infants and Great apes alike.
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 121
pointing gesture, it can be accomplished by other means, such as gaze or head and
body turn in the direction of the target.
Intentionally communicative acts are complex in the sense of being com-
posed from a selection of behaviour. First, the varieties of behaviour that occur in
intentional communication can be categorised into four distinct types according
to the functions that such behaviour has been observed to have in contexts of use.
The types consequently constitute the basic acts or units of the complex act of
nonverbal reference. Which of these acts should be performed to achieve nonver-
bal reference on a given occasion is determined in the context of use.
Below, the act of nonverbal reference is described from the senders per-
spective in terms of the four types of behaviour that are used to perform it (cf.
Bard1992; Bates et al. 1979; Leavens, Hopkins and Thomas 2004; and Leavens,
Russell and Hopkins 2005). Taken together they are intended to subsume the
multitude of communicative behaviour that recurs in nonverbal reference. Each
type of behaviour will be characterised, first, operationally by its observable fea-
tures, and then, in terms of its use, or function, in concrete situations. The present
concept of a function identifies behaviour by the observable use it has across
contexts. It stands in contrast to the concept of a teleological or design function,
which identifies behaviour in terms of its intended goal: the effect that is achieved
by performing the behaviour successfully.
. A wide interpretation of the pointing gesture is used in the research on intentional commu-
nication, typically as the extension of the arm and hand towards a distal target, with or without
the index finger outstretched.
. Categorising behaviour with respect to its major detectable use in acts of nonverbal ref-
erence may be valuable for comparative psychology, which investigates cognitive differences
between species, in simplifying the identification and explanation of behavioural similarities
across species in spite of existing dissimilarities among surface properties. The present account
of the basic units of referential acts provides the tools for further investigation of the varieties
of behaviour in intentional communication.
. It is very difficult to check whether a teleological interpretation of nonverbal behaviour is
correct, which is why an interpretation in terms of use generally is preferable to one in terms of
desired effect. Austin (1962) introduced a distinction between an utterances illocutionary force
and perlocutionary effect that is similar to the distinction made here. It captures the difference
between what is achieved in saying something and by saying something. The illocutionary force
concerns changes that an utterance (if successful) will produce as a result of its regular use and
meaning (informational content) in the context of utterance, but not any changes that occur in
the wider environment. The perlocutionary effect concerns changes that an utterance can be
used to achieve outside of the utterance context given that the non-linguistic contextual condi-
tions are appropriate. Brinck (2003) argues against definitions of pointing in terms of perlocu-
tionary effect, or what an act of pointing is meant to achieve, and claims instead that declarative
122 Ingar Brinck
iii. Referential behaviour, e.g., pointing, gazing, visual orienting towards a (distal)
target, head and body orienting in the direction of the target, gaze alternation
between the observers face and the target, and looking back, performed relative
to the attentional status of the observer.
Referential behaviour displays the senders interest in, on the one hand, a tar-
get of attention in common space, and on the other, the observers attention. If
successful, it will make the observer shift his or her attention to the senders target.
In guiding the observers attention to the target, referential behaviour fixes the
content of individual acts of nonverbal reference.
pointing is an illocutionary act with an indicating function, and that it can be used for different
purposes, and thus can have different perlocutionary effects.
. Developmental psychology defines the pointing gesture of human infants by what an act
of pointing is meant to achieve, thus distinguishing between an imperative and a declarative
form. Pointing can be used imperatively to request an object, or declaratively to achieve joint
attention to an object for some further purpose, such as exchanging experiences of it with the
observer, informing the observer about its location, initiating play that involves it, etc. (Bates
1976; Brinck 2003). Declarative pointing usually is characterised in referential terms, while im-
perative pointing is described as partly communicative, partly instrumental. Yet, given that im-
perative pointing is performed relative to the observers attentional state, it involves a referential
element in directing the observers attention to the requested object (cf. Hopkins, Leavens, and
Bard, this volume). Henceforth, the term referential pointing will be used for any pointing
gesture that satisfies this requirement.
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 123
iv. Essentially intentional behaviour, i.e., persistent behaviour until reward, and
elaboration of behaviour when repeated attempts to communicate fail.
Essentially intentional behaviour shows that the sender understands that dif-
ferent means may be directed toward the same end and that the same means may
be used for different ends (Tomasello and Call 1997:361), and consequently is
distinctive of intentional communication.
Given that the four basic acts have counterparts in the real world, intentional
communication has systematic properties. The acts have a similar use, or function
(meaning) across contexts, independently of individual agents, and in different
combinations. Several distinct behaviours share the same function and so can
realise the same act. This permits using them selectively on different occasions to
meet contingent contextual demands. As a consequence of this flexibility in use,
both as to the selection of basic acts and the behaviour that realises the selected
act, nonverbal reference can take a great many forms.
Essentially intentional behaviour has a fundamentally different function than
the other basic acts, which gives it a unique status (Bates et al. 1979). It reinforces
the senders previous act by introducing changes in the way the act was expressed,
while preserving its quality, or content. In spite of the fact that over time essen-
tially intentional behaviour has become the scientists litmus test for intentional
capacities in the sender, it does not have a strictly communicative function, and
is not in general necessary for the success of acts of nonverbal reference. To be
more precise, essentially intentional behaviour constitutes a meta-operation that
the sender uses to enhance previous behaviour that has failed to achieve the act of
nonverbal reference. This makes it a resource for improving and repairing on-go-
ing communicative behaviour.
emotional information from the adult by looking at his or her face, and, as it seems,
using it to evaluate the situation. A similar behaviour occurs in unpredictable situ-
ations, and after infants intentional actions (Reddy 2005), when emotional cues
appear to be sought for confirmation of the infants evaluation of the event.
The significance of these data is not fully clear. However, granted that infants
engage in attention contact, follow point and line of regard, and alternate gaze sev-
eral months before the onset of intentional communication, the view that all the
relevant intersubjective skills emerge at a precise age seems incorrect (cf. Tomasello
1995, 1999 on the 9-month revolution). The data seem to support the opposing view
that intersubjectivity develops gradually (Reddy 2005; Striano and Bertin2005;
Striano and Rochat 1999). However, infant communication does show signs of a
transition from one kind of behaviour to another around 12 months, when triadic
interaction becomes more important and elaborate. This suggests that while inter-
subjectivity is crucial for intentional communication, the presence of intersubjec-
tive skills as such does not imply skills for intentional communication.
The question is why nonverbal reference does not emerge before 12 months,
since the capacity for it appears to be in place much earlier. Three answers will
be considered with regard to this issue. A first answer is based in the research
on socio-emotional behaviour and autism. It takes its starting-point in the claim
that human infants have a natural inclination to interact with their caregivers by
exchanging facial expressions of emotion, irrespective of other goals than shar-
ing experiences (Hobson 2002; Tomasello 1999; Trevarthen 1979). Infants who
go on to be diagnosed with autism behave differently. For instance, they do not
show a distinct preference for visual attention contact or for pointing merely to
share attention. Observed differences in the communicative behaviour of autistic
and non-autistic children are taken as evidence that certain intersubjective abili-
ties, missing in autistic children, are necessary for intentional communication.
Among these we find social reciprocity, emotional relatedness, the recognition
of psychological self-other equivalence (by matching of mental states), and the
capacity to identify with the other (Barresi and Moore, this volume; Hobson 2002;
Hobson 2005; Meltzoff and Brooks 2001). Further evidence for the view that so-
cio-emotional factors cause the emergence of intentional communication comes
from experimental research on apes that test for typically human intersubjective
capacities. The tests demonstrate behavioural differences between human infants
and apes that in certain respects parallel those between non-autistic and autistic
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 127
children (cf. Tomasello 1999; Tomasello et al. 2005). Because the observed differ-
ences are correlated with differences in the capacity for intentional communica-
tion, they are held to support the view that intentional communication requires
specifically human, socio-cultural capacities.
A second answer relies on experimental evidence about, on the one hand,
perceptual skills for reading individual goal-directed action, and on the oth-
er, referential skills for understanding action, bodily manifest emotion, and
gaze as linking agent and world. These skills manifest themselves in behaviour
such as gaze following and social referencing and are held to be in place by
9 to 12 months, if not before (Brooks and Meltzoff 2005; Moses et al. 2001;
Woodward2005). Csibra (2003) holds that they represent two kinds of action
understanding that operate independently of each other, but rely on a similar
blind tracking of perceptual cues in respectively instrumental and communica-
tive contexts. The tracking capacity functions without the attribution of mental,
intentional, or representational states. Csibra (2003:448) further conjectures
that the two skills combine into a higher-order mentalistic understanding dur-
ing the second year.
In focusing on capacities for dyadic emotional engagement, the first answer
emphasizes the importance of primary, face-to-face intersubjectivity for engag-
ing with others, leaving the referential relation between agent and object aside
(Trevarthen and Hubley 1978). The second answer revolves around capacities
for attention reading and co-ordinated joint attention that do not involve social
reciprocity. It stresses the role of secondary, side-by-side intersubjectivity (fac-
ing the shared target) for intentionality, but neglects the importance of explicit
attentional engagement for triadic relations. Nevertheless, there is no reason to
think of the two as mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they are complementary.
As argued in Section 5, both kinds of intersubjectivity are required for intentional
communication. Communicative-intent indicating behaviour involves face-to-
face intersubjectivity, or a mutual sharing of experiences by attention contact,
whereas referential behaviour relies on side-by-side intersubjectivity.
Both answers provide explanations of why the early presence of intersubjec-
tive capacities does not trigger intentional communication. The first one refers to
an insufficient understanding of socio-cultural practices by dyadic infants as the
reason why they develop intentional communication only at 12 months. Even so,
it does not specify which those precise mechanisms are that socio-cultural prac-
tises can modulate, or in what respects they are conducive to intentional com-
munication. The second answer explains early referential behaviour as the side
effect of a blind tracking of motion cues, and is detailed enough to have a bearing
on the data. Still, the hypothesis that action understanding is mechanistic and
128 Ingar Brinck
automatic before the age of 1 year, and that by 2 years the automatic skills com-
bine to yield an interpretative system, does not account for the progress from one
level to the other.
Tomasello (1999) provides a third, reconciliatory answer in an attempt to
combine the previous two approaches. He asserts that both dimensions of in-
tersubjectivity the motivation to share emotions and the understanding of
intentional action are necessary for human-like cognition. In the same vein,
Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003:125) declare that the understanding of persons as
intentional agents who have a perspective on the world that can be followed into,
directed, and shared constitutes a crucial social-cognitive skill. Tomasello et al.
(2005) emphasise the importance of shared (we) intentionality and of collabora-
tive (as against competitive) co-operation for achieving typically human ends.10
They maintain that dialogic cognitive representations emerge by 14 months that
integrate the first- and third-person perspectives via internalisation and allow for
specifically human, collaborative, cultural practices (2005:683f., 689). However,
it is not clear that the present form of integration of perspectives would permit
such practices, or exactly how it would do so. The claim that dialogic representa-
tions permit specifically human forms of collaboration trades on an ambiguity
in the concept of a third-person perspective. Although infants can integrate the
first- and third-person perspectives relative to a shared (physical) space, this abil-
ity will not extend to regular kinds of future-directed collaborative co-operation.
Such co-operation requires representations that do not contain indexical and de-
monstrative components (Brinck and Grdenfors 2003), and are not available to
the infant by 14 months. Furthermore, because of the all-inclusive nature of the
theory, the significance of dialogic cognitive representations for the onset of in-
tentional communication is uncertain.
None of the answers fully explain why global capacities for intentional com-
munication emerge by 1215 months and not before. A satisfactory account
would have to be explicit about the details. Nonetheless, recognising the con-
tinuous development of nonverbal reference is important for identifying changes
in intersubjective behaviour that may be relevant. Next, we return to the data
presented in Section 6 to search for a pattern that might indicate the direction in
which to pursue the inquiry.
10. Brinck and Grdenfors (2003) express a similar view. They describe collaborative co-opera-
tion as directed at future goals that are unrelated to the context of (inter)action. Sharing inten-
tions about future goals requires the capacity for sharing representational content that does not
depend on the actual context. In contrast, competitive co-operation concerns goals that exist as
resources in the shared environment and sometimes appear in the context of (inter)action.
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 129
Direct gaze and eye contact have been seen to have a strong impact on the capac-
ity for intersubjective behaviour. 4-month-olds follow gaze if it is preceded by eye
contact, 7-month-olds alternate gaze in contexts of social referencing, and follow
point if initiated by eye contact and a subsequent head turn towards the target.
Gaze will be perceived differently and provoke other reactions if initially oriented
towards the infants attention, than if directly oriented towards a target of action.
Eye contact prompts a referential reading (in the direction of the target) of be-
haviour in the infant, first of averted gaze, and a few months later of the pointing
gesture. Do these data support the hypothesis that infants have capacities for in-
tentional communication already by this age? It will be argued that the answer is
negative, and that the referential reading is an effect of contextual enhancement.
The context in which referential, gaze-related behaviour is performed clear-
ly plays a decisive role for how the young infant interprets the behaviour. To-
gether, the physical layout and the senders behaviour simultaneously bolster
and determine the infants response, which makes it likely that the mechanism
that produces the response is a property of the local environment rather than of
the infant. Consequently, the referential response to gaze requires an increased
awareness of the layout of the physical context, but does not imply that the infant
has acquired similar capacities to those demanded for nonverbal reference. On
the contrary, to benefit from the positive effects of eye contact on the capacity for
reading behaviour referentially, further cognitive capacities than those acquired
during the first months in life are not necessary. Seen from an evolutionary point
of view, this is not surprising, since recycling is natures way of increasing per-
formance while minimizing the costs. Gaze plays a vital role for initiating and
maintaining dyadic engagement in early infancy. Such engagement in turn un-
derlies the understanding of attention, the experience of self-other equivalence,
and intersubjectivity (see Section 2). Given that early infant-adult interaction is
centred on attention contact, it comes as no surprise that the adults attempt to
establish eye contact a few months later still will signal an invitation to interact
to the infant, who as a consequence will expect the adults ensuing action to be
of concern to the self. In summary, gaze has a particular social function for the
infant in episodes of prolonged eye contact that most probably originates from
dyadic engagements in early infancy.
By 3 or 4 months, infants are capable of recognising the social function of
gaze in contexts of joint attention. The information that the infant picks up from
having had eye contact with the adult concerns the adults readiness to interact
with the infant. Direct gaze has an imperative dimension that directs the infant to
respond to the adults action and follow his or her gaze in the direction of a target.
130 Ingar Brinck
The fact that eye contact enhances the infants capacity for the referential reading
of behaviour strengthens the view that intersubjectivity is a major driving force in
the development of intentional communication.
By 6 months, eye contact loses its importance for gaze following. That this be-
haviour changes its function indicates that at this stage of development direct gaze
is primarily supportive of other behaviour, and cognitive rather than genuinely
communicative. Thus, in Section 4, it was argued that the functions of the four ba-
sic acts of intentional communication are stable and do not vary between contexts
or users. Because it is unnecessary to negotiate the meaning of these acts, more
effort can be put into producing and responding to the message. Furthermore, the
expression of an act can be adjusted to the context without a change in meaning.
In contrast to the behaviour discussed above, it is uncertain that the intersub-
jective skills that occur in contexts of social referencing predict capacities for in-
tentional communication. The nature of social referencing makes it unlikely that
the infant by this age would use referential skills, although such skills are avail-
able. Moses et al. (2001) submit that there is evidence for referential understand-
ing in the emotions domain by 12 months. Yet infants begin to seek information
from adults about distal objects already by 7 months by alternating gaze between
object and adult. This behaviour might be taken to demonstrate spontaneous ref-
erential behaviour already by this age. However, it is not very probable that gaze
alternation is referential in social referencing. First, it would mean that the capac-
ity for nonverbal reference would be functional in an isolated domain for a long
period, several months, before it was generalised, which is atypical. Second, the
significant information to the infant concerns the mothers attitude to the object,
not the object itself. The infant is seeking information about a target that has been
individuated before social referencing is initiated and that moreover motivates
initiating it. Therefore the infant is unlikely to attend to the referential relation
between the adults facial expression and the target, but rather attends to how the
target is affecting the adult emotionally. Third, on the assumption that this infor-
mation is available by a from a cognitive point of view cheaper strategy than the
referential one, the referential interpretation of social referencing is gratuitous.
An alternative, more plausible interpretation of social referencing is that the
behaviour ultimately relies on learning about the function of facial expressions of
emotion during early dyadic engagement. Eventually this knowledge generalises
to the adults responses to events in the surroundings. The infant knows that fa-
cial expression signals the observers reaction to a salient target. When perceiving
a salient object of uncertain value, information about what to do can be found
by looking to the adults face. In all likelihood, gaze alternation here indicates
that the infant is monitoring the situation. Even though intersubjectivity can en-
able behaviour typical for intentional communication, evidently it does not do
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 131
sense that persons, including the infant itself, can have individual, different, at-
tentional foci, which can be brought into alignment and shared (ibid:130). In-
terintentionality impl[ies] that the infant attributes an internal, mental state to
the adult, namely, comprehension of the infants intention and the capacity to
intend to satisfy that intention. Intention is a shareable, but not necessarily self-
aware, experience (ibid:131).
The above definitions involve assumptions about the qualitative nature of
intersubjective states, which make them problematic for the present inquiry into
the nature of intersubjectivity. Because the definitions focus on qualitative expe-
riences instead of observable behaviour, they cannot be used to identify inter-
subjective behaviour except from the first-person perspective. This may reduce
their value for some types of empirical and experimental research. To avoid these
problems while preserving Sterns intuitions, the concepts will be redefined as
follows:11
11. The descriptions of the three forms of intersubjectivity are not intended to reveal the whole
truth about intersubjectivity, nor do they constitute an attempt to replace phenomenological
descriptions.
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 133
These three forms of intersubjectivity are not intrinsically related, and can de-
velop independently of each other. During normal conditions, they interact in
different ways at different stages to enable complex behaviour. The infant begins
to explore interaffectivity soon after birth in mutual engagement, and later in-
terattentionality, whereas the capacity for interintentionality emerges some time
after 12 months and continues to develop for years to come. Irregularities in their
respective developmental trajectories give rise to weaknesses or disturbances in
an agents action repertoire relative to the range of behaviour that the failing form
of intersubjectivity normally supports.
Data about gaze reading will now be used to exemplify how different forms
of intersubjectivity sustain behaviour, and illustrate how the interaction between
interattentionality and interaffectivity causes developmental changes in intersub-
jective behaviour during the infants first 6 months in life.
By four months, infants react differentially to perceived motion depending
on the triggering conditions (Farroni et al. 2000, 2003). Cue-driven saccades are
elicited when the models pupils shift from a central position to either side, and
occur before the appearance of the target is recorded. The pupils do not have to
occur in the context of an upright face to have this effect. Target-driven saccades,
in the direction of the target, are elicited only after a period of eye contact with
an upright face. The infant will then react equally to directed movement of either
head or eye gaze (pupil shift). Both responses depend on the capacity for interat-
tentionality, but occur by different processing.
Similarly to the data presented in Section 8, the data on the effect of triggering
conditions on response demonstrate that from quite early on infants intuitively
read gaze referentially in case the gaze shift is preceded by eye contact. Eye con-
tact has a special role for social interaction, appreciated already in the first month,
which shows that mutual attention appeals to other ways of behaving than do con-
tingent perceptual cues (Farroni et al. 2000; Farroni et al. 2002; cf. Emory2000).
In view of the previous discussion, the social function of gaze can be identified
with reference to interaffectivity. Thus, the fact that eye contact produces a mutual
sharing of affect would cause the infant to pursue the interaction.
However, eye contact will also cancel cue-driven gaze shift, because only
reflexive responses to unidentified stimuli are cue-driven.12 Consequently, eye
contact might instead cause target-driven gaze shift indirectly, by eliminating the
12. Gaze is re-oriented automatically by salient, contingent behaviour, which trigger quick and
effortless, cued gaze shifts (Driver et al. 1999; cf. Chawarska, Klin and Volkmar 2003). Because
the shift occurs while the behaviour is processed in the early vision or pre-attention system of
the brain that is unavailable to conscious awareness, the subject cannot access the process to
directly intervene and inhibit behaviour matching.
134 Ingar Brinck
The chapter so far has investigated and expanded on the major elements of
intersubjectivity in infants aged up to about 9 months. It remains to determine
the triggering factors of the over-all capacity for intentional communication. In
the following section, it is claimed that by 12 months of age, infants start to fa-
miliarize themselves with a few of the general skills that interintentionality leads
to, and attempt to disengage from the previously mandatory egocentric and situ-
ated point of view. This cognitive change characterises the decontextualisation of
communicative skills, which is necessary for the complete mastery of intentional
communication.
Some time between 12 and 15 months, infants begin to reliably produce and un-
derstand referential pointing. This behaviour is usually taken as a sign of the ca-
pacity for intentional communication, because it shows that the infants grasp of
the gesture is consistent and bi-directional. It is hard to say which those single fac-
tors are that make it possible for the infant to access intentional communication
at this very moment, because by this age, behaviour is quite complex and results
from the interaction between several underlying capacities. Moreover it is en-
hanced by environmental and interactional scaffolding.13 It seems clear, though,
that one factor is distinctive of the period: the decontextualisation of both com-
municative and cognitive skills (Bates et al. 1979). Context-independent cogni-
tive skills start developing, and interintentionality will slowly mesh with the two
existing forms of intersubjectivity. This will radically enhance the infants ability
to control the environment.
Two abilities are especially important for the development of nonverbal refer-
ence. First, there is the ability to distinguish instrumental, goal-directed intention-
ality that is pulled by the context of action from communicative, intention-guided
intentionality that the agent pushes into the world. The infant must recognise the
difference between goal-directed and intention-guided actions to fully appreciate
the reference relation, in referential pointing as in verbal language. Second, there
is the meta-cognitive ability to regulate behaviour with respect to a general prin-
ciple or rule of action.
By 15 months, most infants can both produce and understand acts of nonver-
bal reference, although they do not achieve this by a similar mechanism for read-
ing speaker intention as to adults. They still exploit physical-functional action
13. See Brinck (2007) for the constitutive role of environmental scaffolding for the evolution of
cognition.
136 Ingar Brinck
properties and contextual cues to understand gaze, point, and reach alike (Sodian
and Thoermer 2001; Thoermer and Sodian 2004). The fact that gaze following
now may be driven by any contextual features that happen to support it on a given
occasion shows that infants by this age do not yet conceive of the sender-object
relation as determined by the senders intention. Still, their use is reliable and
appears consistent to an observer. Apparently they have acquired a general meth-
od for mastering referential acts, which in most contexts is good enough. They
can use a range of referential behaviour in different combinations, in a variety of
contexts, and during different conditions. The major requirement for having this
competence is the ability to detach communicative behaviour from the original
context in which it was learnt, and then to extend its use to an open-ended num-
ber of contexts. This means that understanding that the senders intention deter-
mines the reference relation is less important for mastering referential behaviour
than is the ability to generalise.
Decontextualisation is a gradual process that proceeds in what might seem
like a random manner. In previous sections it has been argued that interaf-
fectivity and interattentionality contribute to a general understanding of be-
haviour by increasing the infants awareness of social interaction and the pro-
cess of communication, and also by providing the instruments for managing
this process in particular contexts. Accordingly, decontextualisation concerns
changes in on the one hand the infants global understanding of communica-
tion, and on the other, concrete contexts of interaction. It has several aspects.
Behaviour can be extended to new kinds of contexts, while keeping the original
function; it can be generalised to cover new situations, which will produce a
change in the original function; it may be detached from any specific context of
use by abstraction, losing exactitude while becoming inclusive; and it may be
idealised, and changed into a general behaviour-guiding principle that controls
certain contexts of (inter)action. This will transfer the behaviour to the meta-
cognitive domain.
Although robust skills for intersubjective behaviour occur already by 6
months, they are only intermittently available to the infant, because they are
linked to particular contexts and patterns of (inter)action, usually the ones in
which they were learned. Much of the behaviour shows traces of ritualisation,
in contrast to intentionally communicative behaviour that characteristically is
decontextualised (Brinck 2001; Brinck 2003). What from a general perspective
appears to be identical, equally demanding contexts may still be handled in very
different ways by the same infant, because behavioural competence is not a simple
matter of development, but depends on the local affordances and constraints. To
optimize performance, behaviour is fine-tuned to local properties physical and
Intersubjectivity and intentional communication 137
functional as well as social ones. As a consequence, in one and the same infant
one may find quite different behaviours in two related situations.
In Section 9, it was argued that the sharing of experiences concerns affect,
attention, or intention, and that each of these kinds of experience enables certain
behaviour. This view suggests that communication depends on intersubjectivity
in quite specific ways. Interaffectivity and interattentionality are operative soon
after birth and support the development of communication during the first year,
while skills for interintentionality that sustain complex and general forms of in-
tentional communication develop later. Thus separate intersubjective behaviours
first develop in parallel, but after a few months start to interact. Decontextualisa-
tion begins towards the end of the first year. Eventually the many manifestations
of intersubjectivity organise themselves into the four functional units (the basic
acts) that are constitutive of intentional communication (see Section 4).
In contrast to views that describe the development of intentional commu-
nication as clear-cut, linear, and stage-like, the present one has similarities with
both Woodwards (2005:124) and Reddys (2005). Woodward attests that infants
accrue knowledge about particular actions gradually during the first year of life,
while Reddy argues that the development of attention is continuous and proceeds
from engagement. Woodwards findings suggest that infants initially encode ac-
tions at a detailed level, which causes them to respond to similar actions in dif-
ferent ways. Woodward (2005:125) further proposes that there are varied devel-
opmental relations between different levels of responses, a statement that is in
agreement with the present view.
Nevertheless, a systematic account of the development of intentional commu-
nication is within reach. Although intersubjectivity is complex and its develop-
ment follows variable trajectories, its progress is continuous. Mapping it out not
only provides for tying the emergence of various behaviours to specific periods
in time and understanding how they interact, but also for elucidating the general
principles behind the development of intersubjectivity as well as of intentional
communication.
Acknowledgements
Work on this chapter was gracefully supported by The Swedish Research Council
and has profited from research conducted within the project Stages in the Evolu-
tion and Development of Sign Use (SEDSU), funded by the European Commission
under the FP6 programme. I am grateful to Jordan Zlatev, Tim Racine, and Chris
Sinha for comments on earlier versions of the chapter.
138 Ingar Brinck
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chapter 7
1. Introduction
coordinated (e.g., Bakeman and Adamson 1984). So even in clear cases of agents
sharing an attentional state by attending to the same stimulus, it is necessary to
stipulate that they be attending to the stimulus together if activity is to count as in-
tersubjective engagement. From a third person perspective, infant and caregiver
might be described as sharing the state of attending to each other (i.e. A and B
are intersubjectively engaged just in case A is attending to B while B is attending
to A). This liberal definition of shared attentional states focuses on coordinated
activity rather than two actors having the same or similar experiences. That is,
knowing that two actors are attending to one another may not entail knowing
what it is like to be behind the eyes of either of the pair. So there are reasons
to question the assumption that intersubjectivity involves shared mental states
even in the sense of having similar thoughts, feelings, or perceptual experiences,
although it may require that interacting parties both manifest a degree of plea-
sure. There does seem to be a role for shared mental states in considerations of
infant intersubjectivity, but a more limited role than is widely assumed. Perhaps
manifesting pleasure or interest in coordinated interactions is a more accurate
description of intersubjectivity.
what understanding is in the next section by considering the new forms of under-
standing that are often characterized as new forms of intersubjectivity.
Many theorists argue that the new activities that appear towards the end of the
first year, such as reliable gaze following, pointing and social referencing herald
a shift from a basic to a more sophisticated form of intersubjective engagement.
Trevarthen and Hubley (1978) characterize this new level of engagement as sec-
ondary intersubjectivity, which Bretherton and colleagues claim is suggestive of a
burgeoning implicit theory of mind (Bretherton 1991; Bretherton, McNew and
Beeghly-Smith 1981) and which Tomasello (1995, 1999) argues may show that
infants are able to experience the intentions of others as similar to or different
from their own. Developmentalists often refer to the appearance of these shared
activities that require simultaneous visual attention on the part of both infant
and caregiver as episodes of joint attention (see chapters by Brinck and Leavens
et al. this volume and in Eilan, Hoerl, McCormack and Roessler 2005; Kita 2003;
Moore and Dunham 1995; for a review see Racine and Carpendale 2007c). Many
accounts of joint attention treat the emergence of these skills as behavioural ef-
fects of the infants having new kinds of experiences or of possessing some ru-
dimentary understanding of psychological concepts. A possibly caricatured but
illustrative paraphrase of such views is that infants discover or hypothesize that
people possess mental things called attention and intention, and to use this
knowledge to navigate the social world. For example, gaze following or pointing
skills are sometimes conceived of as varied behavioural consequences of a general
conceptual insight, as the claim that infants come to represent other persons
as beings with attentional and/or intentional capacities (Tomasello 1995, 1999)
seems to suggest.
We agree that joint attention behaviours are related to new experiences and
new understandings, but not that these relations are of cause and effect. First we
consider the notion of new experiences. There is a clear sense in which experienc-
es can be causally related to new understandings. For example, the experience of
listening to good lecture may cause a person to understand a difficult argument.
And experiencing a serious illness may lead someone to understand the value of
good health and supportive family. In these clichd examples, the experiences
. Although Tomasellos recent revision of his theory has tempered some of his earlier claims
(Tomasello, Carpenter, Call, Behne and Moll 2005), his revised theory is still based on a mental-
ist metaphysics (Racine and Carpendale 2007a, 2007b, 2007c).
Sharing mental states 147
To understand attention is, among other things, to be able to gaze follow and
direct others attention. Being able to explain what attention means or use atten-
tion correctly in a sentence are more advanced criteria of understanding atten-
tion. What an agent understands determines what they can do. But determine
can mean both cause and define. A mans marital status determines whether or
not he is a bachelor; this relation is logical. If this man has such objectionable
body odor as to drive away all would-be spouses, this relationship is causal. It is
mistaken to regard e.g. understanding of attention as cause and gaze following,
pointing, social referencing as effects, because these behaviours define rudimen-
tary forms of understanding attention. We list these behaviours when explaining
what it means to say that infants begin to understand attention at around one year
of age. Ascribing an understanding of attention to infants specifies what they are
capable of doing, not how or why they do it (Dupr 1993). That is, the relation-
ship between joint attention behaviours and understanding attention is logical
rather than causal. Dyadic interactive behaviours manifesting pleasure or in-
terest while interacting with another define primary intersubjectivity. Triadic
interactive behaviours define secondary intersubjectivity and an understanding
of attention. Invoking a state or stage secondary intersubjectivity should not be
viewed as a causal explanation of these behaviours but a categorical explanation.
Rather than cause and effect, the relations between primary intersubjectivity and
dyadic interactions, and between secondary intersubjectivity and triadic interac-
tion behaviours are relations between types and tokens.
for doing what we call intersubjectivity. Other operative causal questions related
to intersubjectivite abilities may involve asking which if any environmental fac-
tors reliably predict the early emergence of or more skilful interactive abilities.
However, for any such empirical questions to be asked about social cognitive de-
velopment, conceptual questions regarding what counts as social cognition and
development must be specified in advance.
Not all genuine explanation is causal explanation. An explanation of social
understanding involves specifying what counts as social understanding. And an
explanation of infant development in terms of phases of intersubjectivity explains
infant development in the same sense that a species/phylum/ family/genus diagram
explains the animal kingdom. That is, to discuss the emergence of secondary inter-
subjectivity is to pick out a class of actions triadic interactions involving two per-
sons attending one another as well as to some other feature of the environment as
theoretically interesting. Where a nave observer may see nothing more than babys
first point, not obviously more alluring than babys first tooth, the developmental-
ist appreciates the theoretical significance of the first pointing gesture, and teaches
her students to do the same. But in doing so, she is teaching a technical, taxonomic
vocabulary, not a lesson in discovered causes of different behaviours.
We might also ask, in ascribing an understanding of attention or a stage of
secondary intersubjectivity to infants who gaze follow, point, socially reference
and so on whether developmentalists have discovered or created order. We argue
that this is a case of creating order, of specifying a theoretically interesting aspect
of what infants do rather than discovering how they do it. This is important be-
cause phenomena must be conceptualized in order to be investigated. However,
conceptualization is a creative act. Categories do not exist independent of lan-
guage even though some categories (e.g., human infants) are more natural than
others (e.g., things over one pound) in the sense that knowing that X is a human
infant allows one to know much more about X than knowing that X is a thing that
weighs over 1 pound (Dupr 1993:6264). Creating as well as discovering order
is an essential aspect of empirical science. But mistaking creations for discoveries
is, by definition, mistaken.
Does our denial that primary and secondary intersubjectivity are causes of dy-
adic, and triadic behaviours respectively entail a general scepticism about mind
or mental causation? It does not. However, we do believe that causal explanations
are only one type of explanation in which psychological concepts appear, and
that the role of causal explanations of behaviour in social understanding is often
150 Noah Susswein and Timothy P. Racine
e xaggerated. In this section we wish to explain why we think our analysis is not at
all anti-realist about mind.
It is widely assumed that mental states are causes of behaviours (Racine and
Carpendale 2007b, 2007c). And there are cases in which it is perfectly sensible to
regard a mental state as the cause of a particular behaviour, for example, when a
person shudders involuntarily at the memory of a disturbing image. In a differ-
ent vein, our reflective thinking often provides us with reasons for choosing one
course of action over another. Thus, it would be false to claim that mental phe-
nomena are never causes of behaviour or, more generally, that mental phenomena
are somehow irrelevant to considerations of behaviour. But it is grossly overgen-
eralized to think that mental states are causes of all behaviours. For one thing, this
conflates actions with reactions. And if we erase the distinction between action
and reaction, we vitiate the concept of responsibility, the practice of apologiz-
ing, the distinction between on purpose and, by accident, and a host of other
distinctions that seem to partially define human social life. An understanding of
behaviour as, in a variety of ways, purposeful is an important aspect of the very
commonsense view of the mind (folk psychology) that developmentalists study
in nascent forms. For example, to claim that A Ved intentionally is to claim that A
is responsible for his Ving to a degree that A is not if A Ved unintentionally, out of
ignorance or by accident. Responsibility and causality are related but distinct. A
person can be held responsible for an outcome that she only indirectly caused, e.g.
hiring another person to commit a crime. We also typically hold persons respon-
sible to some degree for the mental states of jealousy or drunkenness that may
cause them to act foolishly. And we readily forgive others for causing damage to
our belongings if they didnt do it on purpose. That these are truisms is precisely
our point. A common-sense understanding of action involves more than causal
analyses of behaviour. It seems that the psychology of the folk is subtler than most
accounts of folk psychology would have it.
A thorny feature of psychological predicates is that they are used in a variety
of relatively unrelated ways (Bennett and Hacker 2003; ter Hark 1990). When
subsuming mental state concepts under the superordinate category of the mind,
it is easy not to notice this feature. It might seem counterintuitive or anti-realist
to suggest that the mentalness of psychological predicates is a consequence of,
rather than justification for, treating mental as relatively uniform and sharply
bounded category (e.g., as opposed to physical or behavioural). But to claim
that the mental is a heterogeneous category is not to claim that it is a sense-
less category (as might be, for example colourless green ideas). The mental is an
ontologically diverse category. And the diversity of the mental can be illustrated
by examining the use of even a single term. For example, think can be used to
issue a threat (I think you better leave now), to make a request (do you think
Sharing mental states 151
you can pass me the salt?), to issue a command (I think youve had enough ice
cream), to express uncertainly (its raining, I think), to delay action (okay, Im
going to think about that), and far less frequently to actually express subjective
experiences (I am thinking of the time that we went to Barbados). That is, a
single mental state term can be manifestly used to perform very different social
acts (Austin 1975).
Now, some readers may object that we are too focused here on the word
think itself, and insist that it is the nature of the phenomena of thinking, and
not the utterance of the word think that is really at issue here. We agree that
it is the phenomena of thinking that is at issue. But, given that the only way to
determine which phenomena count as thinking is to examine the application of
the concept, we insist that considering the use of think is of central importance
to determination of what thinking is. However, for those who are not persuaded
by this argument and hold that ontological and semantic questions are entirely
separate, we offer another, roughly non-linguistic example of ontological diversity
of a single mental concept.
Any human being can intend to grab a rock. But only a human being in a
very specific social context can intend to write a check (Dupr 1993). One cannot
intend to V unless there is such a thing as Ving (unlike imagining Ving which
may mean either that such a thing as Ving exists, and one imagines oneself doing
what counts as Ving, or that that one is imagining that there is such a thing as Ving,
the meaning of which must be explained if one is to describe what one has imag-
ined). It was simply not possible for even the cleverest of our Stone Age ancestors
to intend to write a check, whereas even the most Neanderthal of contemporary
humans can do so (provided she has a checking account). Thus, many intentions
are ontologically dependent upon highly specific social structures, while other in-
tentions (e.g. to pick up a rock) denote capacities that seem universal (but extend
far beyond the species boundary seagulls also intend to pick up rocks). Again,
the mentality common to both of these intentions does not appear to be well ex-
plained by shared or even similar ontological statuses. Furthermore, beyond prag-
matic diversity in the application of think and ontological diversity within the
phenomena of intending, there are logical differences of a different order between
mental state concepts that, as we noted earlier, have to do with issues of duration
and which mental phenomena can be sensibly regarded as states. Mental state con-
cepts do not necessarily share much in common other than seeming to refer to the
inner, but the examples of think and intention above suggest this view of mental
predicates is misleading. This seeming to refer to the inner is a consequence and
not a cause of, conceptualizing activities in psychological terms.
Action explanations that involve properties of agents rather than situational
factors refer to the inner. Although we typically think of our thoughts and feelings
152 Noah Susswein and Timothy P. Racine
as inside us, talk of the inner is metaphorical. Lakoff and Johnson (2003) argue
that common sense is fundamentally metaphorical and describe one such foun-
dational container metaphor, a tendency to conceive of non-physical entities as
contained by or within a physical structure (Slaney and Maraun 2005). Conceiv-
ing of experiences and abilities as being inside of the agent whose experiences and
abilities they are is an example of this container metaphor. The fact that is some-
times possible to conceal what we think and feel should not tempt one to think of
the inner in mistakenly concrete terms (Bennett and Hacker 2003:8890). Now,
to state baldly that the inner is metaphorical seems uncontroversial. But the cor-
ollary that it is the use of psychological concepts and not their putative inner ref-
erents that determines their meaning is more difficult. We describe a usage-based
account of understanding attention in the next section.
However, first we wish to address a potential misunderstanding. We are not
arguing for a psychological nominalist or eliminativist position that psycho-
logical concepts are mere artefacts of language, just a way of talking, or that we
dont really have intentions or understandings (Churchland 1986). We do really
have intentions and understandings, but this having is not a relation of con-
taining. Rather, this having is akin to possessing. Containing involves a vessel
while possessing involves an agent. What makes something an agent is that it acts
or behaves. Not all agents but only agents can be characterized in psychological
terms; only agents have psychological properties. It is the connections between
psychological phenomena and activity, not descriptions of activity, which we wish
to elucidate here. Psychological concepts are heterogeneous, but if we must speak
in generalities, we ought to think of the verb and adverbial forms of psychological
predicates (e.g., attending, intentionally) as primary and the noun forms (atten-
tion, intention) as usually harmless reifications.
and Bruners (1983) pioneering work, the issue of how pointing in general comes
to be recruited and used as an interactional (and what is often, and derivatively,
understood to be a referential) device is largely absent in empirical work.
If one takes an inductive approach to joint attention, ethnomethodological,
and derivatively, conversation analytic (CA) methods of social interaction are
useful (e.g., Antaki 2004; Atkinson and Heritage 1984; Garfinkel 1967; Sharrock
and Coulter 2004; Turnbull 2003; Wootton 1997). Conversation analysts study
the orderly structure of conversation in order to examine how interaction is ac-
complished. CA studies of early infant development are relatively rare because
with preverbal infants there is, by definition, no conversation to analyze. Wootton
(1994) focuses on third position repair sequences (i.e., where an infant has acted,
the parent has responded to that action in the second turn/position, and the infant
responds to that response in the third turn/position). An infant is in a position to
display her congruence or lack thereof with the parents previous turn, which is a
contingency that Wootton reports 12-month-olds can manage. However, a prior
concern for us is to first reconcile the logic of ethnomethodological investigation
with the concerns discussed earlier.
CA approaches to meaning assume that the meaning that participants attri-
bute to their interactions is manifest in the details of that sequential and negoti-
ated activity. Conversation analysis is a means of using interactional sequences to
instantiate criteria in ongoing interaction. We now turn to sequences of interac-
tion to illustrate the claim that it is what they do that determines whether two
agents have a shared understanding of what an interaction is about (Reimers
and Fogel 1992).
To demonstrate this approach, to which we will return in more detail in the next
section, we present two brief sequences of interaction involving the second au-
thors daughter, T, shortly after her second birthday. These examples show how
criteria for the application of intention were warranted in the contingencies of
this childs interactions with her mother, C, and that Ts mother attributed inten-
tion to her daughters activity. That is, mother and child both acted in ways that
manifest an understanding of intention. Readers and the participants, to the de-
gree that they possess reasonably complex language, can see the criteria that are
contained therein. However, we do not see a mental state in T that is her goal-di-
rected behaviour. Rather the ascription of mental predicate to T presupposes her
ability to act in goal-directed ways.
154 Noah Susswein and Timothy P. Racine
T and C were recorded while sharing a meal (cf. Canfield 1993). The exam-
ples were transcribed according to CA conventions (e.g. Atkinson and Heritage
1984). Square brackets represent overlap in speech. Numbers in round brackets
represent pauses in seconds. Dots in round brackets indicate noticeable pauses
of under 0.2 seconds in length. Words in brackets represent a description of an
action. A colon represents a drawn out syllable. An upward arrow indicates rising
intonation in a pitch contour.
Example 1
1 C: the [skin is really soft on those kind]
2 T: [too sour mommy] i han havva drink
3 (.5)
4 C: [youre going to have a drink]
5 [(T drinks from cup on table)]
How are we to make sense of this activity? Grasping the meaning of an action
that is, what it is that an agent is doing involves understanding the practice in
which it is embedded: e.g., too sour mommy i han havva drink followed by (T
drinks from cup on table). To grasp the local meanings of actions is to see intention
in this particular social situation and in so doing to attribute intentions to the ac-
tor who performed the act in question: i.e., youre going to have a drink.
. A full transcription of this interaction is available upon request from the second author.
Sharing mental states 155
round brackets indicate noticeable pauses of under 0.2 seconds in length. Words
in brackets represent a description of an action. A colon represents a drawn out
syllable. Further conventions were adopted for this dataset. In cases where a vo-
calization was whispered it is surrounded by o o. Audible inbreathing or out-
breathing accompanying utterances is represented by > and < respectively. In
cases where a vocalization was inaudible the utterance is surrounded by ( ).
Gaze was inferred from orientation of the head. In cases where the target
of gaze was less clear it is surrounded by ( ). When targets are not stated in the
gaze line, M represents gaze at parent and C represents gaze at infant. Dashes
(---) represent sustained gaze at a target. With respect to hand positions (RH
or LH), dashes are used to indicate static positioning of the hand and commas
to represent movement of the hand from an initial position to another in the
sequence. The following additional conventions are employed: Re = reach, and
Po = point.
In the first of two related examples, at the 11-month visit B does what would
be typically coded as a declarative act with outstretched arm and index finger
prominent but without all other fingers in palm. However, M seems to treat this as
asking for permission or to at least minimally signal intent. Thus, this is not just
a point used to direct attention to enhance interaction (Liszkowski, Carpenter,
Striano and Tomasello 2006; Moore and DEntremont 2001). The function of Ms
behaviour seems to be a confirmation of some sort given that it is accompanied
by the utterance I know, but is also a prohibition because the infant ceases to
advance towards the prohibited object.
Example 1
1 B: (G) camera -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , , , M - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(LH) at side - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(RH) open hand (shoulder level) -, Po (camera) - - , lowers arm - - - - -
(walks towards camera, ~7 from where M is seated, stops 2 from target)
M: (V) no I dont think we can (chuckle) (1.0) yeh (.) i know (.) thats a camera
(G) B - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
At the 12-month visit, B gets up from Ms lap and again takes steps towards the
camera that was forbidden at the previous months visit. While she gets up out
of Ms lap, her RH pointing finger begins to extend. B takes 2 steps towards the
camera with her RH changing into a grasping gesture. As in the previous visit,
we argue that the pointing gesture needs to be made sense of in relation to the
prohibitory social situation.
Sharing mental states 157
Example 2
1 B: (G) camera - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(LH) getting up - - , at side - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(RH) getting up - - , Po - , , Re (not fully extended) - - , drops to side - -
(walks towards camera) (stops) (walks backwards towards M)
M: (V) <<hh:hy>> (0.5) Oget over hereO
(G) B - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
How are we to make sense of this activity? As noted earlier, a basic form of in-
tersubjectivity is defined by interactions showing an ability to differentiate be-
tween people and objects, whereas another form of intersubjectivity manifests
itself in interactions showing an ability to sequence simultaneous activity with
people and objects. In the two examples we see clear evidence of satisfying the
criteria for this secondary form of intersubjectivity. In Example 1, at 11 months
of age B gets out of Ms lap while playing with her to approach the researchers
video camera while the mother chuckles at this after stating no I dont think we
can. The infant then stops and points at the camera and shifts her gaze towards
her mother. Her mother acknowledges her turn by stating I know and the infant
lowers her pointing arm and proceeds no further. In Example 4, videotaped one
month later, the point is briefer and turns into a reach and there is no eye contact
towards the mother. However, B again does not proceed any further towards the
camera when M whispers get over here. Thus, unlike some of the other interac-
tions reported by in Racine (2005), these are rich tightly coupled interactions that
clearly involve an understanding of what these interactions are about on the part
of both mother and infant.
To focus on the role of the pointing gestures themselves, M responds to the
gesture in Example 1 with a verbal affirmation. But she is not responding to an
extended index finger, but an entire sequence of interaction in a particular social
situation. Setting aside for the moment what exactly the point means, the ges-
ture and the mothers words can mean what they mean in this circumstance of
a camera being set up a few feet from a baby, that baby noticing the camera and
approaching it, that baby noticing that her mother shows that she does want the
baby to approach the camera, etc. (Canfield 1981; Racine 2004). The behavioural
criteria apply in this particular social situation for humans and those who have
. Bates et al. (1975) argued that infants of this age may begin to be more confident in their
mothers attention and therefore do not need to visually check as often. However, Morissette,
Ricard and Decar (1995) report that visual checking increases from 12 to 18 months of age.
158 Noah Susswein and Timothy P. Racine
or causes of those behaviours and abilities. Such taxonomic descriptions are eas-
ily mistaken for causal hypotheses. That is, intersubjectivity and infants partial
understanding of attention and intention appear to be misconstrued as the causes
of their socially coordinated behaviour. But in truth, it is their socially coordi-
nated behaviours which are logically primary and which justify ascribing inter-
subjectivity and understanding intention and attention to them. This chapter
was written to remind developmental researchers that the relationship between
causal and definitional issues in intersubjectivity is complicated, and not recog-
nized as a problem to be addressed. Many interpretations of important empirical
findings are predicated on problematic definitions of intersubjectivity and related
psychological concepts. We hope that this chapter will stimulate further work on
conceptual and empirical investigations of intersubjectivity.
Acknowledgments
The empirical examples were taken from a study conducted by the second author,
which was funded by the Human Early Learning Partnership and supported by
doctoral fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Coun-
cil of Canada and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Prepara-
tion of this chapter was supported by grants from the Manitoba Health Research
Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to
the second author. We thank Max Bibok, Jeremy Carpendale, Esa Itkonen, Bill
Turnbull, Jordan Zlatev and Chris Sinha for helpful comments on earlier ver-
sions of this chapter.
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part ii
Evolution
chapter 8
Simone Pika
1. Introduction
human gestures are used functionally in ways very similar to language, that is
symbolically, referentially, based on intersubjectively learned and shared social
conventions.
Therefore the question arises: What is the nature of communicative signals in
our closest living relatives, the non-human primates, and how do they relate to
human gestures and language? The following chapter will address this question
by focusing on the gestural signalling of the four great ape species, bonobos (Pan
paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans
(Pongo pygmaeus), with a special focus on the following three aspects: (1) the
intentionality of gestures, (2) their referential use, and (3) similarities and differ-
ences to gestures in prelinguistic or just-linguistic human infants.
. See Zlatev (this volume) on the difference between triadic mimesis which does not re-
quire conventionality, and language, which does.
Gestural communication of great apes 167
taken to suggest that primate referential abilities are the output of a cognitive
ability that could be pivotal to language, namely the capacity to assign mean-
ing to arbitrary sound utterances (Zuberbhler 2002). This conclusion remains
controversial, however, because it has been shown since then that alarm calls of
this type have arisen numerous times in evolution in species that also must or-
ganize different escape responses for different predators, including most promi-
nently prairie dogs and domestic chickens (for an overview see, Owings and
Morton 1998). In addition, related research on apes has provided mixed results.
For example, Uhlenbroek (1996) has demonstrated that East African chimpan-
zees at Gombe (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) produce acoustic variants of pant
hoots in three different contexts: travel, food, and encounters with other com-
munity members. However, a comparable study on the same subspecies at the
Mahale Mountains study site found no evidence of context specificity in pant
hoots (Marler and Hobbett 1975; Mitani and Brandt 1994; Mitani et al. 1992).
In addition, Clark and Wranghams (1993; 1994) studies at Kanyawara have sug-
gested that arrival pant-hoots at fruiting trees provide information about the
social context rather than about the food itself. However, recent research shows
that some chimpanzee calls can differ in their fine acoustic structure depending
on the eliciting context, a crucial prerequisite for calls to function referentially
(Crockford and Boesch 2003; Slocombe and Zuberbhler 2005a). Furthermore,
Slocombe and Zuberbhler (2005b) showed in an experimental setting that one
chimpanzee was able to use the information conveyed by rough grunts given in
two distinct contexts by his group members to guide his search for food. These
results therefore suggest that the vocalizations of chimpanzees may also function
referentially. This is consistent with the fact that great apes clearly have demon-
strated referential abilities in captive conditions (see for laboratory trained apes,
Rumbaugh 1977; Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1993).
Therefore, the absence of evidence might merely reflect a paucity of data,
rather than a lack of referential abilities on behalf of the apes in the wild. However,
one other possible explanation for the apparent lack of referential vocalizations
in great apes might be that they are specialized in a different kind of referential
skill one based on the flexible use of manual gestural signals.
3. Gestural signals
which were observed to engage in notifying behaviour, before leaving the troop
(Kummer 1968). The behaviour consists in approaching another animal and look-
ing directly into their face, presumably to make sure that the recipient is attend-
ing before engaging in certain activities. In addition, Kummer and Kurt (1965)
described a ground-slap behaviour that seems to serve as an attention getter and
a kind of teasing behaviour during play. Maestripieri (1997; 1999) compared the
gestural behaviour of three macaque species in captivity (Macaca arctoides, Ma-
caca nemestrina, Macaca mulatta) and suggested that characteristics of a social
structure, such as reduced influence of dominance and kinship may select along
with group size for a wider gestural repertoire. In addition, he described a very
interesting behaviour within mother-infant dyads: When pigtail macaque moth-
ers want their infants to follow them and they do not, the mothers sometimes
return and stare in the infants face (or even poke the infant) before leaving again
(Maestripieri 1996).
The gestural communication of apes has received much more research at-
tention, but it has focused mainly on chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in captivity
(Ladygina-Kohts 1935; Van Hooff 1973), and in the wild (Plooij 1979, 1987; Van
Lawick-Goodall 1968). Goodall (1986) for instance observed that chimpanzees at
the Gombe National Park use more than a dozen distinct gestures in a variety of
contexts. In addition, signals such as the gesture leaf clipping (Nishida 1980) and
the grooming hand clasp (McGrew and Tutin 1978) provided evidence for the exis-
tence of population-specific differences in chimpanzee communities in the wild.
Concerning their closely related congener, the bonobo (Pan paniscus), Savage-
Rumbaugh and colleagues (Savage-Rumbaugh, Wilkerson and Bakeman1977;
Savage-Rumbaugh and Wilkerson 1978) described the use of 20 gestures in a
sexual context. In addition, de Waal (1988) provided a comparison of the ges-
tural signaling of bonobos and chimpanzees and observed 15 distinct gestures for
bonobos that are linked to particular situations.
Tanner (1998) and Tanner and Byrne (1999) described the use of 30 gestures
in a gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) group in captivity. For western lowland gorillas in
the wild, Parnell and Buchanan-Smith (2001) reported a specific gesture called
the splash display which is used to intimidate other silverbacks, and Fay (1989)
observed hand-clapping behavior in females.
Contrary to the African great ape species, the gestural communication of the
Asian apes has received less research attention. MacKinnon (1974; however see
also, Rijksen 1978) established a repertoire of tactile and visual gestures of wild
Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus) and Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii).
Overall, the above mentioned studies have provided evidence that great apes
make frequent use of gestures in their everyday communication. However, they
Gestural communication of great apes 169
all use different definitions of the term gesture or none at all, and did not focus
on processes of social cognition such as the learning of the gestures or their inten-
tional use (with the exception of Plooij 1979, 1987). The major aim of the present
chapter is therefore to investigate whether communicative gestures in great apes
are used as flexibly communicative strategies with individual decision making
involving cognitive processes, which involve at least some degree of intersubjec-
tive understandings.
This chapter will therefore provide an overview of the gestural signalling of
all four great ape species and focus in detail on the following three aspects: (1) the
intentional use of gestures, (2) their referential use, and (3) similarities and differ-
ences to gestures in prelinguistic or just-linguistic human infants.
The presented quantitative data are based on recent papers on the gestural
communication of subadult apes in captivity (Pongo pygmaeus: Liebal, Pika and
Tomasello 2006; Gorilla gorilla: Pika, Liebal and Tomasello 2003; Pan paniscus:
Pika, Liebal, and Tomasello 2005; Pan troglodytes: Tomasello et al. 1994, 1997,
1985, 1989).
Based on auditory, tactile and visual components we formed three signal catego-
ries: (1) auditory gestures generate sound while performed, (2) tactile gestures in-
clude physical contact with the recipient, and (3) visual gestures generate a mainly
visual component with no physical contact. In addition, the accompanying con-
text was analyzed in own studies.
The bonobos used 20 different distinct gestures (see Table 1), one auditory
(5%), eight tactile (40%) and eleven visual gestures (55%), which were performed
170 Simone Pika
mainly in the play context (55%), but also in the food (14%), travel (10%), nurse
(5%), ride (5%), sex (5%), affiliative (3%), and agonistic contexts (3%).
The chimpanzees used 30 different distinct gestures (see Table 1), three audi-
tory (10%), nine tactile (30%), and 18 visual gestures (60%), in a variety of contexts
including affiliation, agonistic, feeding and nursing, sexual, grooming, travel, and
play. Play was the most important context accounting for between 47% and 70%
of the gestures depending on the studies (Tomasello et al. 1994; 1997).
Overall the gorillas performed 33 different distinct gestures, six auditory
(18%), 11 tactile (33%) and 16 visual gestures (49%). These gestures occurred
mainly in the play (40%) context, but also in the food (15%), ride (10%), nurse
(10%), travel (10%) affiliative (10%) and agonistic (5%) context.
The orangutans used 26 different distinct gestures, 12 tactile and 14 visual ges-
tures. These gestures occurred mainly in the play (32%), feeding (26%), affiliative
(17%), and agonistic context (7%) but also in the context of getting access to ob-
jects (2%), sex (2%), walking (2%), and nursing (2%).
Overall, these data show that all four great ape species have multifaceted ges-
tural repertoires of auditory, tactile and visual gestures, which are used in a vari-
ety of contexts.
a. alternations in eye contact between the goal and the intended communica-
tion partner,
b. augmentations, additions and substitutions of signals until the goal has been
obtained, and
c. changes in the form of the signal toward the abbreviated and/or exaggerated
patterns that are appropriate only for achieving a communicative goal.
172 Simone Pika
Figure 2. Audience effects. The y-axis indicates the percentage of gestures, the x-axis
indicates the different species. The four different colours indicate the signal category and
the attentional state of the recipient. Error bars indicate the SD.
In sum, these results reveal that great apes use different means, gestures in
the same context interchangeably toward the same end, but also use the same
means/gesture to achieve different ends/goals. Concerning audience effects, the
findings show that great apes preferentially use visual gestures to an already at-
tending recipient. Based on the key characteristics for intentional communication
in human children, we can therefore conclude that great apes use gestures that
classify as intentional acts.
Other relevant studies on intentional communication focused mainly on au-
dience effects. Tanner and Byrne (1993) for instance reported that a female gorilla
repeatedly used her hands to hide her playface from a potential partner, indi-
cating some flexible control of the otherwise involuntary facial expression as
well as a possible understanding of the role of visual attention in the process of
gestural communication. Liebal et al. (2004) showed that chimpanzees tended to
move into the attentional field of the recipient by walking in front of her and then
performed visual gestures. Furthermore, in an experimental setting, Liebal et al.
(2004) showed that all four great ape species take into account the attentional
state of a human experimenter, by using visual gestures preferentially when they
were facing the experimenter.
In addition, anecdotal evidence for intentional communication is available
for the language trained bonobo Kanzi. He was observed to hand a nut to a person
Gestural communication of great apes 175
who was supposed to crack it open. He then slapped the nut and placed a stone on
top of it (Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1986).
. See, however, Leavens (2004) for a critical view on defining these modes of communication
by reference to underlying psychological processes or mental states.
176 Simone Pika
The majority of gestures used between great apes in their natural communica-
tion are dyadic (Pika et al. 2005). Exceptions are the gestures food begging (an ani-
mal holds out the hand, palm up to obtain food from another, see for orangutans,
Bard 1992; see for chimpanzee Tomasello et al. 1994) food offer (an animal offers
food placed on her arm to another one, Liebal et al. 2006) and pointing. These ges-
tures are clearly triadic a request to another for food or an offer of food to another
is distal since the signaller is not touching the recipient. Food-begging and food-of-
fer have been observed between conspecifics, but pointing has only been reported
for captive chimpanzees interacting with their human experimenters (e.g., Leav-
ens et al. 1996; Leavens et al. 2004) as well as human-raised or language trained
apes (e.g., Gardner and Gardner 1969; Miles 1990; Patterson 1978a; Woodruff and
Premack 1979). Although there is one anecdotal report about the declarative use of
this gesture in a single bonobo in the wild (Vea and Sabater-Pi 1998), it is not clear
yet whether these abilities represent natural communication abilities or are by-
products of living in a human encultured environment (Tomasello and Call 1997).
It may be argued that apes have no need for pointing because they rely on other
behaviors that serve a similar function, such as detection of body orientation and
eye gaze (Gomez1991; Menzel 1974, 1973). While walking mainly quadrupedally
their whole body is pointing (Plooij 1987).
Interestingly, Savage-Rumbaugh and colleagues (Savage and Bakeman 1978;
Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1977) and Tanner and Byrne (1996) described several ges-
tures that they consider iconic uses of gestures. Iconic gestures are related to their
referent by virtue of some actual physical resemblance between the two (Bates et
al. 1979), such as a desired motion in space or the form of an action. Two individu-
als (one bonobo, one gorilla) seemed to signal with their hand, arm, or head to a
playmate the direction in which they wanted her to move, the action they wanted
her to perform, or the position they wanted her to take. Roth (1995) and Pika et
al. (2003) however, who also focused on the occurrence of iconic gestures in three
groups of bonobos and two groups of gorillas in captivity, did not observe any in-
stances of the iconic use of gestures. It is possible that their analysis did not focus
in sufficient detail on the receivers response to detect gestures of an iconic nature.
Another explanation would be that gesturing of an iconic nature could be a devel-
opmental phenomenon, appearing only at adolescence and promoted by special
social and physical conditions (Tanner and Byrne 1999).
Concerning the function of gestures, the majority of studies have shown that
apes mainly use imperative gesture in their natural communication. Focusing on
human-raised and language-trained apes, Patterson (1978b) reported observa-
tions of showing in one gorilla, and Savage-Rumbaugh (1988) in one bonobo.
Furthermore, Savage-Rumbaugh et al. (1998) described how a bonobo female who
had heard unusual sounds in the forest, directed the human caretakers attention
Gestural communication of great apes 177
toward these sounds by looking and gesturing in that direction. It should be not-
ed, however, that in all these cases interpretation is an issue.
Interestingly, Pika and Mitani (2006) described the widespread use of a ges-
ture, the so called directed scratch, by wild chimpanzees in the context of groom-
ing (see Figure 3). The gesture involved one chimpanzee making a relatively loud
and exaggerated scratching movement on a part of his body, which could be seen
by his grooming partner.
In the majority of the cases the indicated spot was groomed directly by the
recipient. Pika and Mitani (2006) argue that (1) the gesture may be used commu-
nicatively to indicate a precise spot on the body, and (2) the recipient of the signal
has an understanding of the intended meaning of the gesture. The authors suggest
that directed scratches therefore may qualify as referential.
In sum, the evidence shows that the majority of gestures of great apes used
between conspecifics are imperative and dyadic (see also, Pika et al. 2005). In ad-
dition, the use of referential gestures supports earlier findings that certain impor-
tant cognitive capacities pertaining to intersubjectivity are present in apes (for an
overview see e.g., Zuberbhler, Tomasello & Call 1997).
178 Simone Pika
Our and other researchers findings provide evidence that similar to prelinguistic
or just-linguistic human children, apes use their gestures as intentional acts, by
operating persistently toward achieving an end state, choosing among alternative
means and adjusting their use of gestures to social circumstances. The majority
of their gestures are used in dyadic interactions, whereas human children gesture
from their very first attempts in addition to dyadic gestures triadically (Carpenter
et al. 1998). However, it is worth noticing that quantitative comparisons are until
now non-existent.
Focusing on the type of gestures, human children perform conventionaliza-
tions, deictics, and symbolic gestures (Bates et al. 1979). Conventionalizations are
gestures in which the signaller uses an effective behaviour for getting something
done. For instance, many infants learn to request being picked up by raising their
arms over their heads while approaching an adult. Great apes often do similar
gestures, such as using a stylized arm-raise to initiate play, ritualized from actual
acts of play hitting in the context of rough-and-tumble play. Many youngsters
also conventionalize signals for asking their mother to lower her back so they can
climb on. For example, a brief touch on the top of the rear end, ritualized from
occasions on which they pushed her rear end down mechanically. The learning
process involved in such cases is most likely an individual learning process called
ontogenetic ritualization, in which a communicatory signal is created by two in-
dividuals shaping each others behaviour in repeated instances of an interaction
(Tomasello 1996). However, it does not involve understanding of communicative
intentions or cultural (imitative) learning of any sort and therefore it does not
create a shared communicative symbol. However, also note that the production of
a variety of gestures of great apes, especially species-typical gestures (e.g. the chest
beat in gorilla), seem to be due to genetic predisposition, while only the use and
response has to be learned (Pika et al. 2003).
The second type of gestures is deictics, which are designed to direct adult
attention to outside entities. This does not automatically mean that the infant is
gesturing in order to induce the adult to share attention with her on that third
entity. Indeed, many infants use arm and index finger extension to orient their
own attention to things and only understand later the function of the gesture
(Carpenter et al. 1998; Franco and Butterworth 1996). Chimpanzees interacting
with human caretakers point to request food and these gestures are clearly deic-
tic. In addition, the gesture food offer seems to bear some relation with deictics,
. Note that this is quite different from the notion of conventions, as used by e.g. Zlatev (this
volume).
Gestural communication of great apes 179
ecause they are triadic, distal and direct the attention of the recipient to a spe-
b
cific event and object. The gesture directed scratch also resembles in some ways a
deictic gesture. However, although it clearly involves some form of reference, this
reference is self-directed.
The third gesture type produced by human children, symbolic gestures, are
communicative acts that are either associated with a referent metonymically (the
gesture refers to an element or attribute of something to mean the thing itself) or
iconically (Acredelo and Goodwyn 1988; Pizzuto and Volterra 2000). Examples
include gestures such as: sniffing for a flower, panting for a dog, holding arms out
for an airplane, raising arms for big things, and blowing for hot things. Empirical-
ly we do not know whether infants learn to produce symbolic gestures via ritual-
ization or via imitation (Lock 1978), but it is much more likely that in most cases
infants are learning these symbolic gestures via imitation. That is, they are learn-
ing by understanding an adults communicative intention in using the gesture first
and then engaging in role reversal imitation to use the gesture themselves when
they have the same communicative intention.
Although, group specific gestures such as leaf clipping (Nishida 1980), the
grooming hand clasp (McGrew and Tutin 1978), somersault (Pika et al. 2005), and
armshake (Pika et al. 2003) used by apes differ qualitatively from symbolic ges-
tures in human children, their existence suggests that social learning based on
intersubjectivity, in the form of some kind of group-specific cultural transmis-
sion, is at work. In addition, gestures such as directed scratches used by chimpan-
zees in the wild, provide evidence that (a) chimpanzees have an understanding
of the intended meaning of the gestures, and (b) signallers and receivers shape
a non-communicative signal into a communicative one with a distinct meaning.
They thus might be useful tools to reconstruct the evolution and development of
symbolic gestures.
Thus, the crucial difference between the gestures of apes and those of prelin-
guistic or just-linguistic human children becomes obvious when focusing on the
function of gestures: Apes mainly gesture for imperative purposes, while human
children gesture for imperative purposes but also quite frequently for declarative
purposes to direct the attention of others to an outside object or event, simply
for the sake of sharing interest in it or commenting on it (Bates et al. 1975; Lisz-
kowski et al. 2004). The propensity to communicate about outside entities and
situations and comment on them seems to be unique for human beings and might
have triggered the onset of symbolic communication, i.e. language. The question
thus arises: why do humans comment on outside entities to share experiences?
This behaviour is probably linked with an increased level of intersubjectivity that
enables humans to understand other people as intentional agents with whom
they may share experience (Tomasello et al. 2005). It therefore might have been
180 Simone Pika
erived from the need to create a new medium for social bonding in humans; a
d
medium to establish and service social relationship and to share experiences. In
our closest living relatives, the bonobos and the chimpanzees, social grooming
permeates virtually every aspect of social life. Grooming might therefore repre-
sent an ancient medium to evaluate and to invest into social relationships which
was lost in our ancestors, who developed different means to perform this function
through vocal grooming (Dunbar 1996) and/or gestural grooming, flowing in a
later stage into linguistic communication.
5. Conclusions
The ability to employ manual and bodily gestures provides a rich source of infor-
mation about the nature of human and primate communication. Similar to the
vocal modality, human beings use some of their gestures symbolically, based on
intersubjectively learned and shared social conventions, to direct the attention of
others referentially and for declarative purposes. This mode of communication
clearly depends on the ability to be aware of others mentalities and an under-
standing of the intentional states of others, which might be unique to the human
species (Tomasello et al. 2005).
Primates use gestures mainly for imperative purposes and in dyadic interac-
tions. However, many of their gestures in contrast to their vocalizations are
clearly learned and are used intentionally, with adjustments for the attentional
state of the recipient and means-ends dissociation. This shows that the capac-
ity of great apes for intersubjectivity, while differing from that of humans, is not
negligible. In addition, since apes in the wild seem to make use of group-specific
and referential gestures, it seems plausible that the gestural modality of our clos-
est living relatives was the modality within which symbolic communication first
evolved (Arbib 2002; Condillac 1971; Corballis 2002; Hewes 1973; see also Hutto
this volume). Future studies will hopefully shed light on potential evolutionary
mechanisms by which the vocal and gestural signals of apes transformed into the
linguistic and gestural symbols of human beings.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Josep Call, Katja Liebal and Michael Tomasello, who shared their
data with me. For comments on an earlier draft and lively discussions, I would
like to thank Katja Liebal, Elena Nicoladis and Chris Sinha. I am indebted to
Dorothee Classen, the artist of the drawing of directed scratch in Figure 3.
Gestural communication of great apes 181
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chapter 9
1. Introduction
Despite a number of claims to the contrary (e.g., Butterworth and Grover 1988;
Petitto 1988; Povinelli, Bering and Giambrone 2003a) pointing is frequently dis-
played by captive apes (e.g., Leavens 2004; Leavens and Hopkins 1998, 1999). Cap-
tive apes usually point in apparent requests for delivery of food, but they will also
point out the location of tools required to gain access to food (Call and Tomasello
1994; Russell et al. 2005; Whiten 2000). One chimpanzee, Clint, often pointed to
experimenters shoes, which he subsequently manipulated with apparent satisfac-
tion, upon presentation of said shoes (Leavens, Hopkins and Bard 1996). Pointing
is, manifestly, a referential act, directing the attention, the movements or the actions
of an observer to a specific locus.
It has been argued that nonhumans both do not and cannot point because
the psychological basis for their pointing-like behaviour differs from that of hu-
mans who point (e.g. Povinelli et al. 2003a; Tomasello 2006). We believe that the
psychological aspects of pointing and other communicative acts are distributed
between signaler and receiver, and that the psychological basis of pointing cannot
be correctly attributed to an individual, but to that individual, and any and all
188 David A. Leavens et al.
observers, who form a communicative system. Thus, any appeal to unseen moti-
vations or psychological bases of pointing individuals, specifically (and commu-
nicating entities, more generally), is as much an attribute of the psychology of the
claimant as it is an attribute of the signaler (e.g. Johnson 2001).
It is common contemporary practice to analyze patterns of communicative
behaviour for evidence of hidden mental processes. For example, if a human child
points to an object and alternates her gaze between that distant object and a social
partner, this is interpreted to mean that the child is attempting to manipulate the
mind of their communicative partner and considered to be evidence by many
researchers that the child must, therefore, have a conception of others as mental
beings (e.g. Baron-Cohen 1999; Tomasello 1995). Because, for many years, it was
often erroneously stated that apes did not point to distant entities whilst alternat-
ing their gaze between these distant entities and their communicative partners
(e.g. Butterworth and Grover 1988; Petitto 1988), this was taken as evidence that
apes do not have conceptions of others as mental beings. In fact, as we will ar-
gue below, pointing to distant entities with gaze alternation between those enti-
ties and an observer is as ambiguous with respect to the signalers conceptions
when that signaler is a human child as it is when an ape does the same thing. We
will describe the human transition to intentional communication and describe a
number of behavioural similarities between apes and young human children in
their communicative signaling. Finally, we will outline an evolutionary scenario
that might account for the near-ubiquity of pointing in human and captive ape
populations, and the relative paucity of apparent pointing in wild apes. We turn,
first to a brief consideration of how communication and cognition are instanti-
ated in living systems.
In short, living systems are open systems at all levels of analysis. There are sub-
stantive implications for psychology, generally, and comparative psychology, in
particular, of the multiscalar dependence of the systems we study, of which we
wish to briefly note, here, the widespread dualistic assumption that individual
brains constitute the loci for computations, the products of which then cause
190 David A. Leavens et al.
. Are we really trying to assert that only crazy people attribute mental states? No. What we
are asserting is that there is no essential difference between appeals to mental states as causes of
Origins of explicit reference 191
an organism and ask you, What does this organism desire/intend/believe, at this
moment? Is any statement about that organisms intentional or epistemic status
rational in the absence of any more information than that the organism exists?
Obviously not. We interpret this inescapable opacity of mental states to indicate
simply that whatever publicly available information an observer uses to make at-
tributions of mental states must partially constitute (and therefore define) those
mental states. The fact that people, the world over, attribute complex motives and
beliefs to their pets, other animals, other people, and mythical entities does not
constitute evidence for the independent existence of these complex motives and
beliefs, which are not available to the senses. Thus, no organism actually discrimi-
nates or attributes mentality to other organisms on a purely empirical or inductive
basis; people learn, for example, to characterize behaviour of others in symbolic
terms that are, by their very nature, distributed within a language-using commu-
nity. This is not to say that organisms do not perceive regularities in the behaviour
of others, nor is it to say that many behavioural regularities are not publicly avail-
able; to interpret behaviour in terms of hypothetical constructs such as belief or
the notion that mental states are distinct from and, somehow, cause behaviour
is to make a commitment to a currently fashionable, dualistic model of mental
functioning that is historically situated in Western philosophy and its narrative
structures (e.g., Gallagher and Hutto this volume; Susswein and Racine this vol-
ume). Commonsense models like these are acquired from our cultures, not from
inductive observation (cf. Mitchell 2000).
behaviour and appeals to, for example, demons as causes of behaviour (e.g. The Devil made me
do it; see also Mitchell 2000; Susswein and Racine this volume; Thompson 1994). We cannot
see, hear, smell, taste, feel, or take photographs, spectrograms, temperatures, weights, volumes
or any other measure of either demons or mental states. To attribute behavioural phenomena
to either demonic influences or mental state influences is, in both cases, a culturally situated
manner of speaking. It is no more or less crazy to appeal to mental states than it is to appeal to
demonic possession in describing what organisms do, depending upon the cultural precepts of
the individual attempting to account for the behaviour of others. What definitely is irrational is
to make these appeals to unseen entities in the complete absence of any behavioural informa-
tion whatsoever. Thus, if cognitive scientists wish to use concepts like epistemic states in mod-
els of psychological processes, then is it incumbent upon them to supply definitions of these
hypothetical constructs in measurable terms.
. Are we advocating methodological behaviourism? Yes. The following quotation from the
recent obituary of Gregory A. Kimble describes his position, with which we are in strong agree-
ment:
. . . Kimble believed that the so-called cognitive revolution had not in an Oedipal
frenzy slain behaviorism, as was proclaimed by some cognitively oriented psycholo-
gists late in the 20th century. Instead, Kimble argued, cognitive psychology had not
192 David A. Leavens et al.
at all avoided the behaviorist requirement that intervening concepts and dependent
variables be anchored to observables, in other words, to responses of some kind be
they overt muscular movements, verbal responses, or electrophysiological readings.
Cognitive psychology, thus, could not escape its behavioristic roots.
(Boneau and Wertheimer 2006:632)
the second year of life, additional changes occur in how babies deploy their man-
ual gestures and visual orienting behaviour: they become sensitive to whether
their social partners are attending to themselves or to distant loci; in other words,
there is a well-documented behavioural transition characterized by sensitivity to
the behavioural correlates of visual attention in others, or attentionality (e.g.
Bakeman and Adamson 1986; Franco and Gagliano 2001; ONeill 1996). By 18
months of age, human babies in the cultures studied, to date, exhibit a robust
capability to monitor, capture, and direct the attention of their social partners,
through pointing; this is the capacity for explicit reference. In accordance with
the introductory remarks, our position is that reporting on the capacity to moni-
tor, capture, and direct attention is to describe typical behavioural development
in particular cultural contexts; moreover, organisms can exhibit these capabilities
in the absence of any explicit theory of mental functioning (see e.g. Brinck 2003;
Doherty 2006; Mitchell 2000).
4.1 Pointing
are irrelevant to understanding both the evolution and the development of those
traits, and therefore (c) the study of our nearest living relatives, the Asian and Af-
rican great apes, will not produce data relevant to understanding the development
in humans of the traits in question.
To date, there is only one published report of unambiguous pointing by any
wild ape, a bonobo (Ve and Sabater-Pi 1998). In this episode, a male bonobo
pointed repeatedly (with outstretched arm and ring and index fingers; pre-
sumably the 2nd and 4th rays) towards the location of several human observ-
ers who were partially hidden behind some shrubbery, whilst looking back-and-
forth between these observers and the rest of his troop. Wild apes do extend their
hands towards each other, in various contexts (e.g. van Lawick-Goodall 1968),
but it is the triadic use of the outstretched arm and hand that seems to be exceed-
ingly rare. Recently, Pika and Mitani (2006) reported that wild chimpanzees use
a characteristic, directed scratching behaviour to elicit grooming at that part of
the body from their grooming partners. Thus, although manual pointing by wild
apes appears to be extremely rare, the report by Pika and Mitani (2006) suggests
that the capacity for explicit reference may be expressed more commonly through
different kinds of behaviours.
In strong contrast to the rarity of pointing by wild apes, captive apes com-
monly and spontaneously point in the complete absence of overt training (e.g.
Call and Tomasello 1994; Krause and Fouts 1997; Leavens and Hopkins 1998;
Leavens et al. 2005a, b; Leavens, Hopkins, and Thomas 2004a; Menzel 1999;
Miles 1990; de Waal 1982; Whiten 2000; reviewed by Leavens 2004; Leavens and
Hopkins 1999; de Waal 2001). By far the most common context in which captive
apes use pointing gestures is one in which they point to desirable, but unreachable
food, in the presence of a human observer.
A brief digression is warranted about what constitutes pointing behaviour.
When human infants point with their whole hands (outstretched arms and most
or all fingers extended), researchers have long termed this reaching (Blake et
al. 1994; Leung and Rheingold 1981; Murphy and Messer 1977; see Leavens and
Hopkins 1999, for review). The term reach has two primary meanings: (a) to
attempt to grasp something and (b) to extend the arm and hand. Neither mean-
ing captures the communicative significance of these gestures, which has been
noted by many infancy researchers (e.g., Murphy and Messer 1977; Leung and
Rheingold 1981). Franco and Butterworth (e.g. 1996) have employed the term
indicate or indicative for these whole-handed gestures, but this implies the
same function as the term pointing. For these reasons, we refer to these as
whole-hand points. (Recently, at a public science lecture, a member of the audi-
ence asked, sardonically, if we stayed up nights developing this terminology). In
this usage, we join, for example, Kendon and Versante (2003), Haviland (2003),
196 David A. Leavens et al.
and Wilkins (2003) in recognizing that adult humans in diverse cultures do, in-
deed, point with their whole hands in naturalistic contexts (see photographs and
drawings in these sources). Pointing has an attention-directing function, and
people can and do point with their eyes, with their lips (Enfield 2001; Wilkins
2003), with their whole hands (Wilkins 2003), and with their index fingers.
Some researchers argue that pointing with the index finger has a special status
as a human species-specific biological adaptation for definite reference (see, esp.,
Butterworth 2003), implying that the gesture is derived from our species-specific
adaptations for language and speech, but because (a) apes point with their index
fingers (see below) and (b) some humans do not point with their index fingers
(Wilkins 2003), we believe that both the claim for the species-specificity of point-
ing and the alleged adaptive derivation of the gesture from adaptations for speech
are challenged, at our present state of knowledge.
Most captive apes who point, point with their whole hands (Call and Tomasello
1994; Leavens and Hopkins 1998, 1999; Leavens et al. 2004a; de Waal 1982). That
these are communicative signals and not attempts to reach for obviously unreach-
able food is demonstrated by the necessity of an audience for the display of these
gestures (Call and Tomasello 1994; Hostetter, Cantero and Hopkins 2001; Leavens
et al. 1996; Leavens et al. 2004a; see Table 1). Thus, apes in captivity do not point
to obviously unreachable items, with either their index fingers or with all fingers
extended, in the absence of a human observer; these are communicative signals,
not abbreviated reaches for obviously unreachable food.
Table 1. Apes require an audience to display points and other manual gestures in the
presence of unreachable food: Summary of experimental studies.
Study Species N (subjects) % Presencea
Call and Tomasello (1994) Orangutans 2 95b
Leavens, Hopkins, and Bard (1996) Chimpanzees 3 99
Hostetter, Cantero, and Hopkins (2001) Chimpanzees 49 97
Leavens, Hopkins, and Thomas (2004a) Chimpanzees
Visible Banana Condition 101 98
Hidden Banana Condition 101 98
Experiment 2 35 100
Notes. aThis is the percent of trials in which subjects pointed (Call and Tomasello 1994),per-
cent of gestures, some of which were points (Leavens et al. 1996; Hostetter et al. 2001), or
percent of subjects who gestured, including those who pointed (Leavens et al. 2004a) in the
presence, as compared to the absence of human observers.
bIn 48 of the total of 96 experimental trials in this study, the human observer, although
present, either had his eyes closed or was facing away from the subjects.
Origins of explicit reference 197
Notes. aAll chimpanzees sampled from the same population at the Yerkes National Primate
Research Center, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., and aged between 3 and 56 years. All human ges-
tures are index-finger points. Methodological differences in the assessment of visual orienting
behaviour between studies of apes and humans render these comparisons more qualitative
than quantitative. Specifically, gaze alternation in apes was defined as looks to an experi-
menter during an observational interval that varied substantially between subjects and studies
(typically, these observation intervals ranged between 1s and 60s), whereas human visual
orienting was typically defined as looks to caregivers from 1s before point onset to 1s after
point termination.
bSubjects w/GA means percent of subjects gesturing with gaze alternation.
200 David A. Leavens et al.
Table 3. Apes are sensitive to the visual attention of an observer: Representative studies.
These studies variously demonstrated that apes discriminated direct gaze, followed the
gaze of others, or displayed visual signals selectively when social partners were looking at
them.
Type Study Species
Observational Tanner and Byrne (1993) Gorillaa
Observational Tomasello et al. (1994) Chimpanzees
Observational Tanner and Byrne (1996) Gorilla
Observational Tomasello et al. (1997) Chimpanzees
Observational Pika, Liebal, and Tomasello (2003) Gorillas
Observational Liebal, Call, and Tomasello (2004a) Chimpanzees
Observational Liebal, Pika, and Tomasello (2004b) Siamangs
Observational Pika, Liebal, and Tomasello (2005) Bonobos
Observational Liebal, Pika, and Tomasello (2006) Orangutans
Experimental Call and Tomasello (1994) Orangutans
Experimental Itakura (1996) Orangutan
Experimental Povinelli and Eddy (1996a) Chimpanzeesb
Experimental Povinelli and Eddy (1996b) Chimpanzees
Experimental Krause and Fouts (1997) Chimpanzees
Experimental Povinelli and Eddy (1997) Chimpanzees
Origins of explicit reference 201
Table 3 (continued)
Type Study Species
Experimental Tomasello, Call, and Hare (1998) Chimpanzees
Experimental Itakura and Tanaka (1998) Chimpanzees, Orangutan
Experimental Itakura, Agnetta, Hare and Tomasello (1999) Chimpanzees
Experimental Peignot and Anderson (1999) Gorillasc
Experimental Povinelli, Bierschwale, and Cech (1999) Chimpanzeesd
Experimental Tomasello, Hare, and Agnetta (1999) Chimpanzees
Experimental Hare, Agnetta, Call, and Tomasello (2000) Chimpanzees
Experimental Hare, Call, and Tomasello (2001) Chimpanzees
Experimental Hostetter, Cantero, and Hopkins (2001) Chimpanzees
Experimental Bodamer and Gardner (2002) Chimpanzees
Experimental Okamoto et al. (2002) Chimpanzee
Experimental Povinelli, Theall, Reaux, and Dunphy-Lelii (2003)
Chimpanzees
Experimental Liebal, Pika, Call, and Tomasello (2004c) Chimpanzees
Experimental Leavens, Hostetter, Wesley, and Hopkins (2004b) Chimpanzees
Experimental Braer, Call, and Tomasello (2005) Bonobos, Chimpanzees,
Gorillas, Orangutans
Experimental Melis, Call, and Tomasello (2006) Chimpanzees
Experimental Poss, Kuhar, Stoinski, and Hopkins (2006) Gorillas, Orangutans
Experimental Hostetter, Russell, Freeman, and Hopkins (2007) Chimpanzees
Experimental Hopkins, Russell, and Leavens (In press) Chimpanzees
Notes: aA gorilla covered her facial expression with her hand, implying an awareness of the
social consequences of her expressions in the visual domain.
bThis study is often cited as evidence against discrimination of human gaze by chimpanzees
but, in fact, the chimpanzees readily discriminated human gaze in almost all experimental
contexts either spontaneously or with a modicum of training.
cThe gorillas in this study readily discriminated head orientation, but not eyes only.
dThe authors interpreted their data to indicate that chimpanzees lacked a high-level model
of mental functioning, but the chimpanzees in this study outperformed the human children
in an object-choice task, using aspects of an experimenters attentional cues and, furthermore,
reliably followed the experimenters gaze to a point behind them.
There are two empirical grounds on which some researchers base claims for a
uniquely human cognitive adaptation in the domain of non-verbal communica-
tion: (a) an occasional absence of discrimination by apes of the focus of the eyes,
specifically, and (b) the phenomenon of pointing to distant events or objects by
human babies in the apparent absence of any attempt by the baby to manipulate
the social partner to act on that distal element (so-called protodeclarative com-
munication, Bates et al. 1975; see also Brinck this volume; Susswein and Racine
this volume). With respect to discrimination of eye direction, we have argued that
whether discriminations are based on eye direction, head orientation, or other
202 David A. Leavens et al.
postural cues is irrelevant to the cognitive implications, which are simply that
humans and great apes discriminate different states of visual attention in others
(Leavens et al. 2005a:294). In other words, if an organism can use the behavioural
correlates of visual attention in social agents to exercise choice over their modality
of signaling, to find food, to effectively manipulate others to retrieve food, etc.
all of which have been well-demonstrated in apes then the concept of visual
attention is manifest in the interplay of that organism with its social environment,
and this is true irrespective of the specific behavioural cues that organism might
use (see Table 3).
Every extant, published, alleged species difference between apes and humans
in the capacity to discriminate and use visual attention in others is predicated on
an experimental confound between early rearing history and species classification:
apes are typically orphans raised in cages without primary, stable adult attachment
figures and humans are raised by their biological parents in rich environments filled
with laughter, joy, and frequent face-to-face interaction with their primary caregiv-
ers. Consider the following thought experiment: raise human boys from birth in
the same relatively impoverished circumstances in which captive apes are typically
raised. Let the comparison group be human girls raised by their biological parents
in their homes, who are cherished, and unreservedly and reliably loved by their
caregivers. Years later, assess the sensitivity of the boys and the girls to subtle cues of
visual attention in human adults. Suppose the girls, unsurprisingly, perform better
than the boys would any researcher in their right mind attribute the difference
to a gender difference between boys and girls? Of course not, rearing history is
clearly confounded with the gender of the subjects. Yet substitute apes for boys and
humans for girls in this research design and how often have researchers trumpeted
a species difference between apes and humans in various aspects of sensitivity to
visual attention (e.g. Povinelli and Eddy1996a; Theall and Povinelli 1999)? If the
practice of almost completely ignoring the effects of pre-experimental experience
(or what used to be called the preparation of the organisms under scrutiny) were
not so widespread in contemporary comparative psychology, this would be laugh-
able (for a notable exception to this general methodological failing, see Carpenter,
Tomasello and Savage-Rumbaugh1995). The reports listed in Table3 adequately
demonstrate that captive apes discriminate different states of visual attention in oth-
ers, despite the impoverishment of their early rearing histories.
With respect to so-called protodeclarative pointing, there are very few re-
ports of pointing by apes with the apparent goal of merely directing the attention
of their social partners to distant goals; this scarcity has been noted by, among
others, Baron-Cohen (1999), Butterworth (2001), Povinelli et al. (2003b), and
Tomasello (1999). These authors suggest that the absence or scarcity of protodec-
larative pointing in apes and in humans with autism is diagnostic of an inability
Origins of explicit reference 203
Both the propensity to point and the form of pointing in captive apes are influenced
by rearing history (as may be also the motivation to engage in declarative behav-
iour). The propensity to point with outstretched arms and fingers can be charac-
terized as a cultural difference between wild and captive apes, in the same way
that differential propensities to point with the lips is a human cultural difference.
Apes are, thus, malleable in their gestural repertoires (e.g. Bard 1998; Leavens et
al. 2005b; Pika et al. 2005a; Tomasello et al. 1994). Given this flexibility, what is
it about captive environments, which are so impoverished in many respects, that
fosters the development of pointing in captive apes, in the absence of explicit
training? We believe a plausible answer lies in consideration of the circumstances
in which human infants begin to point.
Human infants have both endogenous and exogenous barriers to free move-
ment. With considerable inter-individual variability, humans do not achieve bi-
pedal locomotion until approximately a year of age and mastery of this mode of lo-
comotion takes several years (e.g. Cheron et al. 2001). Chimpanzees, on the other
hand, are capable of independent quadrupedal locomotion (technically known as
knucklewalking) by about five months of age (van Lawick-Goodall 1968). The
significant delay in locomotor development in our species, relative to other pri-
mates, is largely attributable to maturational factors affecting the stability of the
trunk in a vertical mode humans are biomechanically unstable in this posture
for much of the first year of life (e.g., Adolph and Berger 2005). Direct evidence
for bipedal locomotion in hominids (Australopithecus afarensis) dates to over 3.5
million years ago with the footprints in the Laetoli lava beds (Leakey and Hay
1979) and more controversial claims exist for bipedal locomotion in much older
hominids dated to nearly twice that old (Orrorin tugenensis, Senut, et al. 2001). It
is an open question whether the relatively protracted, peripatetic ontogeny of lo-
comotor development that characterizes modern humans was also characteristic
of the earliest bipedal hominids or whether this is a more recent feature of human
development related to the very oversized heads of infant representatives of the
genus Homo, dating from about 2.5 million years ago. The difference between hu-
mans and apes in the attainment of independent locomotion constitutes a change
in our lineage in the relative timing of this motoric competency, or heterochrony.
In addition to these endogenous limitations that uniquely affect human babies,
Origins of explicit reference 205
Figure 2. The Referential Problem Space. Wild chimpanzess, because of their ability
to independently travel to virtually any object of interest, do not need to apply their
problem-solving skills to referential contexts (downward-pointing arrow at 45 months
indicates the onset of independent locomotion). Apes go on to display means-ends
problem-solving capacities in foraging domains, but do not develop pointing as an
instrumental tool because it is not required in those contexts (but see Pika and Mitani
2006). In contrast, humans and captive chimpanzees experience both barriers to direct
attainment of desirable objects and long histories in which caregivers deliver desirable
objects to them. By virtue of humans long-delayed development of bipedal locomotion
(upward-pointing arrow), they are restricted in movement and dependent upon others
to act on their world at a time in development in which they have sophisticated problem-
solving capacities. Pointing emerges, then, in this problem space.
Acknowledgements
We thank the editors of this volume, Jordan Zlatev, Tim Racine, Chris Sinha,
and Esa Itkonen for inviting this chapter. Special thanks to Tim Racine for his
helpful feedback on several earlier versions of this manuscript. We gratefully ac-
knowledge inspirational conversations about pointing and related matters with
Robin Banerjee, Irwin Bernstein, Joanna Blake, Ingar Brinck, the late George But-
terworth, Josep Call, Robert Corruccini, Deborah Custance, Susan Ford, Doro-
thy Fragaszy, Fabia Franco, Janet Frick, Juan-Carlos Gomez, R. Peter Hobson,
Autumn Hostetter, Jim Hurford, Mark Krause, Maria Legerstee, Katja Liebal, Ulf
Liszkowski, Chris Moore, B. E. Mulligan, Simone Pika, Vasu Reddy, Connie Rus-
sell, Jamie Russell, Chris Sinha, Roger Thomas, Mike Tomasello, Colwyn Trevar-
then, Katherine Whitcome, Nicola Yuill, and many others.
208 David A. Leavens et al.
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chapter 10
Jordan Zlatev
1. Introduction
Many if not most would agree that there is a close relationship between intersub-
jectivity and language. But what more precisely is this relation? The first impedi-
ment to answering this question is definitional. As several of the contributions
to this volume show, there are rather different understandings of the concept of
intersubjectivity. For the purpose of this chapter, intersubjectivity will be taken
to be the sharing of affective, perceptual and reflective experiences between two
or more subjects. Such sharing can take different forms, some more immedi-
ate, while others more mediated by higher cognitive processes, e.g. what Barresi
and Moore (this volume) call understanding as opposed to simply sharing.
The phenomenon of joint attention (e.g. Moore and Dunham 1995), for exam-
ple, would qualify as a paradigmatic form of perceptual intersubjectivity (Zlatev,
Brinck and Andrn 2008).
216 Jordan Zlatev
. See also Sinha and Rodruiguz (this volume) and Hutto (this volume) for critiques of overly
mentalist interpretations of intersubjectivity.
218 Jordan Zlatev
In his influential theory of human evolution, Donald (1991) proposed that a form
of cognition crucially based on mimesis, and a corresponding culture based on
mimetic skills such as tool use, imitation, ritual dance and gestural communi-
cation mediated between the episodic cognition of the common ape-human
ancestor and the emergence of language as a dominant mode of human com-
munication (see also Hutto, this volume). Mimetic representations are according
to Donald conscious, self-initiated, representational acts that are intentional but
not linguistic (Donald 1991:168). This rather broad definition includes a num-
ber of different skills such as imitation, the re-enactment of actions in imagina-
tion (and hence planning and rehearsal), and the use of iconic and deictic ges-
tures for intentional communication. Others have suggested a similar mimetic
stage in ontogeny, but have proposed quite different interpretations of its scope
(Nelson1996; Zlatev 2002, 2003), making it clear that the concept of mimesis
requires a more precise definition. Building on Donalds work, but taking into ac-
count some more recent evidence in social neuroscience (see Barresi and Moore,
this volume; Zlatev 2007b, in press) and evidence on the mimetic capacities of
non-human primates (Zlatev et al. 2005a), I have in a number of recent publica-
tion (Zlatev 2005, 2007a, 2007b) proposed the concept of bodily mimesis, which
can be defined as follows:
Intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 219
This definition allows us to clarify the relationship between bodily mimesis and
a number of related phenomena, on the basis of an evolutionary and devel-
opmental model referred to as the mimesis hierarchy. The model is unasham-
edly progressivist, and defines each successive stage through the attainment
of a new semiotic capacity: (b), (c) and the positive versions of (d) and (e), i.e.
with conventionality-normativity (d-poss) and with compositionality (e-poss).
At the same time, it is not a classical stage model in the spirit of Piaget, where
each consecutive stage brings with it total reorganization, but a layered mod-
el (Stern1985) where earlier capacities continue to co-exist with newer ones,
which may subsume but not abolish them. The model (in its current version)
distinguishes between 5 stages/levels, determined on the basis of the definition
of bodily mimesis given above:
1. Proto-mimesis: only (a), e.g. neonatal mirroring, contagion, mutual gaze (cf.
primary intersubjectivity, Trevarthen 1979)
2. Dyadic mimesis: only (a) and (b), e.g. action imitation, shared attention, mir-
ror self-recognition
3. Triadic mimesis: only (a), (b) and (c): e.g. declarative pointing, iconic gestures,
full joint attention (cf. pantomime, Arbib 2005)
4. Post-mimesis1: (a), (b), (c) and (d-poss), (cf. protolanguage Bickerton 2003;
protosign Arbib 2005)
5. Post-mimesis2: (a), (b), (c), (d-poss) and (e-poss): e.g. spoken/signed language
(cf. symbolic reference, Deacon 1997)
220 Jordan Zlatev
. See Barresi and Moore (this volume) for a detailed neuroscientific model of how first-per-
son and third-person information appears to be matched in the posterior parietal cortex.
. The iconic, but not the indexical aspects of triadic mimesis are similar to the notion of pan-
tomime, constituting Stage 5a in the somewhat similar evolutionary model proposed by Arbib
(2003, 2005).
Intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 221
What gives us ground to apply the mimesis hierarchy to the development and
evolution of intersubjectivity? As suggested in the introduction: above all the ap-
proach arising from the combination of phenomenology and neuroscience that
links social cognition and embodiment, perhaps best summarized by Gallagher
(2005, 2007). It was originally Husserl, who over one hundred years ago first
criticized the intellectualist perspective on the understanding of other minds
as a matter of inference or analogy from the knowledge of ones own mind. As
. One case in which language acquisition relies (much) less on bodily mimesis is autism.
Predictably, however, even the language of high-functioning persons with autism displays se-
mantic and pragmatic abnormalities (Menyuk and Quill 1985; Zlatev forthcoming).
222 Jordan Zlatev
3.1 Proto-mimesis
According to the definition of bodily mimesis we can regard some of the most
basic forms of intersubjectivity as proto-mimetic to the extent that they consist
of interpersonal interactions that involve cross-modal mapping between proprio-
ception and the (visual) perception of others, but lack the characteristics volition
and differentiation. In terms of the distinction between body schema and body
image (Gallagher 2005) mentioned above, proto-mimesis can be said to involve
(above all) the body schema, which is largely innate (in the sense of being present
at birth) and pre-conscious, rather than the body image, which is gradually con-
structed with experience and accessible to consciousness. Proto-mimetic forms of
intersubjectivity do not require a conceptual differentiation between self and oth-
er, which is necessary for establishing a correspondence relation between them.
This is not to say that the young infant lives in a completely undifferentiated world
in which there is no awareness of self whatsoever, as pointed out by Stern (1985).
Nevertheless, even a modern developmental psychologist who emphasizes the
role of the awareness of others attention and the presence of affective self-con-
sciousness in the first months of life points out that older infants reveal a greater
focus on the self and the younger ones reveal a more immersed, less detached focus
on the other (Reddy 2003:401). This more immersed, less detached quality
of the earliest forms of intersubjectivity motivates the classification of them as
proto-mimetic.
Can this analysis be extended to the (early) interpersonal relations among
apes? Neonatal mirroring has also been observed, and appears to be common
in chimpanzees (Myowa-Yamakoshi 2001; Myowa-Yamakoshi et al. 2004). Since
this is typically attributed to a form of identification with the person imitated
when children are concerned (Meltzoff and Gopnik1993; Gallagher 2005), it can
be viewed as evidence that at least chimpanzees, and possibly other apes and non-
human primates possess the capacity for basic proto-mimetic intersubjectivity.
The function of such mirroring can be related to what is possibly the most basic
form of intersubjectivity, both ontogenetically and phylogenetically: the ability
to share emotions, or empathy (Einfhlung). As a proto-mimetic, non-represen-
tational capacity, this is testified in early infancy and sometimes referred to as in-
teraffectivity (Stern 1985). The well-known experiments described by Trevarthen
(1992) show that parent-infant interactions in the first few months take the form
of a reciprocal rhythmic dance, and that frustration follows if this attunement
is disrupted (notice the musical metaphors). The suggestion is that emotions
such as joy and suffering are perceived directly, possibly involving mirror-neuron
224 Jordan Zlatev
those at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, USA, with the ones in Japan
engaging in mutual gaze at much higher rates (22 vs. 12 times per hour), while
the ape mothers in the USA cradled their infants more often (71% vs. 40% of the
total time). Intriguingly, a similar inverse correlation between visual and tactile
contact has been observed in human societies, with traditional cultures favoring
touch and Western ones gaze: With reduced physical contact found in Western
societies, mutual engagement shifts to the visual system, arguably a more evolu-
tionarily derived pattern (Bard et al. 2005:621). Since apes do not seem to differ
from humans in the capacity to perform this shift, and possibly even transmit it
culturally to their descendents, this supports the conclusions from the studies on
neonatal imitation that the difference between the species on the proto-mimetic
level is not of a qualitative nature.
. In a recently completed study, however, we found remarkable differences in both rates and
durations of mutual gaze between ape and human mother-infant dyads, with five dyads per
group, and somewhat older ages for the infants than those in the study of Bard et al. (2005): 58
months. The rates for the apes (3 chimpanzee, one bonobo and one gorilla) was on average 2/
hour, while those for the 5 human infants (observed in Lund, Sweden) was as many as 35/hour
on average (Zlatev 2008). There are many methodological issues that need to be addressed, but
these findings suggest the need for precaution before concluding that there are few differences
between ape and human proto-mimesis (and thus, primary intersubjectivity).
226 Jordan Zlatev
project into the place of the object (ibid:18). Evidence that this is not an isolated
phenomenon, but shows a more advanced level of intersubjectivity is the fact that
cognitive empathy appears to emerge developmentally and phylogenetically with
other markers of mind including perspective taking , mirror self-recogni-
tion , deception, and tool-use. (ibid:18). Research concerning cognitive em-
pathy in apes has focused on their consolation behavior, which is well-attested
in at least chimpanzees, but has not been found in monkey species (de Waal and
Aureli1996) or any other mammalian species. Consolation is cognitively more
complex than simple empathy since the consoling individual not only feels that
somebody else experiences a particular negative emotion, but also intends to help
relieve this, implying an ability to imagine the more positive emotional state.
This supports the interpretation that cognitive empathy involves a more so-
phisticated representational capacity than what is necessary for simple empathy.
Since dyadic mimesis involves both the ability to identify with the other, and at
the same time to differentiate between self and other, a natural hypothesis is that
it is dyadic mimesis, implicated in e.g. imitation (Zlatev et al.2005a) that scaffolds
the development of such representational capacity (cf. Hutto this volume, for a
similar proposal).
Since dyadic mimesis allows to place oneself in the shoes of others, it also
gives the opportunity to understand what someone else is attending to. Such sec-
ond-order attention is well testified among great apes (Hare et al. 2000). When
two individuals become aware that both are attending to the same object, what
results is shared attention. This comes a good deal towards the construction of a
consensual reality, but does not quite reach it. To make a given object X fully
intersubjective between you and me, I would need not only to see that you see X,
(second-order attention, see Figure 1a), but also to see that you see that I see X
(third-order attention, see Figure 1b) and vice versa which is one interpretation
of what it means to engage in joint attention. Full joint attention thus involves
third-order mentality and possibly because of this (see below) appears to be be-
yond the cognitive capacities of apes (Tomasello 1999). It also goes beyond dyadic
mimesis, so I will leave this capacity for the time being, but return to it in the fol-
lowing subsection.
Concerning the understanding of anothers intentions, it was the received view
until the end of the last century that apes cannot do this (e.g. Tomasello1999). Re-
cently, however, there has been mounting evidence that (at least) [c]himpanzees
. The terms shared attention and joint attention have, unfortunately, not been standardi-
zed in the literature and are often used interchangebaly. One exception is Emery (2000), who
however uses the terms in nearly the reverse sense as that adopted here, with shared attention
being the more high-order phenomenon.
Intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 227
Figure 1a. Shared attention: Second-order attention: I see that you see X (and vice
versa, though only the second-order arrow for one of the participants is shown)
Figure 1b. Joint attention: Third-order attention: I see that you see that I see X (and
vice versa, though only the third-order arrow for one of the participants is shown)
understand psychological states the question is which ones and to what ex-
tent, which is the title of Tomasello, Call and Hare (2003). A wealth of experi-
ments supports this claim. For example, a subordinate and a dominant chim-
panzee compete for food placed on the subordinates side of two barriers, so that
in some cases only the subordinate, but not the dominant can see the food and
monitor the visual access of her competitor. The results showed that the subordi-
nates preferentially retrieved the food that dominants could not see (and had not
seen in the past), implying that chimpanzees are aware of the perceptual states of
con-specifics. Together with awareness of the competitors goal (i.e. to obtain the
food) this allows the prediction of the others actions and acting accordingly. A
dyadic-mimetic interpretation of these facts is that such an understanding can be
obtained through the projection of ones own perceptual and motivational state
228 Jordan Zlatev
onto the other (I would get the food if I were in her place!) at the same time as
distinguishing between the self and the other, and does not require explicit (prop-
ositional) reasoning or inference. There is mounting evidence that even non-en-
culturated and language-nave apes are capable of such mimetic enactments.
At the same time, it has not been shown that (non-enculturated) apes are
capable of understanding anothers mental states about their own mental states,
which would involve, as with joint attention, third-order mentality. In natural
settings, some cases of deception may be interpreted in a way to involve third-
order mentality, but do not require this. For example de Waal (1982) describes
the chimpanzee Yeroen who has had a fight with Nikkie, and continues to fake a
limp only when in the presence of Nikkie, apparently in an act of wishing to pro-
voke Nikkies empathy: I wish to make you see that I hurt. The more parsimoni-
ous explanation, however, is that Yeroen has learned from previous experience
that he is not bothered by Nikkie when he is hurt: He may have learned from
incidents in the past in which he is seriously wounded that his rival was less hard
on him during periods when he was (of necessity) limping (ibid:3536), so he
mimes the appropriate behavior. Here we have a clear correspondence between
dyadic mimesis and second-order intersubjectivity. Notice that Yeroens limping
was not a form of intentional communication obviously he did not wish Nik-
kie to understand that he was faking a limp if he did, that would be a case of
triadic mimesis.
The conclusion that can be drawn from these various examples is that wild
apes as well as those who are exposed to different degrees of human contact
(captive, nursery-raised and laboratory-trained apes), but are not raised in a
something like a human cultural environment and thus enculturated (Call and
Tomasello 1996:372) can indeed understand second-order mentality. However,
such apes do not seem able to master third-order mentality (in the domains of
emotion, attention nor intention) in which their own mental state needs to be
either intentionally communicated in collaboration, or hidden in competi-
tion. This corresponds well with the capacity of apes for dyadic mimesis, but their
relative difficulty with triadic mimesis, as argued below.
. While it has still not been conclusively shown that apes are capable of such mental projec-
tion, and it is conceivable how the evidence can be explained in a more behaviouristic man-
ner involving learning generalizations over other individuals behaviour in relation to food,
the mental explanation is (a) ultimately more parsimonious (cf. Tomasello and Call 2006)
and (b) consistent with the performance of human children in roughly comparable stages of
development.
Intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 229
In the case of triadic mimesis, there is not only an understanding of the repre-
sentational relation between ones bodily motion and the object, action or event
it corresponds to, but an understanding that such a representational relation can
be used communicatively. This requires some understanding that the representa-
tion (sign) has the same meaning for the addressee as for the sender. This involves
at least second-order mentality, which was shown above to correlate with dyadic
mimesis. But having the same meaning is a reflexive notion and implies at least
some degree of third-order mentality (see Itkonen this volume). Consider the
simple example of what knowing the meaning of the word cat implies:
(1) I know that cat means a small furry animal that meows.
(2) I expect you know that cat means a small furry animal that meows.
(3) I expect that you know that I know that cat means a small furry animal that
meows.
. Consisting of what Wittgenstein (1953) called the forms of life, which provide the neces-
sary context for the emergence and functioning of intentional communication and language.
Intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 231
with all other types of discriminative cues that have to be laboriously learned
over repeated experiences. The children, in contrast, treated each communicative
attempt as an expression of the adults intention to direct their attention in ways
relevant to the current situation. [my emphasis]
In other words, while the children clearly understood the communicative inten-
tions of the experimenter, the apes did not. This interpretation is supported by a
similar experiment designed to test false beliefs (Call and Tomasello 1999), in
which the enculturated and language-taught orangutan Chantek clearly performed
differently from all the other apes in understanding a human communicators sig-
nals. Even though this was not the goal of the experiment, and Chantek did not
score better than the other apes in the false beliefs task, his much better perfor-
mance could be explained by considering that he understood the signals as com-
municative signs (in this case indexes), rather than as discriminative cues.
Finally, we can consider the case of captive apes living in a zoo and thus in-
volved with at least some degree of interaction with human culture. In their study
of spontaneous gestural communication in a group of gorillas in the San Fran-
cisco zoo, Tanner and Byrne (1996, 1999), found a wealth of gestures used by sev-
eral members of the group, in particular by the adult male Kubie, some of which
seemed to be used in a communicative way so that:
[w]hether the receiving partner was a human or another ape, the signaling ape
made sure that visual contact was established (except for tactile close gestures),
and seemed to understand both the others potential actions and what the partner
might, in turn, understand from his (the signalers) performance of gestures.
(Tanner and Byrne 1999:231, [my emphasis])
10. ZPD is the notion introduced by Vygotsky (1978) to refer to skills that children could ac-
quire with the help of adults, but not alone.
232 Jordan Zlatev
the common ancestors zone of proximal evolution, and is therefore a likely can-
didate for constituting the missing link in human cognitive evolution.
3.4 Post-mimesis
The following have also been reported, but are considerably less well docu-
mented:
Intersubjectivity and bodily mimesis 233
It is therefore possible to agree with Miles (1999:204), that all great apes have the
intelligence for a rudimentary, referential, generalizable, imitative, displaceable,
symbol system but with an emphasis on rudimentary. It has, for example, not
yet been clearly demonstrated whether the spoken or signed utterances of apes
conform to consistent principles of grammatical organization. Greenfield and
Savage-Rumbaugh (1990, 1991) describe two ordering rules in the two symbol
combinations of Kanzi, but the data show at best a weak statistical correlation
between preferred order and semantic (communicative) function. The most plau-
sible conclusion to the prolonged ape language debate therefore seems to be a
tie between the extreme proponents and opponents: apes such as Koko and Kanzi
can be said to have acquired a form of protolanguage, which is different from both
mimesis due to conventionality, and full language due to a lack of systematicity
which, on its part, is necessary for the production of narratives.
But can it even be truthfully said that Koko and Kanzi have acquired se-
mantic conventions? A convention (Lewis 1969; Clark 1996) or a norm (Itkonen
1978) exists as a form of common knowledge among the members of the group
that share the convention. A common explication of common knowledge is
that it consists of third-order knowledge: I know that you know that I know X
(Itkonen 1978, this volume). If this knowledge must be in explicit proposition-
al form, then it is unlikely that we can attribute it to the language-taught apes,
making it dubious whether we could even call their communicative acquisitions
protolanguage.
However, is it even warranted to make this requirement when it comes to
children? While I earlier argued that triadic mimesis is connected to third-order
mentality, it is not necessary that the understanding on all three orders is explicit
enough to be a matter of belief, i.e. a propositional representation that is active-
ly held to be true. Consider again the three orders of knowing the conventional
meaning of the word cat given as (3) above and repeated for convenience:
(3) I expect that you know that I know that cat means a small furry animal that
meows.
234 Jordan Zlatev
The highest order thought, my expectation that you know that I know, is not a
belief for the 4 year old child, since it is taken for granted, without pondering on
whether it is true or not. For younger children, even the second order thought is
unlikely to be propositional, as evidenced by their inability to understand beliefs
proper false or otherwise. Perhaps it best to call the most basic form of shared
cultural knowledge a sharing of expectations: we both expect each of us to behave
in a certain way given certain conditions (e.g. a red light) and are, however dimly,
both aware that this expectation is mutual, and thereby binding. Given this, (3)
can be reformulated in a Wittgensteinian manner into (4):
(4) I expect that we are both using cat to mean a small furry animal that
meows.
Given their mimetic-gestural origin signed languages have a much greater degree
of iconicity than spoken languages and it has been proposed that this plays a role
in their faster acquisition by (deaf) children (Brown 1977). Recent studies have
questioned this, however, since only a minority of the signs of signed language
have transparent iconic meanings, and in a study of 22 children acquiring ASL it
was shown that of the 44 different signs produced by the children before the age
of 13 months, 36% were classified as iconic, 30% as metonymic, and 34% as arbi-
trary (Bonvillan and Patterson 1999:253).11 In this study, the authors compared
the rate and pattern of acquisition of ASL by children and that of two gorillas,
Koko and Michael. Despite certain differences the childrens acquisition was
(unsurprisingly) faster it was shown that that the similarities in early develop-
ment across the species outweigh the differences (ibid:260). Thus, it can be con-
cluded that gorillas, and by inference other great apes, not only can acquire the
basics of a post-mimetic symbolic system such as ASL, but that they do this in a
similar way. Interestingly, however, the gorillas seemed to rely somewhat more on
the iconicity of the signs in comparison with the children, so that the proportion
of their first 46 signs was somewhat different to the one reported above: 42% icon-
ic, 32% metonymic and 26% arbitrary, while for the first 10 signs this difference
was even clearer: 60% iconic, 20% metonymic and 20% arbitrary. This suggests
that the apes relied to a greater degree on triadic mimesis than the children in
their acquisition of the sign language, which also would explain why the children
quickly progressed beyond the initial level of vocabulary acquisition to learn the
systematic character, i.e. the grammar, of the language, while the apes stagnated
on a simple, protolanguage level.
With the rapid development of grammar and vocabulary around the age of
4, most children also become capable of understanding that others have or lack
knowledge or have false beliefs (e.g., Perner 1991; Mitchell 1997), implying a
metarepresentational capacity. It appears that these two developments are closely
connected, and that acquiring a language, spoken or signed, is a major causal fac-
tor for developing a fully-fledged theory of mind. At least four different sides to
language (use) combine to promote metarepresentational capacity:
11. Metonymic signs are such that involve some degree of iconicity between the sign and the
referent, but the tie between the sign and its meaning is not readily apparent one would be
unlikely to guess the meaning of a metonymic sign simply seeing it produced (Bonvillan and
Patterson 1999:252).
236 Jordan Zlatev
In this chapter I have argued that there is a close connection between the 5 levels
of the evolutionary and developmental model referred to as the mimesis hierar-
chy and corresponding skills in intersubjectivity. There is furthermore a connec-
tion between the five levels and what we can call the type of mentality in-
volved reminding that mentality refers to various kinds of states and processes
of consciousness, and not only to propositional attitudes. These correlations are
summarized in Table 1.
Proto-mimesis is crucially implicated in mutual attention and the awareness
of others feelings, through a species-general capacity for empathy that has pos-
sibly been further developed in the ultra-social species Homo sapiens. Dyadic
mimesis leads to the ability to map between ones own body and that of others
in a more detached, differentiated manner, and in this way understand others
emotions, i.e. cognitive empathy, shared attention and even intentions through
a (conscious) process of projection: what would I see/feel/wish if I were you.
Unlike earlier claims to the contrary, newer evidence and analyses show that apes
do not have much difficulties with this level and that they have the capacity for
second-order mentality.
One of the main claims of this chapter is that the crucial step in the evolution
and development of human intersubjectivity involves triadic mimesis, implying
having and understanding others communicative intentions. I have argued that
238 Jordan Zlatev
Acknowledgments
This chapter originates from joint work with Tomas Persson and Peter Grden-
fors, which gave rise to the analysis presented by Zlatev, Persson and Grdenfors
(2005a, 2005b). Gran Sonesson, Ingar Brinck, Chris Sinha, Esa Itkonen and Mats
Andrn have always been very helpful with feedback related to this and related
topics. The Lund University project Language, Gesture and Pictures in Semiotic
Development and the EU-project Stages on the Evolution and Development of Sign
Use (SEDSU) provided the funding and the interdisciplinary framework for the
type of cognitive semiotic investigations that this chapter has dealt with.
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chapter 11
First communions
Mimetic sharing without theory of mind
Daniel D. Hutto
Many today claim that full-fledged theory of mind (ToM) abilities specifically
those requiring mastery of the concept of belief must have emerged at a point in
our pre-history sometime after the human line broke from that of the chimpan-
zees (Call and Tomasello 1999, 2005; Papineau 2003; Povinelli and Vonk 2003;
Tomasello, Call and Hare 2003a; Sterelny 2003). This is thought to have occurred
during the million or so years preceeding modern recorded history, the late Stone
Age or Pleistocene. This period is referred to by evolutionary psychologists as the
Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness (Dupr 2001:21).
The big question is just how much later did full-fledged folk psychological
abilities arrive on the scene and why. I claim that they are very late-developing,
socio-culturally based and not necessarily universal to human thinking (see
246 Daniel D. Hutto
allagher and Hutto this volume; Hutto 2004, 2007a and b, 2008). In contrast,
G
those who defend the existence of ToM modules (ToMMs) typically argue that
very many important activities of our hominid forerunners necessarily depended
on the having of mature ToM abilities. Hence, they posit the formation of dedicat-
ed mechanisms which gifted our ancestors with such capacities and, being built-
in by biological evolution, these would have been inherited by our species.
How might we decide between these possibilities? Cognitive archaeology
the attempt to understand ancestral minds by drawing on insights of psychology
applied to remnants of pre-history is a highly speculative business. Not only is
the archaeological record gappy, with only fragmentary material evidence having
been preserved (and much of it yet to be discovered), there are no live subjects
to test. This means we do not know, with any certainty, which kind of activities
our ancestors engaged in and what abilities they may have had. And, as shown by
the debates over the cognitive capacities of non-human primates, even when we
have live subjects to examine there is scope for competing interpretations about
how precisely to characterise and explain the basis of social-psychological abili-
ties (Call and Tomasello 2005; Povinelli and Vonk 2004). By comparision, the task
of deciding between rival conjectures about prehistoric cognition is trickier still.
Matters are helped somewhat by an emerging consensus about the level, if not
the nature, of the cognitive capacities of chimpanzees. Placed alongside what we
know about the abilities of modern humans both infants and adults this yields
at least a very rough sense of the cognitive distance that hominids must have
covered: i.e. in thinking about the common ancestor we shared with chimpanzees
we know roughly where our forerunners must have started from and where they
ended up; even if details of the precise route taken remain obscure. Despite its
sketchiness, the archaeological record gives us a general picture, though to be sure
a changeable and contestable one, of the large features of the terrain they covered
and the likely timing of their specific movements. However imperfect, this is the
evidence against which we must test the plausibility of proposals about our ances-
tors likely cognitive powers and what may have driven them.
It is beyond doubt that there was a cognitive change of considerable mag-
nitude (or a series of such) that took place over the period spanning from the
emergence of a common ape-human ancestor approximately 6 million years ago
to the appearance of Homo sapiens (see Figure 1). If we assume a neo-Darwinian
perspective it is likely that such changes will have happened gradually, presum-
ably under a variety of selection pressures.
Recognising these limitations, in the remainder of this chapter I review the ex-
isting evidence and challenge the assumptions that lend prima facie support to the
familiar and widely held view that the gradual development of sophisticated mind-
reading devices must have constituted at least one important hominid upgrade.
First communions 247
Figure 1. A Simplified Evolutionary Tree of the Hominids (reprinted from How Homo
Became Sapiens: On the Evolution of Thinking. Grdenfors, P. p. 7, Oxford University
Press, Copyright 2003. Used with permission from P. Grdenfors)
Going back to the very first hominids, there is no reason to think that their life-
styles offered challenges of a significantly different kind from that faced by the
apes certainly, no drastic change occurred in this respect until long after the
passing of Australopithecus afarensis and even after the arrival of Homo habilis.
With the latters appearance we see the first major spurt in brain size (which
increased roughly 1.5 times in cranial capacity compared to that of the austra-
lopithecines). Indeed, the fossil record tells a story of just two such instances of
encephalisation in human pre-history. The first, and most remarkable, roughly
coincides with the emergence of simple Oldowan tool manufacture a craft su-
pervised by the first members of the Homo line (see Figure 1). Although the
tools made during this period would have been extremely basic in many respects
by todays standards, their fashioning would have constituted an impressive
achievement a genuine innovation when compared with what had come be-
fore (or rather what hadnt).
The stone knapping techniques involved in the fashioning of such tools would
have required a good sensitivity to fractural dynamics and strong hand-eye co-
ordination, capacities that far outstrip those required for making simple repeti-
tive actions (Mithen 1996, 2000a; Wynn 2000). An off-line imaginative ability to
248 Daniel D. Hutto
re-enact and practice complex routines would also have been needed, not only for
the technical proficiency of fashioning the final products but also for the collection
and preparation of materials. The manipulation of images perceptual re-enact-
ments looks likely to have funded these aspects of the early tool-makers craft.
Clearly, not even weak ToM abilities would have been needed for the individ-
ual acts of making such tools, but they might have played a crucial part in enabling
the social learning upon which the tool industries themselves were founded. For
more than an indivudals potential to fashion such tools would have been needed
to keep the practice alive; such crafts had to be maintained over time. Could it be
that ToM abilities might have played a critical pedagogical role in ensuring this? In
assessing this idea, let us simply accept the consensus view that the Paleolithic re-
cord suggests very strong social learning of such skills (Mithen 2000b:496). Very
well, but what is the exact connection with ToM abilities? Mithen suggests that:
it seems most probable that these technical skills and traditions were inten-
tionally taught from generation to generation, or acquired by passive watching
and active imitation. A modern-like theory of mind appears essential to either
task. Instructed learning requires that both the teacher and the novice take ac-
count of what is in each others mind.
(Mithen 2000b:496, emphasis added, 2002, see also Baron-Cohen 1999:263)
Despite this rather bold statement, the idea that passive watching and active imi-
tation implies ToM abilities of any sort is surely false. Demonstrating this is of
particular importance because there is a strong independent reason to suppose
that hominids must have had impressive imitative abilities. Humans are natural
mimics and our basic abilities in this regard seem to be inherited, though they
may be elaborated and extended by epigenesis (see Sinha 2004). Human neonates,
as is well known, engage in facial imitation even at the tender age of thirty-two
hours old (indeed it has been claimed that they are capable of this when they
are less than an hour old) (Meltzoff and Moore 1977; Meltzoff and Moore 1994;
Gopnik and Meltzoff 1997:131).
Young chimpanzees have shown similar abilities (see Myowa-Yamakoshi et al
2004). Yet the claim is not that humans alone are natural-born mimics, it is that
we are also mimics of the first rank. Recent work on social responding carefully
distinguishes a number of different forms, including: stimulus enhancement, goal
emulation, response priming and imitation proper (Billard and Arbib 2002:344;
. Donald puts the point beautifully: Innovative tool use could have occurred countless thou-
sands of times without resulting in an established toolmaking industry, unless the individual
who invented the tool could remember and re-enact or reproduce the operations involved and
then communicate them to others (Donald 1991:179).
First communions 249
If we model what is going on in the infant on the way a suitably well informed adult
might attempt to solve this sort of problem, using a set of explicit propositional
instructions, then their ability to converge on precisely the right gesture to be imi-
tated will be regarded as, the product of inference-like processes [that] are not
merely reflexive (Gopnik and Meltzoff 1997:130). And it would seem to follow
that, Very young infants represent a variety of aspects of human action, they can
make inferences on the basis of these representations, they think of themselves
250 Daniel D. Hutto
and others as fundamentally sharing the same psychological states (Gopnik and
Meltzoff 1997:133). If so, we must presuppose that infants are aware of at least
some sort of substantive self/other contrast from birth and this might imply
some sort of ToM capacity (Gopnik 2004:22). But this line of thought raises a
number of difficult questions. What is the character of this neonatal understand-
ing of the self-other contrast? What is the precise content of the representations
that these infants are allegedly using, and what is their origin? And, crucially,
what account can be given of the sub-personal mechanisms that make use of these
representations in order to effect the appropriate manipulation of infants faces
and bodies?
In offering a straight choice between inferentialist accounts and merely reflex-
ive ones, theory theorists, such as Gopnik and Meltzoff, have missed a trick. Re-
search into Mirror Neuron Systems (MNSs) holds out the promise of a better way
of understanding the mechanics of simian and human neonatal abilities to imitate
buccal and facial expressions and other gestures (Gallese 2003; Rizzolatti 2005).
Even though research in this area is still at the early stage, it is widely agreed
that a mechanism with the characteristics of the mirror system appears to have
the potentiality to give a neurophysiological, mechanistic explanation of imita-
tion (see Rizzolatti et al. 2002:55). This is an instance in which we have some
reason to believe that the promissory note for future explanations might actually
get cashed.
The fact that MNSs of apes are not as sophisticated as the human variety could
explain their limited capacity for complex forms of imitation; the differences are
empirically well-established, having been demonstrated by various brain imaging
studies (Knoblich and Jordan 2002:115; Heiser et al. 2003; Arbib 2005). Also, more
importantly, in the human case the potential fit with the basic type of inherited
mimetic abilities to be explained is plausibly of the right level. It is easy enough
to imagine that our early hominid ancestors might have started their mimetic ca-
reers with abilities akin to those of young children [who] spontaneously imitate
adults in a mirror-like fashion (Wohlschlger and Bekkering 2002:102, emphasis
added). Thus, just as children only begin to make the appropriate adjustments for
cross-lateral differences when imitating others as they get older, so too hominid
. For these reasons the theory-theory approach compares negatively with the account that
Gallagher advances, which makes appeal to body schemas. He claims that the imitating subject
depends on a complex background of embodied processes, a body-schema system involving vi-
sual, proprioceptive, and vestibular information This intermodal intra-corporeal communi-
cation then, is the basis for an inter-corporeal communication (Gallagher 2005:76). Although
Gallagher suggests that infants may be capable of experiencing a difference between self and
other, he argues that the concept of the self starts out closer to an embodied sense than to a
cognitive or psychological understanding (Gallagher 2005:79).
First communions 251
mimetic capacities may have become similarly enriched over evolutionary time.
Looking to non-representational, enactive accounts for an explanation of imita-
tive abilities is surely a better bet than positing modules with the relevant declara-
tive knowledge to do such work (see Hutto 2008).
Sterelny (2003) identifies and deftly defuses the assumption that can make it
look as if a ToM might be needed for these basic kinds of imitative task:
The link between imitation and theory of mind depends on the supposition that
imitation involves a translation between points of view: the mimic represents
something like the models motor pattern as seen by an onlooker, and turns it into
a representation of a motor pattern as seen by the agent himself. But that is not
the only possibility If the mimic represents the models behaviour function-
ally pick up the rock in the grasping hand, hold the nut facing away, place it
on smooth hard surface there is no need to transform between points of view.
(Sterelny 2003:64)
There are good reasons to opt for the simpler functional interpretation of this
process, appealing to mirror neuron ystems or resonance pattern research in or-
der to understand its mechanics. Although I have said that the mirror systems
neuron of humans are much more sophisticated than those of other primates, we
must not suppose that the basic acts of imitation which they sponsor have any of
the standard features of mentalistically-based simulations per se. Certainly, they
do not implicate the kinds of simulation procedures that involve the manipula-
tion and attribution of propositional attitudes (see Goldman 2005:82; Gallagher
2007). Here it pays to remember that Gallese and Goldman, who were the first
to claim that the discovery of mirror neurons might lend respectable empirical
backing to simulation theory (ST), only ever took the evidence to show that there
were primitive precursors that might be related to explicit, mentalistic forms of
. Interestingly, those who suffer from autism have difficulty in replicating the manner and
style of anothers response (see Hobson 2007; Hobson and Hobson this volume).
. To have a content-involving thought it is not enough that an organism is merely inten-
tionally directed at a possible situation or state of affairs, for the latter might be understood
in purely extensional terms. I therefore distinguish intentional attitudes from propositional
attitudes, reserving the latter title for those attitudes that are content-involving. This is not just
a terminological stipulation, though I recognize that some would claim that attitudes of both
sorts are directed at propositions, albeit in different ways. In my view intentional attitudes are
not directed at propositions (only possible situations), yet they exhibit intentional directedness
all the same. The reader is free to assume that my use of terms is decided by fiat. The main point
is that, within the class of intentionally-directed attitudes we can distinguish between those of
the extensional and intensional varieties. For further detail about and justification of this dis-
tinction see Hutto 2008, Chs. 35.
252 Daniel D. Hutto
simulation (Gallese and Goldman 1998:498). As such, it is clear that the kind
of responsiveness associated with these precursor abilities cannot be identified
with or understood in terms of ToM capacities of either the theory theory or
the simulation theory variety. The bottom line is that there is simply no need or
warrant to postulate any inferential or theoretical activity on the part of these imi-
tators. And it is mimetic abilities of this sort that suffice to explain how technical
skills are acquired and developed by attending either to ones own or anothers ac-
tion routines (whether selectively or otherwise) so that these can be recalled and
re-enacted. In this context, it is important to take note of something that Donald
has taken pains to underscore: The process that generates these action-patterns
relies on a principle of perceptual resemblance; accordingly I have labeled the skill
mimesis or mimetic skill (Donald 1999:145).
Worse still, the truth is that Mithens claim that our ancestors would have
needed ToM abilities for the social transmission of technical skills does not hold
up even if we imagine that basic acts of imitation do involve representing the
contents of others minds. Thus, even if we suppose that the minds of ancient
tool-makers were filled with sets of instructions about how to fashion their arte-
facts, representing these would have been of little use to the trainee. A clutch of
rules here imagined as a series of conditional statements is the wrong sort of
medium for technical training and instruction of the kind needed to learn basic
tool manufacture. Quite the opposite; it is often the case when learning a practi-
cal craft that mastering a set of explicit rules is a positive hindrance. This fact will
be salient to anyone who has tried to build a do-it-yourself product using only a
pictureless set of instructions, with no blueprint for guidance. Call this the Ikea
constraint.
Technical training is not about passing on declarative knowledge that, but
of engendering a kind of know-how. Novices typically get the knack by direct
hands-on practice. And where this is not possible, they must attend to what the
other does and attempt to re-enact the appropriate steps using their visuo-mo-
toric imagination in a cross-modal way. Consider what would have been needed
for acquiring the skill of fashioning the Levallois flake, focusing on the diagram
provided in Figure 2.
. The fashioning of the Levallois flake was a highly sophisticated prehistoric tool-making
technique that originally dates back to the Lower Palaeolithic and which was retained into the
Upper Palaeolithic and beyond. Its sophistication makes it a useful test case for deciding if the
transmission of tool-making skills must have required the exercise of theory-of-mind capaci-
ties. My proposal is that such activities look better suited for explanation in terms of hominid
capacities for imaginative re-enactment. And there are yet more deflationary proposals about
the origins of such flakes afoot. Should those turn out to be correct they too would undermine
First communions 253
Figure 2. Technique for fashioning the Levallois flake (reproduced from (http://anthro.
palomar.edu/homo2/archaic_culture.htm, Used with permission from Dennis ONeil)
The need for such first-hand and hands-on training is felt even today, as when
surgeons are given the chance to see one done before performing operations in
theatre. It is therefore hardly surprising that verbal instruction, even when it is
readily available as an accompaniment, appears to play a minor role in craft ap-
prenticeship, even amongst modern humans (Donald 1991:213; Wynn 1991).
Mimesis of the kind discussed is perfectly suited to enable the non-genetic copy-
ing required for the passing down of technical skills through the generations by
imitative means. Social training of this kind takes the form of showing not saying
(of imagining not propositional thinking). This is consistent with the fact that the
mimetic skills in question develop over time; this happened in phylogeny and
is likely to be recapitulated in ontogeny too, in an epigenetic manner: imitative
learners might become more selective and discriminating in the sorts of routines
that they choose to mimic (see Harris and Want 2005; Sinha 2004).
If ToMMs are neither implicated in the maintenance of tool industries nor the
basis of imitative capacities, perhaps they were needed to fund the sophisticated
the claim that theory-of-mind capacities must have sponsored the social learning that made
tool-making industries possible.
254 Daniel D. Hutto
social skills of the hominids. This seems most unlikely. H. habilis looks to have
been living in groups only marginally larger in size than that of australopithe-
cines, and both would have kept within relatively tight geographical boundaries
(Mithen1996). There is no compelling reason to think that the social circum-
stances of the very early hominids would have changed enough to require more
powerful tools for engaging in or monitoring social dynamics of a qualitatively
different sort than those afforded to apes. Very much in line with current thinking
about the abilities of our simian relatives in this regard, Mithen who has done
more than most in thinking about the likely stages of ToM development surmis-
es that the Oldowan tool makers would have had an equivalent theory of mind
ability to that found within chimpanzees today. As an alternative they would have
been extremely clever behaviourists (Mithen 2000b:500).
Things changed decisively with the coming of Homo ergaster/erectus in the
Lower Paleolithic period. Their arrival was accompanied by a remarkable new
way of life, which some regard as constituting the first Hominid Revolution. Un-
like its predecessors, the extent of H. ergaster/erectus movements coming out
of Africa and spreading across Europe and Asia were unprecedented. During
this period the quality of tools improved quite dramatically, so much so that ar-
chaeologists require months of training and practice to become good at creating
Acheulian tools (Donald 1991:179). This could be explained by an increase in
mimetic ability, which would have also conferred advantages with respect to other
technical crafts such as shelter construction.
But such skills would have also permitted new and more complex forms of
social coordination. Many animals, but particularly those who form cohesive so-
cial units, faithfully produce and respond to characteristic expressive behaviours
of others, normally conspecifics (Allen and Saidel 1998). They can signal shifts in
emotional temperament or mood and otherwise indicate their readiness to engage
in characteristic kinds of action. For example the barring of teeth, the arching of
backs and the lowering of heads can be early warnings that the other is preparing
to fight, or mate, or retreat, and so on. Being able to faithfully produce and respond
to such recognisable behaviours makes basic social coordination possible.
The mimetic ability with which hominids appear to have been gifted would have
been qualitatively unlike these other animal signal systems, not just in its special
. There is current debate about whether the early African H. ergaster (meaning workman)
or the later Asian H. erectus was the direct ancestor of modern humans. Indeed, there is debate
over whether or not the former is merely a sub-species of the later. Either way, they will have
established the Acheulian stone industry before their offspring will have left Africa to become
H. heidelbergensis, our last common ancestor shared with the Neanderthals.
First communions 255
. It seems safe to assume that such abilities were under the voluntary control of the hominids.
Whether some other animals have some degree of control over their vocalisations is still an
open question (Allen and Sidel 1998; Hauser and Marler 1993a, 1993b; Marler and Evans 1995;
see also Corballis 2003:202).
. The development of domain-general mimetic abilities obviates the need to postulate the
emergence of an evolved mechanism for identifying, memorizing and reasoning about social
norms, together with a powerful motivation to comply with such norms. And with norms and
norm-based motivation added to the human phenotype, the stage would be set for much that
is distinctive in human cultures (Carruthers 2003:75).
256 Daniel D. Hutto
. For a discussion of the running costs of brains see Aiello and Wheeler (1995).
First communions 257
This is surely consistent with the hypothesis that with H. ergaster/erectus mimetic
capacities had reached an apex, coming into full swing for the first time. To give
this proposal a name, let us call it the Mimetic Ability Hypothesis (or MAH).
As presented here the MAH has considerable scope for development. It makes
no strong commitments as to the exact level of hominid mimetic abilities at the
different stages nor does it say anything very precise about the timings of their
emergence. The core claim of MAH does not require that we decide such issues.
It only claims, weakly, that mimetic abilities (and not ToMMs) can potentially
account for the most important technical and social feats of our immediate an-
cestors. To make this case in full would require going into too much detail for
a short chapter. A slightly more developed version can be found in Hutto 2008,
Ch.11 and 12. But in support of the weak claim, in what follows, I concentrate on
critically assessing and rejecting some of the more prominent reasons that have
been offered for thinking that theory-of-mind abilities must have been necessary
for the hominids.
Once the MAH is articulated it puts great pressure on claims that our ancient
ancestors must have used ToMMs in order to get by in their daily routines. In
this regard, it is worth noting that the claim that mindreading devices would
have been necessary for hominids gets much of its credibility from equivoca-
tion about the level of abilities we are seeking to understand. Thus it has been
argued that ToM abilities would have been needed in order to share a plan or
a goal, as required to develop and implement sophisticated hunting tactics or
erecting various constructions (Baron-Cohen 1999:264). Yet this thought must
be weighed up against the fact that even wild chimpanzees and other group ani-
mals are quite capable of coordinating their hunting efforts, despite a manifest
lack of mature ToM abilities (Boesch and Boesch-Achermann 2000; Brinck and
Grdenfors 2003). At the very least, such facts encourage taking extreme caution
when drawing inferences about the degree of mentalising capacity that might
have been needed by our ancestors.
Some have exercised it. For example, Mithen speculates that at most only
a desire-based psychology would have been needed in order to account for the
kinds of behaviours that would have been witnessed from the time of H. ergas-
ter/erectus to the rise of archaic humans. The trouble for those who postulate in-
nate mindreading devices is that it is easy enough to understand a purely desire-
based psychology in terms of an appropriate capacity for unprincipled embodied
258 Daniel D. Hutto
e ntailed. In arguing that we should accept this, Dunbar assumes the truth of an
intention-based semantics and a particular version of the communicative view
of language. Crudely, on this view, the primary role of language is to clothe the
pre-existing private thoughts of conversationalists it provides the conventional
forms that serve as the public medium for the sharing of these. Comprehension
and production are understood in translational terms, involving the appropriate
coding of outputs from and the decoding of inputs to the language of thought of
each participant. This has been aptly named the inner process model (Rowlands
2003:7677). It casts natural language signs in the role of mere facilitators, lack-
ing any intrinsic representative power of their own.
If one accepts this picture of the function of language, then metarepresen-
tational devices would have been necessary pre-adaptations for such public ex-
changes. They would be crucially implicated in the translational processes since a
hearers grasp of a speakers meaning would depend on deciphering the speakers
communicative intention understood as their sincere assertion; i.e. they would
be giving expression to what they believe (Grice 1989). If public communica-
tion is, at root, an attempt by hearers to grasp what individual speakers have in
mind i.e. the content of what they intend to assert by their utterances then
anyone engaged in such activity must be presumed to have intact metarepresen-
tational ToM abilities (and the relevant mechanisms to support these). In this way,
folk psychological abilities would have played a vital role in ensuring temporal
cohesion of large dispersed groups (Dunbar 2000:250). Dunbar is explicit about
the relevant implications:
Theory of mind is probably essential for language, not so much because it is in-
volved in the production of speech per se but because it provides a mechanism
that both enables speakers to ensure that their message has got through and al-
lows hearers to figure out what the speakers message actually is (subtext and all).
(Dunbar 2003:224, emphasis added)
Although in some quarters the communicative view of language still has the status
of being the received view, it deserves to be treated with scepticism (Gauker2003).
In its strong form it rests on the assumption that pre-verbal individuals would
have been capable of propositional thought prior to developing a public medium
appropriate for the expression of such thoughts. Yet if my arguments against the
very idea of content hold good, this idea is thrown into serious doubt and the
communicative conception of language along with it (see Hutto 2006b, 2007c).10
10. The argument developed here only targets those versions of the communicative view of lan-
guage that presuppose the existence of a meaning-conferring Language of Thought. It may be
possible to accept a Gricean analysis of mature language, while rejecting the claim that beliefs
260 Daniel D. Hutto
would have been a prerequisite for it. In other words, linguistic utterances have representational
content, the conventional meanings of which are mutually known, but in both ontogeny and
phylogeny, language use does not get its life from belief-based understandings; rather it en-
ables the establishment of such understandings, in time (see Zlatev 2007, this volume; cf. Eilan
2005:1314).
First communions 261
i nherit all of the problems that haunt Dunbars account. But, in fact, these evaporate
if we distinguish between two importantly different kinds of narrative, those of a
purely dramatic re-enactive sort and those which are linguistically based.11
A mimetic culture could have plausibly sponsored the former calling on es-
tablished canonical forms, roles and figures in doing so. These would have been
the obvious precursors to oral myth and story, but they cannot be identified with
such. There is a more modest rendering of Dautenhahns scenario, according to
which the dramatic re-enactments of social happenings would have taken the
form of stories that were literally played out. These would have had a recognisable
pre-narrative format and structure of the sort that would make these embodied
stories ripe for verbal rendering (Dautenhahn 2001). Thus, as Donald suggests:
if hominids could comprehend and remember a complex event, such as the
killing of an animal or the manufacture of a tool, they should have been capable
of re-enacting such events, individually or in groups, once mimetic capacity was
established. (Donald 1999:146)
11. We can thus re-name Dautenhahns Narrative Intelligence Hypothesis, which is a direct de-
scendant of Dunbars, the Pre-Narrative Intelligence Hypothesis (PIH) to avoid confusion. This
recognises that there are two aspects of childrens narrative activity which are too often treated
in mutual isolation: the discursive exposition of narratives in storytelling and their enactments
in pretend play (see Richner and Nicolopoulou 2001:408).
12. This may explain why, being in the same form as the dramatic re-enactments of our ancient
ancestors Childrens first narrative productions occur in action, in episodes of symbolic play by
groups of peers, accompanied by rather than solely through language. Play is an important
developmental source of narrative (Nelson 2003:28).
262 Daniel D. Hutto
having a ToM.13 Here it helps to recall the recent evidence that has been effectively
marshaled against Leslies claim that this sort of pretence involves metarepresen-
tation (cf. Leslie 1987, 1994, Berguno and Bowler 2004).
Moreover, there is a clear connection between the kinds of imaginative re-en-
actments that a mimetic culture would have sponsored and the basis for the kind
of narrative competency young children first exhibit (see Hutto 2006h). Social
dramas are, of course, the very stuff of many narratives such engagements set
the broad parameters for deciding which events are interesting; these provide the
subject matter for much narration. Without question, stories could have been told
about the actions of our ancient ancestors. Certainly, their lives would have been
dramatic enough. Nevertheless, they lacking the appropriate medium and estab-
lished practice were in no position to tell such stories. We must be clear about
the order of appearance: narratives could not have been related orally or conver-
sationally in the early stages of our pre-history on the assumption that there can
be no narrative without narration, a point sometimes overlooked by those who
see human life in terms of narratives untold or waiting to be told (Lamarque
2004:394).14 And assuming that H. ergaster/erectus lacked a (sufficiently complex)
language, the resources for conducting discursive conversation and telling stories
would have been missing (Dunn 1991). In place of such discourse, a blossoming
capacity for mimesis may have taken up the slack.
5. First communions
Even if they lacked language it is widely supposed that the hominids as far back
as H. ergaster/erectus would have used a kind of proto-language one which had
some but not all the features of a full fledged language. Specifically, if we fol-
low Bickerton, such a language would have consisted of grammarless utterances,
13. Carruthers puts a very late date on the development of a capacity for imaginative pretence,
suggesting it only emerged at some point between 3060,000 years ago, thus restricting it to H.
sapiens sapiens. He supposes that its onset, along with the amassing of cross-domain knowledge
which would have already been made possible through the medium of public language, resulted
in an avalanche of creative thinking, cultural artefacts and novel modus vivendi for our ancient
ancestors (Carruthers 1998:115). He finds support for this hypothesis in the putative fact that
if earlier hominids, such as H. ergaster/erectus, had exercised their imaginations then we would
have seen a much greater impact of this in the patterns of their life. But Carruthers may be
looking for the wrong sort of evidence, for instead of appearing in the form of symbolic art, the
recreative imagination may have left its mark visibly on tool-making industries and invisibly on
a mimetic culture.
14. Or more succinctly: a story must be told, it is not found (Lamarque 2004:394).
First communions 263
rather like the one and two-word offerings of two-year olds; being comparable
to pidgins. Thus it might be thought that metarepresentational abilities must be
implicated in the formation of such a basic proto-language and its subsequent
acquisition. The forging and learning of a public lexicon is based on a capacity for
co-reference, and on the received view children require some type of theory of
mind. They need to have an idea of what the parent is thinking and how his/her
mind differs from their own to be so very good at associating the correct utterance
with the correct reference (Mithen 2000b:497). If so, perhaps metarepresenta-
tional mechanisms played an instrumental part in the development of the very
first public languages. The assumption here is that the formation and learning of
a public lexicon rests on the most sophisticated kind of pre-verbal intersubjective
engagement joint attention. And the idea is that joint attention looks hard to
account for without invoking ToM abilities of some kind or other.
Certainly, the capacity of human infants of around 1 year to attend jointly
with others is the most sophisticated form of non-verbal intersubjective engage-
ment. It involves participants not only attending to the same objects at the same
time; it also requires that they mutually recognise that their attending has a com-
mon focus that they both attend to one anothers attending to one another and
some worldly point of interest. Intersubjective interactions of this kind are thus
of a quite different order from more mirror-like forms of reciprocal imitation.
The capacity builds upon the uniquely human capacities for declarative pointing,
social referencing and, as will become clear momentarily, imaginative perspec-
tive shifting.15
Typically the scene is set for such engagements when one or other of the par-
ticipants draws attention to some object or feature in the local surround, using the
sort of strategies familiar to children once they have learnt to point declaratively,
at around 912 months old (Tomasello 2003). Gaze monitoring, checking back
and other social referencing techniques are then used to ensure that the commu-
nicative triangle has been established and that it is maintained. In this way, joint
attention involves attending not just to the object of the others interest but also
to the intention behind the behaviour (yet without entertaining higher order
thoughts about it) (Brinck 2004:196).
If we focus on this aspect of the phenomenon it might be assumed that it
requires making some kind of simulative leap. Simulation is often presented as a
kind of imaginative attempt to adopt anothers perspective on events, a coming
15. Joint attention of this kind has never been shown to be mastered by apes, not even adult
apes. Indeed, the gulf between their abilities and ours in this domain is so wide that it suggests
that to the extent that they can attend jointly at all it is an evolutionarily different version
(Gmez 2005:80; see also Leekam 2005:225).
264 Daniel D. Hutto
to see how the world looks from the others perspective. It is as if I had climbed
in behind your eyes, while at the same time recognising that I am not you. But
there are problems even for those defenders of simulation theory, such as Gordon
(1995, 1996), who only invokes a first-personal transformation as opposed to a
projective version of the theory. For, unless such an act of simulation is assumed
to take place within a context in which the simulators are somehow already in-
dependently aware that the other in question has a different point of view, the
heuristic would be an utterly hopeless means of getting to grips with the perspec-
tive of others; at best it would be a means of becoming the other while losing ones
sense of self (see also Gallagher 2007). Whereas in joint attention what is required
is both identification and recognition of difference (Hobson 2007). It involves
having the experience of acting in and attending to a shared world, alongside oth-
ers in response to public objects. This is quite different from the experience of
identifying with others or of merely acting on the world in response to objects.
In such non-verbal engagements I see what the other is attending to, I see
that they are attending to it, and I see that they are attending to my attending to
both the object and to my attending (see Zlatev this volume). Only in this way is
the object recognised as a common focal point. The mechanisms that underpin
the mutual connectedness that enable identification and common focus are likely
to have their ancient roots in mirror neuron systems. Interestingly, key elements
of the human mirror neuron system for grasping are found in Brocas area an
area of the brain that relates to language production and comprehension. This
has inspired researchers to speculate that there may be interesting, possibly quite
tight, connections between this kind of intentional attunement and basic lexicon
forming abilities (Rizolatti and Arbib 1998; Billard and Arbib 2002; Arbib 2005).
For example, Arbib (2005) suggests that this part of the brain evolved atop of
those implicated in more basic modes of intersubjective engagement, precisely
because it once subserved a manual, gesture-based form of communication which
he calls proto-sign. It is plausible that resonance systems of this kind may have
played a pivotal role in enabling humans to enjoy a shared world and develop a
common language for describing it, ultimately the intentional attunements they
subserve may be the basis for the parity between speakers and hearers that en-
able first communions (Arbib 2003, 2005; Heiser, Iacoboni, Maeda, Marcus and
Mazziotta2003).16 These lines of research are especially attractive given the im-
portant link between joint attention and word learning.
16. It seems likely therefore that the first non-syntactic proto-language would have been manu-
ally-based. If so, it would follow that language evolution took a circuitous route i.e. speech-
dominated language would not have emerged directly from primate call systems. Some claim
that the latter is the more straightforward explanation (Dunbar 2003). That is certainly so, but
First communions 265
Yet, as noted above, to jointly attend requires more than mere identification.
It also requires being able to see the other as other. This fact can make it look as
if such triangulation must be in debt to the services of some kind of inference-
based ToM abilities, of the TT or ST sort. To attend to the others perceptual take
in the appropriate way can certainly seem to require a capacity for conceptually
distinguishing between self and other, and indeed of making inferences from
me to you based on assumptions of similarity by some means. Characterised in
this way, joint attention might be thought to implicate full fledged mindreading
abilities involving propositional attitudes. But it aint necessarily so. As always,
there are richer and leaner interpretations, even when it comes to making sense
of what is perhaps the most sophisticated form of non-verbal intersubjectivity
(Carpendale and Lewis 2004).
There is little doubt that joint attention depends on having a multi-tasking
ability to shift ones perspective across distinct axes focusing, at different mo-
ments, on the common focal point, the others attention to the same, and also on
the others attending to ones own attending. It is quite plausible that such interac-
tions therefore call on recreative imaginative perspective shifting capacities. But
these should not be confused with mindreading activity of the folk psychological
sort. As those who have done the most to explicate their nature make clear, they
are non-propositional and non-simulative (Currie and Ravenscroft 2003:96).
Seeing anothers seeing (whether directed at the world or at my own seeing) does
not involve representing the others cognitive take on things, it only involves imag-
ining their perceptual ones (see Gallagher and Hutto, this volume). If this is right,
even the most sophisticated form of non-verbal intersubjective engagement does
not involve the manipulation or attribution of propositional attitudes.
We need appeal to nothing more than capacities for intentional attunement
and recreative imagination to explain pre-linguistic joint attention. Most impor-
tantly, such acts do not require their participants to make full fledged proposi-
tional attitude ascriptions. Infantile forms of attending to the attending of others
cannot be explicated in terms of metarepresentational understanding, if that un-
derstanding is only operative at a later stage, after the concept of belief has been
mastered (Moses 2001; Wellman and Phillips 2001; Woodward, Sommerville and
Guajardo 2001). We have little choice but to conclude that non-verbal acts of joint
attention are only based in responsiveness to intentional attitudes not proposi-
tional ones. Infantile capacities to identify and respond to intentions-in-acting are
quite distinct from the understanding of intentions that rest on having mastered
the concepts of desire and belief (and how these interrelate to form reasons).
there is simply no a priori reason to suppose that straightforward explanations are always the
best ones.
266 Daniel D. Hutto
Baron-Cohen claims that understanding that words refer presumes the con-
cept of intention or goal (Baron-Cohen 1999:267). Yet, as just argued, there is
every reason to think that even if this is true in some sense it does not imply a
capacity for metarepresentation. Put otherwise, even if one were to insist that
some concept of intention is needed it could not be one that is equivalent to
the mature folk psychological variety. It is much more plausible that even in the
normal case, where basic language learning is supported by children and adults
mutually engaging in pre-linguistic acts of joint attention; these only involve a
mutual responsiveness to one anothers intentional attitudes.
Not only that, but the argument suffers in any case since having joint atten-
tional abilities is not even necessary for learning the basics of a language. Con-
sider that:
Children with autism show us just how useless a language capacity is without a
theory of mind. Strip out a theory of mind from language use and you have an
individual who might have some syntax, the ability to build a vocabulary and a
semantic system but what would be missing from their language use and com-
prehension is pragmatics Language without a theory of mind is not of course
entirely useless. It allows literal communication, acquisition of information from
others, requesting, ordering, etc.
(Baron-Cohen 1999:266, emphasis added;
second quotation from footnote on p. 267)
The very existence of such linguistic abilities in individuals with autism serves as
a kind of existence proof; it demonstrates the falsity of the claim that it is neces-
sary to have ToM abilities in order to learn words. As the above quotation makes
amply clear, at least some individuals with autism are surely capable of learning
and using language competently to some extent, despite their ToM deficiencies.
Presumbly they are able to achieve this because, even though they cannot jointly
attend with others, they are supported by veteran language users who can. With-
out the normal forms of feedback and checking, their teachers must make even
stronger assumptions than usual about what it is that the autistic child is attend-
ing to when the relevant associations are being forged. It is their job to ensure, to
the best of their abilities, that the initiate is making the appropriate connections
between items of reference and local labels (see Hutto 1999:1334, 2000:315).
Indeed this line of argument is made more implausible still when it is observed
that full-fledged ToM abilities are not only unnecessary; to use them during basic
word-learning situations would be downright unhelpful. Doing so would make
it difficult even to establish basic referential triangles in the first place. Ironically,
this fact is most evident in the cases of primitive lexicon forging and learning; it
has been noted that:
First communions 267
17. For those with full-fledged interpretational abilities the early indicational phase is initially
extremely idiosyncratic: one or only a small number of interlocutors can understand what the
child is indicating i.e., grasp what aspect of the environment it is to which the child is drawing
attention (Rowlands 1999:196).
268 Daniel D. Hutto
hitting, kicking, and so on. Mimetic schemas are more fundamental than their
abstract cousins image schemas (see Hampe 2005). Still, even the latter can be
thought of as deriving from what is common to basic, embodied ways of respond-
ing in relation to certain normally encountered situations and activities. These
yield certain familiar contrasts such as UP-DOWN, IN-OUT, FRONT-BACK,
LIGHT-DARK, WARM-COLD, MALE-FEMALE (Lakoff and Johnson 1980:58).
Dichotomies of this kind have universal resonance because they feature in every-
day ways of acting, reacting and interacting with the world and others. Moreover,
it is plausible that material artefacts tools, buildings, furniture, etc. which can
be the focus of joint attention, act as intersubjective anchors, since the activities
they afford are non-arbitrary in important ways and these can be made canonical
through convention (see Sinha 2005:15421543).
Indeed, our tendency to make use of mimesis has stayed with us even after
the establishment of symbolic language. For example, we typically adorn purely
linguistic speech acts with gestures even when these are of no use to the hearer
either for adding expression or for helping to establish significance, such as when
one gestures whilst speaking on the telephone (Corballis 2003). This deeply in-
grained way of connecting with others through mimesis looks to have stayed with
us as something more than an inert cognitive vestige. Thus it has been convinc-
ingly argued that to a large and interesting extent, we only feel we have satisfacto-
rily understood or grasped something once we retreat to embodied schemas of
some kind or other.
However we ultimately choose to make sense of basic mimetic activities, it is
from this sort of starting point that it is possible to sketch the gradual stages of
likely linguistic development in hominids. For once the practice of jointly attend-
ing was well established it is plausible that a basic capacity for mime would have
developed into a more rudimentary form of communication, one involving a kind
of reference to common focal points (where these might be happenings, actions
or objects) even in their absence. In such cases, communicators would need to
bring the relevant objects before the others mind by some means; the referents
would have to be in some way invoked. It is plausible that early mimes might
have achieved this by drawing on bonds of visuo-motor associations of a sort that
would have been familiar to all participants. In doing so they would have had to
tap into associations holding between certain worldly things (objects of potential
co-attention) and certain salient aspects of mimetic acts which resemble these or
would successfully remind the other of them. For example, this might be done by
using highly stylised gestures, such as wriggling ones arm in slithering fashion to
mimic the movements of a snake.18
18. This is a description of what Zlatev calls triadic mimesis (Zlatev this volume).
First communions 269
Mimetic acts of this kind are not signals since they involve prior communi-
cative intent. They are not attempts to effect more straightforward coordinations
such as initiating imitation (i.e. getting the other to use their arms in a similar
way) or to directly cue a certain kind of action routine on the part of the other
(i.e. by inspiring characteristic responses that the presence of snakes normally
calls forth). To use ones arm so as to invoke thoughts of snakes is not an impera-
tive act but an attempt at intentional communication, albeit of a crude and un-
stable kind. That this is possible is evident by the fact that games such as charades
exist, but, of course, this sort of game has important structural supports that the
imagined mimetic acts just described would have lacked (or would have lacked
in the first instance).
It should be clear that even a rudimentary capacity to use and appreciate
mime would have brought unheralded degrees of freedom and new possibilities
for communication. In key respects, its advent would have made the character of
our ancestors first communicative efforts, quite literally, dramatically different
from the sorts of signals used for coordination by other animals, even those of
our closest living cousins.19 Mimetic communication requires that others make
the appropriate connections; they must recognise the significance of the commu-
nicative act. And, lacking established conventions, early mimetic acts would have
depended on strong associations and resemblances, and these could hardly be
relied upon. It is not easy to communicate by means of pantomime, even when
using additional supports. To be sure it is a hit and miss affair: definitely more
miss than hit; that is, unless the activity is structured and supplemented in im-
portant ways. Communicating by pantomime using only non-linguistic resem-
blance based modes of quasi-reference is a weak and highly ambiguous mode of
communicating. Failures at successful indication would have been a spur to fall
in line with publicly established norms. This is a matter of negotiating and adjust-
ing ones methods of communication to suit a public standard, as prompted by
requests for clarification. Both participants forge a common understanding by
recasting the communicative offerings in line with conventional requirements.
This would have been a crucial step on the road from contextual, indicational
communications to true predicative symbolic use.
19. Apes, for example, rarely use declarative as opposed to imperative gestures and only those
with extensive human contact do so at all. Hence, it has been speculated that although apes
can master the referential triangle in their interactions with humans for instrumental purposes
when they are raised in humanlike cultural environments, they still do not attain humanlike
social motivations for sharing experience with other intentional beings (Tomasello and Call
1997:393).
270 Daniel D. Hutto
The principal aim of this chapter has been to remove a kind of aspect-blindness
that is prevalent in much research on intersubjectivity the idea that our basic
social dealings necessarily rest on inherited theory-of-mind or mentalizing ca-
pacities. My strategy has been to cast doubt on the standard story about when
such capacities were acquired in prehistory by challenging the familiar idea that
hominids must have had mature theory-of-mind abilities in order to have (i) en-
gaged in advanced tool-making, (ii) enjoyed social cohesion and (iii) formed and
learned language.
I have argued that close scrutiny of the available evidence gives no reason for
believing this to be true. An alternative explanation, which I call the Mimetic Ability
Hypothesis (or MAH), claims that growing recreative imaginative abilities which
funded impressive technical skills and activities appears to have better prospects of
accounting for the sophisticated social engagements of the hominids even those
implicated in their capacity to form and learn symbolic language.
Much more needs to be said concerning the MAH with respect to exact char-
acter and level of hominid mimetic abilities e.g. when and why they will have
emerged and the kinds of activities they will have made possible at the various
stages of hominid development. Making such refinements to the core thesis goes
beyond the ambitions of this chapter but hopefully the sketch provided suffices
to demonstrate the value of this research programme and the fact that mimetic
abilities (and not ToMMs) at least potentially could account for the most im-
portant technical and social feats of our immediate ancestors.
Most importantly, when the two main proposals are compared side by side,
the abductive virtues of the MAH become evident and the suggestion that mod-
ern humans must have inherited mature mindreading devices from our nearest
ancestors looks like a weak and somewhat incredible hypothesis. Even in sketch,
the mere availability of the MAH reveals that we have no overriding reason to
suppose that hominids must have had a sophisticated capacity for folk psycho-
logical understanding.
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276 Daniel D. Hutto
Language
chapter 12
Esa Itkonen
Any natural language consists of rules which are inherently social and norma-
tive. It is the purpose of this chapter to establish the truth of this claim and to
show that it is significant or non-trivial. The argument is based on the ineluc-
table place of normativity in any consistent account of language, as shown by
Wittgensteins private-language argument. Furthermore, the chapter discusses
the relation between semantics and pragmatics and elucidates the ontology of
the social, showing that normativity implies a particular form of intersubjec-
tivity: common knowledge. Finally, I spell out ramifications of the argument for
the empirical study of language within diachronic linguistics, psycholinguistics
and linguistic typology. I conclude by pointing to the possible sources of the
anti-normative bias in much of theoretical linguistics.
1. Introduction
The word language can of course be used in many different senses, but it is rea-
sonable to assume that one sense may be primary. Thus, when we speak of e.g.
English, what kind of entity is it that we mean by this word? More specifically,
is this entity social or non-social (in the sense of individual-psychological)? The
common-sense answer is that it is a social entity. It goes without saying (or so it
seems) that e.g. a dictionary of English is about something that is common to or
shared by all speakers of English, and whatever has these characteristics must be
social by definition. But the scientific answer (e.g. Chomsky 1965) is generally
taken to be that linguistics is part of cognitive psychology, which entails that e.g.
English is, at least primarily, an individual-psychological (and not a social) entity.
I argue in this chapter that, on this particular issue, common-sense is right and
science is wrong, due to the irreducible place of normativity in any consistent ef-
fort to explain the nature of language, as shown by Wittgensteins private-language
argument (Section 2). This has implications for the relation between semantics
and pragmatics, which I touch upon in Section 3. Furthermore, I elucidate the
280 Esa Itkonen
ontology of the social, showing that normativity implies a special form of inter-
subjectivity common knowledge with implications for the theme of this vol-
ume. In Section 5, I spell out ramifications of the argument for empirical studies
within diachronic linguistics, psycholinguistics and linguistic typology. Finally, I
conclude by pointing to the source of the anti-normative bias in much of theoreti-
cal linguistics.
The primarily social nature of language can be shown in different ways. I have
always preferred to rely on Wittgensteins so-called private-language argument,
or PLA for short. PLA has spawned a huge number of publications, among which
Saunders and Henze (1967) still stands out. Considered with all its ramifications,
PLA is anything but simple. A minimalist version of it will be presented in what
follows (but see also Itkonen 1978:91113, 2003b:120125).
PLA directs itself against the dominant tradition of Western philosophy, a
tradition equally represented by Descartes, Hume, and Kant. According to this
(Cartesian) tradition, public things and qualities are reducible to subjective expe-
riences, which constitute the rock bottom of knowledge. Moreover, knowledge
of other minds is supposed to be gained on the basis of the argument from anal-
ogy: When I perceive that bodies (constructed out of my sense-impressions and)
resembling mine behave under similar circumstances in the same way as my body
does, I may infer with a high degree of probability that these bodies are possessed
by minds which think and feel in ways similar to mine.
To start with, the incoherence of the Cartesian position may be demonstrated
by a simple conceptual argument. The Cartesian ego, expressed as I or me, is sup-
posed to be prior to other persons. But, just as there can be no left without right,
there can be no I without you and we: If as a matter of logic you exclude other
peoples having something, it loses its sense to say that you have it (Wittgenstein
1958:398).
More elaborately, the Cartesian position may be reformulated in linguistic
terms as follows. Since knowledge of the intersubjective or public world is sup-
posed to be based on subjective or private experiences, the ordinary intersubjec-
tive or public language must or could have been preceded by a subjective or
private language. Such a language is private in the twofold sense that it refers to
subjective experiences and its rules are known to one person only.
Wittgenstein (1958: 243277 and passim) argues that if a person constructs
a private language and consciously tries to follow its (private) rules, he cannot
know whether or not he has made a mistake. Because the notions of language and
Normativity in language and linguistics 281
rule presuppose the possibility of making a mistake, i.e. an aspect of the norma-
tivity of language, there can be no private language: The test of whether a mans
actions are the application of a rule is ... whether it makes sense to distinguish be-
tween a right and a wrong way of doing things in connection with what he does
(Winch 1958:58).
Presented in outline, PLA goes as follows. Suppose that I am at this very mo-
ment going to (consciously) use some word X of my own private language. My use
of X, i.e. what I mean (or intend to mean) by X, is based on my particular memory
of how I have decided to use X, or how I have used X in the past. Maybe I wish
to check this memory to make sure that I am not mistaken. But the only check
I can rely on is the same memory; and of course it is no independent or genuine
check in fact it is no check (or basis for testing) at all. Therefore any private
rule-application that seems correct to me will be correct, which means that the
notion of a private rule-application, and thus of a private language, dissolves (cf.
the Winch-quotation above). Written documents, for instance, do not get me out
of this circle, because now the question arises whether I remember correctly the
meanings of the written private words. (Notice that on this reading of PLA the
exact nature of the referent thing or sense-impression? is no longer of decisive
importance.) Kenny (1973:192193) presents this argument exceptionally well.
Genuine checks are provided only by other peoples memories, and more gen-
erally by their intuitions about the correct use of (public) language. Of course,
there is no guarantee that these are always trustworthy. But at least they offer
the possibility of genuine testing; and possible testing is certainly preferable to
impossible testing (represented by exclusive recourse to my own memories or
intuitions). This is nothing but the requirement of objectivity (in the sense of in-
tersubjectivity), which is the cornerstone of scientific thinking.
Some readers may still remain unconvinced. Therefore, to further clarify the
issue let us deal with a concrete counter-argument which has kept reappearing in
essentially the same form from the mid-50s onwards. Suppose that I formulate a
private rule according to which what is now called blue ought to be called mlue
by me. I paint a blue patch on a piece of paper and write mlue under it, and on
future occasions I will use this device to make sure that I am indeed following the
rule correctly. Have I not proved that the notion of a private rule is a viable one?
The answer is No, and here are some of the reasons why. Taken together, the
blue patch and the word mlue constitute a picture. When composing this picture,
I may have thought that its meaning is self-evident, i.e. that it can be interpreted
in one way only. But this is wrong. One of Wittgensteins basic insights is that
every picture or image can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways (and this
is also true of mental images; cf. Blackburn 1984:4550; Heil 1992:2530). On
the next occasion when I look at the picture, I may mistakenly think that the rule
282 Esa Itkonen
was meant to be not to say mlue when seeing something blue; or I may think that
the blue patch was meant to remind be that I should check whether in any of the
worlds languages blue is called mlue; and so on.
In other words, the human memory is notoriously fallible. It would be pre-
posterous to assume that I am the only person in the world whose memory hap-
pens to be absolutely infallible. Now, what is true of memory is true of intellectual
capacities more generally. Human beings may succumb to any kinds of aphasia,
delusion or insanity. Today, with the well-documented spread of Alzheimers dis-
ease, this has become a near-certainty: everyone of us, unless released by a timely
death, will become (more or less) insane. Let us keep this in mind, when we now
return to the explication of PLA.
Realizing the ever-present possibility of multiple interpretations, I may now
wish to secure the unambiguous meaning of the picture by adding an explicit
written instruction. If I use my own private language, the instruction will look
something like this: zmosh # glaark * mlue. But nothing can guarantee that I will
remember the meanings of these private words correctly, and if I attempt to avert
this danger by further amplifying the instruction, infinite regress will ensue. If, on
the other hand, I use English, the instruction will look like this: I ought to say
mlue whenever I see this colour! But now I am cheating because my supposedly
private language is based on a public one. More importantly, however, this does
not help me at all, because now any of the forms of human frailty alluded to above
may attack me, either one by one or jointly. Perhaps I am colour-blind, but just
do not know it; or perhaps I have become insane and think that, when looking at
a blue patch, I am looking at my face in a mirror; or perhaps the moment when
I lose the mastery of English has already arrived (but I just do not know it) and I
either fail to understand the instruction or think that it says that I should go wash
my teeth; and so on. The upshot is that my rule-following behavior needs check-
ing by others. This is not fool-proof either. (Perhaps everyone is insane.) But at
least it provides the possibility of genuine checking, which my private memory
and understanding cannot provide.
Wittgenstein assumes that in language, like in any other social institution, we
are, or may become, conscious of the rules we either follow or break. Attempts to
dispose of PLA are often based on redefining private language as unconscious
psychological structure, which makes it self-evidently true that everybody has his
. Barresi and Moores (this volume) Intentional Relations Theory can be thought of as an
empirical equivalent of PLA. In their requirement that, for a psychological concept to come
about, both the first-person, inner aspect and the third-person, outer aspect are equally
needed, they reproduce the insight that [A]n inner process stands in need of outward criteria
(Wittgenstein 1958:580).
Normativity in language and linguistics 283
or her private language. But the redefinition is unjustified, in the first place. Just
as well one might decide to call the internal structure of individual atoms their
private languages.
A useful up-to-date explication of what it is to follow a rule (of language)
is provided by the doctrine of response-dependency or response-authoriza-
tion (cf. Pettit 1996:195204; Itkonen 1997:5860, 2003b:126130, 165168;
Haukioja 2000).
Nothing of what precedes entails in any way that language is exclusively social
in character. Language has of course both a psychological and a biological aspect
or, if you like, substratum. What the preceding discussion is meant to establish is
that language is primarily a social entity.
Rules or norms do not just lie inertly there; rather, they only exist as rules or norms
of acting. The social view of language, outlined above, suggests that the mean-
ing of a linguistic expression is identical with its (conventionalized) use: Look at
the sentence as an instrument, and at its sense as its employment (Wittgenstein
1958:421). Here as elsewhere, the form of an instrument is a means to achieve
different goals. Language use, i.e. speaking, is part of the same general means-
ends hierarchy as are all human actions and activities.
Both linguistic meaning and its study are called semantics. More precisely,
semantics is that part of (the study of) meaning which deals with meanings of
words and sentences at the (general) level of the conventional linguistic system,
and not at the (concrete) level of single acts of speaking. However, the actionist
nature of language is present already in semantics. As a semantic entity, a sentence
like I will come to see you at midnight encodes an act of asserting. The acts of re-
questing and asking are encoded in imperative and interrogative sentences.
Language is not just action, but also interaction. In the case of requests and
questions (codified as corresponding imperative and interrogative sentences) this
is self-evident because they can only be conceptualized as being directed to some-
one different from the speaker himself. But the same is also true of assertions,
codified as corresponding declarative sentences, as Sibawaihi, the founder of Arab
linguistics, was perceptive enough to realize:
This is how we speak, even if the listener does not ask loud, because what you say
follows the extent of the question he might pose if he were to ask you.
(cf. Itkonen 1991:155156)
Pragmatics is that part of the study of meaning which deals with how the general
meaning determined by the linguistic system becomes concrete or specific in sin-
gle, either real or imaginary acts of speaking. This requires taking contextual in-
formation into account. In semantics, as noted above, the sentence I will come to
see you at midnight has just the meaning of an assertion. (Which assertion? this
is evident from the lexical content and the grammatical structure.) In pragmatics,
the same sentence (once uttered) becomes depending on the context either
a promise (= Romeo is speaking to Juliette) or a threat (= a vampire is speaking
to his future victim). This, in my view, is the relationship between semantics and
pragmatics in a nutshell. It coincides with de Saussures (1962 [1916]) classic dis-
tinction langue vs. parole (see Section 5.1 below).
It may seem natural to assume that pragmatics, concentrating on individual
performance, pertains to psychology. In my view, however, pragmatics too is of
social character. First, the performance is not individual but inter-individual, i.e. it
necessarily takes place between speaker and hearer. Second, this inter-individual
performance is publicly observable, and derives its identity from being (common-
ly) understood as a joint result of convention and context; just think of the Romeo
vs. vampire contrast (cf. Leech 1983; Verschueren 1999). The truth of this state-
ment remains unaffected by the fact that psychological explanations may of course
be provided for any type of behavior (including linguistic interaction).
In sum, semantics is the study of context-independent meaning whereas prag-
matics is the study of context-dependent meaning. This context-independent vs.
context-dependent distinction was captured by Paul (1880 [1975]:Chapter 4) by
means of his terminological dichotomy usuelle vs. okkasionelle Bedeutung (= usual
vs. occasional meaning). Sometimes it has been claimed that the (inter)actionist
nature of language becomes evident only in pragmatics. We have just seen that
such a view is mistaken. At the level of semantics any sentence encodes a frozen
action, and it is the task of pragmatics to melt it (cf. Itkonen 1983:152164). It is
Normativity in language and linguistics 285
also clear that the acts of referring and predicating belong already to semantics,
and not just to (discourse) pragmatics.
The relation between semantics and pragmatics is dynamic in the sense that
when context-dependent meanings recur, they may conventionalize and thus be-
come part of the linguistic system. This kind of ascent from speech (parole, ok-
kasionelle Bedeutung) to language (langue, usuelle Bedeutung) is in general char-
acteristic of language change (cf. Section 5.1 below).
Having defended the social view of meaning (and of language in general), I
may add a few words on why I find its opposite, i.e. the psychologist view of mean-
ing, less convincing. To be sure, psychologism may mean many different things,
and in what follows I shall briefly deal only with one version of this doctrine.
It is not uncommon to see meaning equated either with (unconscious) schema
or with (conscious) mental image. First, let us assume that meanings are schemas.
These are hypothetical entities: we do not know what they are, but only presume
what they might be; and they may even be non-existent. (Implausible as this may
sound, it is certainly possible.) In contrast, we do know the meanings of words
like midnight and of sentences like I will come to see you at midnight; it makes no
sense at all to assume that they are non-existent. Therefore meanings cannot be
schemas. It needs to be added immediately that we know the meanings of words
and sentences only at the pre-theoretical level, i.e. we know them merely as data.
We do not know how they should be theoretically analyzed (cf. Section 4.4).
Second, let us assume that meanings are mental images. These are subjective
or vary from one person to the next whereas meanings are intersubjective. (For
instance, the sentence I will come to see you at midnight has only one meaning
in the English language, not as many meanings as there are speakers of English.)
Moreover, mental images may be non-existent. Even for a single speaker, there
seems to be no mental image (or set of mental images) systematically and reliably
connected e.g. with the word if. But if we accept the equation meaning = use,
the meaning of if ceases to be a problem. It is enough to state (or list) its differ-
ent uses: the transition from cause to effect (= If it is raining during the night, the
streets will be wet in the morning) or from effect to cause (= If the streets are wet
in the morning, it has been raining during the night), and so on. (But notice again
that knowing the different uses of if does not entail knowing how they should be
theoretically described).
. Thus, I am in broad agreement with the argument presented by Verhagen (this volume) that
semantics (conventional meaning) is not only a matter of denotation, but also includes argu-
mentative aspects. I am less willing, however, to agree that these aspects constitute the core of
lexical and grammatical meaning.
286 Esa Itkonen
Accepting the equation meaning = use has a both clarifying and liberating effect.
An enormous amount of time and energy has been wasted on trying to solve the
problem of how meaning exists. But no one is or need be worried about how
the use of a hammer or of a computer exists.
money ceases to exist, i.e. it is just pieces of metal and paper, as soon as people no
longer know that it exists (qua money).
This definition has some interesting consequences. Because a language like
English exists if, and only if, it is commonly known to exist, it follows, among
other things, that the correctness of correct sentences is a social fact, as elucidated
by the following equivalence:
(1) The sentence John is easy to please is a correct sentence (of English) iff the
sentence John is easy to please is commonly known to be a correct sentence.
(2) The sentence John is easy to please is a correct sentence is true iff the sentence
John is easy to please is a correct sentence is commonly known to be true.
The sentence (2) instantiates the Tarskian T-sentence, which is of the following
general form (cf. Itkonen 1983:112):
(3) X is true iff p
Here p represents the truth condition of X. According to the received view, the
truth value and the truth condition are two different things: we always know the
truth condition of X, i.e. p, and we analyze it in a step-wise fashion, but this hap-
pens independently of whether we know X to be true or false. As far as physical
facts are concerned, it is indeed the case that while we do know the truth condi-
tion of X, we do not know the truth value of X. Now, the example (2) refutes the
received view as applied to social facts, because it shows that, in this crucial do-
main, it is impossible to know the truth condition of X without knowing the truth
value of X (for discussion, cf. Itkonen 1983:129135). Thus, at the level of social
facts, the T-sentence has the following form:
(4) X is true iff X is (commonly) known to be true.
What does it mean to say that a social entity like the English language is an object
of common knowledge? One way to answer this question, due to Lewis (1969), is
to say that X is an object of common knowledge if, and only if, the three condi-
tions given in (5) are true of X and of (practically) any two members of a com-
munity (where both A and B stand for each of the two):
(5) A knows-1 X
A knows-2 that B knows-1 X
A knows-3 that B knows-2 that A knows-1 X
As abstruse as such a formulation may seem at first, it is quite easy to show that
three-level knowledge of this kind necessarily occurs in all institutional encoun-
ters. Suppose I want to cash a check in a bank. The only reason why, when ap-
proaching the counter, I do not make soothing gestures or shout I know what to
do, you dont have to tell me!, is that I possess the relevant three-level knowledge:
Not only do I know-1 what to do; and not only do I know-2 that the teller knows-
1 what to do; but I also know-3 that the teller knows-2 that I know-1 what to do.
This type of third-order mentality is also discussed and exemplified by Zlatev
(this volume).
From the logical point of view, there is no way to stop the infinite regress of
different knowledge-levels (= I know that he knows that I know that he knows...).
From the practical point of view, however, this is not a problem. People do not
generally go beyond three- or four-level knowledge. Some people are able to do
this; but nobody masters e.g. ten-level knowledge.
The explication of social in terms of many-level knowledge has sometimes
been regarded as entailing some sort of philosophical idealism. Our example of
check-cashing behavior should dispel this misunderstanding. The relevant com-
mon knowledge is embodied not just in peoples behavior, but also in such physi-
cal artifacts as the bank building, its furniture, the clerks implements, and so on.
Sinha (1988) rightly emphasizes the importance of taking into account the mate-
rial grounding of institutions (including language).
Our example is apt to illuminate another often-misunderstood aspect of com-
mon knowledge. My attitude vis--vis the bank teller is not invalidated if it later
turns out that at the moment of our mutual encounter he happened, for instance,
to be either unconscious or suffering from an attack of insanity, which means
that he did not, as a matter of psychological fact, possess the requisite three-lev-
el knowledge about me. As three-level knowledge about B is not about what B
knows in fact, but what A is entitled to expect B to know: Given the surroundings,
I was entitled to expect that the bank teller whom I was approaching knew his
Normativity in language and linguistics 289
business, i.e. had the requisite three-level knowledge about me. Hence, common
knowledge turns out to contain a crucial normative element. It is a rational recon-
struction of sociality, not a psychological description of what actually goes on in
peoples heads in each and every case:
For in most social situations, if not in all, there is an element of rationality. ...I
refer to the possibility of adopting, in the social sciences, what may be called the
method of logical or rational construction, or perhaps the zero method. ...The
zero method of constructing rational models is not a psychological but rather a
logical method.
(Popper 1957:140141, 158; for discussion, see Itkonen 2003b:131135)
knowledge must not in general conflict with such particular happenings.) The
basis for common knowledge about the (in)correctness of sentences is diffuse,
in the sense that it is constituted just by general facts about coming to master a
language and by the concomitant common knowledge about those facts. In this
respect linguistic common knowledge is just one instantiation of institutional
common knowledge in general. The most important difference vis--vis common
knowledge about physical facts resides in that the basis for linguistic common
knowledge, though undeniably existent, cannot be used to strengthen or justify
that which it is a basis for:
And here the strange thing is that when I am quite certain of how the words are
used, have no doubt about it, I can still give no grounds for my way of going on.
If I tried I could give a thousand, but none as certain as the very thing they were
supposed to be ground for. (Wittgenstein 1969: 306307)
The definition of social ontology given in Section 4.2 dissolves rather than solves
a long-standing controversy within the philosophy of the social sciences. One
side has argued that there is an ontological level of social institutions distinct
from the level of individual persons. The other side has argued that there is
nothing but individual persons (cf. ONeill 1973). Now we can see that they are
both right. Indeed, there are nothing but individual persons; but what we have
is not just an aggregate of individual persons endowed with arbitrary mental
states and distributed in a random order; rather, we have individual persons en-
dowed with quite specific mental attributes (namely many-level states of knowl-
edge) placed in a quite definite structure or pattern (namely that characteristic
of common knowledge). It is this structure that constitutes the ontological level
of social phenomena.
As an analogy, consider the distinction between a single line and a net. On the
one hand, it can be argued that a net consists of nothing but lines, which means
that the line is ontologically primary vis--vis the net. On the other hand, the net
is not just a random heap of lines, but a quite specific structure or pattern of lines.
When the lines constitute a net-like structure, then and only then there is this
all-important difference that it is possible to catch fish with a net, but not with a
line. This difference is important enough to be called ontological; and it shows
how increasing complexity makes a new ontological level emerge out of an onto-
logically simpler level. It could also be argued that in (dis)solving the controversy
Normativity in language and linguistics 291
between individualism and collectivism, we eo ipso show that the contrast between
psychological and social, which was taken for granted in much of the previous dis-
cussion, is more apparent than real. In so doing, we have been forced to revise the
meanings of these two words, i.e. psychological and social, to some extent.
The preceding discussion suggests that the metaphor of social network
should be taken seriously. The same analogy may also illustrate the distinction
between (subjective) intuition and (intersubjective) norm, which may at first seem
a little puzzling.
Institutions are about norms. Norms are learned on the basis of observation,
but once they are known, they can no longer be just a matter of observation be-
cause they are made use of to judge whether an observed (or imagined) action is
correct or not:
The correctness of a performance is not among its perceptual characteristics; it
cannot be, since it is a relation between the performance and an adopted rule
[= norm] a relation which is more fully expressed by the statement that the
performance conforms to the adopted rule. (Krner 1960:117)
The fundamental distinction between linguistics and any genuine natural science
consists in the fact that the subject matter of the former is inherently normative
whereas the subject matter of the latter is inherently non-normative. Now the no-
tion of normativity needs to be explicated more narrowly.
First of all, we have to establish the distinction between a rule-sentence such
as (6), which describes a rule (or norm), and an empirical hypothesis such as (7),
which describes an (assumed) regularity.
(6) In English, the definite article (i.e. the) precedes the noun (e.g. man)
(7) All ravens are black.
The difference between (6) and (7) consists in the fact that (7) can be (and in
fact has been) falsified by spatiotemporal occurrences, namely non-black ravens,
whereas (6) is not, and cannot be, falsified. The utterance of a sentence (8) does
not falsify (6). Why? because this sentence is incorrect. Nor does the utterance
of a sentence like (9) falsify (6). Why? because this sentence is correct. Thus, (6)
is unfalsifiable (on the basis of spatiotemporal occurrences).
(8) *Man the came in.
(9) The man came in.
The difference between rule-sentences and empirical hypotheses has been occa-
sionally recognized in the philosophy of the social sciences, e.g. by Ryan (1970),
who, to be sure, fails to distinguish between rules (= object of description) and
rule-sentences (= description):
A causal generalization has only one task to fulfil, namely telling us what will
and will not happen under particular conditions, irregularities are thus falsifying
counter-examples to the causal law. But rules [i.e. rule-sentences] are not falsifi-
able in any simple way except of course that it may be false to say that there is
a rule and breaches of a rule are errors on the part of those whose behavior is
governed by it. (p. 141; emphasis added)
In general, however, the distinction at issue has remained in some sort of method-
ological limbo. On the one hand, one may be willing to admit that perhaps just
perhaps there may indeed exist something that resembles this distinction. On
the other hand, one refuses to draw any methodological consequences from the
(possible) existence of this distinction.
What is at issue here is the normativity of language: sentences are normative
(i.e. correct or incorrect) entities whereas birds are not (or, at least, not in the same
Normativity in language and linguistics 293
to construct the grammar that was to bear his name. Thus, once the data are in,
everything still remains to be done. Similarly, Chomsky and Hockett clearly imply
that there is a job for them to do, whatever odd bits of correct and indubitable
information the average speaker may possess about his language.
The same point can be made by briefly returning to the notion of truth con-
dition. As Wittgenstein so eloquently put it, we stand before an abyss if we start
to doubt whether or not we know the meanings of the words and sentences that
we use. But of course we know them only at the pre-theoretical level. We know
that John is easy to please is a correct English sentence (unlike e.g. *John is easy
from please) and that it means the opposite of John is difficult to please, but we
do not know the best theoretical description of this (or any other) sentence. Any
theoretical description is falsifiable by definition. But falsification in grammatical
description is not what it is in the natural sciences.
There are many other standard objections against the distinction between
rule-sentence (= A) and empirical hypothesis (= B), for instance:
Such and similar objections have been brought together and answered in Itkonen
(2003b:Chaps 3, 6, 7); see also Section 5 below.
It should also be pointed out that the mere existence of the normativity of
language is enough to refute all varieties of physicalism (or naturalism), i.e. of
the view that physical data is all there is. If you argue for this view, you must do
so in the language of physics (and/or philosophy); and the language you use is not
physical (or naturalistic), but normative.
Normativity in language and linguistics 295
Even irrational behavior can be explained, if at all, only by means of rational ex-
planation, namely by exposing the reason why it was performed. This involves
coming to understand how behavior that is irrational in fact came to seem rational
to the agent. The transition from goals to means followed by the carrying-out
of the means, as codified in rational explanation, can be seen as the causal force
that brings about linguistic behavior investigated in such distinct linguistic sub-
disciplines as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and diachronic linguistics (cf.
Itkonen 1983).
Using language must consist of the continuous making of linguistic choices, con-
sciously or unconsciously, for language-internal (i.e. structural) and/or language-
external reasons. (Verschueren 1999:5556; emphasis added)
This innocuous-looking statement, once its implications are spelled out, justifies
the use of rational explanation.
Language change entails that old norms (or rules) are replaced by new ones.
Comparative Indo-European linguistics started with the idea of grammaticaliza-
tion. Thus, Franz Bopp claimed in 1816 that, for instance, the endings of Sanskrit
296 Esa Itkonen
verbs had originally been full personal pronouns (cf. Arens 1969:177). To give
another example, let us consider the Modern French constructions venir de + INF
and aller INF. Originally these had the concrete local meanings come from INF
and go INF. Then in some contexts these constructions were reanalyzed as having
also the temporal meanings recent past and near future. First, these meanings
were more or less accidental or pragmatic; but later they became conventionalized
or semantic. (As noted in Section 3, this pragmatic vs. semantic distinction is
just a reformulation of Pauls (1975 [1880]) distinction between okkasionelle vs.
usuelle Bedeutung.) That new conventions or norms had emerged, was evident
as soon as the temporal meanings were extended to such contexts where the old
concrete and non-temporal meanings are impossible, as shown in (10) and (11).
(10) Il vient de mourir (he has just died < he comes from dying)
(11) Il va sveiller (he will wake up < he goes wake up).
First, the latter structure was totally incorrect, and in the end it came to be totally
correct. In between, there was a gradual shift that can be described only in statisti-
cal terms (cf. Hudson 1997). In other words, language change is a prime example
of less-than-clear cases.
It is easy to see that Saussures terminological distinction between langue and
parole captures the following dichotomy: on the one hand, language as a system
of norms accessible to conscious intuition; on the other, actual spatio-temporally
specifiable linguistic behavior that is accessible to observation.
298 Esa Itkonen
This is a very clear formulation of the fact that there is a difference between a
description of S, or D1, and a description of the psychology of S (= P-S), or D2.
Thus, D1 and D2 refer to, and describe, two distinct entities, namely S and P-S.
The understanding of this distinction has been made needlessly difficult by am-
biguous terminology. On the one hand, P-S is often called knowledge of S. On
the other hand, S is by definition commonly known. This creates the wrong
impression that there is no difference between S and P-S nor, consequently, be-
tween D1 and D2.
For the sake of clarification, consider the following analogy. If I describe the
moon as I see it with the aid of a telescope, it is still the moon that I describe, and
not my vision (enhanced by the telescope). If I genuinely wish to concentrate on
my vision, and not on the moon, then I have moved from astronomy to the psy-
chology of vision. Exactly the same remarks apply to the distinction between D1
Normativity in language and linguistics 299
The same laudatory view of Paninis grammar has been both documented and
argued for in Itkonen (1991:Chap. 2, esp. pp. 6870). In the present context it is
important to understand that, in addition to being the best generative grammar,
Paninis grammar is by Kiparskys own admission (cf. above) also a non-psy-
chological grammar, which means that it is indeed a serious candidate for being
the Katz-type optimal grammar.
300 Esa Itkonen
This type of experiment would be a slightly absurd exercise, with the results a
foregone conclusion (Wason and Johnson-Laird 1972:78). However, the larger
implications have remained unexplored and poorly understood.
The ambiguity of non-psychological vs. psychological study of language is
well illustrated by the notion of analogy. On the one hand, analogy may be just
a convenient descriptive device for presenting the data. On the other, analogy
may be meant to capture the actual structure-cum-process that brings linguistic
behavior about (cf. Itkonen 2005a).
Up to now we have come across three distinct types of linguistic data, namely
intuitional, observational, and (observational-)experimental. The two latter types
deal with frequencies of spatio-temporal occurrences and thus require a statistical
mode of description. This division of labor between different linguistic subdisci-
plines was already set forth in Itkonen (1977) and (1980).
What is the status of typological linguistics from the present perspective? An
in-depth analysis of the reference grammars of ten more or less exotic languages
reveals a general lack of any statistical means of description (cf. Itkonen 2005b).
This shows that, once again, we are dealing with intuitional data. In many cases,
however, what we have is not the intuition of a (field) linguist, who, while writing
his grammar, may still be in the process of learning the language to be described,
but the intuition of his informant(s). In other words, we are dealing with elicita-
tion. Haiman (1980:xi) gives an eloquent account of this method:
I will always remember Kamani Kutane for his thought experiments: given a min-
imally contrasting pair of sentences, he would construct elaborate background
stories which would be appropriate for only one of these sentences. Eventually I
would understand one of these, and we could move on. It was by means of such
continued thought experiments that he was able to make clear to me the meaning
of that most mysterious of all Hua forms, the gerund -gasi.
As shown by this quotation, and as argued in Itkonen (2004), the study of exotic
languages is based on empathy as a form of intersubjectivity, or in Collingwoods
(1946:218) words our capacity of rethinking the same thought which created
the situation we are investigating, and thus coming to understand this situation.
But once we have become aware of empathy in this context, we realize that we
have been using it all the time. For instance, we can explain the grammaticaliza-
tion of the constructions venir de INF and aller INF in the way we do (cf. Sec-
tion3.1), only because we understand the processes of reanalysis and extension
302 Esa Itkonen
that are involved here; and we understand them, because we can re-enact them,
i.e. we realize that we could have done the same thing. On reflection, this turns out
to be an application of the model of rational explanation (cf. Section 2.5).
Considering everything that has been said so far, one naturally wonders: Why
has there been such a pronounced inclination to ignore the ineluctably normative
character of language? There are many reasons, of which I mention here only two.
First, there is sheer intellectual laziness:
[It is wrong] to consider the salient features of an object as representative of its
totality. In this way the evident concreteness of the sound of words leads one to
ignore the extent to which use, however intangible, is necessary to word-hood.
(Friedman 1975:94, emphasis added; discussed in Itkonen 1978:182183)
Notice that it is the same, or very similar, fallacy that underlies the entire Carte-
sian tradition mentioned in Section 2. This is the Cartesian argument in outline:
I see, and hence I know, that this thing in front of me is a burning candle; but I do
not see anyone else in the room; thus when I know what I know about the thing in
front of me, I am alone; therefore my knowledge is not social but subjective; and
what is true of my knowledge here and now is true of every type of knowledge.
Once this argument has been spelled out, one cannot help marvelling how simple,
and simple-minded, it really is.
Second, there is the temptation to replace the (normative) correct vs. incor-
rect distinction by the (non-normative) possible vs. impossible distinction. Thus,
Jackendoff (1994:4950) claims that, unlike a sentence like Harry thinks Beth is a
genius, a sentence like Amy nine ate peanuts is not a possible sentence of English.
However, it is not only the case that this is a possible sentence of English. We see
with our own eyes that it is also an actual sentence of English, namely incorrect
English. It must be actual because (an exemplification of) it occurs in space and
time (cf. Dretske 1974:2425; Itkonen 2003b:142144).
But why should it be tempting, in the first place, to replace normative by non-
normative? because of the prestige enjoyed by the natural sciences. The data of
physics is inherently non-normative. From this, it has been wrongly inferred that
the data of linguistics too must be non-normative, come what may.
. The discovery of mirror neurons seems to have revitalized the notion of empathy, as shown
in detail by Barresi and Moore (this volume).
Normativity in language and linguistics 303
Is there, then, no normativity in the natural sciences? Of course there is. Just
think of protophysics which investigates the set of norms for measuring space,
time, and mass (cf. Bhme 1976). But protophysics is not physics: It is one thing
to describe methods of measurement, and other to obtain and state results of
measurement (Wittgenstein 1958:242). As argued in Itkonen (1978:4248) and
elsewhere, protophysics is in a certain sense a methodological equivalent of au-
tonomous linguistics. Still, this is an imperfect analogy because what protophys-
ics deals with are norms of researchers, not of research objects.
In sum, I have argued in this chapter that normativity is indispensable for the
existence of language, and that it has been often without self-awareness pivotal
for linguistics from its very dawn. To remain blind to this obvious fact, a strong
bias has indeed been needed.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Jordan Zlatev for comments and for his help in editing an earlier
version of this chapter.
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Normativity in language and linguistics 305
Arie Verhagen
1. Introduction
Human languages have several features that are candidates for the status of dis-
tinctive characteristic in comparison to communication systems of other animals
(Hockett 1958). Some of these have a special connection to the concept of inter-
subjectivity, understood as the mutual sharing of experiential-conceptual content
between subjects of experience. Thus, the basically conventional character of the
relation between (observable) form and (unobservable) function in the symbols of
human languages presupposes intersubjectivity: conventions are mutually shared
solutions to coordination problems, rules that are followed because of the expec-
tation that others will follow them and because one knows that others expect one
to follow them (Lewis 1969; Keller 1998; Itkonen, this volume, traces the origins
of this insight to Wittgensteins famous argument against private language and
argues that it entails that linguistic phenomena are inherently normative in a way
that does not allow a reduction to strictly physical phenomena). Being mutually
shared is at the core of any definition of intersubjectivity (Zlatev, this volume),
308 Arie Verhagen
Tomasello (2003:12) lists the following points of difference between language and
communicative signals of other primate species:
. At this point, Tomasello refers to Dunbar (1996), who puts forward the hypothesis that
language originated in the process of gossip, the sharing of information for purposes of social
bonding.
310 Arie Verhagen
Properties (2), (3) and (4) necessarily involve intersubjectivity. Property (5) may
function, as Tomasello indicates, in an intersubjective way, but it certainly need
not: different construals of the same entity or event may also be useful for a single
individuals interaction with the world, as different categorizations (e.g. as pet or
as pest) invite different types of action. Property (2), conventionality, has already
been discussed; intersubjectivity here provides the foundation for the way linguis-
tic signals function in a community. It is in properties (3) and (4) that intersub-
jectivity enters into the character of the messages conveyed by linguistic signals
themselves. Moreover, the two directing someones attention to an outside en-
tity, and informing someone of something are obviously closely connected.
With respect to these two features, Tomasello construes the specific character
of human language in opposition to that of communicative signals of other pri-
mates; language involves joint attention and sharing information, whereas animal
communication is dyadic, and consists of inducing behavior, such as an escape
response in conspecifics. Owings and Morton (1998), to whom Tomasello refers
in this connection, have developed this idea in great detail for many species using
vocal communication. They describe their approach themselves in a program-
matic way as follows:
This book provides a discussion of animal vocal communication that avoids hu-
man-centered concepts and approaches, and instead links communication to
fundamental biological processes. []. Animals use signals in self-interested
efforts to manage the behavior of other individuals, and they do so by exploit-
ing the active assessment processes of other individuals. [] Communication
reflects the fundamental processes of regulating and assessing the behavior of
others, not of exchanging information. (Owings and Morton 1998:i)
Consider the vervet monkeys alarm calls mentioned by Tomasello (cf. above).
Even if the call is species-specific, there is no reason to say that its meaning consists
of reference to the predator (the individual, or the category). The meaning of the
call is to induce predator-specific escape responses. The way Owings and Morton
characterize animal communication presupposes that exchange of information
does constitute the basic function of human communication by means of lan-
guage, and as we have seen, Tomasello also construes some of the crucial differ-
ences between animal communication and human language in this way.
But what if human language is also fundamentally a matter of regulating and
assessing others, with exchange of information being secondary? No doubt, the
descriptive power of human languages greatly exceeds that of animal commu-
nication systems (as far as we know), but that does not yet imply that linguistic
meaning primarily consists in descriptive information and that regulatory effects
are derivative; in principle, it may still be the other way around. Precisely this lat-
ter position is a crucial part of the conceptual framework developed in Verhagen
(2005). It is this idea that I will develop and demonstrate further in this chapter.
The evidence I will be considering consists of systematic characteristics of linguis-
tic elements, especially from the domain of grammar, i.e. words and construc-
tions that provide the scaffolding for sentences and discourse.
When one individual produces a linguistic utterance for another one, and this oth-
er individual understands it, the result is in systematic ways always more than the
participants jointly focusing on the same object of conceptualization in the same
way. It also consists in inducing, and engaging in, inferential reasoning. Normal
language use is never just informative, but always argumentative, in the terminol-
ogy of Anscombre and Ducrot (1989). Engaging in verbal communication comes
down to, for the speaker/writer, an attempt to influence someone elses thoughts,
attitudes, and sometimes immediate behavior even when a speaker simply says
Over there in response to a Wh-question like Where is the bus stop? (cf. below, end
of this section). For the addressee it involves finding out what kind of influence it
. Behavioral biologists may to some extent differ on the question whether a notion of infor-
mation has any role at all to play in explaining animal communication, but such differences
are relatively marginal. Thus, although Bradbury and Vehrenkamp (2000) do not agree entirely
with Owings and Morton (1998), their initial statement also reads: It is widely agreed that ani-
mal signals modulate decision making by receivers of the signals (Bradbury and Vehrenkamp
2000:259, referring to the seminal work of Dawkins and Krebs 1978).
312 Arie Verhagen
is that the speaker/writer tries to exert, and deciding to go along or not. In terms
of intersubjectivity: the process of verbal communication involves partially shared
and partially divergent experiential-conceptual content, that communicating sub-
jects attempt to coordinate on by means of (the speaker) attempting to influence
the others inferences and (the addressee) assessing such attempts.
In itself, this is not incompatible with an information view of linguistic mean-
ing. The constant, conventional function of ordinary words and constructions
might consist in the information they provide, with rhetorical effects coming on
top of that, depending on the context, and thus being variable. However, Ans-
combre and Ducrot argue for the opposite position, which is therefore sometimes
characterized as a theory of argumentativity in the language system. The default
condition for ordinary expressions, in this view, is that they provide an argument
for some conclusion, and this argumentative orientation is what is constant in the
function of the expression, while its information value is more variable.
For example, in a commentary to the Dutch national Budget for the year 2001
the most favorable one in many years government officials from the Ministry of
Finance wrote that there was a prospect of a negative deficit, thereby indicating
that there were more reasons than ever to control the budget. A criterion of ad-
equacy for a semantic theory is that it should explain why the effect of this expres-
sion on addressees is systematically different from that of the expression surplus,
despite the fact that this is truth-functionally equivalent. The point is that the word
What are the properties of situations in which the utterance of (1) is appropriate?
At first sight, the argumentative character of (1) may not be apparent, and one
might think that understanding the utterance just consists of knowing how to
check it against reality: are there seats in the room or not? Here it is crucial to take
into account that understanding an utterance at least includes knowing how it fits
into the ongoing discourse, i.e. how it relates to preceding and following utteranc-
es. People do not communicate by means of isolated sentences, but by means of
discourse consisting of multiple utterances that enter into specific relations with
each other, such as question-answer, cause-consequence, problem-solution, and
the like. There are even special classes of elements that provide instructions on
how to connect pieces of discourse, i.e. anaphora, and especially: different kinds
of conjunctions (and, but, because, etc.) and connecting adverbs and adverbial
phrases (so, as well, yet, etc.) jointly: discourse connectives. So when investigat-
ing the meaning of an utterance containing the word seat, as in (1), we should not
. This is not to say that the argumentative value of an expression can never be reversed, but
this requires the use of special elements (e.g. a negative argumentative operator like barely); cf.
Section 4.
314 Arie Verhagen
only look at how it relates to the/some world, but also at the kinds of discourse
that it fits in a coherent way, and the kinds that it does not fit well.
So consider what happens when the utterance following (1) is something like
They are uncomfortable. How to connect this to (1)? The obvious way is to use a
contrastive conjunction like but. Something like and moreover would be highly
incongruous. Schematically (# indicating lack of coherence):
(2) There are seats in this room.
a. But they are uncomfortable.
b. #And moreover, they are uncomfortable.
The reverse is the case if the next utterance is They are comfortable:
What (2) shows is that (1) as such induces an addressee to make positive infer-
ences about the degree of comfort provided in this room. This is apparent from
the need to use the contrastive conjunction but when the next utterance cancels
this inference (because of uncomfortable), and from the strangeness of the addi-
tive connective in (2b). Saying that the seats are uncomfortable is not adding a
simple piece of information to the information about the presence of the seats.
When comfortable is used (rather than uncomfortable), the pattern is reversed, as
shown in (3): here the inference induced by (1) is reinforced, so the additive con-
nective in (3b) is appropriate, and the contrastive one in (3a) is not.
Thus, an utterance like (1) counts as an attempt by the speaker to convince the
addressee of some point that goes beyond the information provided. Moreover,
this is part of the conventional function of the expression in (1). One simply does
not know the meaning of seat if one can only distinguish objects as belonging to
the class or not, but does not know that it licenses this kind of inferences. In view
of this, we may say that the meaning of the word is its contribution to the argu-
mentative value of utterances in which it occurs.
On this basis, it can also be seen in what sense even an apparently simple
piece of information such as the answer Over there to the Wh-question Where
is the bus stop? is argumentative, too (cf. the beginning of this section). Observe
the use of the contrastive connective in Over there, but the last bus has already
left or Over there, but the line has been temporarily re-routed. Clearly, it is a mat-
ter of convention that providing information about the location of the bus stop
counts as inducing the addressee to make certain inferences, probably about the
Intersubjectivity and the language system 315
ossibility to take a bus at that location in the near future (the question will also
p
have been taken as having such a desire as its background).
The normal situation for linguistic meanings seems to be that their argumen-
tative value is tied to a particular way of construing a situation or some aspect
of it. Having only some conventional rhetorical strength constitutes a rather re-
stricted type of language (Verhagen 2005:18); it may be found in elements such
as words for a greeting (Hello) or an apology (Sorry). Notice that these cases show
that the expression of a positive attitude towards the addressee has the status of
an interpretation. Using such expressions counts as a greeting or an apology, ir-
respective of the actual attitude of the speaker with respect to the addressee or the
issue at hand, although, naturally, an inference about the speakers mental state is
often justified. In the same vein, the meaning of Thats great!, for example as ut-
tered in response to an interlocutors announcement of a job offer, is not primar-
ily an expression of the speakers attitude, but a signal to the addressee that the
speaker acknowledges the addressees (right to a) positive evaluation. Again, this
normally licenses an inference about the speakers actual mental state, but it is not
the primary meaning from which the rhetorical value is derived. Rather, it is the
other way around: we infer the speakers personal mental state from the argumen-
tative value of an expression.
c ulture, that passing some test normally licenses the inference that one will be
able to pass other tests as well; in other words, the topos is that if someone passed
a test, it is more likely that he will be able to pass other tests than that he will not.
Notice the use of terms like normally and more likely in the formulation of this
rule it is a kind of default rule, not a universally valid one.
Given such a topos, it is valid to infer from the statement He passed his
courses, that he is probably capable of successfully performing certain tasks, like
taking courses of this kind. In this way, Bs utterance can count as a coherent,
in principle positive, answer to As question. That is, creating an argumentative
connection is what appears to make a set of utterances into a coherent discourse.
Again, an addressee takes an utterance not (just) as an instruction to construe an
object of conceptualization in a particular way, but as an instruction to engage
in a reasoning process, and to draw certain conclusions; it is typically not just at-
tending to the same object, but understanding what the speaker/writer is getting
at (what she wants you to infer), that counts as successful communication. And
understanding what it is that your interlocutor wants you to infer, constitutes a
move from a relatively indirect relation between coordinating minds (through
shared attention for some object), to a more direct one; as we shall see, it is this
more direct inter-subjects connection that certain grammatical constructions
operate on.
The predicative use of ordinary adjectives, e.g. about size or quantity, also
provides good illustrations (cf. Pander Maat 2006). Saying that someone is tall,
in this view, does not primarily provide information about that persons length,
but counts as a recommendation of some kind (depending on the topos being
activated), e.g. to select him for the basketball team, or not to select him as a
jockey. Notice that a person being called tall in the jockey-selection situation may
be shorter than a person rejected for the basketball team because he was short.
Again, the constant value of the terms is in their argumentative orientation, not
(just) in their information value.
Of course, we are also getting some information about the world from the
utterances, just like we are able to get information out of the expression negative
deficit. In this case, knowing what the relevant topos is (e.g. the taller someone is,
the better the chance that he will make a good basket ball player), and knowing
something about the average length of persons in general and basket ball players
in particular, we can make certain guesses about the range of possible sizes for the
person involved. But that is not primary in the conventional knowledge activated
by the word tall. Activation of a scale of length that allows inferences about a
. A topos is thus a component of the common ground in the sense of Clark (1996) (cf.
Verhagen 2005:716); cf. also Sinha (1999).
Intersubjectivity and the language system 317
So far I have argued for the inherent argumentativity of language on the basis
of phenomena in the domain of the lexicon. Other phenomena in this domain
include several kinds of speech act verbs (see also Section 5), evaluative adverbs
such as hopefully and unfortunately, and connectives like so and although. But ar-
guably the most striking evidence for the fundamental argumentative character of
human communicative intersubjectivity comes from the fact that it pervades core
parts of grammar. That is what I will turn to in the remainder of this chapter.10
The methodology I will be using in order to demonstrate the precise argu-
mentative character of certain parts of grammar is based on the appropriateness
or inappropriateness of discourse connectives that was introduced in the previous
section, cf. examples (2) and (3). These are taken as diagnostic cues for the argu-
mentative value of the utterances being connected. An important distinction that
can be elucidated in this way is that between argumentative orientation and argu-
mentative strength. Consider the relation between the expressions a small chance
and little chance. These may well refer to the same percentage of probability, for
example 20%, but their roles in orienting an addressee to certain conclusions are
systematically different. In their import, they are exactly opposite, as can be dem-
onstrated with (5) and (6). Suppose someone is considering whether or not to
perform a surgical operation on a patient who is in a serious condition; then it is
coherent for this person to say (5a), but not (5b).
(5) There is a small chance that the operation will be successful.
a. So lets give it a try.
b. #So lets not take the risk.
. This does not necessarily mean that such an informational component has to be so indirect
for all words in a language, i.e. that it could never be conventional languages are more flexible
than that. For example, Anscombre and Ducrot (1989) propose the interesting hypothesis that
numerical expressions in natural languages should be considered a special device, a kind of
operator to remove the default argumentative orientation of ordinary expressions. Saying that
someones height is 1.75 meter does not inherently display the argumentative orientation of
saying that someone is tall or short. Using precise numeral specifications is obviously more arti-
ficial and elaborate than using words like tall, short, fast, slow, etc., which testifies to the default
condition of the linguistic meaning of everyday expressions being inherently argumentative.
10. These are based on the analyses in chapters 2 and 3 of Verhagen (2005), respectively.
318 Arie Verhagen
What this shows is that saying There is a small chance orients an addressee to the
same conclusions as the positive statement There is a chance. On the other hand,
(6) exhibits the mirror pattern: (6a) is not coherent, but (6b) is.
(6) There is little chance that the operation will be successful.
a. #So lets give it a try.
b. So lets not take the risk.
Saying There is little chance orients an addressee towards the same conclusions
as the negative statement There is no chance. Notice that it makes no difference
what the actual percentage of the chance of success is. Whatever turns out to be
the case, a small chance basically orients the addressee to the same general kind of
conclusions as a chance, while little chance orients one to the same sorts of conclu-
sions as no chance.11
The expressions do not by themselves indicate positive vs. negative recom-
mendations. Suppose the context is not that of a surgeon wondering whether or
not to perform an operation, but of a policeman wondering whether or not to
interrogate a seriously injured victim of a shooting, who is waiting to be operated.
In that situation, it may very well be coherent to say There is little chance that the
operation will be successful. So lets give it a try., cf. example (6a), employing a to-
pos of the kind The more important certain information is, the more acceptable
it is to take risks in obtaining it. In that sense, the pragmatic import of the expres-
sion little chance is context dependent. But the significant point is that its effect is
still the same, in this context, as that of the expression no chance, and the reverse
of the effect of a small chance. In this context, it would precisely be coherent to say
There is a small chance that the operation will be successful. So lets not take the risk.,
cf. example (5a). Thus the conventional, context-independent linguistic meaning
of an expression of the type little X is to reverse the orientation of the inferences
associated with the predicate X (with less strength than no; cf. below), whatever
topos is being employed. The equally conventional context-independent meaning
of a small X is to maintain the orientation of the inferences associated with the
predicate X, while their strength is less than with an unmodified assertion.
Thus a generalization can be made over negation and expressions like little
chance in terms of argumentative orientation: their use has the function of direct-
ing the addressee to infer that certain conclusions are invalid. The difference must
11. Therefore, as with the meaning of the expression negative deficit, there does not seem much
prospect for deriving the difference between the distinct intersubjective functions of these ex-
pressions from a descriptive difference without somehow introducing the argumentative orien-
tations in the derivation, i.e. in a non-circular way. The argumentative difference must itself be
taken as part of the linguistic meaning of these expressions.
Intersubjectivity and the language system 319
But when the strength of the negative operator is maximal, there is no room for
canceling the inference that it is not worth trying; uttering (8) always amounts to
inconsistency:
(8) #There is no chance that the operation will be successful. But lets give it a
try.
320 Arie Verhagen
The claim is that both straightforward negation and the construction little X belong
to a larger system of expressions that share an effect on the argumentative orienta-
tion of the utterances they are part of (though they may differ in their strength).12
To the degree that we can substantiate the claim that this grammatical system must
be characterized in this way, we have provided evidence that the nature of intersub-
jectivity as built into the linguistic system, is basically argumentative.
Consider the following set of expressions containing the expression let alone:
(9) He didnt pass Statistics-1, let alone Statistics-2.
(10) ??He didnt pass Statistics-2, let alone Statistics-1.
(11) *He passed Statistics-1, let alone Statistics-2.
(12) *He passed Statistics-2, let alone Statistics-1.
In view of these, let alone appears to connect two elements that are ordered on
a scale in a specific way, witness the problematic status of (10): presumably, Sta-
tistics-2 is harder to pass than Statistics-1. Moreover, let alone is also a negative
polarity item: since neither (11) nor (12) is fine, it appears to require the presence
of a negation operator in the first clause (cf. Fillmore, Kay and OConnor 1988).
Next, notice that almost X has a negative entailment, whereas barely does not:
(13) He almost passed He did not pass
(14) He barely passed He passed
Nevertheless, almost cannot license the use of let alone, while barely can:
12. It is especially because of this kind of systematicity that a linguistic analysis provides a pow-
erful window on the mind. The significance of this point is easily overlooked by proponents of
the information view, cf. Hinzen & Van Lambalgen (2008) and Verhagen (2008).
Intersubjectivity and the language system 321
Recognizing barely and almost as operators and let alone as a connector at the ar-
gumentative level, allows for a unified explanation of the phenomena mentioned
above, including the problem of barely licensing the use of let alone. What these
elements have in common, and what determines the similarity of their grammati-
cal properties, is the fact that their conventional meaning primarily functions at
the level of the argumentative value of utterances, not on that of informational
322 Arie Verhagen
13. Cf. Verhagen (2005, Ch. 2) for a discussion of other phenomena relating to negation that
can be illuminatingly (re)analyzed in such a perspective, such as the difference between sen-
tential and morphological negation (by means of prefixes such as un-), and the reason why not
impossible is not functionally equivalent to possible, despite the logical equivalence of these
expressions.
Intersubjectivity and the language system 323
The situations being connected are seen as basically characterized by the verbs,
i.e. report and deliver in (23). Thus, the structure of (23) is considered to be essen-
tially the same as that of the simplex sentence The envoy reported something, with
the slot of something being filled by another clause in (23) itself: this subordinate
clause fills the direct object slot in the main clause.
However, children do not learn such complex syntactic constructs by com-
bining two descriptions of events, i.e. by combining simplex clauses (Diessel and
Tomasello 2001, cf. also Tomasello 2003). Rather, they start, at about 3 years of
age, to add certain markers of subjective perspective like I think and you know
to simple clauses of types they have already been producing before. Diessel and
Tomasello show that, at least for the children, these are not complex structures
that contain two propositions, but single-proposition utterances, the content of
which is expressed completely by what would in a traditional structural analysis
be regarded as the subordinate clause. It is only over a relatively long period of
increasing linguistic experience that children gradually learn to use more verbs,
sometimes also in the past tense and/or with third-person subjects, that in the
end results in the emergence of a more general complementation construction
that allows adults to say and understand things like (23).
These facts cast very serious doubt on the validity of the traditional analysis
for complementation in general, especially since a large part of complementa-
tion in spontaneous conversation of adults also consists of the elementary, single-
proposition type with added perspective-marking that is first acquired by chil-
dren. According to Thomspon (2002), this portion amounts to as much as 80%.
It would of course be preferable to have an analysis that acknowledges the basic
character of the perspective-marking function, and somehow incorporates cases
with third person, past tense main clauses as special cases.
324 Arie Verhagen
The point is, according to Austin, that it makes no sense to characterize (26) in
terms of truth conditions, i.e. to treat it as a description of an act of promising. In
uttering (26), one performs an act of promising, and the performance of an act
can be felicitous or infelicitous, but not true or false. An utterance such as (27),
on the other hand, constitutes a description of an act of promising, and thus its
semantics can be characterized in terms of truth conditions. Accordingly, the two
sentences belong to two wholly distinct categories of speech acts: (26) constitutes
a commissive one, (27) a constative one. Benveniste (1958) had already classi-
fied speech act formulas like (26) and first-person present-tense uses of verbs of
cognition like (24) together as subjective utterances, and (25) and (27) as objec-
tive ones. More recently, what is basically the same insight has also been formu-
lated by others, e.g. Nuyts (2001), Diessel and Tomasello (2001:103/4). According
to Nuyts, expressions like It is probable that... and I think are used performatively
(in the sense that the speaker performs an epistemic evaluation by uttering these
expressions), while third person ones (Mary thinks that...) are used descriptively:
the speaker reports on someone elses epistemic evaluation of a state of affairs
without there being any explicit indication as to whether the speaker personally
subscribes (i.e., is committed) to the veracity of the evaluation or not (Nuyts
2001:385).
But from a grammatical and especially a functional point of view, such a
dichotomy is unsatisfactory, as it implies a rather serious discrepancy between
structure and function: Why are such dissimilar functions expressed in similar
structures, i.e. complementation constructions? Also, the basis for childrens grad-
ual extension of the use of complementation, observed by Diessel and Tomasello,
Intersubjectivity and the language system 325
remains a mystery, because under this analysis, it involves an abrupt shift from
one category of communicative functions to a wholly different one.
However, the argumentative perspective developed above precisely allows for
a natural unification of these phenomena. Consider the way (26) and (27) func-
tion in the context of (28).
(28) A: Can I be in Amsterdam before the match starts?
B1: I promise that Ill have the car up in front at 2 oclock. [=(26)]
B2: John promised that hell have the car up in front at 2 oclock. [=(27)]
Both can count as an affirmative answer. Both can felicitously be followed by the
explicit reassurance So dont worry (notice the use of So). That is, both saying I
promise that X as well as saying John promised that X count as arguments for an
addressee to strengthen the assumption that X will happen, they have the same ar-
gumentative orientation.14 The difference is one of strength rather than argumenta-
tive orientation. Whereas the argumentative strength of the first-person, present
tense utterance is maximal, the strength of the third person, past tense utterance is
less, as the cognitive coordination between author and addressee is indirect, via
the onstage perspective of a third person; but it still functions to coordinate the
perspectives of speaker and addressee, just like a first person utterance.
According to this analysis, a difference between first person, present tense,
and third person matrix clauses should be that the invited inference is defeasible
in the latter case, but not in the former, which has a maximal strength. This is
borne out, for both speech act verbs, witness (29a) and (29b), and verbs of cogni-
tion, witness (30a) and (30b):
(29) a. John promised that hell have the car up in front at 2 oclock. But he
might have forgotten the route to your new home.
b. #I promise that Ill have the car up in front at 2 oclock. But I might forget
the route to your new home.
(30) a. John believes that the mission has been successful. But in fact, it has
failed.
b. #I believe that the operation has been successful. But in fact, it has
failed.
14. In Verhagen (1995), it is argued that it is precisely this constant argumentative orientation
of the report of someone promising something that provides the basis for the development of
the epistemic/evidential use of promise as in The debate promises to be interesting; in such cases
the verb only functions as a speaker-oriented marker of argumentative orientation, and does
not designate an act of promising.
326 Arie Verhagen
The fact that the contrastive conjunction but has to be used in (29a) and (30a)
once again illustrates that the first sentence by itself has the argumentative ori-
entation that I ascribed to it. The difference between performative/subjective and
constative/objective use of verbs of communication and cognition turns out to be
exactly parallel to that between maximally and less strong argumentative opera-
tors, observed in Section 4. Consider the parallel of the difference between the a
and b cases in (29) and (30) with the difference between (21) and (22), repeated
here for convenience:
(21) He barely passed the test. But anyway, he did.
(22) #He did not pass the test. But anyway, he did.
This parallel confirms the idea that third person matrix clauses of complementa-
tion constructions differ only in strength from first person ones, not in kind. In
this analysis, the difference between these two types of uses appears to be not cat-
egorical, as they have the same argumentative orientation, but a matter of degree:
they differ only in argumentative strength.
This functional unification of first and third person matrix clauses of comple-
mentation constructions makes the discrepancy between structure and function
inherent in the traditional approach disappear. The picture of the acquisition of
complementation constructions also becomes more coherent: it starts with learn-
ing to add explicit markings of perspectives to utterances; initially these are com-
pletely grounded in the speech situation (I, you, present tense), they are formu-
laic, and have maximal strength; with experience, the child learns to understand
and produce more and more indirect and general perspective markings, allowing
for more nuances and for defeasibility.
As with the system of negation, we find that the conventional meaning of
complementation primarily functions at the level of the argumentative strength of
utterances, not on that of informational value. Utterances that instantiate comple-
mentation do not consist of structural combinations of pieces of information, but
of a constructed representation of some situation, structurally embedded in a per-
spective indicator (or more than one) that serves, sometimes in conjunction with
other elements, to coordinate cognitive processes of speaker and addressee.15
15. And as with negation, this view is instrumental in solving a number of other long standing
problems of grammatical analysis (cf. Verhagen 2005, Chapter 3). Among these are the issue of
the precise grammatical analysis of sentences like The danger is that things will get out of hand
(is the complement clause the subject or the predicate of the entire sentence?), the precise status
of complements in sentences with copular predicates, like He is afraid that things will get out of
hand (such predicates do not take direct objects, cf. *He is afraid a disaster), and the analysis
Intersubjectivity and the language system 327
of Wh-questions like Who do you think pays the rent?, in which the question word seems to be
extracted from its own clause (for the latter phenomenon, see also Verhagen 2006).
328 Arie Verhagen
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Jordan Zlatev, as well as Chris Sinha, for insightful remarks
and questions about a previous version of this chapter.
16. Beside involving a special kind of mutual influencing, human language also exhibits a num-
ber of other special features as mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. Some of these have
their basis in intersubjectivity, such as the symbolic character of language (cf. Sinha 2004), its
conventionality and normativity (Itkonen, this volume; Zlatev, this volume), and the exception-
ally large size of the inventory of signals (due to, primarily, duality of patterning; cf. Martinet
1949; Hockett 1958), which allows for the emergence and survival of signals for other purposes
than the immediate elicitation of a behavioral response.
330 Arie Verhagen
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chapter 14
Introducing an interpreter into a discourse event affects the very nature of the
interchange because in addition to the interlocutors intersubjective approach to
each other, the interpreter necessarily bases her interpretation on assumptions
she makes about each of the interlocutors shared and non-shared knowledge.
Recently, many American Sign Language (ASL)-English interpreters have
espoused what have been termed expansions, claimed to be grammatically
required in ASL. But ASL has no such explicitness requirement; instead the
interpreter must attend to the intersubjective domain of discourse interaction
in order to attempt to more accurately represent what is in the minds of the
interlocutors. This chapter examines triadic intersubjectivity in interpreted
discourse and the role that contextualization plays in managing others shared
and non-shared knowledge.
1. Introduction
bring the exact same knowledge base or consciousness to the discourse event, so
that when they express ideas in turn, they continually negotiate this balance of
variables so as to best be understood by the other. This therefore constitutes an
intersubjective view of co-constructed discourse.
Because our focus is the interaction between adult language users, we are not
concerned with intersubjectivity within an ontogenetic or developmental context,
even though the emergence of mediated cognition described by Vygotsky (1978)
and others is a rich area for investigation, and one that has greatly informed our
discussion. Instead we take our cue from Per Linell (1995), who views the in-
tersubjective relationship between speakers as a continuous, collective process,
where interactors mutually check understandings. What is said and understood
gets continually updated on a turn-by-turn basis; each contribution to a dialogue
displays (or can display) some understanding or reaction to the prior contribu-
tion (Linell 1995:193). Linell also believes that there must be some meta-level
management of interaction and understanding (p. 183), consistent with Suss-
wein and Racines (this volume) view that humans (but not other animals) possess
an understanding that they attend to others, have intentions, and want things.
Once speakers have a linguistic system in place, that system is by its very nature
intersubjective, involving such elements as persuasion and conveying points of
view argumentativity, in Verhagens (2005, this volume) terms and in our view,
the on-going negotiation of meaning.
How does this negotiation play out? How do speakers gauge that something
they are conveying is understood as it is intended and whether the linguistic ex-
pression includes enough of the right information to be comprehended by the ad-
dressee? Du Bois (2003:52) characterizes face-to-face conversational discourse as
pervasive, spontaneous, interactional, and contextualized. We will argue that in-
terpreted discourse is by nature a face-to-face enterprise, that the intersubjective
views on the objects of discourse and on the discourse itself taken by interlocutors
extends to the third-party interpreter, that the interpreter brings her own views
and intentions to the discourse context, that these necessarily impact the direc-
tion and content of the discourse, and that the interpreters view does not always
correspond to those of the primary interlocutors engaging in the discourse.
Contextualization is always present in discourse as a necessary means to make
our interactions coherent, both within the immediate discourse context and over
the course of time. Contextualizing, where the speaker decides on-line the extent
to which she must contextualize, is an inherently intersubjective action, taking
place regardless of which language is being used, because of the negotiated nature
of discourse. Further, it occurs whether the discourse participants share the same
language or are attempting to communicate across a language boundary with, say,
an interpreter. Contextualizing in discourse may be something that all language
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 335
speakers do, but how they do it will depend on the discourse conventions of the
particular language, and in turn on relevant aspects of the grammar that have
evolved for that particular community of speakers. A question remains, however,
as to what is required by the grammar as opposed to what is optional for partici-
pants when meaning is being negotiated. In on-line discourse where meaning is
co-constructed, interlocutors navigate based on pragmatic factors and assump-
tions, choosing from lexical and grammatical options to construct utterances they
believe will signal their intended sense. On the other hand if something is re-
quired by the grammar, the speaker or signer has no choice but to use it.
For American Sign Language (ASL)-English interpreters, learning variable fea-
tures of discourse and their corresponding grammar is no simple task. For many
reasons interpreters experience inadequacies in their management of discourse
due to insufficient language training, a lack of ready strategies, or inexperience.
Nonetheless, the interpreters goal is to manage the information exchange and dis-
course packaging in not one, but two languages, hopefully with some finesse.
In this paper, we suggest that the description of ASL expansions in Lawrence
(1995) is misrepresentative of ASL grammar and of how ASL compares to other
languages in terms of possible discourse strategies. The features that Lawrence
describes are present to some degree in many languages, if not universally, in-
cluding English. They are not formulaic as required grammatical expressions,
but their use will instead be prompted by pragmatic principles having to do with
negotiating the information exchange. If these principles are not understood by
the interpreter there is the likelihood that she will make erroneous assumptions
about shared knowledge and intentions on the part of consumers, and subse-
quently frame the information in ways that do not match the consumers dis-
course expectations (Janzen and Shaffer 2003; Shaffer and Janzen 2004). A more
appropriate approach to information packaging may be what interpretation and
translation theorists also have referred to as contextualization (e.g. Gile 1995)
where contextualizing information is supplied by the interpreter based on situ-
ational factors rather than on assuming that the language requires something
to be phrased in a certain way. Above all, coherent, discourse-appropriate in-
terpretation necessitates that the interpreter have numerous language and over-
all discourse strategies within easy reach; any single strategy may work well in
one circumstance, but fail in another. Thus managing these triadic interaction
tasks the activity of interpreting tells us much about the very complex nature
of intersubjectivity for adult speakers.
In Section 2 below we review the notion of expansions in the literature
and point out an early precursor to this idea. In Section 3 we introduce the
role of pragmatics in interpreted discourse and discuss how an understanding
of discourse pragmatics and grammar impacts the interpreters text. Section 4
336 Terry Janzen and Barbara Shaffer
2. Expansions as grammar
For the English word austere, Lawrence suggests that the ASL construction would
need two contrasting phrases.
When couching or nesting, backgrounded information is added to clarify
an idea. Humphrey and Alcorn (2001) suggest that couching/nesting is used
to provide information in an introductory expansion or set up to ensure the
listener has the schema or frame required to understand the upcoming discourse
. A persistent difficulty with authors representation of ASL on the page is that of differing
methods of glossing, since ASL does not have a written system or standard means of nota-
tion. Also, not all authors provide a key to their transcriptions. In (1) we understand that fs
means that something is fingerspelled. It is fairly common to find facial gestures represented by
overlines, with nod meaning a concurrent positive head nod, topic (or top) representing
facial topic marking, and neg meaning a negative head nod. ASL signs are given in upper case
English words.
. Our transliteration.
. While Lawrence says that she is describing signers regular use of ASL, her examples appear
to be ASL translations of English words. This is problematic because attempting to find cross-
language equivalents confounds the issue of what might occur in a single language.
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 337
(2001:9.18). Inherent in this description is the premise that the use of some term
in ASL cannot stand on its own. Humphrey and Alcorn (2001:9.18) offer the fol-
lowing example for allergy:
(2) MEDICINE-TAKE OR CREAM RUB-ON-SKIN OR FOOD EAT-FINISH-
ITCH ALL OVER OR STOMACH UPSET OR HARD BREATH A-L-L-E-
R-G-Y
Humphrey and Alcorn mean that the (fingerspelled) word A-L-L-E-R-G-Y is ob-
ligatorily nested within the example-rich phrasing that precedes it. Their in-
tention is that without the expansion the word will not be understood by the
addressee.
Lawrence attributes expansions to the grammar of ASL specifically, meaning
that in particular grammatical contexts, an expansion is required:
In analyzing ASL discourse, it seems there are specific applications of language
use and language phrasing in ASL that do not occur in spoken English. These
unique applications are what I call EXPANSION. Although the word EXPAN-
SION has many meanings in English, I chose this term because it is descriptive of
what happens in native ASL signing. (Lawrence 1995:207, italics ours)
When Lawrence specifies that expansions take place in native ASL signing she
is suggesting that second language signers (i.e., many interpreters) are not using
ASL structures in a way that first language ASL signers are. Lawrence sees expan-
sions as a requirement of ASL in opposition to English, which suggests that, even
though she speaks only about discourse and not grammar, they are grammatical
constructions that must appear in ASL if language use is to be native-like:
Isolating the features of EXPANSION may, in fact, give the ASL student and ulti-
mately, the student of interpretation, the facility to produce a more natural form
of ASL discourse that is not only more accurate, but also allows the Deaf con-
sumer the ease of understanding the message in a more native-like form.
(Lawrence 1995:213)
The suggestion that expansions are required by the grammar of ASL is evident in
Humphrey and Alcorn (2001), who claim that ASL demands a more explicit level
of information coding than does English. They propose that:
an English presentation or exchange of information tends to deal with the spe-
cific issue at hand, avoiding a great deal of elaboration or detail. Thus unless the
. Upper case letters separated by hyphens indicates that the word is fingerspelled.
. There is a lexical word in ASL for allergy that might well suffice.
338 Terry Janzen and Barbara Shaffer
Aside from Humphrey and Alcorns disregard for different linguistic features as-
sociated with various genres of English discourse (over and above the so-called
special forms they mention) and the Gricean maxim of quantity, that is, Make
your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the
exchange) (Grice 1975:45), their claim is that English and ASL are fundamen-
tally different in regard to expansion requirements. They do concede that English
sometimes uses similar techniques to convey information (Humphrey and Al-
corn 2001:9:13) but include no elaboration of how this might take place. Instead
their claim is that expansion devices are characteristic of ASL structure, and
therefore must be inserted into ASL as the target language during English to ASL
interpretation.
We propose instead that if general principles of information exchange along
with more specific principles of discourse structure in each language are under-
stood, interpreters will better know how and when to contextualize propositions in
either direction so that information is transferred cross languages accurately without
compromising the intent. It may be, however, that these expansion techniques are
put into practice because the interpreter has made certain assumptions on the part
of the discourse participants she is interpreting for, assumptions which are perhaps
unjustified. Conversely, she may have no pragmatic motivation at all, but is merely
attempting to compensate for her own language and discourse inadequacies.
Whatever the reason, it appears that ASL-English interpreters have come to
believe that expansions are explicit grammatical features of ASL, meaning that
in specific grammatical contexts, an expansion is the correct grammatical way to
make an ASL sentence. This in fact is rarely, if ever, the case and yet the practice
has become an expectation of proper grammar usage without regard to the com-
plex pragmatic interaction of the primary participants in their discourse context.
Instead, the interpreter is deciding what information should be filled in based on
a prescribed notion of grammar rather than on cues from the setting, disregard-
ing entirely the intersubjective negotiation that the principle interlocutors are at-
tempting to engage in.
As noted, both Lawrence (1995) and Humphrey and Alcorn (2001) state
that the level of detail given in ASL discourse is much higher than that found in
English discourse. As an example of incorporating expansion techniques in ASL,
Humphrey and Alcorn cite an ASL narrative from a Deaf signer in which the
narrators mother had planned to visit but had to cancel. Humphrey and Alcorn
give the structure of the ASL story in a rough English approximation, but attempt
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 339
to retain the level of detail contained in the original ASL version. Part of this nar-
rative is as follows:
After weeding the vegetables, she stood up and evidently tripped on a garden
rake that had been left prongs-up on the sidewalk and broke her hip. (role-shift:
standing up, not seeing rake prongs tripping, sailing through the air with a
panicked look on the face, landing on right hip with a great look of pain).
(Humphrey and Alcorn 2001:9.21)
The ASL narrative is represented by a total of 291 English words in three para-
graphs that include phrases and sentences that Humphrey and Alcorn analyze as
examples of various expansions. They then suggest an appropriate English inter-
pretation of the narrative that is 66 words in length and includes none of the detail
of the original ASL, just the main point along with only those phrases directly re-
lated to this point. They make two comments of interest. First, regarding the level
of detail, ASL typically requires this degree of information [in the orignal ver-
sion] in order to be linguistically correct (2001:9.22; italics theirs) and second,
in contrast to the lack of detail in the English interpretation that the absence of
copious contextual information prevents a Deaf listener [addressee or watcher]
from comprehending the point being communicated (2001:9.23).
What do these comments represent? First, this example and the authors dis-
cussion of it illustrate the claim that expansions are part of the required grammar
of ASL, implying that they must be included or the passage will be incomprehen-
sible to the addressee. Second, if the truncated English version is recommended
as the appropriate interpretation from ASL into English, what does the interpreter
determine to be extraneous in the original text? The implication is that much of
the detail in the ASL version is not appropriate in the equivalent English text.
Third, if the two passages are considered as functionally equivalent, then in the
case of interpreting from English to ASL, how would the interpreter decide on
the specific details to add into the target text, especially given that she was not
present to witness the aunts accident. If such details were added to the ASL tar-
get text (presumably because the grammar requires it), wouldnt the addressee
sense that the interpreter really did not know if the facts expressed by the details
were actually true? Fourth, the discrepancy in the source and target texts in this
example contradicts a statement that Humphrey and Alcorn have made, noted
. By role-shift the authors mean that the signer has taken the perspective or role of the
character and presents the action from that point of view.
. This will be taken up once again in Section 4, where we address the appropriateness of the
interpreter framing information from her own perspective, which may not reflect the level of
shared information between the event participants.
340 Terry Janzen and Barbara Shaffer
above in Section 1, that in the genre of story-telling (or acting or other special
kinds of discourse), English speakers are in fact expected to use a similar degree
of detail inclusion.
The observations we have made above show that some views held regarding
the grammars of ASL and English, and what is necessary to interpret between the
two, focus on requirements of form and not on negotiated aspects of interactions
among speakers and signers. Such a how-to approach to interpretation has a
solid history in the field; in the next section we discuss an earlier item-by-item
approach that equally disregards the notion of shared knowledge.
It is evident that even as the field of signed language interpreting began to formal-
ize in the 1960s there were perceived non-equivalencies in the lexicons of English
and ASL. Authors such as Quigley and Youngs (1965) attempted to compensate
for this by suggesting interpretations for lists of English words, claiming that these
English words had no ASL equivalent lexical item and that fingerspelling the Eng-
lish word was an option reserved for the above average Deaf ASL signer. For
low-verbal deaf persons (1965:37), an alternate approach was needed, referred
to as paraphrasing. According to Quigley and Youngs, [i]n interpreting for low-
verbal deaf persons, the interpreter paraphrases, rephrases, defines, simplifies,
and attempts to give the literal sense or conceptual essence of idiomatic expres-
sions The use of analogy, parallelism, and examples are helpful in this type of
interpreting (1965:39). Some examples given are relatively simple, and may very
well serve as good paraphrases in the target. The practice of paraphrasing in this
manner is a widespread strategy in any interpreting when the target word is not
known by the interpreter or doesnt exist (e.g., Gile 1995:198 lists explaining or
paraphrasing as a reconstruction tactic). As English to ASL examples in the med-
ical arena, Quigley and Youngs suggest the English word contagious be conveyed
in ASL as EASY SPREAD SICKNESS (1965:72) and far sighted as CAN SEE FAR,
CANT SEE NEAR (1965:73). These in fact may be reasonable paraphrases that
do not stray significantly from the original (although note that each constitutes a
. While the term low-verbal has often been used to mean persons with minimal language
altogether, Quigley and Youngs define it in their context as follows: In as much as there are
relatively few deaf persons who have absolutely no verbal ability, the term low verbal will be
used to imply that mastery of the English language is either markedly deficient or totally
absent on a functional level in ordinary conversation. These low-verbal deaf persons cannot
understand or make themselves understood without the services of an interpreter in dealing
with hearing people who are not fluent in the language of signs (1965:37).
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 341
differently structured target phrasing which may or may not need to be taken into
account in the overall text).
Other examples stretch the meaning of paraphrasing. Quigley and Youngs
ASL suggestion for cataract is THIN WHITE INSIDE EYE, COVER PART USE
TO SEE, SLOWLY GET WORSE, CANT SEE, MUST REMOVE (1965:72). Dope
becomes INJECTION, BECOME HABIT, CANT STOP, DAMAGE BODY, MIND
BECOMES CRAZY (1965:73). Well beyond paraphrases, these examples explain,
then take the condition to a concluding state, and finally dispense some advice or
opinion. A doctor may be using the term in a sentence like you have early signs
of a cataract which does not (yet) imply the inevitability of impending surgery.
Equally, not all uses of the word dope entail addiction, damage, and insanity.
Even though the original intent was undoubtedly meant as helpful for inter-
preting students, the formulaic nature of these translations assumed a single way
to sign the item no matter what the situation or who the recipient was, disregard-
ing the intersubjective principles of potentially shared context and shared linguis-
tic knowledge or awareness (Linell 1995). Further problematic with Quigley and
Youngs approach to transfer between the lexicons of English and ASL is that it
assumes the absence of certain (and numerous) lexical items in ASL, when in fact
what is not being considered is the possibility that English and ASL do not con-
struct words using identical morphological and lexical processes (Janzen 2005b).
The current practices of expanding and compressing (Finton and Smith
2004) have not resolved these issues because they are equally formulaic and once
again do not take situational factors into account. Interpreters fall prey to for-
mulaic work when they make assumptions about what the languages are like
and what one group of language users will or will not be able to understand
based on these assumptions. Thus, that ASL requires expansions and English
requires compressions dictates the form of the target text without regard for the
participants and their linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge stores and com-
municative goals.
c annot avoid the target language grammar when constructing her target text. This
is highly problematic when the grammars of the source and target languages dif-
fer substantially, which we believe is the case for English and ASL. However, the
interpreter is also limited by her knowledge of the grammars if this knowledge is
incomplete, her ability to choose from a set of grammatical possibilities is limited.
But discourse among interlocutors is more than just grammar. Discourse
participants manipulate their repertoire of structural elements to achieve op-
timum communicativeness in interactional contexts. To do this, interlocutors
construct meaning that depends extensively on situational factors as well as by
linking what is communicated at a given moment to knowledge that is carried
forward from past events and experiences. Communicative competence can be
defined in interactional terms as the knowledge of linguistic and related com-
municative conventions that speakers must have to create and sustain conver-
sational cooperation, and thus involves both grammar and contextualization
(Gumperz 1982:209). Thus beyond grammatical knowledge, discourse is always
situated pragmatically, meaning that utterances must always be contextualized
to some extent. Gumperz suggests that discourse participants constantly include
contextualization cues to aid in building and maintaining communicative co-
operation: Roughly speaking, a contextualization cue is any feature of linguistic
form that contributes to the signaling of contextual presuppositions. Such cues
may have a number of such linguistic realizations depending on the historically
given linguistic repertoire of the participants (Gumperz 1982:131). Fox (1994)
points out that linguistic expressions underspecify meaning, so that a lexical item
or construction only truly suggests a meaning when it linked to some specific
context, and that meaning building is by default cooperative (cf. Seleskovitch
1976 on the overspecification of dictionary entries but the underspecification
of words in context words are tokens of meaning that the recipient is left to
construct, in the final round). Itkonens (this volume) view on shared meaning
is consistent with those of Fox and Seleskovitch in that while mental images (of
events, for example) are subjective and vary from person to person, meanings
are intersubjective because they are determined by the immediate cooperative
exchange. Contextualization cues accompany propositions (i.e., the lexical mate-
rial and associated grammar) so as to allow interlocutors to retrieve contextu-
alizing information and thereby assess the communicative intent of utterances
(Gumperz 1995). In fact, Verhagen (2005:10) suggests that the function of dis-
course is not just to be informative, but to engage in cognitive coordination,
that is, to influence another persons thoughts, attitudes and behaviours, and for
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 343
the addressee to ascertain what kind of influence the speaker might intend and
whether or not to go along with it.
Meaning, then, is not something objective found in the words and construc-
tions of language, to be discovered and conveyed, but is co-constructed between
discourse participants in an immediate social context (Wilcox and Shaffer 2005).
This is the case for any interlocutors communication attempts (Coates 1995), and
it is no less true for interpreted discourse. Thus, as Wilcox and Shaffer state, the
interpreter cannot convey someones meaning, but must co-construct meaning
along with the receiver in a specific situation for some specific purpose. This is
the essence of dialogic discourse (Linell 1997; Wadensj 1998), in fact, and in
the case of interpreted discourse the interpreter and the receiver are co-partici-
pants in the co-construction of meaning. The significance of this is that a co-con-
structed target text will not be successful if the interpreters output is formulaic,
that is, based on producing grammar without regard to the co-constructors con-
textualized participation in terms of their situational context, past knowledge and
experience, and relationship with the originator of the source text. The interpreter
must balance grammar and contextualization cues in co-constructing a meaning-
based text. This is reflected in Enkvists (1991) position:
Texts, so we may assume, are ordered, linearized, in ways which somehow op-
timize the order in which a speaker or writer wishes to eliminate the receptors
uncertainties and expose to him the states of affairs that define the particular
scenario or text world he wants to communicate. But as linearization patterns
must be affected both by the syntactic constraints and by the cultural and rhe-
torical traditions associated with the specific language and text type which are
involved, a given linearization pattern cannot always be transferred unchanged
from source to target language. This lack of direct transfer is, then, caused partly
by syntax, but also partly by cultural differences and rhetorical traditions linked
to types of discourse and texts. (Enkvist 1991:6)
Enkvist identifies three elements of texts that affect the transfer of material or
linearization patterns from source to target: syntax (or grammar), cultural dif-
ferences and rhetorical traditions. Interpreters may expect discrepancies between
the source and target languages in each of these three areas, and thus must be
prepared to encounter mismatches while interpreting.
Regarding dissimilarities in grammar, ASL-English interpreters are faced
with two quite distinctly structured languages. For example, a significant but fun-
damental difference is word order. English is a fixed SVO (subject-verb-object)
344 Terry Janzen and Barbara Shaffer
word-order language (Comrie 1981) whereas ASL has variable word order in the
sense that more ordering options are open to the ASL signer. When the verb is
final (e.g., SOV), there is a greater tendency for the verb to be morphologically
complex (Liddell 2003). ASL verb structures that are highly complex morphologi-
cally may appear as single words that comprise a whole sentence with no overt
subject or object nominals (Brentari 2002). As well, third person pronouns in
ASL are not gender specific whereas they are in English (Liddell 2003). The use
of space is prominent in the articulation of ASL such that numerous relationships
between subject, object and verbal action necessarily include a spatial dimension,
as do aspect marking and temporal relations (see, for example, Emmorey 2002),
whereas these spatial features are not overt in spoken English. These and numer-
ous additional differences between the grammars must be within the interpreters
working repertoire, but she must also be able to distinguish between what is re-
quired in the grammar and what is a discourse strategy, given that discourse strat-
egies involve some grammatical option chosen among several along with contex-
tualization cues as appropriate.
However, Enkvist also addresses cultural differences and rhetorical tradi-
tions, each of which can also motivate the interpreters linguistic choices. Dis-
tinct communities of language users exhibit cultural attributes that correspond to
their history, traditions and experiences. Two things about culture are not quite so
clear for interpreters, however. First, it is not always evident what the interpreter
should do with a cultural difference. Should the interpreter compensate for the
difference as Mindess (1999) maintains, or facilitate an exchange of cultures,
that is, allow the interlocutors to experience each others culture (Simon 1995)?
Second, it is often not obvious how cultural elements are reflected in specific lin-
guistic constructions. How does the interpreter know that a particular linguistic
or grammatical choice fits the supposed cultural experience of the recipient? Cul-
tural differences may well be mediated by certain types of contextualization. This
is not specific to one language or another, although the linguistic cues themselves
will likely be language-specific.
Rhetorical traditions refer to the types of text structure associated with
particular genres that are frequently used within a community of speakers or
signers. An example might be the typical way in which a visitor is introduced
to members of the community. In the Deaf community a new Deaf person is
most likely introduced by telling about her school history and by mentioning ac-
quaintances who may be known to both people whereas a hearing person being
. Liddell (2003), however, concludes that the basic order in ASL is SVO, with a leftward ex-
tra-clausal topic slot and a rightward post-clausal subject pronoun slot. Thus variability is more
complex than simply reordering S, V, and O.
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 345
10. Gallagher and Hutto (this volume) suggest that speakers have a lifetime of narrative practice
and know a lot about what another speaker is taking about because of cultural and experiential
knowledge that narrative frames provide. Interpreters need this knowledge in two languages,
but may be missing the early practice Gallagher and Hutto speak about if they learned one of
their working languages later as adults.
11. Some signs in ASL are commonly glossed using more than one English word. When this is
the case we use upper-case words separated by periods.
346 Terry Janzen and Barbara Shaffer
one community of language users or another, but this in no way can mean that
these are exclusive properties of a particular language itself and not others.
As we have stated, it appears that interpreters are making the assumption that
expansions are an a priori feature of ASL grammar. This leads to the further
assumption that expansions are an obligatory component of ASL signers dis-
course. As a result, they are being used as a kind of default without regard to
other potential interpreting strategies, nor to the discourse pragmatics surround-
ing that particular interpreted interaction. It is not always obvious what strategy
the interpreter should be using, but Janzen (2005a) makes it clear that strategizing
constitutes a contribution that the interpreter makes to the resulting text. Leeson
(2005) claims that additions to the interpreters target text have at times been
wrongly labeled as miscues (Cokely 1992) when in fact the interpreter might
from time to time believe that the text will be more clear if a strategic addition is
made. Leeson makes the point, however, that this strategy is just one of many the
interpreter must be skilled at, and when used, it must be a conscious decision that
affects the resulting text but, the interpreter knows, is in addition to the original
text. In other words the expansion belongs to the interpreter, not to the text.
with each of the other participants on-line, she must work to make sense of what
she perceives to be the intersubjective relationship between those participants
themselves, and further, she must attempt to linguistically represent each of their
inputs into their discussion as if it were still their own.
All of this has the potential to impose shared knowledge in an artificial way.
The interpreter necessarily filters an input utterance through her own understand-
ing of what it must mean, and chooses her target text coding based on what she
understands the target recipient to know. The question remains, however, as to
whether or not she can instead formulate her text based on what she ascertains
the speaker to be assuming about what the target recipient knows. As a regular
discourse strategy, interlocutors negotiate meaning, whereas it seems to be the
case that interpreters often expect to be able to simply take a speakers message,
reformulate it in the target language, and deliver it perfectly. Frishberg (1990) re-
flects this perspective by saying that accuracy means rendering a message from
the senders language into the addressees language and giving the receiver the
complete message (1990:65). Hatim and Mason (1990) argue that the interpreter
must necessarily be a negotiator of meaning too, which if true, implies a particu-
lar stance in the interaction: she must appeal to shared knowledge. As a part of
negotiation, the interpreter should be able to contextualize as needed, listed as an
interpreters coping strategy in Gile (1995). Contextualization is necessary to
make a negotiated message coherent for the recipient, but it may be noted that
contextualizing can occur in two phases of an interpreted discourse, that is, either
the original speaker may contextualize her statements as a reflection of her beliefs
about the addressees knowledge, or the interpreter may contextualize based on her
own beliefs about the addressee. When the latter occurs, the target text shifts away
from the originators actual message and becomes more subjective on the part of
the interpreter. It should also be noted that not contextualizing is also a discourse
strategy. If the speaker does not contextualize, she still is considered to be negotiat-
ing, and determining that no contextualization is needed.
What then if the interpreter chooses to contextualize? First and foremost, the
interpreter must be cognizant of what stance the original speaker has taken as a
meaning negotiator, that she is now choosing a different route, and that the effect
of this route on the addressee may be different from what the speaker intended.
As the interpreter thus negotiates by contextualizing, the recipient will respond
based on the interpreters framing, not necessarily based on the originators fram-
ing. Returning to the notion of expansions as required by ASL grammar, we see
that they might occur because of the assumption that there is no other way to
frame an idea rather than because of an assessment of discourse appropriateness
and careful consideration of the originators purposeful choices. In other words,
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 349
the interpreter expands without regard to the source text or the target recipients
needs. Because the direction of interpretation that expansions tend to occur in
is from English into ASL, it is the Deaf recipient who receives the expansion.
Stratiy (2005), who herself is an ASL-as-first-language user, claims that this prac-
tice disregards the recipient in making the assumption that she does not share
some context with her interlocutor, without any attempt at negotiation. Wadensj
(1998) documents similar examples in her study of Russian-Swedish interpreters
in medical settings. Regarding an interpreter who has over-explained what a
source speaker must have meant, Wadensj says that there can be a tendency to
underestimate the patients ability to understand (which is sometimes considered
patronizing) (1998:225). The interpreter has not understood the intersubjective
dynamic between the speaker and addressee, and obstructs dynamic sharedness
in her interpreted text.
There are several effects here. First, by the interpreter believing she is required
to expand at some point in the text, she sends a message to her recipients that
they must be expanded to. Stratiy suggests that this is based on an assumption
that the Deaf recipient will not be able to understand an un-expanded struc-
ture, which views the Deaf person as deficient or lacking. Stratiy questions why
interpreters do not make the opposite assumption, that the recipient might in fact
understand, but if not, will readily negotiate that point. Second, the interpreter
can often block the discourse participants from their own meaning negotiation,
during which they would otherwise learn about each other and what is shared
and not shared between them. Finally, we would like to suggest that interpret-
ers may use expansions at times when their own knowledge of lexicon or gram-
mar fails them. Paraphrasing is a well-known and often used interpreter strategy
(Gile1995; Leeson 2005) that allows the interpreter to accommodate lexical gaps
in the target language or lapses in recall; the problem with expansions as gram-
mar is that the interpreter believes that the expansion is the correct, and perhaps
only, grammatical structure and does not move beyond it to learn new lexical
items or grammatical phrasing options.
To reiterate our view on discourse negotiation in both dialogic discourse and in-
terpretation, we take the stance that contextualizing is a cooperative principle that
aids in the co-construction of shared meaning. To accomplish this, interlocutors
necessarily take advantage of existing grammar in the language they are using
grammar both facilitates and constrains what interlocutors can do:
350 Terry Janzen and Barbara Shaffer
Selection of lexical items and grammatical decision making may be more dif-
ficult in one language than another because of differences in the variety of pos-
sible choices and in the flexibility of linguistic rules: a very wide vocabulary as
opposed to a more restricted one, flexible or rigid lexical usage, or the number of
possible escape routes in sentence structuring in case the source language leads
to an unexpected segment and forces one to reconsider ones options.
(Gile 1995:234235)
ASL, like any human language, has numerous grammatical features that are
useful when interlocutors contextualize as a discourse-level meaning negotia-
tion strategy. Topic-comment constructions, identified as a basic sentence type
(Ingram 1978; McIntire 1982; Janzen 1998), are sentences in which a topic con-
stituent appears first followed by a comment. The topic provides some grounding
information that situates a comment for the addressee. It is background informa-
tion the signer assumes the addressee will recognize as the ground from which to
view the comment. The comment constituent contains the actual point of the
utterance or the new information. In these constructions, the topic constituent
provides a kind of context for the main point found in the comment, and is cho-
sen because the signer believes that the addressee will recognize it as something
identifiable, that is, it is shared information.
In choosing a topic as grounding information, the signer may not always be
certain that it is in fact identifiable, thus a topic might be negotiated. Based on
cues from the addressee that an intended topic is not equally shared, the signer
will back up and fill in some contextual details to bring the addressee up to speed.
This accomplished (and acknowledged as such by the addressee), the signer may
reiterate the topic phrase she began with now that it has shared status, it works
as a grammatical topic phrase, and the discourse moves on to some comment(s)
about that topic. Thus, in ASL, topic phrases represent an intersection of grammar
at the sentence level and contextualization at the discourse organization level, and
so may be counted as an overt marker of intersubjectivity.
In English, interlocutors also choose constructions to negotiate in similar
ways. Embedded relative clauses often serve this purpose, for example. In (3) the
relative clause (in italics) contextualizes the guy it supplies more information
that the speaker believes to be identifiable to the addressee and which will assist
in specifying who the guy is.
(3) The guy who we thought we were meeting couldnt come.
(4) That plumber I called said I didnt need a new water heater yet.
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 351
That is used in (4) as opposed to the articles the or a as a signal to the addressee
that the noun that follows is unquestionably shared, an intertextual reference
(Hatim and Mason 1990) to a previously shared discourse event.
The interpreters task is to recognize and make sense of contextualizing se-
quences in the utterances she is attempting to interpret, and relay that intertextual
sense by choosing constructions that in essence do the same work, even if the
construction in the target language is not of the same category as that chosen
in the source. A problem that this presents is that the previous context is not
necessarily shared by that interpreter, meaning that the same intersubjective mo-
tivation in choosing structures is not a part of the interpreters cognitive state
(Shaffer and Jansen 2002).
Even though some of these linguistic features may fit Lawrences rubric of
so-called expansions, it is not the case that their use should be viewed a priori as
required structurally. Rather, grammatical elements and constructions are chosen
that fit the specific situational parameters at the moment, and most importantly,
best facilitate the communicative goals of the speaker (Givn 2005). A relative
clause is not chosen by a speaker if it is deemed unnecessary; a topic in ASL is not
negotiated if there is no perceived reason to do so. Thus, even though the inter-
preter must use the grammatical items available in a given language and, as men-
tioned, is constrained by the grammar in that regard, contextualizing is clearly a
discourse-level interplay in which the interpreter is an equally subjective player.
6. Conclusions
with the recipient, which is not equally shared with the source speaker. Wadensj
(1998:234) says that some interpreters excessive willingness to explain for one
of the parties, thus taking over the responsibility of the other party, may also turn
out to be a trouble source obstructing sharedness between the primary interlocu-
tors (italics added).
In the case of allergy, the interpreter expands, or over-specifies, by adding
details that were not in the source message (whether unconsciously or by design).
The choice shows the interpreters construal of (1) what the recipient would not
understand, and (2) what allergy must mean. Unfortunately, by listing a particular
set of sources of allergic reactions the interpreter has also defined the set what if
the doctor, when inquiring about allergies, had in mind an allergy to latex?
Nonetheless, in interpretation generally, there are numerous points in the
process where contextualizing is a beneficial interpreting strategy, and in fact, it is
a regular feature of discourse that is particularly useful in interpretation. Contex-
tualization occurs pervasively in discourse, and there is no reason to expect it not
to occur in interpretation as well. We stress, however, that contextualization must
be a part of the interpreters conscious decision-making process. The interpreter
holds a unique position because it is her task to reformulate the intentions of one
speaker into the linguistic terms and discourse framing of an entirely different
language, and yet she must work to allow interlocutors to build their own inter-
subjective relationship. To do this, she makes myriad subjective linguistic and
framing choices, including whether to contextualize or not and, depending on the
nature of these choices, may either promote or obstruct the intentional interac-
tion between those she is interpreting for.
In this view, the interpreter never takes a neutral stance it simply is not avail-
able to her. Regarding the intersubjective nature of discourse, interpreters have a
dual role to fill. On one hand, as cross-language mediators, they form a discourse
relationship with the speaker of language A and another with the speaker of lan-
guage B. But on the other hand, they attempt to reconstruct the very subjective
messages between the speakers of languages A and B without significantly inter-
fering with the intersubjective relationship the two interlocutors are building with
each other. The interpreters knowledge store will not match perfectly those of the
interlocutors she is interpreting for, so she must be cognizant of the linguistic cues
she encounters from each to help her in the mutual construction of meaning so
that even though the two interlocutors do not share the same linguistic system,
they are communicating meaningfully with each other.
Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 353
Acknowledgements
First and foremost we wish to thank the late Donna Korpiniski, interpreter ex-
traordinaire, for her forward thinking and cognizant reflection on her work, and
for many fruitful discussions that have helped us formulate our own ideas pre-
sented here. Thanks also to the editors of this volume for their support, sugges-
tions and thoughtful reviews.
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Intersubjectivity in interpreted interactions 355
This chapter has two primary aims. The first is to propose an account of the so-
cial nature of the shared mind. The second is to put forward arguments and evi-
dence for regarding material objects, especially artefacts, as a crucial ingredient
of intersubjectivity and its development. In this section we advance philosophical
and psychological arguments for considering the shared mind to be fundamental-
ly social. We critically assess the methodological individualism guiding the con-
strual by most philosophers and psychologists of the notion of intersubjectivity,
and propose an alternative construal of intersubjectivity which sees it as rooted in
an ontology of the social, whose methodological counterpart is the Durkheimian
concept of the social fact.
There are two fundamentally different ways to conceive of the shared mind.
The first of these is predicated upon the foundational status of individual mental
or representational content, and in particular of intentional states such as beliefs.
An intentional state is characterized, as Searle (1983) puts it, by its directedness to
whatever it is about. Intentional states can be about anything at all: object, event
or process, real or imaginary, and hence can also be directed at other intentional
states, whether those of the subject or that of another subject. I can, for example,
wish that I had thought of an idea before someone else did, or I can believe that
my next door neighbour believes in fairies, and so on. It is on this basis that the-
ory theories of intersubjectivity are constructed: intersubjectivity is considered
to be a matter of knowledge (or belief, or intentional states in general). On this
account, intersubjectivity is essentially a matter of common knowledge in the
sense of Lewis (1969) (see also Clark 1996; Itkonen this volume).
It is indisputable that normal adult human beings do indeed base much of
their social reasoning on representations of other peoples mental states. There
are also good arguments for viewing social institutions such as language as objects
of common knowledge (Itkonen this volume). There are, however, at least three
objections to regarding the common knowledge account as sufficiently foun-
dational or inclusive to fully comprehend intersubjectivity. The first objection is
logical. The common knowledge account is immediately vulnerable to Humes
Other Minds problem: How can I know that the mental content that I ascribe to
you is the mental content that you actually have, even excluding cases of mistaken
or false ascriptions? In other words, if, for example, I (correctly) think that my
neighbour believes in fairies, how do I know that whatever it is that my neighbour
believes in is what I think they believe in? To know that, I have to be sure that
what my neighbours mental content is about is the same as what my neighbours
mental content under my representation is about. Without this guarantee of ref-
erential intersubjectivity, there can be no common knowledge. In other words,
Language and the signifying object 359
. Of course, there must always have been some (mythic) inventor of a social fact, such as
money, and at least one other participant to understand the intention behind the invention, but
once invented, the social fact acquires a relative ontological autonomy.
362 Chris Sinha and Cintia Rodrguez
Searles argument, however initially appealing, faces the problem of where this
primitive or a-priori we comes from. The answer that we offer is that it is the
lexico-grammatical expression of Intersubjectivity itself, deriving from and
grounded in joint action (we are doing so-and-so), regulated by the normative
social fact that makes recognizable the joint action as an instance of the practice
so-and-so. This answer, similarly to our argument above with respect to the on-
tological status of social facts, preserves Searles recognition of the foundational
status of intersubjectivity in joint intentions, while turning his own version of it
on its head. It is not, we maintain, the intentional state we intend X that is con-
stitutive of the practice X: rather, the intentional state is derived from the shared
practice X, whose conventionalized objectification as a social fact is the object
of the intentional state.
Searle (who fails to reference Durkheim) goes on to write (ibid. p. 26):
I will henceforth use the expression social fact to refer to any fact involving
collective intentionality. So, for example, the fact that two people are going for
a walk together is a social fact. A special subclass of social facts are institutional
facts for example, the fact that this piece of paper is a twenty dollar bill is an
institutional fact.
. This is an allusion to Karl Marxs assertion, both laudatory and critical, that he had turned
Hegels dialectical logic the right way up. The mystification which dialectic suffers in Hegels
hands by no means prevents him from being the first to present its general forms of motion in a
comprehensive and conscious manner. With him it is standing on its head. It must be inverted,
in order to discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell (Marx 1976 [1873]:103).
Language and the signifying object 363
It will be clear by now that, from our point of view, Searles proposal puts the cart
before the horse. We would maintain, rather, that collective intentionality is based
upon, not the source of, participation in joint action in an intersubjective field,
regulated by social facts (norms, institutions etc.).
What empirical evidence does developmental science offer for the existence
of an ontology of the social, and how might this bear upon the difference be-
tween our account and Searles collective intention account? The classic experi-
ment by Murray and Trevarthen (1986), who showed that infants were able to
distinguish between a real-time video-mediated (CCTV) image of their moth-
ers, and the same image recorded on videotape, unsynchronized with the infants
own actions, is extremely illuminating. The experiment, we would argue, provides
strong evidence of the reality of the ontology of the social as such (both as social
fact and as psychological reality); and of the biologically based readiness of very
young infants to participate. The important thing about such participation, which
distinguishes it from mere coordination on the basis of the stimulus situation,
is not only the temporal sequencing and rhythm of the interaction, but also the
subjective recognition of being engaged in participation indexed by the different
emotional reactions of the infants to the two stimulus situations.
Viewing primary intersubjectivity in terms of participation, rather than in-
tention, has important consequences for developmental theory. The implausi-
bility of attributing neonatal engagement to intentional mental contents has led
some developmentalists to neglect the significance of primary intersubjectivity,
and focus on secondary intersubjectivity (triadic joint attention) as the decisive
achievement in the development of the shared mind (Tomasello 1999). We main-
tain, in contrast, that all later forms of intersubjectivity are predicated on primary
intersubjectivity. It is, however, neither necessary nor correct to interpret the evi-
dence for primary intersubjectivity in terms of innate intentionality, whether
individual or collective. Rather, we prefer Trevarthens more recent formulation
in terms of motives for engagement, while emphasizing that the constitution
of engagement as intersubjective is effected as much by the structuring (by the
caretaker) of participation, as by the biological predisposition and capacity of the
infant to engage. Primary intersubjectivity, on this reading, is neither merely a
psychological nor merely a biological fact, but a proto-social fact supported by
human developmental psychobiology.
Furthermore, without denying the developmental significance of the sharing
of attention and of other individual intentional states, our prioritizing of partici-
pation in joint action enables us to conceptualize, similarly to Rakoczy (2006), the
primary inter-mental dimension of intersubjectivity as being a normatively regu-
lated commitment to the activity itself (see also Shotter 1978, 1995); and prompts
364 Chris Sinha and Cintia Rodrguez
The semiotic value of the knot is conventional, not by virtue of the knot being an
element of a sign system, but because it is normatively framed by a social practice
of reminding. It is this frame of practice which underpins the meaning signified
by the knot on any given occasion, constituting the semiotic status of the knot as
an example in miniature of what Searle (op cit.) calls an institutional fact.
Vygotskys knot in the handkerchief, and Searles twenty dollar bill, are thus
both institutional facts; and both are exemplars of the material semiotic media-
tion of social practices the exchange of respectively information and goods.
We may note both similarities and differences between the two cases. First, the
similarities. There is no intrinsic property of the material substrate (cotton, paper
and ink) which determines the semiotic or monetary value of the token, which is
conventionally determined. Hence, the token is equivalent, for purposes of use,
to any other type-identical token, which need not be made of the same mate-
rial (a piece of string round the wrist, an electronic credit on a chip card). This
366 Chris Sinha and Cintia Rodrguez
For example, we could say that Vygotskys handkerchief counts as a sign for a mes-
sage in its context of use, and the standing for relationship obtains between the
handkerchief and the specific message in context C. So, on this interpretation, the
sign relationship can be expanded into:
X counts as S, and S stands for M, in context C.
The distinction between the counts as and the stands for relationship can now
be used to distinguish between the grammatical acceptability and the semantic
interpretation of a sentence (Itkonen this volume):
James eats meat counts as a correct sentence in English, and stands for the
proposition that James eats meat in context C.
Language and the signifying object 367
Note, now, that it is also in virtue of the combination of its formal arrangement
and its context, that the sentence James eats meat counts as an assertion of the
proposition; the sentence does not stand for the assertion, rather the act of ut-
tering it in a particular context is that assertion, just as Searles twenty dollar bill is
the twenty dollars, rather than standing for it. Hence, both the grammaticality and
the illocutionary force of an utterance are aspects of what the utterance counts as
(being) in its context, while its semantic interpretation is the interpretation that it
stands for, in that same context. All of this is irreducibly normative, and it is this
duality of normative structure, of counting as and standing for, that underlies
the conditions on representation that are analyzed by Sinha (1988:37): To repre-
sent something is to cause something else to stand for it, in such a way that both
the relationship of standing for, and that which is intended to be represented, can
be recognized. The fact that the standing for, or sign relation, is embedded in the
counting as, or institutional relation, also makes it clear why language must be
viewed as primarily a social institution (Itkonen this volume).
This account might suggest, too, that the institutional counting as relation is
somehow cognitively simpler than the sign relation. This cannot be the case with-
out qualification, since coined money was only invented in the period of 800-600
BCE, in Greece and China, at a time when we have ample evidence of written
language. Indeed, Sohn-Rethel (1977) argues that it was the invention of coinage
which simultaneously brought into existence both generalized commodity produc-
tion and the very notion, fundamental to logic, of abstract equivalence and purely
formal identity. Sociogenetically, then, institutional semiotic forms have continued
to be historically elaborated along with symbolic forms (Sinha in press).
Ontogenetically, however, we shall argue that the normative understanding of
counting as precedes the development of symbolization and language. To make
this argument, we briefly cite Searle once again, who points out that: in order
that something be a chair, it has to function as a chair; and hence, it has to be
thought of or used as a chair. Chairs are not abstract or symbolic in the way that
money and property are, but the point is the same in both cases. And the point,
of course, is normative. Let us examine more carefully the semiotics of material
artefacts. Now, anything can be used as a chair, provided it has the affordances, in
the sense of Gibson (1979), which permit it to be sat in or on. Such affordances
are part of what Searle calls the brute or natural facts, as opposed to insti-
tutional or social facts. Is there, however, any sense in which something can be
. This account also implies that Searle is wrong to characterize money as symbolic, inas-
much as symbolization involves denotation or representation (Sinha 2004). We can certainly
agree, however, that the self-identical relation of counting as is inherently semiotic as well as
social.
368 Chris Sinha and Cintia Rodrguez
into an upright orientation and place the block inside the cup. In this response
strategy, the infants showed that they were locked into a normative apprehen-
sion of the cup as a canonical container, which over-rode the brute affordance of
the flat surface of the bottom of the inverted cup. Even after this response strategy
disappeared in action imitation tasks, it re-appeared in language comprehension
tasks: for example two year olds, when asked to place a block on an inverted cup,
turned it to the upright position and placed the block inside it.
These experiments can be interpreted as showing that, in the first place, ob-
jects are cognitively apprehended by infants, from an early age, in terms of their
socially-imposed, normative and canonical function (the object counts as a con-
tainer). In the second place, the emerging conceptualization of spatial relations
between objects is also derived as much from the canonical functional relations
which objects contract with each other as from purely perceptual-geometric in-
formation (for a discussion of the functional basis of spatial relational meaning,
see Vandeloise 1991).
Where does this understanding, on the part of the infant, of the canonical
function of objects come from? This question is important, because of the inti-
mate relationship between the physical properties of the artefact, and its socially
baptized canonical function. In contrast with, for example, the monetary token
(in which the relationship between the material from which the token is made,
and its exchange value, has historically become increasingly attenuated, arbitrary
and even, as money assumes the mantle of pure informational form, virtual), the
physical structure of traditional artefacts such as cups is not only non-arbitrary,
but essential to its fulfilment of its canonical function.
Infants motivation to explore the physical world is well known, and it might
be hypothesized that their apprehension of object properties in terms of func-
tion derives from an untutored, spontaneous sensori-motor engagement with the
object as a purely physical entity (for example, the exploration of the cavity of a
container giving rise to the dominance of this cavity in the early pre-conceptual
representation of the object).
We have several sources of evidence that this is not so. First, while there is
evidence of understanding of containment as a physical relationship at 6 months
(Hespos and Baillargeon 2001), we were unable to detect canonicality effects in
search tasks below the age of 9 months. This may, however, be a consequence
of a motor-involving against a violation-of-expectancies methodology. Second,
when the perceptual-cognitive link between canonical orientation and canoni-
cal containment function of cups was broken, by painting schematic faces ei-
ther upright or upside down on the cups, the canonicality effect in infant search
was abolished (Lloyd et al. 1981). This finding reinforces the conclusion that the
370 Chris Sinha and Cintia Rodrguez
c anonicality effect is dependent upon socially cued expectations about the nor-
mative use of the object.
Even more decisive experimental evidence for the role of joint action in es-
tablishing canonical object concepts comes from the experimental design used in
Freeman at al. (1981), where the object was functionally ambiguous, consisting
of a set of stacking / nesting cubes. The child was invited by the experimenter to
play with the entire set of cubes, and the experimenter set up this pre-test game
as either a nesting or a stacking activity. After successfully completing, as joint ac-
tion, an activity of constructing either a nest of cubes, or a tower of stacked cubes,
the experimenter extracted a medium-size cube and a small cube, and conducted
either an action imitation task involving the placement of the smaller cube on top
of/ inside/under the larger cube, or an acting-out language comprehension task
with instructions to place the smaller cube in, on or under the larger cube.
The results were dramatic. After playing a nesting game, childrens error patterns
showed a response bias similar to the canonicality effect manifested in the same
task using cups. In other words, there was a response preference for placing the
small cube inside the larger cube. However, this effect was abolished in the stack-
ing condition, in which there was a tendency to preferentially place the smaller
cube on top of the larger cube.
To conclude this review of experimental evidence, we emphasize that canoni-
cal function and orientation, though they are in some sense intrinsic to the
object as a material entity with determinate structure and affordances for human
action, are not essential object properties in the same way as object substance.
The stacking / nesting cubes experiment showed that the framing of the object
in terms of its normatively appropriate function and orientation can be local-
ly taught and negotiated. There is also inter-cultural variation in the canonical
orientation and function assigned to classes of objects which may be materially
identical between the cultures. For example, in the indigenous agrarian Zapotec
culture of Southern Mexico, baskets are commonly stacked, and are frequently
used as covers for foodstuffs and in childrens games of catching chickens. As well
as these differences between Zapotec and Euro-American cultural practices, the
Zapotec language lexicalizes the different spatial relations that are lexically distin-
guished by English in and under using a single body-part term, translatable
as the English word stomach. Young Zapotec children differed from their Dan-
ish counterparts not only in their response patterns in language comprehension
tasks using baskets, but also in non-linguistic action imitation tasks. The Zapotec
children clearly did not regard the relationship of what we consider to be canoni-
cal containment, and the orientation that we would regard as upright, as being
Language and the signifying object 371
canonical (Sinha and Jensen de Lopez 2000; Jensen de Lopez 2003; Jensen de
Lopez, Hayashi and Sinha 2005).
The experimental evidence we have reviewed supports the view, then, that
it is the intersubjective structuring of the childs participation in joint action, as
much as (and indeed more so) than the affordances of the object in itself , that
enables the child, in a process of guided reinvention (Lock 1980), to appropri-
ate the norms governing object use and to achieve an object representation in
terms of canonical function. This process has a long developmental history, and
the episodes of joint action are accompanied and mediated at every stage by the
use of communicative signs by the adult participant, as is attested by the observa-
tions reported by Rodrguez and Moro (1999, 2002, this volume; see also Moro
and Rodrguez 2005).
Throughout this developmental process, objects are invested with signifi-
cance. They become, for the child, material representations and signifiers of the
rules, norms, values, rituals, needs and goals of the entire matrix within which
they are embedded. In short, they become part of a meaningful system of signs
(Sinha 1988:204).
As Smolka et al. point out, the cowboy hat, qua artefactual object, remained
throughout a hat, never used by the children as anything other than a hat. At the
same time, it became or, rather, came to signify more than the canonical
rules of object-usage that it embodied.
Through language, the children created Bete Carrera (Turn 7), the feminine of
Beto Carrero ... Language allows for this specific appropriation, for such a con-
struction and transformation; it allows for a performance that synthesizes old
and new modes and models of acting. Through language, it is possible to become
another, to become homo duplex or, in fact, multiplex. In this consists the dra-
matic character of human experience. (Smolka, Ges and Pino 1997:161)
The hat is thus simultaneously situated at two levels of meaning. At the first level,
its canonical function is appropriated enactively by the participants (by putting it
on and taking it off). At this first level, the construal of the hat is intersubjectively
shared, non-contested and constant: the hat remains a hat. At the second level, the
hat is invested with a surplus meaning which goes beyond canonicality. At this
second level the hat comes to signify the subjective positionings and perspectives
of the individual participants within a more comprehensive, discursively consti-
tuted and gendered frame, by means of which, say Smolka et al. (1997:161), the
signifying aspect of the (inter)subjective actions necessarily implies immer-
sion in language and meaning production.
The discursive frame is one of narrativity (Gallagher and Hutto this volume),
through which, as Lightfoot (1997:174) puts it, temporal rhythm becomes his-
tory, and transitory meanings become forms of knowledge which linger long
enough to be toyed with. Through intersubjectively shared and constructed nar-
rative, the world and the identity of the subject can simultaneously be explored,
renewed and consolidated. As we emphasized earlier, this is a process in which
emotional investment plays as important a role as cognitive structure, the two
aspects being fused in what the cultural theorist Raymond Williams called struc-
tures of feeling. Here is what Williams (1977:128) says about temporality in cul-
tural activity and structures of feeling:
If the social is always past, in the sense that it is always formed, we have in-
deed to find new terms for the undeniable experience of the present: not only
the temporal present, the realization of this and this instant, but the specificity
of the present being, the inalienably physical, within which we may discern and
acknowledge institutions, formations, positions, but not always as fixed products,
defining products.
Earlier, we drew upon Durkheims notion of social facts, emphasizing the al-
ready there and formed exteriority and objectivity of norms and institutions.
Language and the signifying object 375
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Hudson, R. 297
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Gordon, R. 17, 42, 264 346, 350 Lightfoot, D. 374
Gould, J. 95 Jeannerod, M. 19, 118 Linell, P. 334, 341, 343
Grice, P. 220, 259, 338 Jenkins, J. M. 216, 236 Liszkowski, U. 156, 158, 179,
Guajardo, N. R. 29, 32, 265 Johnson, C. M. 188, 189, 190 203, 207
Johnson, M. 152, 268 Lloyd, S. 368, 369
H Johnson, M. C. 125 Lock, A. 179, 193, 371
Hacker, G. P. 144, 145, 147, Johnson, S. C. 21, 22 Locke, J. 256
150, 152 Johnson-Laird, P. 301 Lohmann, H. 217, 236
Hare, B. 226, 227 Jones, R. A. 360 Lou, H. C. 59
Harris, P. 42, 253 Jones, S. 249 Lovejoy, C. O. 256
Hobson, R. P. 6, 8, 20, 22, 42,
67, 6973, 77, 80, 83, 85, 126, M
142, 143, 207, 217, 251, 264 K MacKinnon, J. R. 168
Kac, M. 300 Maestripieri, D. 168, 183
Hobson (Meyer), J. A. 6, 8, 42,
Kanner, L. 71, 84 Malle, B. 2
67, 72, 73, 87
Karmiloff-Smith, A. 95 Mandler, J. 92, 93, 113
Hockett, C. F. 232, 293, 294,
Katz, J. 299, 300 Marler, P. 166, 167, 255
307, 329
Kendon, A. 195 Martinet, A. 329
Hofstadter, D. 298300
Keysers, C. 42, 45, 55, 117 Marx, K. 291, 362
Honderich, T. 11 Matsuzawa, T. 37, 47
Kiparsky, P. 299
Author index 381
Tanner, D. 168, 174, 176, 200, Verhagen, A. 6, 11, 285, 307, Winch, P. 281, 286, 289
231 310, 311, 315317, 320, 322, 325, Wittgenstein, L. 35, 8, 10, 23,
Tomasello, M. 47, 48, 79, 97, 326, 334, 342 38, 81, 109, 110, 144, 158, 230,
109, 123, 126128, 142, 146, Verschueren, J. 284, 295 279283, 286, 287, 290, 294,
156, 158, 165, 167, 169180, Volterra, V. 152, 179, 190, 193, 297, 300, 307
187, 188, 190, 193, 195198, 220, 240 Woodruff, G. 176
200202, 204, 205, 207, 216, von Glaserfeld, E. 171, 186 Woodward, A. L. 46, 47, 127,
217, 226231, 234, 236, 245, Vonk, J. 245, 246 137, 265
246, 263, 269, 308311, 323, Vygotsky, L. S. 35, 8, 8991, Wynn, T. 247, 253
324, 363 96, 231, 334, 365, 366, 368
Trevarthen viixi, 7, 17, 20, 23, Y
42, 68, 77, 116, 117, 126, 127, W Youngs, J. P. 340, 341
141143, 146, 190, 192, 193, Wadensj, C. 343, 347, 349, 352
207, 219, 220, 223, 359, 363 Wallon, H. 90, 96, 359 Z
Tutin, C. E. G. 168, 179 Watson, S. 29, 32 Zahavi, D. 3
Wellman, H. 31, 38, 265 Zazzo, R. 359
V Whiten, A. 187, 195, 197, 229, Zlatev xi, 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 20, 21,
Valsiner, J. 1, 373 249 25, 34, 38, 42, 43, 47, 56, 96,
van Lawick-Goodall, J. 168, Wicker, B. 55, 64, 117 111, 137, 166, 178, 215218, 221,
195, 204 Wilcox, S. 343, 346, 347 222, 225, 226, 232, 249, 255,
Vandeloise, C. 369 Williams, E. 92 259, 264, 267, 268, 283, 288,
Varela, F. 1 Williams, R. 374, 345 289, 307, 309, 329, 359
Vea, J. J. 176, 186 Wilson, D. 312 Zuberbhler, K. 166, 167, 177
Subject index
understanding intentions cues/signals 42, 175, 179, use of objects 93, 99, 100,
226, 227, 230 196, 200, 224, 309 103, 105, 106, 108, 110, 111
deception 228 intention 10, 161, 178, 179, -normative 219, 233, 283
language 232 216, 220, 230, 231, 234, 237, (see also norm)
false belief 236 238, 239, 259, 267 (see also conventionalization 165, 178,
cingulate cortex (CC) 54, 55 intentions) 289, 296, 361, 362, 364
co-evolution 215, 218, 222 intent indicators 122, 124, conversation 27, 29, 153, 242,
cognitive empathy 217, 225, 125, 127, 131 258, 260, 262, 323, 334,
226, 237 (see also empathy) signs 166, 169, 172, 175, 179, 340, 347
cognitivism 359 188, 195, 196, 200, 212, 215, analysis 153, 154
collective intentionality 362, 224, 230, 231, 309, 310, 371, in autism 72, 75
363 (see also intentionality) 374 (see also signs) in children 25
collectivism 10, 290, 291 system 188 proto- viii, ix, 117, 132, 143
common code 40, 46 triangle 263 conversational implicature 312
common knowledge 5, 10, view of language 259 cooperation 11, 229, 342
216, 220, 233, 239, 279, 280, complementation 323, 324, correctness 10, 220, 287, 290,
286291, 298, 357359, 361, 326, 329 291, 295, 296
362, 373 compositionality 219 cross-modal mapping 117, 219,
commonsense psychology 41 conceptual 220, 223
communication 5, 171, 174, 176, categorization 92, 94, 110 culture vi, viii, 1, 93, 191, 218,
179, 219, 269, 308, 310, 327, development 49 231, 253, 309, 315, 316, 344,
328, 372 expanations (vs. causal/ 370, 371, 373
animal/primate (see animal empirical) 4, 142, 147, mimetic (see mimetic
communication) 149 culture)
infant 8, 90, 95, 97, 111, understanding 8, 49, 55, traditional 225
126, 170 58, 81 customs 261
intentional 8, 9, 115, 116, consciousness 54, 217, 219, 220,
120131, 134, 135, 137, 171, 223, 225, 237, 280, 282, 283, D
172, 174, 175, 188, 190, 192, 286, 334, 347 declarative
193, 198, 208, 218, 220, 228, and intuition 297 behaviour 204
229, 230, 269, 353 and language 10 knowledge 251, 252
linguistic/verbal 11, 180, human vi pointing 9, 122, 145, 147, 152,
307, 311, 312, 329 (see also landscape of (see landscape of 155158, 175, 176, 202, 203,
language) consciousness) 205, 218220, 263
non-verbal/gestural 68, 71, pre- 222, 223
sentence 283, 287
75, 98, 172, 175, 218, 231, self- 85, 223
signals 309
264, 266, 269 (see also visual vii
decoupling 58
gestures) contagion 56, 57, 132, 219, 220
decontextualisation 8, 135137
communicative 44, 47, 69, 71, contextualization
definitional
74, 79, 84, 89, 91, 115, 120, and ASL 11, 334336, 342,
121, 123, 126, 130, 134136, 343, 344, 348, 350352 criterion 221
171, 190, 192, 197, 198, 233, convention/conventional 96, issues 8, 142, 159
269, 317, 323, 325, 341, 351, 98, 111, 166, 216, 220, 221, question 215
361, 364, 366, 372 236, 238, 255, 261, 267269, deictic
actions/acts 52, 111, 187, 188, 284, 285, 307310, 312, 318, elements 308
189, 193, 203 359, 364, 373 identification 372
competence ix, 342 signs 196, 232, 365 (see also gestures 165, 178, 179, 193,
contexts 90, 98100, 109, sign) 218 (see also gestures)
110 symbols 97, 165 desire 120, 158, 372
Subject index 385
264, 267, 351, 352, 358, dyadic 44, 47, 62, 148, 178, primary (see primary
360363 180 intersubjectivity)
agent 47, 52, 53, 58, 94, 128, triadic 8, 44, 45, 47, 62, 89, secondary(see secondary
179 (see also agent) 90, 91, 97, 98, 100, 104, 110, intersubjectivity)
attitudes 33, 220, 251, 265, 111, 126, 148, 149, 335, 372 intuition 291, 293, 297, 300, 301
266 Interaction Theory 17
communication 8, 9, 115, interaffectivity 115, 131, 133, 134, J
116, 120131, 134, 135, 137, 136, 137, 220, 223 joint action 90, 95, 97101,
160, 171, 172, 174, 175, 188, interattentionality 131, 132, 134 104, 110, 111, 357, 361364, 370,
190, 192, 193, 198, 213, 218, (see also joint attention) 371, 373
220, 228230, 269, 353 (see interintentionality 131133, 135, joint attention 23, 24, 30, 46,
also communication) 137 (see also joint intention) 7880, 82, 84, 90, 97, 111, 120,
islands 47 internal states 54, 62 122, 127, 129, 132, 146, 147, 148,
relations 7, 39, 40, 41, 43 interobjectivity 357, 364, 373 153155, 215, 219, 224, 226,
48, 5054, 57, 5962 (see interpersonal 7, 30, 42, 46, 48, 228230, 237239, 263268,
also Intentional Relations 58, 72, 73, 77, 80, 85, 97, 223 307310, 329, 363, 372 (see
Theory) co-ordination 68, 71, 82 also interattentionality)
schema 43, 52, 53, 60, 61 engagement 70, 74, 76, joint communicative action 89
stance 23 8184, 224 joint intention 362 (see also
Essentially intentional understanding 76, 81 interintentionality)
behaviour 123, 124 interpretation
Intentional Relations Theory between languages 11, 335, K
(IRT) 7, 39, 4143, 48, 49, 337, 338, 339, 340, 349, kinesthetic 22, 50, 53, 219
5053, 55, 5862, 282 (see also 351, 352 know-how (vs. knowledge
intentional relations) functional 251, 360 that) 252
intentionality 9, 23, 36, 44, 47, of others 21, 29, 52, 57, 315, knowledge base 334
58, 116, 127, 128, 135, 140, 360
141, 165, 166, 193, 222, 226, rich (vs. lean) 198, 265 L
362, 363 semantic 367 landscape
bodily (see bodily inter-rater reliability 74 of action 33, 34
intentionality) intersubjective of consciousness 3234
collective (see collective language 2, 46, 912, 25,
engagement 9, 34, 68,
intentionality) 31, 42, 43, 47, 48, 84, 93,
72, 73, 7981, 83, 85, 86,
individual (see individual
141144, 146, 155, 245, 255, 96, 99, 102, 109111, 115,
intentionality)
263265 116, 135, 149, 152, 153, 155,
instrumental (see
experiences 22 166, 167, 174, 176, 179, 191,
instrumental
system 72 196, 197, 200, 203, 215218,
intentionality)
intersubjectivity 112, 40, 221, 222, 228, 230239, 245,
intention-based semantics 10,
259 41, 68, 7274, 76, 79, 255, 256, 259262, 264,
interaction 1, 3, 4, 10, 17, 2023, 8184, 116119, 123135, 266, 268, 279, 280285,
30, 32, 46, 57, 58, 71, 78, 92, 137, 141144, 149, 154, 157, 287297, 299302,
99, 103, 109, 116118, 120, 158, 172, 177, 179, 180, 190, 307312, 315, 317, 322,
122, 129, 131, 133136, 215218, 220225, 228232, 327329, 334338, 340
141143, 152, 153158, 237239, 265, 279, 280, 281, 346, 348352, 357, 358, 361,
188, 190, 192, 193, 202, 207, 301, 307310, 312, 317, 320, 364370, 372374
224, 231, 255, 258, 267, 283, 322, 323, 327329, 333335, signed (see signed language)
284, 309, 310, 333, 334, 338, 350, 357359, 361365, 372, language change 285, 297 (see
346348, 352, 363, 364, 373 373 also diachronic linguistics)
388 The Shared Mind
langue 284, 285, 297, 298 (see state 9, 10, 1820, 22, 24, evolutionary 224
also parole) 25, 33, 3942, 48, 49, motivational intentional
layered model 22, 219 5659, 91, 126, 131, 132, relations 53, 54 (see also
left hemisphere 52 (see also 141, 143145, 150, 151, 153, intentional relations)
brain) 165, 175, 190, 191, 203, 228, multimodal 43, 45, 51
linguistics 6, 10, 11, 12, 279, 290, 308, 309, 315, 327, 329, mutual
280, 283, 292, 295, 296, 358, 361 engagement 117119, 133,
299, 300, 302, 310, 324, 354 metacognition 50, 58 134, 207, 225
generative (see generative metarepresentational 59, 60, gaze 219, 224, 225, 240 (see
linguistics) 235, 238, 245, 258, 259, 262, also eye contact)
historical (see historical 263, 265, 266 sharing 119, 120, 124, 127,
linguistics) methodological 73, 74, 83, 84, 132, 133, 307, 310 (see also
love 4143, 49, 359 147, 191, 202, 225, 292, 303, sharing)
317, 360, 369
M individualism 12, 358, 362 N
matching mimesis 10, 215, 226, 231, 232, narrative 7, 18, 20, 25, 2734,
between self and other 19, 233, 234, 237, 252, 255, 256, 49, 191, 236, 261, 262, 338,
4045, 52, 5557, 59, 61, 62, 262, 268 339, 345, 357, 373375
117, 126, 131, 132, 224, 249 bodily 9, 214, 217225, 238 practice 17, 28, 29, 30, 236,
of direction 125 hierarchy 217219, 221, 222, 345
material grounding 288 237, 238 narrative practice
meaning viii, 9, 2224, 33, abilities 250, 252, 255257, hypothesis 7, 12, 17, 28,
34, 41, 42, 62, 80, 81, 89, 267 236, 273
90, 92, 98111, 121, 123, 130, mimetic narrativity 12, 374
142, 151155, 167, 195, 229, culture 255, 256, 261, 262, negation 307, 318323, 326, 329
233, 235, 309, 310, 357, 364, 267 negotiation of meaning 130,
schemas 267 153, 319, 334336, 340, 347
365, 368, 369, 371, 373, 374
skills 218, 253, 255 351, 370
as use 123, 158
Mimetic Ability Hypothesis neonatal mirroring 219, 220
iconic 235 (see also iconic
(MAH) 10, 245, 257, 261, (see also imitation)
signs)
270 neuroscience 6, 7, 12, 17, 19, 22,
intended 175, 177, 179
miming 220, 255 39, 40, 49, 61, 62, 138, 218, 221,
linguistic 1, 216, 229, 233,
mind 222 (see also brain)
260, 281287, 289, 291, 293,
sharing 39, 61 (see also non-linguistic conventions 255,
294, 296, 311315, 317, 318,
sharing) 261 (see also convention)
321, 326, 328, 333, 335338, understanding 39 (see also non-verbal communication (see
341343, 346352 understanding) communication)
shared 94, 98, 99, 101, 105, -reading 18, 22, 118, 272 nonverbal reference 115, 116,
106, 110, 229, 342, 349 mirror neurons 7, 17, 19, 21, 22, 120126, 128130, 135 (see also
speakers 259 39, 40, 50, 52, 60, 117119, referential)
referential (vs. 222, 223, 251, 264, 302 norms 17, 27, 28, 31, 233, 236,
emotional) 224 systems 222, 250, 264 255, 256, 269, 283, 289293,
mechanisms for reading mirror self-recognition 48, 295297, 300, 360, 361, 363,
gaze 134 219, 226 364, 371374
Medial Prefrontal Cortex monkey 40, 45, 58, 166, 226, normativity 1012, 27, 109112,
(MPFC) 5659 271 216, 219, 220, 238, 279, 280,
mental motivation ix, 26, 81, 82, 128, 281, 283, 289, 292294, 296,
agents 49, 190, 236 142, 188, 192, 193, 203, 204, 297, 302, 303, 307, 329, 330,
image 281, 285, 286, 342 227, 229, 230, 255, 269, 338, 354, 359, 361365, 367372,
space 80, 322 351, 369 375
Subject index 389
reflective 51, 57, 81, 82, 215 and other xi, 2, 5, 8, 3955, individual (vs. mutual) 119,
intersubjectivity 8 57, 5962, 82, 118, 132, 223 120
understanding (vs. non- conscious xi, 35, 85, 223 looks 68, 7375, 79
reflective/pre-reflective) feeling self 54, 56, 57 mental states 9, 42, 141, 143,
9, 40, 58, 81, 82 self/other contrast/ 144, 250
thinking 150 differentiation 225237, mutual 119, 120, 124, 127,
representations 40, 4348, 250, 265 132, 133, 307, 310
5154, 5662, 82, 83, 92, self/other-orientation sign 93, 101, 104, 106, 108, 110,
96, 99, 117, 220, 229, 233, 7375 111, 135, 154, 182, 184, 220,
249251, 326, 336, 358, self-other equivalence 7, 39, 229232, 234, 235, 238, 308,
367369 41, 43, 118, 119, 126, 129 341, 365, 366, 367, 373
dialogic cognitive 128, 230 semantic 147, 151, 186, 218, 220, signal 47, 54, 122, 123, 125, 129,
material 371 221, 233, 234, 236238, 266, 134, 156, 169, 171, 174, 176178,
mental 49, 359 283, 296, 366, 367 254, 308, 313, 315, 327, 328,
mimetic 218 semantics 322, 324 351
shared (see shared and pragmatics 279, signed language 216, 219, 232,
representations) 283285, 287, 312 234, 235, 340
social 360 intention-based 10, 259 Swedish Sign Language 232
representational 3, 10, 48, 96, musical xi Nicaraguan Sign
128, 200, 203, 215, 218, 220, semiotic Language 234
226, 232, 357, 358, 359, 360, capacity 219 American Sign Language (see
372 mediation 4, 89, 364, 365 Americal Sign Language)
artifacts 91 systems 89, 90, 98100, 102, social x, 1, 37, 1012, 20,
mental states 39, 49, 127 106, 111 22, 30, 31, 32, 3944,
meta- (see sensory-motor 20, 25 47, 49, 54, 5762, 6870,
metarepresentational) shared 74, 76, 77, 7985, 8999,
mind viii, 1, 87 attention 10, 23, 102, 144, 104, 106, 109111, 119, 120,
non-representational 200, 187, 203, 215, 219, 226, 125137, 141143, 145151,
223, 251 237, 316 (see also joint 153158, 165169, 171,
relation 83, 229 attention)
172, 176, 178180, 188,
resonance systems 17, 22, 264 knowledge 11, 307, 322, 333,
190, 192194, 198,
response priming 248, 249 335, 340, 346, 348
200203, 207, 218, 229,
right hemisphere 32, 51, 52 (see meanings 94, 98, 99, 101,
231, 237, 238, 246, 254258,
also brain) 106 (see also meaning)
260, 263, 269, 279, 280,
role-reversal 308 representations 17, 19, 21
rule 125, 135, 281283, 291294, 282292, 300, 302, 308,
(see also representations)
298, 315, 316, 360 situations 23 309, 333, 343, 357368,
rule-sentence 292294 use 90, 98, 100 371375
world 13, 78, 79, 83, 264 cognition 2, 11, 12, 17, 18, 25,
S sharing ix, xi, 1, 3, 6, 8, 32, 39, 149, 161, 169, 190, 213, 217,
secondary intersubjectivity (see 40, 42, 43, 45, 48, 55, 61, 220, 221
intersubjectivity) 62, 67, 7384, 86, 87, cohesion 245, 258, 261, 270
second-person 8, 19, 117 115120, 123128, 131, 132, facts 11, 96, 287, 291, 357,
self vii, 3, 4, 21, 24, 27, 81, 83, 137, 154, 160, 161, 172, 175, 360363, 367, 368, 374
90, 97, 99, 107, 109, 111, 179, 215, 234, 245, 250, 256, function of gaze 129, 133
117, 175, 179, 213, 218, 259, 267, 269, 308, 309, learning 179, 229, 247, 248,
222, 224, 228, 231, 237, 363 252
255, 264, 281283, 293, affective 56, 133 ontology 290, 304
296 attention 78, 175, 308 reality (see reality)
Subject index 391
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