ERIC Number: EJ818397
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Nov
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
EISSN: N/A
Chimpanzees Know What Others Know, but Not What They Believe
Kaminski, Juliane; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael
Cognition, v109 n2 p224-234 Nov 2008
There is currently much controversy about which, if any, mental states chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates understand. In the current two studies we tested both chimpanzees' and human children's understanding of both knowledge-ignorance and false belief--in the same experimental paradigm involving competition with a conspecific. We found that whereas 6-year-old children understood both of these mental states, chimpanzees understood knowledge-ignorance but not false belief. After ruling out various alternative explanations of these and related findings, we conclude that in at least some situations chimpanzees know what others know. Possible explanations for their failure in the highly similar false belief task are discussed. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)
Descriptors: Cognitive Development, Animals, Cognitive Ability, Comparative Analysis, Young Children, Intelligence, Comprehension
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A