CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 232Child and Animal Learning DevelopmentIdentity, Memory, and TherapyAction Observation and Synchronization

Know yourself and you shall know the other to a certain extent: multiple paths of influence of self-reflection on mindreading.

Dimaggio, Giancarlo, Lysaker, Paul H., Carcione, Antonino, Nicolò, Giuseppe, Semerari, Antonio·2008·Consciousness and Cognition
DOI 10.1016/j.concog.2008.02.005
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Social and neurocognitive research suggests that thinking about one's own thinking and thinking about the thinking of others-termed 'mindreading', 'metacognition', 'social cognition' or 'mentalizing' are not identical activities. The ability though to think about thinking in the first person is nevertheless related to the ability to think about other's thoughts in the third person. Unclear is how these phenomena influence one another. In this review, we explore how self-reflection and autobiographical memory influence the capacity to think about the thoughts and emotions of others. We review studies suggesting that the more individuals are able to reflect on and retrieve episodes from their life narratives, the more they are likely to grasp others' thoughts and emotions. We discuss evidence supporting this possibility including studies of the neurocognitive bases of empathy and self-awareness and how different aspects of self-reflection may impact on mindreading. We also draw from clinical reports how improved self-reflection may result in a more nuanced mindreading, namely persons suffering from schizophrenia and narcissistic personality disorder. We finally discuss the implications for research and practice and consider whether there are conditions in which the reverse is true, where self-reflection might impair mindreading or in which mindreading may facilitate self-reflection.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.concog.2008.02.005

Cites

74 of 74 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Neuroimaging studies have consistently supported the assumption that envisioning the mind of another is underpinned by the same brain systems as identifying one's own thoughts and feelings.

    “Neuroimaging studies have consistently supported the assumption that envisioning the mind of another is underpinned by the same brain systems as identify one's own thoughts and feelings”

    From A developmental, mentalization-based approach to the understanding and treatment of borderline personality disorder (2009) · cites this paper as Dimaggio, Lysaker, Carcione, Nicolo, & Semerari, 2008

  • Mindreading or mentalizing appears to be a semi-independent skill.

    “Reflections on personal thinking and on that of someone else is named “mindreading,” or “mentalizing,” and appears a semi-independent skill (2).”

    From The dark side of empathy in narcissistic personality disorder (2023) · cites this paper as [2]

  • Overt narcissism is associated with lower personal distress, indicating affective detachment or unawareness of others' feelings.

    “On the other hand, Overt Narcissism was associated with lower personal distress, indicating affective detachment or unawareness of others’ feelings (2, 41).”

    From The dark side of empathy in narcissistic personality disorder (2023) · cites this paper as [2]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Dimaggio, G., Lysaker, P. H., Carcione, A., Nicolò, G., & Semerari, A.
Affiliations
Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
Dimaggio, Giancarlo
ORCID
Venue
Consciousness and Cognition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-09
Volume
17
Issue
3
Pages
778-789
ISSN
1053-8100 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.concog.2008.02.005
OpenAlex
W2088100560
Cited by
232
References
74
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 16
FWCI
22.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Consciousness and Cognition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
Keywords
self-reflection, theory of mind, mentalization, metacognition, social cognition, autobiographical memory, empathy, self-awareness, schizophrenia, narcissistic personality disorder, emotional understanding
MeSH terms
Awareness, Cognition, Humans, Self Concept, Social Perception, Thinking

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review