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Mapping the Mind: Domain Specificity in Cognition and Culture
Abstract
What is the nature of human thought? A long dominant view holds that the mind is a general problem-solving device that approaches all questions in much the same way. Chomsky's theory of language, which revolutionised linguistics, challenged this claim, contending that children are primed to acquire some skills, like language, in a manner largely independent of their ability to solve other sorts of apparently similar mental problems. In recent years researchers in anthropology, psychology, linguistic and neuroscience have examined whether other mental skills are similarly independent. Many have concluded that much of human thought is 'domain-specific'. Thus, the mind is better viewed as a collection of cognitive abilities specialised to handle specific tasks than a general problem solver. This volume introduces a general audience to a domain-specificity perspective, by compiling a collection of essays exploring how several of these cognitive abilities are organised.
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“Our findings suggest that the effect of social and ecological complexity may be limited to influencing more specialized, and potentially domain-specific forms of cognition (188-196).”
From The evolution of self-control. (2014) · cites this paper as [192]
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(2006) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199289257.002.0006
(2011) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.002.0003
(2011) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.002.0006
(2011) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.002.0009
(2011) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.002.0004
(2011) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.002.0007
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.002.0004
(2011) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608485.002.0005
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.005.0001
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(2005) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179675.001.0001.002.003
(2005) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179675.001.0001.002.005
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.002.0005
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001.002.002
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.005.0001
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.002.0006
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001.002.007
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001.002.006
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001.002.001
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001.002.003
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001.002.004
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.002.0003
(2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001.002.005
Kristjansen, T. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-26397-2_3
Yang, G., Wu, H., Li, Q., Liu, X., Fu, Z., & Jiang, J. (2024) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.87126.3
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.002.0006
Goal-Directed Agency and Iconic Representations
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0004
Metacognitive Agency and Multi-Perspectival Representations
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0016 · Cited by 1
An Agency-Based Model of Human Cognitive Development
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0017
Joint Agency and Perspectival Representations
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0005
Intentional Agency and Imaginative Representations
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0015
The Child-as-Scientist Revisited
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0009
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0001
Collective Agency and Objective/Normative Representations
Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191998294.003.0007
Basic Logic Models: Implicit Knowledge Structures in Evolutionary Knowledge Domains
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Consciousness and internal context
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Internal context and attention, working memory, and effort
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c10
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c12
Control as inherently internal context
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c7
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.ni
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.gi
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.lof
Cognitive control and language control
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c6
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c4
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.ref
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c5
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.abbr
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Control as inherently internal context
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c8
(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c9
The Modular Cognition Framework
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(2019) · Bilingual processing and acquisition · doi:10.1075/bpa.8.c3
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Cognitive Foundations and Cultural Models
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Cognitive development and the innateness issue
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Hybrid State Representation for Video Procedure Planning
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Vroom’s Participation Model as a Foundation of Organisation Audit: A New Approach to CSR
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Historical Background: Aristotle and Kant
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The evolutionary psychology of social behaviour – reciprocity and group behaviour
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Metadata
- Venue
- Cambridge University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Published
- 1994-04-29
- OpenAlex
- W4301900652
- Cited by
- 685
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 6.16
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
- Keywords
- domain-specific cognition, Noam Chomsky, language acquisition, cognitive ability, modularity of mind, thinking, cognitive architecture
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