Dear colleagues,

apologies for cross-posting. This is just to let everyone know that the 
following book is now available.

Best

Verena

Wassmann, J., Träuble, B. E., and Funke, J. (Eds.). (2013). Theory of 
Mind in the Pacific. Reasoning across Cultures. Heidelberg: 
Universitaetsverlag Winter.

List of contents:
Prologue (JUERG WASSMANN)
Foreword: How We Got to Where We Are (GUSTAV JAHODA)
1 Human Social Cognition – The Theory of Mind Research (BIRGIT TRÄUBLE, 
ANDREA BENDER and CHRISTOPH KONIECZNY)
2 Theory of Mind in Tonga: The Onset of Representational Change and 
False Belief Understanding in Tongan Children (ALEXANDRA TIETZ and 
SVENJA VÖLKEL)
3 False Belief Understanding in Samoa: Evidence for Continuous 
Development and Cross-Cultural Variability (ANDREAS MAYER and JULIUS RIESE)
4 Psychology Meets Cultural Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Research 
with Children in Micronesia (EVA OBERLE and JOCHEN RESCH)
5 Of Biscuits, Soap and Stones. Representational Change and False Belief 
Understanding among Yupno Children in Papua New Guinea (MIRJAM HÖLZEL 
and VERENA KECK)
6 Investigating the Understanding of False Belief among the Bosmun of 
Northeast Papua New Guinea (ANITA VON POSER and BETTINA UBL)
7 Epilogue. Reflections on Personhood and the Theory of Mind (JÜRG 
WASSMANN and JOACHIM FUNKE)

„This book is the result of intensive collaboration between 
anthropologists and psychologists in the field of cross-cultural 
research on social cognitive development. Five interdisciplinary 
research teams, coming from the University of Heidelberg, were 
investigating five Pacific Island societies. All together, they were 
interested in the question of how and when children in these different 
cultures come to assign mental states to others. The ascription of 
desires or beliefs to other people is a milestone of human sociality. It 
allows us to understand, explain, and predict human behaviour. During 
the last years, research on children’s knowledge about the mental world, 
better known as theory of mind research, has become a central topic in 
developmental psychology and the role of cultural impact is subject of 
various theoretical yet hitherto few empirical accounts.

This unique research project combines sound ethnography of different 
Pacific cultures with thoroughly conducted experimental work, done by 
developmental psychologists; it presents a shared, thoughtful analysis 
of the results and provides deeper insight into current debates on the 
ontogeny of theory of mind competencies.”

The book is the first volume of the new series „Heidelberg Studies in 
Pacific Anthropology“, ed. by Juerg Wassmann.

The book can be ordered as paperback or e-book through Winter Publisher 
in Heidelberg,

http://www.winter-verlag.de/en/programm/buchreihen/sonstige/reihe144/Heidelberg_Studies_in_Pacific_Anthropology/

-- 
PD Dr. Verena Keck
Institut für Ethnologie
Goethe Universität Frankfurt
Grüneburgplatz 1
60323 Frankfurt (Main)

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