Knowing Mental States: The Asymmetry of Psychological Prediction and Explanation

Abstract

Abstract The Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis promotes the view that cognition, and with it consciousness, is an evolutionary adaptation that arose owing to the complexities of social life (Humphrey 1976; Whiten and Byrne 1988). According to this view, we have knowledge of our own minds because we needed to have knowledge of others’ minds. We needed to be able to predict what others were going to do in the future so that we could act to thwart their behaviours when they interfered with our own goals. If the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis is right, our self-consciousness cannot be understood without also understanding our consciousness of others’ mental states.