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Random excerpt from the Introduction:One task is to specify what is meant by ‘signals of the intentions anddispositions of others’. Eye gaze direction and certain facial muscleconfigurations were presumably important to our primate ancestors. Anevolutionarily old neural system, present in the normal human brain at birth,may prepare the human infant to respond to such signals. Building uponresponses to the sights and sounds of faces, such a system may act asscaffolding for the accumulation of subsequent social experiences. Elaboratedin response to what the environment provides, it ultimately produces complex,finely-tuned responses to entities like belief, irony, fauxpas and emotionalcommunication — the spectrum of responses called ‘theory of mind’. Studies ofbrain activation during the viewing of facial expressions, such as thosereviewed by Morris, Bramham and Rowe (Chapter 11), are pieces of the largerpuzzle. However, we don’t have a clear picture of how inborn responses to primitive signals develop into theory of mind, or of how the mature brainprocesses the array of everyday social events.Learning is obviously important; several contributors emphasize the role ofsocial learning. Based on comparative studies, Byrne (Chapter 3) proposes thatrelative neocortex size predicts the use of tactical deception in primate groups,but that insight is not required. Instead, there may have been selection pressureon the neocortex to store memories of identities and past actions of others, andmatch them appropriately to the current setting, thus allowing for socialmanipulation through simple but extensive social learning. Bjorklund andBering (Chapter 7) additionally suggest that in our evolutionary history, agrowing capacity for behavioural inhibition may have have complementedmore specific social processes. They propose that, to understand the evolutionof human social cognition, prolonged development, large brains with greatcapacity for learning, and a complex social environment must all be consideredtogether. Certainly, for the human infant to progress from merely noticing eyesand faces, to responding to such biologically arbitrary signals as invitations topretend play, jokes, and the gamut of interactive rituals, complex learning iskey.If you liked the parts in David DeAngelo’s programs where he talks about the limbic brain, etc. you may like to peruse this book.  One of the amazing things is how fast the human brain has grown in such a short period of evolution cf. other vertebrate brains.  In evolutionary time, the growth spurt in brain size for humans was like freakin sea monkeys!!  It seemed to come from nowhere!  Why?ContentsList of Contributors ……………………………….ixPreface ………………………………………. xiiiMartin Brune, Hedda Ribbert and Wulf SchiefenhovelIntroduction …………………………………….1Leslie BrothersPART I EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS OF THE‘SOCIAL BRAIN’1 Stereotypy vs. Plasticity in Vertebrate Cognition ……………7Carmen Strungaru2 Is the Human Brain Unique?………………………..29Gerhard Roth3 Tracing the Evolutionary Path of Cognition ………………43Richard W. Byrne4 ProtocadherinXY: a Candidate Gene for Cerebral Asymmetryand Language …………………………………61Tim J. CrowPART II CULTURE AND THE ‘SOCIALBRAIN’5 Evolution of the Cultured Mind: Lessons from Wild Chimpanzees …81William C. McGrew6 Ninye Kanye: the Human Mind. Traditional Papuan Societiesas Models to Understand Evolution towards the Social Brain……93Wulf SchiefenhovelPART III DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE ‘SOCIAL BRAIN’7 Big Brains, Slow Development and Social Complexity: theDevelopmental and Evolutionary Origins of Social Cognition……113David F. Bjorklund and Jesse M. Bering8 Where Is ‘The Other’ in the Self? Multiplicity, Unity andTransformation of the Self from a Developmental Standpoint …..153Ingrid E. Josephs and Hedda RibbertPART IV PATHOLOGIES OF THE ‘SOCIAL BRAIN’9 The Social Brain in Autism ………………………..167Fred R. Volkmar, Ami Klin, Robert T. Schultz, Katarzyna Chawarskaand Warren Jones10 Do Children with ADHD not Need Their Frontal Lobes for Theoryof Mind? A Review of Brain Imaging and NeuropsychologicalStudies …………………………………….197Winfried Kain and Josef Perner11 Social Cognition following Prefrontal Cortical Lesions ……….231Robin G. Morris, Jessica Bramham and Andrea Rowe12 Social Cognition at the Neural Level: Investigations in Autism,Psychopathy and Schizophrenia ……………………..253Tamara Russell and Tonmoy Sharma13 Social Cognition and Behaviour in Schizophrenia …………..277Martin Brune14 Theory of Mind Delusions and Bizarre Delusions in anEvolutionary Perspective: Psychiatry and the Social Brain……..315Bruce G. Charlton15 Social Cognitionin Paranoia and Bipolar Affective Disorder ……339Peter Kinderman16 Psychopathy, Machiavellianism and Theory of Mind ………..355Linda Mealey and Stuart Kinner17 Borderline Personality Disorder and Theory of Mind: anEvolutionary Perspective………………………….373Gerhard Dammann18 Awareness and Theory of Mind in Dementia ……………..419Sergio E. Starkstein and Maria Laura Garau19 Postscript …………………………………..433Martin Brune, Hedda Ribbert and Wulf SchiefenhovelIndex…………………………………………437