Shaping Robotic Minds

Abstract

Social cognition research has focused on the debate on the nature of mechanisms underlying social abilities. However, the competing views in the debate share a basic assumption: mental states attribution is central for social cognition. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, I present an alternative framework known as mindshaping. According to it, human beings are biologically predisposed to learn and teach cultural and rational norms and complex cultural patterns of behaviour that enhance social cognition. Secondly I will highlight how this new framework can open new perspectives of research in the area of social robotics.