Causality is one of the core concepts in any attempt to make sense of the world, and the explanations people come up with shape their judgments, emotions, intentions and actions. This renders causal cognition a core topic for the social as well as the cognitive sciences. In the past, however, research has been split into diverging paradigms, each pertaining to a distinct (sub)discipline and focusing on a specific domain, thus creating a rather fragmented picture of causal cognition. Furthermore, most of this previous research paid only incidental attention to culture as a possibly constitutive factor, leaving important questions unanswered: Is causality always perceived in the same way? Are causal explanations affected by the concepts to which people refer and/or the language they use? Is causal cognition domain-specific, and if so, how does it differ from agency construal? Is causal reasoning always based on the same cognitive mechanisms, or does the cultural background of people shape how they process respective information - and perhaps even their willingness to search for causal explanations in the first place? By soliciting contributions that address questions like these, this research topic aimed at assessing the extent to which causal cognition may vary across species, cultures, or individuals at various stages of their development, and at integrating different perspectives across a broad range of disciplines. Originating from the work of a research group funded by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld University, Germany, the scope of this research topic was broadened by inviting additional contributions from researchers with expertise in different fields of causal cognition, agency construal, and/or cultural impacts on cognition. In order to fully exploit the potential of cognitive science, we explicitly encouraged submissions from scholars from all its classic sub-disciplines (i.e., anthropology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology) as well as scholars from comparative psychology, cognitive archeology, economics, and any other discipline interested in causal cognition. We welcomed empirical findings as well as theoretical contributions, with an emphasis on those factors that do – or may – constrain, trigger, or shape the way in which humans and other primates think about causal relationships and inform us about both the diversity and the universality of causal cognition.

Causal reasoning is one of our most central cognitive competencies, enabling us to adapt to our world. Causal knowledge allows us to predict future events, or diagnose the causes of observed facts. We plan actions and solve problems using knowledge about cause-effect relations. Without our ability to discover and empirically test causal theories, we would not have made progress in various empirical sciences. The handbook brings together the leading researchers in the field of causal reasoning and offers state-of-the-art presentations of theories and research. It provides introductions of competing theories of causal reasoning, and discusses its role in various cognitive functions and domains. The final section presents research from neighboring fields.

Studies of tool use have been used to examine an exceptionally wide range of aspects of cognition, such as planning, problem-solving and insight, naive physics, social relationship between action and perception.

This collection presents new research on key topics in anthropological linguistics, with a focus on African languages. While Africanist linguists have long been concerned with sociocultural aspects of language structure and use, no comprehensive volume dedicated to the anthropological linguistics of Africa has yet been published. This volume seeks to fill this gap. The chapters address a broad range of topics in anthropological linguistics, including classic themes such as spatial reference, color, kin terms, and emotion, as well as emerging interests in the linguistic expression of personhood, sociality, and language ideology. All contributions are based on original empirical research and present insights into African language practices from a sociocultural perspective. The volume showcases research on dozens of African languages spoken across the continent, with particular emphasis on languages of East Africa. This book will be of interest to areal specialists as well as to anthropological linguists worldwide.

Research into the Hebrew Bible, Ancient Near East, Philosophy and History have long considered whether thought in the cultural area of the ancient Middle East differs from that in the western Mediterranean. The inclusion of neurobiology, psychology, brain research and evolutionary research will widen this horizon and allow new approaches. This volume provides in depth insides into this Archaeology of Mind in 22 contributions.

Ambitious and elegant, this book builds a bridge between evolutionary theory and cultural psychology. Michael Tomasello is one of the very few people to have done systematic research on the cognitive capacities of both nonhuman primates and human children. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition identifies what the differences are, and suggests where they might have come from. Tomasello argues that the roots of the human capacity for symbol-based culture, and the kind of psychological development that takes place within it, are based in a cluster of uniquely human cognitive capacities that emerge early in human ontogeny. These include capacities for sharing attention with other persons; for understanding that others have intentions of their own; and for imitating, not just what someone else does, but what someone else has intended to do. In his discussions of language, symbolic representation, and cognitive development, Tomasello describes with authority and ingenuity the "ratchet effect" of these capacities working over evolutionary and historical time to create the kind of cultural artifacts and settings within which each new generation of children develops. He also proposes a novel hypothesis, based on processes of social cognition and cultural evolution, about what makes the cognitive representations of humans different from those of other primates. Lucid, erudite, and passionate, The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition will be essential reading for developmental psychology, animal behavior, and cultural psychology.