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Bertram Malle

Professor of Psychology, Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University

Bertram F. Malle is a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. He was trained in psychology, philosophy, and linguistics at the University of Graz, Austria, and received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University.

He was Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon and served there as Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences for six years. He is past President of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology. Author of over 70 articles and chapters, he has also co-edited three published volumes, Intentions and intentionality (2001, MIT Press), The evolution of language out of pre-language (2002, Benjamins), and Other minds (2005, Guilford). He authored a monograph on How the mind explains behavior (2004, MIT Press), and his current book project is entitled Social Cognitive Science.

Malle’s research intrests include social cognition, theory of mind, explanations and moral judgment. As a researcher, his interests have revolved around the fundamental cognitive tools that allow humans to navigate the social world, a theme that compellingly merges the cognitive with the social. As a teacher, Malle has taught courses at that same intersection of fields, such as Social Psychology and Cognitive Science. His previous administrative activity has focused on the Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences at the University of Oregon, an interdisciplinary forum for researchers who share an interest in exploring the mind within its social context. He is currently president-elect of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology, which has a long tradition of studying the mind from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

Malle has been a reviewer of several publications: as an associate editor for Social Neuroscience, consulting editor of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and as a member of the editorial board of the Personality and Social Psychology Review.

Malle has been a member of many academic groups, such as the Society of Philosophy and Psychology, Northwest Social Psychologists, the American Psychological Society, and the Psi Chi National Honors Society. He has been a fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, University Fellowships of Stanford University, and the Posner/Boies Fellowship at the University of Oregon. Malle’s honors and awards include Travel Awards from the Provincial Government of Styria, Austria, the American Psychological Society, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He also received a Dissertation Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, the NSF Career Award (Faculty Early Career Development), and an Army/Department of Defense STTR Subcontract Award. Malle has also been awarded an instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation and a Mellon grant from Brown University.




Books

How the Mind Explains Behavior (MIT Press): Folk Explanations, Meaning, and Social Interaction (A Bradford Book)

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Intentions and Intentionality: Foundations of Social Cognition (A Bradford Book)

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Other Minds: How Humans Bridge the Divide between Self and Others

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The Evolution of Language out of Pre-language (Typological Studies in Language)

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