If successful, the resulting deflationary explanations
would in each case show how findings observed in paradigms that seem to tap specifically social perception can in fact
be brought about directly by domain-general processes – i.e. bypassing any need for dedicated social-perceptual to identify
others’ mental states. In the following, we explicate and evaluate this deflationary approach. Focusing on two separate areas
of research to which the approach has been applied (visual perspective-taking and action understanding), we argue that the
deflationary approach has been successful in illuminating how functionally specific processes for social perception can be
subserved at least in part by domain-general processes, but that its potential to contribute to ongoing research has been limited
by an artificial dichotomy between domain-general and domain-specific processes. As an alternative to this contrastive
conception of the relationship between domain-general and domain-specific processes, we propose a complementary conception:
the identification of domain-general processes that are engaged in instances of social perception can play a positive,
structuring role by adding additional constraints to be accounted for in modelling the domain-specific processes that are also
involved in such instances.