This meta-analysis explores the brain regions involved in social cognition, focusing on the capacity to understand others' behavioral intentions, social beliefs, and personality traits. Based on over 200 fMRI studies, the analysis tests various theoretical proposals to explain how different brain areas process information relevant to social cognition. The results suggest that inferring temporary states such as goals, intentions, and desires of others, even when they are false or unjust from our perspective, strongly engages the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Inferring more enduring dispositions, such as personality traits and social norms, engages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although the TPJ can also be activated during these tasks. Other general-purpose brain processes, such as sequence learning, causality detection, emotion processing, and executive functioning, are briefly reviewed but do not overlap uniquely with the regions activated during social cognition. The evidence supports the role of the TPJ in inferring temporary goals and intentions at a perceptual level and the mPFC in integrating social information over time, allowing for reflection and representation of traits and norms at a more abstract cognitive level. The analysis also discusses the involvement of the TPJ in social inferences of intentionality and the mPFC in social inferences of traits and scripts, providing insights into the neural mechanisms underlying social cognition.This meta-analysis explores the brain regions involved in social cognition, focusing on the capacity to understand others' behavioral intentions, social beliefs, and personality traits. Based on over 200 fMRI studies, the analysis tests various theoretical proposals to explain how different brain areas process information relevant to social cognition. The results suggest that inferring temporary states such as goals, intentions, and desires of others, even when they are false or unjust from our perspective, strongly engages the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Inferring more enduring dispositions, such as personality traits and social norms, engages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although the TPJ can also be activated during these tasks. Other general-purpose brain processes, such as sequence learning, causality detection, emotion processing, and executive functioning, are briefly reviewed but do not overlap uniquely with the regions activated during social cognition. The evidence supports the role of the TPJ in inferring temporary goals and intentions at a perceptual level and the mPFC in integrating social information over time, allowing for reflection and representation of traits and norms at a more abstract cognitive level. The analysis also discusses the involvement of the TPJ in social inferences of intentionality and the mPFC in social inferences of traits and scripts, providing insights into the neural mechanisms underlying social cognition.