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Gönül G, Kammermeier M, Paulus M. What is in an action? Preschool children predict that agents take previous paths and not previous goals. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13466. [PMID: 38054272 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
Developmental science has experienced a vivid debate on whether young children prioritize goals over means in their prediction of others' actions. Influential developmental theories highlight the role of goal objects for action understanding. Yet, recent infant studies report evidence for the opposite. The empirical evidence is therefore inconclusive. The current study advanced this debate by assessing preschool children's verbal predictions of others' actions. In five experiments (N = 302), we investigated whether preschool children and adults predict agents to move towards their previous goal (that is, show goal-related predictions) or predict agents to move along the same movement path that they pursued before. While Experiments 1a, 1b and 1c presented young children and adults with animated agents, Experiments 2a and 2b presented participants with human grasping action. An integrative analysis across experiments revealed that children were more likely to predict the agent to move along the same movement path, Z = -4.574, p ≤ 0.0001 (r = 0.304). That is, preschool children were more likely to predict that agents would move along the same trajectory even though this action would lead to a new goal object. Thus, our findings suggest that young children's action prediction relies on the detection of spatial and movement information. Overall, we discuss our findings in terms of theoretical frameworks that conceive of action understanding as an umbrella term that comprises different forms and facets in which humans understand others' actions. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We investigated whether preschool children predict agents to move towards their previous goal or to move along the same movement path that they pursued before. Unlike adults, preschool children predicted that agents would move along the same trajectory even though this action would lead to a new goal. Adults' goal-based predictions were affected from contextual details, whereas children systematically made path-based predictions. Young children's action prediction relies on the detection of spatial and movement information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gökhan Gönül
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
- Cognitive Science Centre, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
| | - Marina Kammermeier
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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Michael J, Green A, Siposova B, Jensen K, Kita S. Finish What you Started: 2‐Year‐Olds Motivated by a Preference for Completing Others’ Unfinished Actions in Instrumental Helping Contexts. Cogn Sci 2022; 46:e13160. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John Michael
- Department of Cognitive Science Central European University
| | | | | | - Keith Jensen
- Human Communication, Development & Hearing University of Manchester
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Karthik S, Parise E, Liszkowski U. Mirroring Communicative Actions: Contextual Modulation of Mu Rhythm Desynchronization in Response to the 'Back-Of-Hand' Action in 9-Month-Old Infants. Dev Neuropsychol 2022; 47:158-174. [PMID: 35321593 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2022.2055033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
This study measured mu rhythm desynchronization (MRD), while nine-month-old infants observed an agent extend her arm and hand, palm up ('back-of-hand action') either in social (object and recipient present), individual (object present, recipient absent), or social object-absent (recipient present, object absent) situations across two experiments. In addition, infants' MRD was measured as they reached for objects. Results revealed significant mu desynchronization in the right centro-parietal region selectively for the social group, indicating that infants processed the back-of-hand action as an object-directed request. Findings suggest to extend the action reconstruction account to object-directed communicative actions as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sriranjani Karthik
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Eugenio Parise
- CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.,Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
| | - Ulf Liszkowski
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
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LIN J, HUANGLIANG J, HE Y, DUAN J, YIN J. The recognition of social intentions based on the information of minimizing costs: EEG and behavioral evidences. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2022. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2022.00012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Green A, Siposova B, Kita S, Michael J. Stopping at nothing: Two-year-olds differentiate between interrupted and abandoned goals. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 209:105171. [PMID: 33962107 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has established that goal tracking emerges early in the first year of life and rapidly becomes increasingly sophisticated. However, it has not yet been shown whether young children continue to update their representations of others' goals over time. The current study investigated this by probing young children's (24- to 30-month-olds; N = 24) ability to differentiate between goal-directed actions that have been halted because the goal was interrupted and those that have been halted because the goal was abandoned. To test whether children are sensitive to this distinction, we manipulated the experimenter's reason for not completing a goal-directed action; his initial goal was either interrupted by an obstacle or abandoned in favor of an alternative. We measured whether children's helping behavior was sensitive to the experimenter's reason for not completing his goal-directed action by recording whether children completed the experimenter's initial goal or the alternative goal. The results showed that children helped to complete the experimenter's initial goal significantly more often after this goal had been interrupted than after it had been abandoned. These results support the hypothesis that children continue to update their representations of others' goals over time by 2 years of age and specifically that they differentiate between abandoned and interrupted goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Green
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Barbora Siposova
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Sotaro Kita
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - John Michael
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest 1051, Hungary.
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Paulus M. Is young children's helping affected by helpees' need? Preschoolers, but not infants selectively help needy others. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 84:1440-1450. [PMID: 30758652 PMCID: PMC7270991 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01148-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2018] [Accepted: 01/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Infants and toddlers engage in instrumental helping, that is, help others in achieving an action-based goal. The underlying psychological mechanisms are unclear and hotly debated. The present study examined whether young children's helping is affected by others' need. To this end, 1.5- and 3.5-year-old children (n = 101) were simultaneously confronted with a needy and a non-needy other in a variety of helping tasks. The results show that the 3.5-year-old, but not the 1.5-year-old children preferentially helped the needy person. This suggests developmental changes in the psychological mechanisms underlying early instrumental helping. The results are explained by a developmental account according to which helping only gradually becomes an other-oriented and need-based behavior in the first years of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Paulus
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
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Sommerville JA. Infants' Understanding of Distributive Fairness as a Test Case for Identifying the Extents and Limits of Infants' Sociomoral Cognition and Behavior. CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES 2018; 12:141-145. [PMID: 30140305 PMCID: PMC6101045 DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In this article, I use infants' sensitivity to distributive fairness as a test case to identify the extents and limits of infants' sociomoral cognition and behavior. Infants' sensitivity to distributive fairness is in some ways commensurate with this understanding in older children and adults; infants expect fair distributions of resources and evaluate others based on their adherence to or violation of fairness norms. Yet these sensitivities also differ in important ways, including that infants do not spontaneously punish unfair individuals. I address questions about the role of experience in infants' development of sociomoral cognition and behavior, and whether infants' moral cognition and behavior are differentiated appropriately (from their social knowledge and behavior) and integrated (across subaspects of morality). I suggest two approaches to move the field forward: investigating processes that contribute to developing sociomoral cognition and behavior, and considering infants' successes and failures in this domain.
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Juvrud J, Bakker M, Kaduk K, DeValk JM, Gredebäck G, Kenward B. Longitudinal Continuity in Understanding and Production of Giving‐Related Behavior From Infancy to Childhood. Child Dev 2018; 90:e182-e191. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Poulin-Dubois D, Yott J. Probing the depth of infants' theory of mind: disunity in performance across paradigms. Dev Sci 2018; 21:e12600. [PMID: 28952180 PMCID: PMC5871541 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2016] [Accepted: 06/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
There is currently a hot debate in the literature regarding whether or not infants have a true theory of mind (ToM) understanding. According to the mentalistic view, infants possess the same false belief understanding that older children have but their competence is masked by task demands. On the other hand, others have proposed that preverbal infants are incapable of mental state attribution and simply respond to superficial features of the events in spontaneous-responses tasks. In the current study, we aimed to clarify the nature of infants' performance in tasks designed to assess implicit theory of mind (ToM) by adopting a within-subject design that involved testing 18-month-old infants on two batteries of tasks measuring the same four ToM constructs (intention, desire, true belief, and false belief). One battery included tasks based on the violation-of- expectation (VOE) procedure, whereas the other set of tasks was based on the interactive, helping procedure. Replication of the original findings varied across tasks, due to methodological changes and the use of a within-subject design. Convergent validity was examined by comparing performance on VOE and interactive tasks that are considered to be measures of the same theory of mind concept. The results revealed no significant relations between performance on the pairs of tasks for any of the four ToM constructs measured. This pattern of results is discussed in terms of current conflicting accounts of infants' performance on implicit ToM tasks. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3vqfe_zdhA&feature=youtu.be.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jessica Yott
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada
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Ruffman T, Aitken J, Wilson A, Puri A, Taumoepeau M. A re-examination of the broccoli task: Implications for children’s understanding of subjective desire. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Drummond JDK, Hammond SI, Satlof-Bedrick E, Waugh WE, Brownell CA. Helping the One You Hurt: Toddlers' Rudimentary Guilt, Shame, and Prosocial Behavior After Harming Another. Child Dev 2017; 88:1382-1397. [PMID: 27797103 PMCID: PMC5411344 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
This study explored the role of guilt and shame in early prosocial behavior by extending previous findings that guilt- and shame-like responses can be distinguished in toddlers and, for the first time, examining their associations with helping. Toddlers (n = 32; Mage = 28.9 months) were led to believe they broke an adult's toy, after which they exhibited either a guilt-like response that included frequently confessing their behavior and trying to repair the toy; or a shame-like response that included frequently avoiding the adult and seldom confessing or attempting to repair the toy. In subsequent prosocial tasks, children showing a guilt-like response helped an adult in emotional distress significantly faster and more frequently than did children showing a shame-like response.
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Luo Y, Hennefield L, Mou Y, vanMarle K, Markson L. Infants' Understanding of Preferences When Agents Make Inconsistent Choices. INFANCY 2017; 22:843-856. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2015] [Revised: 02/08/2017] [Accepted: 04/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Hepach
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
| | - Katharina Haberl
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
| | - Stéphane Lambert
- Département d'études cognitives; CNRS, UMR8129, Institut Jean-Nicod, Ecole normale supérieure - PSL Research University
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Dunfield KA, Johnson SC. Variability in social reasoning: the influence of attachment security on the attribution of goals. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1487. [PMID: 26500574 PMCID: PMC4598573 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2015] [Accepted: 09/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the last half decade there has been a growing move to apply the methods and theory of cognitive development to questions regarding infants' social understanding. Though this combination has afforded exciting opportunities to better understand our species' unique social cognitive abilities, the resulting findings do not always lead to the same conclusions. For example, a growing body of research has found support for both universal similarity and individual differences in infants' social reasoning about others' responses to incomplete goals. The present research examines this apparent contradiction by assessing the influence of attachment security on the ability of university undergraduates to represent instrumental needs versus social-emotional distress. When the two varieties of goals were clearly differentiated, we observed a universally similar pattern of results (Experiments 1A/B). However, when the goals were combined, and both instrumental need and social-emotional distress were presented together, individual differences emerged (Experiments 2 and 3). Taken together, these results demonstrate that by integrating the two perspectives of shared universals and individual differences, important points of contact can be revealed supporting a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the nature of human social reasoning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen A. Dunfield
- Department of Psychology, Center for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Susan C. Johnson
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
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