Collaborative Research: Early understanding of personal and social causes of intentional action: A cross-cultural investigation

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In the first few years of life, infants and children rapidly learn about the social world by observing and interacting with the people in their immediate environment. These people are the first source of information as children begin to learn about human behavior and social norms shaping that behavior. The goal of this study is to examine how contextual factors influence the manner in which children interpret the behavioral intentions of others. With a focus on social-cognitive development, this study addresses how children learn about the goals and desires of others and how children learn about the rules and norms of various social groups. In this global age, individuals are increasingly required to understand multiple worldviews. This study will foster skills needed to promote positive social behaviors and sensitivity to the norms and values of different cultural groups in the United States, which, in turn, will reduce harmful stereotyping and misunderstandings.Understanding the perspectives, norms, and conventions of various individuals will help children develop a better understanding of their own place in the social world. This study investigates the mechanisms underlying the process by which children acquire this understanding. The study also examines cultural differences and similarities in how children interpret intentional actions over the first five years of life. This will be accomplished by tracking emerging developmental changes in understandings of personal and social causes of intentional action at three time points starting in infancy and continuing on to the preschool years. Two cultural groups will be compared: European- and Chinese-Americans. The study also involves examining how infants, toddlers, and preschoolers employ statistical learning mechanisms in interpreting behavior. The methodological approach consists of a critical third party generalization task; this means that having learned about the behaviors (and intentions) of one person, investigators will determine whether infants and children are able to predict the behaviors (and intentions) of an unfamiliar person. A statistical learning measure will be used to determine how infants and children across cultures use statistical information to infer goals and desires of individuals. For example, if a young child grows up in a culture in which actions are governed by common cultural norms and practices as opposed to personal preferences, and thus observes consistency across individuals, that child may learn, over time, that observed intentional actions are frequently generalizable across individuals. In contrast, if a young child grows up in a culture in which actions are frequently expressions of idiosyncratic personal tastes, and thus, observes variability across individuals, then, that child may learn over time that intentional actions are not necessarily generalizable across individuals. Three age groups will be assessed: infants (ages 11-13 months), toddlers (ages 28-32 months) and preschoolers (ages 3-5 years). Central questions posed include: Are children's predictions regarding the intentions of others a function of the sociocultural group to which the children belong? At what age do socioculturally-based inferences begin to surface?This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.