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

在生命的最初几年，婴儿和儿童通过观察和与周围环境中的人互动，迅速了解社会世界。 当孩子们开始学习人类行为和塑造这种行为的社会规范时，这些人是第一个信息来源。本研究旨在探讨情境因素对儿童理解他人行为意图的影响。 本研究以社会认知发展为重点，探讨儿童如何了解他人的目标和愿望，以及儿童如何了解各种社会群体的规则和规范。在这个全球化的时代，人们越来越需要理解多种世界观。这项研究将培养必要的技能，以促进积极的社会行为和敏感性的规范和价值观的不同文化群体在美国，这反过来又会减少有害的刻板印象和误解。了解的观点，规范，和习俗的各种个人将帮助孩子们发展更好地了解自己在社会世界中的位置。本研究探讨了儿童获得这种理解的机制。 该研究还考察了儿童在生命的前五年中如何解释故意行为的文化差异和相似性。这将是通过跟踪在三个时间点开始在婴儿期和学龄前几年持续到有意行动的个人和社会原因的理解正在出现的发展变化。两个文化群体将进行比较：欧洲和中国的美国人。该研究还涉及研究婴儿，幼儿和学龄前儿童如何使用统计学习机制来解释行为。 该方法包括一个关键的第三方概括任务;这意味着在了解了一个人的行为（和意图）之后，研究人员将确定婴儿和儿童是否能够预测一个不熟悉的人的行为（和意图）。 一个统计学习的措施将被用来确定婴儿和儿童如何跨文化使用统计信息来推断个人的目标和愿望。例如，如果一个年幼的孩子在一种行为受共同文化规范和实践而不是个人偏好支配的文化中长大，从而观察到个体之间的一致性，那么随着时间的推移，这个孩子可能会了解到，观察到的故意行为通常可以在个体之间推广。相反，如果一个年幼的孩子成长在一个文化中，在这个文化中，行为经常是个人独特品味的表达，因此，观察到个体之间的差异，那么，随着时间的推移，孩子可能会学习到故意的行为不一定是普遍适用的。将评估三个年龄组：婴儿（11-13个月）、幼儿（28-32个月）和学龄前儿童（3-5岁）。 提出的主要问题包括：儿童对他人意图的预测是否是他们所属的社会文化群体的功能？基于社会文化的推论开始出现在什么年龄？该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.