Can a Self-Propelled Box Have a Goal? Psychological Reasoning in 5-Month-Old Infants

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 601 - 608
• Main Authors: Luo, Yuyan, Baillargeon, Renée
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01-08-2005; SAGE Publications
• Subjects: Attribution theory; Claws; Cognition; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive psychology; Cylinders; Developmental psychology; Empirical research; Experimentation; Female; Goals; Humans; Infancy; Infant; Infants; Insect nests; Male; Orientation - physiology; Psychology, Child - methods; Reasoning; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Regression analysis; Time Factors; Toys
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01582.x

Some researchers have suggested that infants' ability to reason about goals develops as a result of their experiences with human agents and is then gradually extended to other agents. Other researchers have proposed that goal attribution is rooted in a specialized system of reasoning that is activated whenever infants encounter entities with appropriate features (e.g., self-propulsion). The first view predicts that young infants should attribute goals to human but not other agents; the second view predicts that young infants should attribute goals to both human and nonhuman agents. The present research revealed that 5-month-old infants (the youngest found thus far to attribute goals to human agents) also attribute goals to nonhuman agents. In two experiments, infants interpreted the actions of a self-propelled box as goal-directed. These results provide support for the view that from an early age, infants attribute goals to any entity they identify as an agent.