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Attribution of dispositional states by 12-month-olds

Valerie Kuhlmeier1, Karen Wynn, Paul Bloom

  • 1Yale University, CT 06520, USA. valerie.kuhlmeier@yale.edu

Psychological Science
|August 22, 2003
PubMed

Insights

Twelve-month-old infants can interpret actions as goal-directed. They also predict future behavior based on past actions, suggesting early mental state attribution.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Infant Psychology
  • Social Cognition

Background:

  • Effective social functioning relies on interpreting others' behavior.
  • Researchers hypothesize that infants recognize goal-directed actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if 12-month-old infants can interpret future actions based on prior behavior.
  • To explore the role of mental state attribution in infant action interpretation.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments were conducted with 12-month-old infants.
  • Infants' responses to observed actions were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Infants recognized goal-related actions.
  • Infants interpreted future actions based on previously witnessed behavior in a different context.

Conclusions:

  • 12-month-old infants demonstrate an ability to infer future actions from past behavior.
  • This suggests the foundational capacity for mental state attribution in early development.

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