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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 7, 2026

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior

Published on: January 19, 2019

Mutual intentions as a causal framework for social groups.

Alexander Noyes¹, Yarrow Dunham¹

¹Yale University, Kirtland Hall, 2 Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.

|March 1, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Children understand social groups based on mutual intentions, not just shared traits. This concept of mutual intentionality is key to their developing understanding of social categories.

Keywords:

Cognitive development Intuitive theories Social categorization Social cognition

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Last Updated: Mar 7, 2026

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Development
Social Psychology
Naïve Sociology

Background:

Children develop intuitive theories specialized for different domains.
Research shows children associate social groups with social information like allegiances and obligations.
Causal beliefs underlying social category membership are less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate children's causal beliefs about social group membership.
To propose and test the hypothesis that mutual intentionality underpins children's understanding of social groups.
To examine the developmental trajectory and selectivity of this mutual-intentional framework.

Main Methods:

Experiments involving children aged 4-9 years.
Presentation of novel social groups to assess category formation.
Selective application of the mutual-intentional framework to different social categories (e.g., groups vs. gender).

Main Results:

Children aged 4-9 consistently applied a mutual-intentional framework to new social groups.
This framework involves shared intentions for membership and common knowledge of these intentions.
Children selectively withheld this framework from essentialized categories like gender.

Conclusions:

Mutual intentionality is a foundational element in children's understanding of social group membership.
This concept develops early and is applied selectively, distinguishing social groups from other categories.
Mutual intentionality plays a crucial role in the development of children's naïve sociology.