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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 26, 2026

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

Children understand that agents maximize expected utilities.

Julian Jara-Ettinger¹, Sammy Floyd², Joshua B Tenenbaum³

¹Department of Psychology, Yale University.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. General

|July 18, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Children aged 4-5 understand that people aim to maximize expected utilities, a key aspect of intuitive psychology. This finding refines models of how children interpret others

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Development
Developmental Psychology
Theory of Mind

Background:

Human ability to infer mental states relies on the assumption of utility maximization.
Agents are believed to maximize their expected utilities, guiding predictions of behavior.
Simpler models may not fully capture the nuances of intuitive psychology.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether 4- and 5-year-olds understand utility maximization in agents.
To determine if children's understanding of mental states incorporates beliefs about desires.
To explore modifications to the standard belief/desire model of intuitive psychology.

Main Methods:

Seven experiments were conducted with 4- and 5-year-old children.
Children's responses were analyzed to assess their understanding of utility maximization.
Alternative explanations for children's behavior were systematically ruled out.

Main Results:

Children demonstrated an understanding that agents act to maximize expected utilities.
These findings could not be explained by simpler alternative accounts.
Results indicate children do not view beliefs and desires as independent.

Conclusions:

Young children grasp the principle of utility maximization in agent behavior.
Children recognize that agents hold beliefs about their own desires.
This understanding influences how children interpret actions and predict behavior.