CAS PS 241 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: 18 Months, Gender Role, Teddy Bear
Document Summary
Babies are quite good at reasoning about people"s goals and intentions. They can make predictions about what is going to happen net based on assumptions about what others" intentions are. A 6 month old was presented a scene in which a hand was reaching for an object: a bowl. The baby presumed that the hand wanted the bowl. Then the hand switched the position of the object with another one, a teddy bear (which was previously right next to the object). In this situation, the hand reached for the teddy bear, not the bowl. This surprised the baby, who initially thought that the intention of the hand was to get the bowl. The baby thought that the hand would continue reaching for the bowl, wherever it was. Result of the study: the baby has the prediction of what is going to happen based on the assumption of what other people"s intentions and goals are.