The understanding of own and others’ actions during infancy
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Petra Hauf
Abstract
Developmental psychologists assume that infants understand other persons’ actions after and because they understand their own (“Like-me” perspective). However, there is another possibility as well, namely that infants come to understand their own actions after and because they understand other persons’ actions (“Like-you” perspective). We reviewed infant research on the influence of perceived actions on self-performed actions as well as the reverse. Furthermore, we investigated the interplay between both aspects of action understanding by means of a sequence variation. The results show the impact of agentive experience for action understanding, but not the reverse. The question whether infants’ perceived and to-be-produced actions share common representations of the perceptual and the motor system is discussed in relation to its implications for the social making of minds.
Abstract
Developmental psychologists assume that infants understand other persons’ actions after and because they understand their own (“Like-me” perspective). However, there is another possibility as well, namely that infants come to understand their own actions after and because they understand other persons’ actions (“Like-you” perspective). We reviewed infant research on the influence of perceived actions on self-performed actions as well as the reverse. Furthermore, we investigated the interplay between both aspects of action understanding by means of a sequence variation. The results show the impact of agentive experience for action understanding, but not the reverse. The question whether infants’ perceived and to-be-produced actions share common representations of the perceptual and the motor system is discussed in relation to its implications for the social making of minds.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
-
Articles
- Of minds and mirrors 1
- How minds and selves are made 17
- Dynamics of social coordination 31
- Construing and constructing others 47
- The self and identity negotiation 61
- Social reality makes the social mind 75
- How to do things with logical expressions 91
- Attributions and peer harassment 105
- The shaping of individuals’ mental structures and dispositions by others 117
- Ostracism 131
- Self processes in interdependent relationships 147
- Constructing perspectives in the social making of minds 163
- The shaping of animals’ minds 179
- Chimpanzees are sensitive to some of the psychological states of others 197
- The understanding of own and others’ actions during infancy 211
- Experiencing contingency and agency 227
- The social construction of the cultural mind 241
- File Change Semantics for Preschoolers 259
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
-
Articles
- Of minds and mirrors 1
- How minds and selves are made 17
- Dynamics of social coordination 31
- Construing and constructing others 47
- The self and identity negotiation 61
- Social reality makes the social mind 75
- How to do things with logical expressions 91
- Attributions and peer harassment 105
- The shaping of individuals’ mental structures and dispositions by others 117
- Ostracism 131
- Self processes in interdependent relationships 147
- Constructing perspectives in the social making of minds 163
- The shaping of animals’ minds 179
- Chimpanzees are sensitive to some of the psychological states of others 197
- The understanding of own and others’ actions during infancy 211
- Experiencing contingency and agency 227
- The social construction of the cultural mind 241
- File Change Semantics for Preschoolers 259
