title: Just how joint is joint action in infancy?
abstract: Joint action is central to countless aspects of human life. Here I examine the roots of joint action in infancy. First, I provide evidence that-contrary to popular belief-1-year-old infants do have the social-cognitive prerequisites needed to participate in joint action, even in a relatively strict sense: they can read others' goals and intentions, they have some basic understanding of common knowledge, and they have the ability and motivation to help others achieve their goals. Then I review some evidence of infants' and young children's active participation in different types of joint action, from prelinguistic communication to more instrumental collaborations with others, with a particular focus on whether young children show evidence of an understanding of the commitments and obligations entailed in joint action. I conclude that the uniquely human ability and motivation to participate in joint action is already seen in infants by 1 year of age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Malinda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carpenter
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003142:Communication; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Commitment; Common knowledge; Communication; Cooperation; Goal; Helping; Joint action; Shared intentionality