title: 13-month-olds' understanding of social interactions.
abstract: In the present research, we investigated how 13-month-olds use their emergent theory-of-mind understanding (i.e., understanding about other people's mental states, such as their intentions, perceptions, and beliefs) and social-evaluation skills to make sense of social interactions. The infants watched three puppets (A, B, and C) interact. The results showed that after seeing Agents A and B interact in a positive manner, infants expected them to continue doing so, even after they saw B hit another agent, C, while A was absent. When A was present to witness B's harmful action, however, infants expected A to change his or her behavior and ignore B. Therefore, infants seemed to consider A's perspectives when predicting A's actions. Furthermore, if B accidentally hit C when A was present, infants seemed to accept that A could interact or not interact with B, which suggests that they had taken into account B's intention in their interpretations of the agents' interactions.
authors: University of Missouri.
authors: You-Jung
authors: YJ
authors: Choi
authors: University of Missouri luoy@missouri.edu.
authors: Yuyan
authors: Y
authors: Luo
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: infant development; social cognition; theory of mind