Do Preschoolers Appreciate That Identical Actions May Be Motivated by Different Intentions?

Abstract

Four studies investigated whether 4- and 5-year-olds recognize the potential for diversity in the intentions that motivate a given action. Children heard stories in which 2 characters performed the same action (e.g., running) yet had different desires (e.g., to be home for dinner vs. to be healthy and strong). Children were asked to determine what each character was trying to do (e.g., get somewhere fast vs. get some exercise). Five-year-olds successfully assigned different intentions to the characters, despite the fact that their actions were identical. Four-year-olds, in contrast, tended to attribute the same intention to characters performing the same action, even though their desires clearly differed. Children of this age were, nevertheless, capable of attributing different intentions to characters performing different actions (Study 2). Four-year-olds' difficulty differentiating two intentions for a given action persisted despite several task simplifications (Studies 3 and 4), suggesting that children's early concept of intention may be intimately tied to action.

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