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{
    "pk": 25479,
    "title": "Learning to reason about desires: An infant training study",
    "subtitle": null,
    "abstract": "A key aspect of theory of mind is the ability to reason\nabout other people's desires. As adults, we know that desires\nand preferences are subjective and specific to the individual.\nHowever, research in cognitive development suggests that a\nsignificant conceptual shift occurs in desire-based reasoning\nbetween 14 and 18 months of age, allowing 18- but not 14-\nmonth-olds to understand that different people can have\ndifferent preferences (Lucas et al., 2014; Ma & Xu 2011;\nRepacholi & Gopnik, 1997). The present research investigates\nthe kind of evidence that is relevant for inducing this shift and\nwhether younger infants can be trained to learn about the\ndiversity of preferences. In Experiment 1, infants younger\nthan 18 months of age were shown demonstrations in which\ntwo experimenters either liked the same objects as each other\n(in one training condition) or different objects (in another\ntraining condition). Following training, all infants were asked\nto share one of two foods with one of the experimenters –\nthey could either share a food that the experimenter showed\ndisgust towards (and the infants themselves liked) or a food\nthat the experimenter showed happiness towards (and the\ninfants themselves did not like). We found that infants who\nobserved two different experimenters liking different objects\nduring training later provided the experimenter with the food\nshe liked, even if it was something they disliked themselves.\nHowever, when infants observed two experimenters liking the\nsame objects, they later incorrectly shared the food that they\nthemselves liked with the experimenter. Experiment 2\ncontrolled for an alternative interpretation of these findings.\nOur results suggest that training allows infants to overturn an\ninitial theory in the domain of Theory of Mind for a more\nadvanced one.",
    "language": "eng",
    "license": {
        "name": "",
        "short_name": "",
        "text": null,
        "url": ""
    },
    "keywords": [
        {
            "word": "Theory of mind; Desire-based reasoning; Infant\nlearning; Social cognition; Preferences"
        }
    ],
    "section": "Papers",
    "is_remote": true,
    "remote_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8xt657ph",
    "frozenauthors": [
        {
            "first_name": "Tiffany",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Doan",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "University of Waterloo",
            "department": ""
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Stephanie",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Denison",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "University of Waterloo",
            "department": ""
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Christopher",
            "middle_name": "G",
            "last_name": "Lucas",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "University of Edinburgh",
            "department": ""
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Alison",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Gopnik",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "University of California, Berkeley",
            "department": ""
        }
    ],
    "date_submitted": null,
    "date_accepted": null,
    "date_published": "2015-01-01T10:00:00-08:00",
    "render_galley": null,
    "galleys": [
        {
            "label": "PDF",
            "type": "pdf",
            "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/25479/galley/15103/download/"
        }
    ]
}