Understanding The Teleological Stance in Young Infants

Vladislav Tsekov

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Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Psychology - Developmental Psychology, grade: 1,7, LMU Munich, language: English, abstrac...

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Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Psychology - Developmental Psychology, grade: 1,7, LMU Munich, language: English, abstract: Very few things happen without a reason. People are in constant search of meaning behind actions of others, looking for purpose and goal-directedness in every behavior. Infants too have this outstanding ability. They can interpret other's goal-directed actions as early as 12-months-old. Unlike adults however, they do not understand that intentions, beliefs and desires are the actual driving force behind goal-directed actions. This notion develops only as they grow up. Rather, they make use of a special non-mentalistic interpretational system: the Teleological Stance. As a result, infants interpret an action as goal-directed only if it satisfies two conditions: (1) an action must function to realize goals and (2) it must do so by the most efficient means available. This is known as the Rationality Principle, the main mechanism by which the Teleological Stance works.