Barrett

How do we understand the behavior of others?:The agency system: 

How do we understand the behavior of others?: The agency system Clark Barrett UCLA barrett@anthro.ucla.edu

Heider and Simmel (1944): 

Heider and Simmel (1944)

What is agency?: 

What is agency? Agency = the capacity to act in a goal-directed (intentional) way Humans use the “intentional stance” (Dennett 1987) to interpret and make predictions about behavior. Main question: What cognitive mechanisms allow us to do this?

Talk outline: 

Talk outline Research goal: searching for building blocks of the agency system Perceptual templates / schemas Conceptual schemas Switching the system on and off Interactions with other systems: agency and social cognition Concluding speculations

Why should you care? : 

Why should you care? (Why is the agency system important for culture, norms, and evolution?) A) A security guard fails to detect a terrorist  50 people die. B) A security guard throws a grenade into a plane full of passengers  50 people die. Perhaps understanding intentions gets you more than just looking at outcomes? (Intentions in behavioral econ: Blount, McCabe)

Decomposing the agency system: 

Decomposing the agency system [Ultimate] goal: a computational account

A “black box” account(non-computational): 

A “black box” account (non-computational) Perceptual cues Behavior predictions INPUTS “Theory of mind”, “Belief / desire reasoning”, “Intentional stance” OUTPUTS Knowledge Judgments & Decisions ? What’s in here?

Inside the black box(a modular, or computational, account): 

Inside the black box (a modular, or computational, account) Perceptual cues Predator-prey schema Social Xch schema Etc. Behavior predictions INPUTS Conceptual schemas OUTPUTS Scope restrictors / modifiers John Susan Jim Human Dog Lion Individuals Taxa Processor (“ToMM”) Knowledge Perceptual templates / schemas Judgments & Decisions (AD, ID)

Inside the black box(a modular, or computational, account): 

Inside the black box (a modular, or computational, account) Perceptual cues Predator-prey schema Social Xch schema Etc. Behavior predictions INPUTS Conceptual schemas OUTPUTS Scope restrictors John Susan Jim Human Dog Lion Individuals Taxa Processor (“ToMM”) Knowledge Perceptual templates / schemas Judgments & Decisions

Perceptual templates: 

Perceptual templates Achieving (many) goals entail certain kinds of motion: e.g., pursuit If intentions have motion signatures, “templates” can be made: detectors Does the mind contain such templates for detecting particular kinds of intentional behavior?

What basic motion schemas do people possess?: 

What basic motion schemas do people possess?

Slide12: 

An experimental study of intentional motion perception Todd, Barrett, Miller, & Blythe

An experimental study of intentional motion perceptionTodd, Barrett, Miller, & Blythe : 

An experimental study of intentional motion perception Todd, Barrett, Miller, & Blythe Question: can people reliably use motion to infer the intentions of agents, and categorize them? Categories: Pursuit, court, lead / follow, guard, fight, play Generated by German adults in game context, evaluated by second set of judges (free descriptions, forced choice) Within categories, no two exemplars alike; must rely on abstract qualities to make judgment

6-category study: German adults: 

6-category study: German adults

German 3-5 yr olds: 

German 3-5 yr olds

Slide16: 

But: Are Germans just communicating a culturally shared schema to other Germans? Or are these motion schemas universal?

Slide17: 

Cross-cultural study: Shuar of Ecuador

Cross-cultural study: Shuar of Ecuador: 

Cross-cultural study: Shuar of Ecuador

4-category cross-cultural study: 

4-category cross-cultural study

Shuar and German adults: 

Shuar and German adults

Motion perception: summary: 

Motion perception: summary There appear to exist motion schemas for particular kinds of intention The same templates are present across cultures

Conceptual schemas: 

Conceptual schemas

Slide23: 

Perceptual cues Predator-prey schema Social Xch schema Etc. Behavior predictions INPUTS Conceptual schemas OUTPUTS Scope restrictors John Susan Jim Human Dog Lion Individuals Taxa Processor (“ToMM”) Knowledge Perceptual templates / schemas Judgments & Decisions

Slide24: 

Perceptual cues Predator-prey schema Social Xch schema Etc. Behavior predictions INPUTS Conceptual schemas OUTPUTS Scope restrictors John Susan Jim Human Dog Lion Individuals Taxa Processor (“ToMM”) Knowledge Perceptual templates / schemas Judgments & Decisions

Conceptual schemas: 

Conceptual schemas Function: making inferences about particular kinds of intentional interaction. May be many, e.g. : Social exchange, mating, parent / offspring, predator / prey, kin altruism Fiske: relational models Is there evidence for them?

Slide26: 

Predator-prey schema   Pre-contact    Predator Mutual Prey detects prey detection detects predator  ()  () Approach Wait / Flee Wait / Hide Hide / Ambush  Pursuit Key Agents Parameters  predator  knowledge relation  prey  action relation death

Study of children’s inferences about predator-prey interactionsBarrett, Cosmides, & Tooby: 

Study of children’s inferences about predator-prey interactions Barrett, Cosmides, & Tooby Shuar (N=28) and German (N=38) 3 to 5 year olds Simulated predator-prey encounter with plastic models (Jaguar / horse; Lion / zebra) At each stage, children predict what will happen next Also infer mental states of predator and prey

Example question: When the lion sees the zebra, what does the lion want to do ?: 

Example question: When the lion sees the zebra, what does the lion want to do ? Schema-consistent: Chase zebra Catch zebra Bite zebra Eat zebra Kill zebra Inconsistent: Go away (N=1 german) Eat grass (N=1 shuar) Rest DK or no response 3 yrs 4 yrs 5 yrs

Q: When the lion catches the zebra, what will happen? : 

Q: When the lion catches the zebra, what will happen? Schema-consistent: Lion hurts zebra Lion kills and / or eats zebra Inconsistent: German 3yr: "then he wants to go to the hospital" (not clear if lion or zebra German 3 yr: "lion climbs up to the window and falls down“ But: Few unrealistic or “fantasy” answers German + Shuar similar: surprising on cultural view 3 yrs 4 yrs 5 yrs

Slide30: 

3 yrs 4 yrs 5 yrs Summary of responses on predator-prey questions

Predator-prey schema: Summary: 

Predator-prey schema: Summary Predator-prey schema is present at an early age across cultures Leads to realistic inferences about predator and prey behavior Similar in very different cultures, uncontaminated by cultural inputs like fairy tales and cartoons Other schemas?

Slide32: 

Perceptual cues Predator-prey schema Social Xch schema Etc. Behavior predictions INPUTS Conceptual schemas OUTPUTS Scope restrictors John Susan Jim Human Dog Lion Individuals Taxa Processor (“ToMM”) Knowledge Perceptual templates / schemas Judgments & Decisions

Development of social exchange schemaBarrett, Keller, Takezawa, Wichary : 

Development of social exchange schema Barrett, Keller, Takezawa, Wichary Examined children’s judgments of violations of bilateral social contracts And predictions of reactions of different parties to violations German 1st and 4th graders

Children’s judgments of contract violations: 

Children’s judgments of contract violations

Predicted reactions of victim of contract violation: 

Predicted reactions of victim of contract violation

Predicted reactions of violator: 

Predicted reactions of violator

Social contract schema: Summary: 

Social contract schema: Summary Even young children can identify contract violations Ability to predict other’s reactions in social exchange situations may be useful for moderating one’s own behavior Future research: what other schemas are there? When do they schemas develop? (e.g. mating?)

Switching the agency system on and off: 

Switching the agency system on and off

Agency detection: 

Agency detection Some things are agents, and some are not Agents require vigilance, and figuring out what they are trying to do Assuming everything is an agent entails costs Selects for discrimination between agents and non-agents

Agency detection activates appropriate inference systems: 

Agency detection activates appropriate inference systems AGENT NON-AGENT Activate agency system Activate other object system (e.g. substance) Inferences licensed: can move, will react if touched, can hurt you… etc Inferences licensed: can’t move, will not react if touched, can be subdivided into pieces that retain properties, etc… Different patterns of inference:

What about dead things?: 

What about dead things?

Death as the cessation of agencyBarrett and Behne : 

Death as the cessation of agency Barrett and Behne Hypothesis: Agency detection system contains a “remapping” routine AGENT  SUBSTANCE COW STEAK Activate agency system Activate substance system ALIVE DEAD Different inference patterns Deactivate agency system, activate substance system

Cross-cultural test of cessation of agency hypothesis: 

Cross-cultural test of cessation of agency hypothesis 3 to 5 year old German and Shuar children Sleep vs death: Animals and people Target questions: Can it move? If you touched it, could it move? Could it hurt you? If you made a noise, could it know you were there? Could it be afraid? Sleep / death is a strong test

Patterns of inference for sleep vs death: 

Patterns of inference for sleep vs death Move? If touched? Hurt you? Detect you? Be afraid? GERMAN SHUAR

Mean # correct responses by population and age: 

Mean # correct responses by population and age German Shuar

Cessation of agency: summary: 

Cessation of agency: summary Agency inferences can be switched on and off for a particular object This aspect of agency detection present by age 4 or earlier Same developmental trajectory across cultures: suggests core feature of agency system

Agency and social cognition: 

Agency and social cognition Is a norm violated if it is violated by mistake?

Intentions and social contract violation: 

Intentions and social contract violation Cosmides (1989: social contracts are agreements to exchange benefits Cheating = accepting benefit without paying cost But: Suppose you agree to give your friend $1000 if he will give you his car next week. However, his car is stolen. Has he cheated you? Perhaps intentions are an important part of social contracts.

Social contract Wason: 

Social contract Wason Social contract rule: “If you give me your watch, then I will give you $10” Watch no watch $10 $5 P ~p q ~q About 75% of people pick violation cards

Manipulating intent, incentive, ability: 

Manipulating intent, incentive, ability Cover story manipulated so that potential violator either had: Intent to violate, or violated by mistake Incentive to violate, or no incentive Ability to violate, or no ability (except at random) How do the presence or absence of these factors affect subject’s vigilance for cheaters (card turning patterns)?

Operationalizing intent: 

Benefit / Intent / Ability: You supervise four women who volunteered to help out at the local Board of Education. Your volunteers were supposed to follow certain rules for assigning students from various towns to the appropriate school district. Each volunteer is the mother of a teenager who is about to enter high school, and each processed her own child’s documents. You overheard that some of your volunteers intended to break the rules when it came to assigning their own children to a school. Here is the situation: Although both communities are equally prosperous, the parents in Dover City have always cared about the quality of their schools, including Dover High, and have been willing to pay for it. In contrast, the parents in the neighboring town of Hanover have never wanted to spend the money, and have opposed any taxes to improve Hanover High. The Board of Education created this rule: “If a student is to be assigned to Dover High School, then that student must live in Dover City.” A. Dover High School B. Dover City C. Hanover High School D. town of Hanover Operationalizing intent

Without intent: 

Without intent Benefit / Ability You supervise four women who volunteered to help out at the local Board of Education. Your volunteers were supposed to follow certain rules for assigning students from various towns to the appropriate school district. Each volunteer is the mother of a teenager who is about to enter high school, and each processed her own child’s documents. You know your volunteers are honest, but you suspect that they may have made some innocent mistakes: they may have broken the rules for assigning each child to a particular school...

Operationalizing incentive, ability: 

Operationalizing incentive, ability Incentive: parents sort their own students into schools, or only students of others Ability: students names are written on sheet, or students identified only by code numbers

Slide54: 

~20%

Agency and social contracts: summary: 

Agency and social contracts: summary Vigilance for cheating affected ~ 20% for each factor Additive The difference between intentional and accidental violation of norms may be important in many other contexts as well: killing, politeness, fairness, etc..

Conclusion: 

Conclusion

Summary of findings: 

Summary of findings The agency system is not a single “ability,” but is comprised of many components Perceptual templates for identifying agents and specific intentions of agents Conceptual schemas for reasoning about intentions: provide the content for theory of mind Agency system can be turned on and off Agency system can influence social attribution and decision making processes

Eventually, we will need a fully computational account…: 

Perceptual cues Behavior predictions INPUTS “Theory of mind”, “Belief / desire reasoning”, “Intentional stance” OUTPUTS Knowledge Judgments & Decisions ? What’s in here? Eventually, we will need a fully computational account…

(Which might or might not look something like this.): 

(Which might or might not look something like this.) Perceptual cues Predator-prey schema Social Xch schema Etc. Behavior predictions INPUTS Conceptual schemas OUTPUTS Scope restrictors John Susan Jim Human Dog Lion Individuals Taxa Processor (“ToMM”) Knowledge Perceptual templates / schemas Judgments & Decisions

Understanding the agency system might have many implications for understanding social evolution.How important is the ability to understand intent for the evolution of cooperation, norms, etc?: 

Understanding the agency system might have many implications for understanding social evolution. How important is the ability to understand intent for the evolution of cooperation, norms, etc?

The end: 

The end