Authors
Bertram F Malle, Joshua Knobe
Publication date
1997/3/31
Journal
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume
33
Issue
2
Pages
101-121
Publisher
Elsevier Science
Description
When perceiving, explaining, or criticizing human behavior, people distinguish between intentional and unintentional actions. To do so, they rely on a shared folk concept of intentionality. In contrast to past speculative models, this article provides an empirically based model of this concept. Study 1 demonstrates that people agree substantially in their judgments of intentionality, suggesting a shared underlying concept. Study 2 reveals that when asked to define directly the termintentional,people mention four components of intentionality: desire, belief, intention, and awareness. Study 3 confirms the importance of a fifth component, namely skill. In light of these findings, the authors propose a model of the folk concept of intentionality and provide a further test in Study 4. The discussion compares the proposed model to past ones and examines its implications for social perception, attribution, and cognitive development.
Total citations
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Scholar articles
BF Malle, J Knobe - Journal of experimental social psychology, 1997