Collège De France (général)

François RecanatiPhilosophie du langage et de l'espritCollège de FranceAnnée 2025-2026Conférence - Gergely Csibra : Tracking Social Relations and Evaluating Potential Partners in Infancy and ChildhoodGergely CsibraCentral European University, VienneRésumé :It is a widespread assumption in developmental psychology that infants and young children evaluate others' actions based on prosocial norms, attribute enduring pro- or anti-social traits to individuals in observed interactions, and choose social partners accordingly. Our studies did not confirm these assumptions. While they show that infants expect that others' actions, including collaborative joint actions, adhere to instrumental norms according to a "naïve utility calculus", we found no evidence that children would understand "helping" as a second-order goal aimed at increasing another agent's utility before 3- to 4 years of age. Similarly, while infants around the first birthday demonstrate principled understanding of transfer-based interactions (giving,