Joint Action: The Challenge

Lecturer: Stephen A. Butterfill

Joint action is arguably required to explain the emergence, in evolution or development, of sophisticated forms of human activity including, referential communication and mindreading.

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Notes

Challenge Explain the emergence of sophisticated human activities including referential communication and mindreading.

Conjecture Joint action plays a role in explaining how sophisticated human activities emerge.

This conjecture is inspired by a range of authors who take different approaches:

‘humans acquire knowledge at a pace far outstripping that found in any other species. Recent evidence indicates that interpersonal understanding–—in particular, skill at inferring others’ intentions—–plays a pivotal role in this achievement’ (Baldwin, 2000, p. \ 40).

‘functions traditionally considered hallmarks of individual cognition originated through the need to interact with others …\ perception, action, and cognition are grounded in social interaction’ (Knoblich & Sebanz, 2006, p. \ 103).

‘human cognitive abilities … [are] built upon social interaction’ (Sinigaglia & Sparaci, 2008).

Vygotskian Intelligence Hypothesis: ‘the unique aspects of human cognition … were driven by, or even constituted by, social co-operation’ (Moll & Tomasello, 2007, p. \ 1).

References

Baldwin, D. (2000). Interpersonal understanding fuels knowledge acquisition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(2), 40–45.

Knoblich, G., & Sebanz, N. (2006). The social nature of perception and action. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(3), 99–104.

Moll, H., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Cooperation and human cognition: The vygotskian intelligence hypothesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 362(1480), 639–648.

Sinigaglia, C., & Sparaci, L. (2008). The mirror roots of social cognition. Acta Philosophica, 17(2), 307–330.