Chater, Nick, Zeitoun, Hossam and Melkonyan, Tigran A. (2022) The paradox of social interaction : shared intentionality, we-reasoning and virtual bargaining. Psychological Review, 129 (3). pp. 415-437. doi:10.1037/rev0000343 ISSN 0033-295X.

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Abstract

Social interaction is both ubiquitous and central to understanding human behavior. Such interactions depend, we argue, on shared intentionality: the parties must form a common understanding of an ambiguous interaction (e.g., one person giving a present to another requires that both parties appreciate that a voluntary transfer of ownership is intended). Yet how can shared intentionality arise? Many well-known accounts of social cognition, including those involving “mind-reading,” typically fall into circularity and/or regress. For example, A’s beliefs and behavior may depend on her prediction of B’s beliefs and behavior, but B’s beliefs and behavior depend in turn on her prediction of A’s beliefs and behavior. One possibility is to embrace circularity and take shared intentionality as imposing consistency conditions on beliefs and behavior, but typically there are many possible solutions and no clear criteria for choosing between them. We argue that addressing these challenges requires some form of we-reasoning, but that this raises the puzzle of how the collective agent (the “we”) arises from the individual agents. This puzzle can be solved by proposing that the will of the collective agent arises from a simulated process of bargaining: agents must infer what they would agree, were they able to communicate. This model explains how, and which, shared intentions are formed. We also propose that such “virtual bargaining” may be fundamental to understanding social interactions.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Strategy & International Business Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Journal or Publication Title:	Psychological Review
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
ISSN:	0033-295X
Official Date:	April 2022
Dates:	Date Event April 2022 Published 20 June 2022 Available 10 October 2021 Accepted
Volume:	129
Number:	3
Page Range:	pp. 415-437
DOI:	10.1037/rev0000343
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights):	©American Psychological Association, 2021. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. The final article is available, upon publication, at:https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000343
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access (Creative Commons)
Copyright Holders:	American Psychological Association
Date of first compliant deposit:	11 October 2021
Date of first compliant Open Access:	13 October 2021
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:	Project/Grant ID RIOXX Funder Name Funder ID ES/R00787X/1 [ESRC] Economic and Social Research Council http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269 ES/P008976/1 [ESRC] Economic and Social Research Council http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269 SG170033 British Academy http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000286
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