Teleological Stance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Teleological stance is also known as infants’ “naïve theory of rational action” (Csibra et al., 1999). It has been studied in a violation-of-expectation paradigm assessing difference in infants’ looking time to events consistent and inconsistent with the expectation that agents act efficiently. The aim of this thesis is to estimate the size of this effect in experimental and control conditions of the paradigm through meta-analysis, and to interpret the findings in the light of the systematic review.

Methods: Search was carried out at Google Scholar database in May 2021. Studies included habituation or familiarization phase of efficient or inefficient agent, followed by a test phase measuring looking time at efficient vs. inefficient action in new situation.

Findings: Total of 15 papers involving 3- to 15-month-old infants (n = 1020) was included. The 36 experimental conditions yielded a small effect size (d = 0.43, p = <.001), variance explained by age (z = 2.10, p = .036), but remaining excess variance (Q (25) = 78.6, p = <.001). Null finding was found for the 17 control conditions (d = -0.074, p = .326).

Interpretation: The meta-analysis confirms infants’ expectation of efficiency in agents. Infants are also likely to abandon this expectation if agent is previously inefficient. Exploratory analysis supports a presence of a developmental milestone in the last part of the first year of life. Evidence of publication bias challenge a non-linear trend, and inclusion of new or unpublished studies is needed to assess it with greater certainty.

Keywords: teleological stance, goal attribution, infancy, systematic review, meta-analysis