Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We propose a formal account of how structured, shared knowledge about social relationships shapes action interpretation. The model represents relationships as constraints in a social environment, analogous to boundaries or obstacles in a physical environment and operating within the same generative model, but exerting distinct constraints on action. As an initial test of this framework, we draw on research across the social sciences to capture in the models how one dimension of relationships -- formality versus intimacy -- shapes how people interpret interpersonally vulnerable behavior. We test this account in stories of naturalistic everyday situations, extending structured models of action understanding to open-ended contexts. Across six preregistered experiments (N = 1,554), the model captures people's inferences about desires, physical environments, and social relationships. This work formalizes how relationships can constrain -- and be revealed through -- everyday action.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7207871259