Joint attention as action

Abstract: We demonstrate that “joint attention”, usually conceived of in the psychological sciences as indicative of such minded processes as the capacity for understanding the intentional, goal-directed behavior of others, is fundamentally an interactional process, one that cannot be extricated from the ongoing flow of social activity. We examine very young children''s actions of showing objects to others, and explicate the practical procedures by which they draw and sustain another''s attention to an object, and convey “what for”—that is, what another should do in response. At issue is how children in a natural social setting (here, a daycare center) track the activities of others for felicitous moments to present objects, and design and position their actions by reference to the ongoing preoccupations, commitments, and distractions of others. Further, drawing another''s attention poses sequential implications for children''s actions which structure opportunities for parties (child and other) to display, and modify, their understandings of what sort of social exchange is transpiring between them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]