ABSTRACT
Goal ascription is the process of identifying outcomes to which purposive actions are directed. Lucina is waving her arms in the street. Her movements have many actual and possible outcomes, from attracting your attention through hailing a taxi to exercising her body. Among these outcomes, one or more is a goal to which her action is directed. You engage in goal ascription when you identify one or more outcomes as among those to which the movements are directed. This identification may be key to understanding what Lucina believes about the street around her and what she desires and intends; it may also reveal opportunities to help or exploit her. Which mechanisms underpin goal ascription?
