ABSTRACT
The patterning of human interaction is reflected by the fact that a very large proportion the everyday give-and-take between people is carried off without a hitch. The knowledge structures that guide goal-directed action are built through experience. The thriving self-help book industry, which offers information on topics ranging from how to ask for a date to how to be a more effective parent, attests to the importance of these mediated information sources. TV talk shows and the stories frequently presented by those who participate in them constitute another potential source of mediated information for building knowledge structures. M. E. Bratman’s discussions of intentional action relied heavily on the plan construct. He argued that people generally develop partial or sketchy plans to deal with the attainment of everyday goals. Students of natural language understanding have noted the central role plans play in discourse comprehension processes. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
