The plan recognition problem: An intersection of psychology and artificial intelligence

Schmidt, C. F., Sridharan, N. S., & Goodson, J. L. (1978). The plan recognition problem: An intersection of psychology and artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence, 11(1), 45-83.

• F. Schmidt,
• S. Sridharan,
• L. Goodson
• Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, U.S.A.

Abstract

Understanding actions involves inferring the goal of the actor and organizing the actions into a plan structure. The BELIEVER system is a psychological theory of how human observers understand the actions of others. The present theory is concerned with single-actor sequences and can account for goal-directed actions that may succeed or fail in accomplishing the goal, as well as actions governed by norms. After discussing how AI can be applied in psychological theory construction, the BELIEVER system is presented by specifying a plan recognition process and its knowledge sources.

Copyright © 1978 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Artificial Intelligence

Volume 11, Issues 1–2, August 1978, Pages 45–83

Applications to the Sciences and Medicine

Why not a Sociology of Machines? The Case of Sociology and Artificial Intelligence

1. Steve Woolgar
2. Woolgar, S. (1985). Why not a Sociology of Machines? The Case of Sociology and Artificial Intelligence. Sociology Sociology, 19, 557-572. doi:10.1177/0038038585019004005

Abstract

In the light of the recent growth of artificial intelligence (AI), and of its implications for understanding human behaviour, this paper evaluates the prospects for an association between sociology and artificial intelligence. Current presumptions about the distinction between human behaviour and artificial intelligence are identified through a survey of discussions about AI and `expert systems’. These discussions exhibit a restricted view of sociological competence, a marked rhetoric of progress and a wide variation in assessments of the state of the art. By drawing upon recent themes in the social study of science, these discussions are shown to depend on certain key dichotomies and on an interpretive flexibility associated with the notions of intelligence and expertise. The range of possible associations between sociology and AI reflects the extent to which we are willing to adopt these features of AI discourse. It is suggested that one of the more important options is to view the AI phenomenon as an occasion for reassessing the central axiom of sociology that there is something distinctively `social’ about human behaviour.

1. KATHLEEN M. CARLEY

1.    Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

The potential linkages between artificial intelligence and sociology are growing. This growth is due to importation of artificial intelligence techniques into methodological tools for data analysis, a growing interest among researchers in artificial intelligence in the socially situated agent, and a growing interest among sociologists in using artificial intelligence techniques for theorizing about social phenomena. Increasingly, researchers are addressing concerns of traditional importance within sociology, such as the bases for cooperation, the role of structure in affecting individual agency, and interaction using computational models of intelligent adaptive agents. This article provides an overview of the role that artificial intelligence currently plays within sociology.

Carley, K. (1996). Artificial Intelligence within Sociology. Sociological Methods & Research, 25(1), 3-30. doi:doi: 10.1177/0049124196025001001

Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems

September 2001, Volume 4, Issue 3, pp 155-186

Naming the Unnamable: Socionics or the Sociological Turn of/to Distributed Artificial Intelligence

• Thomas Malsch

%0 Journal Article

%D 2001

%@ 1387-2532

%J Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems

%V 4

%N 3

%R 10.1023/A:1011446410198

%T Naming the Unnamable: Socionics or the Sociological Turn of/to Distributed Artificial Intelligence

%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A%3A1011446410198

%I Kluwer Academic Publishers

%8 2001-09-01

%A Malsch, Thomas

%P 155-186

%G EnglishBottom of Form