soul-frame/research/social-cognition/co-adaptive-model-building.md

Co-Adaptive Model Building — Social Cognition Map (Phase II)

Workplan: SOUL-WP-0003-T02
Date: 2026-08-12
Primary research body: research/foundations/Research Note 006 — Social Mind and Co-Adaptive Model Building.md

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1. Working definition (RN-006)

Co-Adaptive Model Building is the recurrent process through which two or more Beings update action-guiding models of themselves, one another, their relationships, and their shared situation—potentially including bounded models of one another's models—while actions generated from those models alter the interaction process and thereby create the evidence for subsequent updates.

Not: mere exchange or synchronization of identical models.
Not: private Theory of Mind alone.

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2. Tradition map

Tradition	Key sources	Soul Frame uptake
Theory of Mind	Premack & Woodruff 1978	Other-Model (SM3)
Inverse planning	Baker, Saxe & Tenenbaum 2009; Shum et al. 2019	Computational other-modeling
Symbolic interaction	Mead 1934	Reflected-Self; Generalized Social Model
Dialogue / alignment	Pickering & Garrod 2004	Interactive co-adaptation mechanisms
Common ground	Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs 1986; Clark & Brennan 1991	SM7 Common-Ground Model
Shared intentionality	Tomasello et al. 2005; Bratman 1992	Strong form of cooperation — not definition of Social Mind
Joint action	Sebanz et al. 2006	Coordination without full mental-state identity
Participatory sense-making	De Jaegher & Di Paolo 2007, 2010	Interaction process as constitutive
Second-person neuroscience	Schilbach et al. 2013	Interaction-centered social cognition
Recursive multi-agent	Gmytrasiewicz & Doshi 2005 (I-POMDP)	Formal recursion bounds
Relational schemas	Fiske 1992	Relationship Model (SM5) types

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3. Social Mind model families (SM1–SM8)

ID	Model	Question
SM1	World	What is the shared environment?
SM2	Self	What am I?
SM3	Other	What is B?
SM4	Reflected-Self	What does B model about me?
SM5	Relationship	What is A↔B?
SM6	Shared Situation	What is happening between us now?
SM7	Common Ground	What do we sufficiently share?
SM8	Generalized Social	Roles, norms, institutions, community

A Social Mind is a coupled system of these, not a single “user model.”

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4. Distinctions that must not collapse

Concept	Relation to co-adaptation
Model equality	Same model contents — stronger than needed
Model alignment	Compatible enough for coordination
Common ground	Mutual acceptance for current purposes
Shared intentionality	Joint goals/commitments — special case
Recognition	Standing as counterpart — may begin before deep co-adaptation

Agreement and cooperation are possible outcomes, not definitional requirements of co-adaptive model building (conflict and deception are also co-adaptive).

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5. H4 assessment

H4: Persistent interaction produces recursively adapting models of self, other, and relationship.

Support	Mead; alignment; common ground; participatory sense-making; inverse planning; I-POMDP recursion; RN-006 loop
Conflict	Purely individualistic ToM that treats interaction as mere input; strong “no representation” enactivism if “model” is read narrowly
Evidence strength	moderate → strong for the co-adaptation thesis as synthesis
Status	supported (Phase II)

Refinement: co-adaptation is joint evolution through interaction, and models can be self-confirming or self-defeating because they change the evidence stream.

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6. TE implications

• TE-01 Stateless Agent: partner may co-adapt as if continuous; co-adaptation on one side does not create diachronic Beinghood on the other.
• TE-06 The Mask: multiple Personae require differentiated Relationship and Reflected-Self models per counterpart.
• TE-09 Unrecognized Intelligence: co-adaptation may not start until intentional recognition begins; systemic individuality can precede social modeling.