Innate Principles and the Digital Object: Insights from Core Knowledge Theory

Abstract

Psychology research reveals that humans possess innate principles that govern how we make sense of objects and object-directed actions. These principles are embedded in interrelated systems of core knowledge that shape behavior. This paper theorizes how the innate principles embedded in two core knowledge systems—the system of object representation and the agent system—play a crucial role in shaping how a technology user conceives of and carries out an object-directed action through a digital object and its embedded features. The theorization is instantiated in the context of IS research through a framework we call the user-object action scene, which comprises four interrelated elements: the user, the goal-object/goal-agent, the object-approach, and the goal environment. We conclude by encouraging IS researchers to revisit established IS theories through the lens of innate principles, and provide guidance on how to use innate principles to reexamine two IS theories: technology acceptance and technostress.