Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Abstract Classic socialization frameworks often link parental control with reduced child agency, yet less is known about how children cognitively process external constraints. This study examines the control-agency model by investigating: (1) how maternal beliefs shape children's perceived agency within the Chinese Guan (governance) context, and (2) how children cognitively navigate situations of maximal constraint. Using a novel vignette-based family decision-making task with 82 mother–child dyads (Mage = 6.6) alongside parental belief questionnaires, we assessed maternal beliefs about Guan and child agency, maternal decision dominance, and children's perceived agency across everyday scenarios. Boundary cases of minimal perceived agency were further examined to probe children's interpretations of maternal control and their strategic responses. Results showed maternal beliefs significantly predicted children's perceived agency independently of decision dominance. In the learning scenario, agency beliefs positively predicted perceived agency (_ = .791, p = .043), whereas control-oriented Guan beliefs negatively predicted it (_ = -.510, p = .009; R_ = .151). Additionally, in boundary cases, children's perceived agency significantly informed their interpretations and strategies, yet these two outputs frequently diverged, indicating functional decoupling. These findings indicate that children's agency is not reducible to behavioral autonomy, but also involves internal interpretive processes even under high constraints.