Essentialism is the idea that certain categories, such as "dog," "man," or "intelligence," have an underlying reality or true nature that gives objects their identity. Where does this idea come from? In this book, Susan Gelman argues that essentialism is an early cognitive bias. Young children's concepts reflect a deep commitment to essentialism, and this commitment leads children to look beyond the obvious in many converging ways: when learning words, generalizing knowledge to new category members, reasoning about the insides of things, contemplating the role of nature versus nurture, and...
Essentialism is the idea that certain categories, such as "dog," "man," or "intelligence," have an underlying reality or true nature that gives object...
Essentialism is the idea that certain categories, such as "dog," "man," or "intelligence," have an underlying reality or true nature that gives objects their identity. Where does this idea come from? In this book, Susan Gelman argues that essentialism is an early cognitive bias. Young children's concepts reflect a deep commitment to essentialism, and this commitment leads children to look beyond the obvious in many converging ways: when learning words, generalizing knowledge to new category members, reasoning about the insides of things, contemplating the role of nature versus nurture, and...
Essentialism is the idea that certain categories, such as "dog," "man," or "intelligence," have an underlying reality or true nature that gives object...
From the time of birth through the early school years, young children rapidly acquire two complex cognitive systems: They organize their experiences into concepts and categories, and they acquire their first language. How do children accomplish these critical tasks? How do conceptual systems influence the structure of the language we speak? How do linguistic patterns influence how we view reality? These questions have captured the interest of such theorists as Piaget, Vygotsky, Chomsky and Whorf but until recently very little has been known about the relation between language and thought...
From the time of birth through the early school years, young children rapidly acquire two complex cognitive systems: They organize their experiences i...
What is the nature of human thought? A long dominant view holds that the mind is a general problem-solving device that approaches all questions in much the same way. Chomsky's theory of language, which revolutionized linguistics, challenged this claim, contending that children are primed to acquire some skills, such as language, in a manner largely independent of their ability to solve other sorts of apparently similar mental problems. In recent years, researchers in anthropology, psychology, linguistics and neuroscience have examined whether other mental skills are similarly independent....
What is the nature of human thought? A long dominant view holds that the mind is a general problem-solving device that approaches all questions in muc...
Recent research shows that pre-school children are skilled classifiers, using categories to organize information and extend knowledge. Focusing on the role of maternal input, this monograph provides one of the first detailed examinations of how mothers convey information about category structure to their children.
Recent research shows that pre-school children are skilled classifiers, using categories to organize information and extend knowledge. Focusing on the...
Ellin Kofsky Scholnick Katherine Nelson Susan A. Gelman
This work examines a key issue in current cognitive theories - the nature of representation. Each chapter is characterized by attempts to frame topics in cognitive development within the landscape of current developmental theorizing and the past legacy of genetic epistemology. The chapters address four questions that are fundamental to any developmental line of inquiry: how should we represent the workings and contents of the mind? How does the child construct mental models during the course of development? What are the origins of these models? And what accounts for the novelties that are the...
This work examines a key issue in current cognitive theories - the nature of representation. Each chapter is characterized by attempts to frame topics...
This monograph provides the first in-depth look at how mothers and young children talk about gender, to discover the potential role of language in fostering gender stereotypes. Mothers and their sons/daughters, who were 2-?, 4-?, or 6-? years of age, were videotaped discussing a picture book that focused on gender. A consistent contrast was found between mothers' explicit endorsement of gender stereotypes and implicit emphasis on gender. Although mothers rarely expressed gender stereotypes directly, they emphasized gender concepts...
This monograph provides the first in-depth look at how mothers and young children talk about gender, to discover the potential role of lan...
From the time of birth through the early school years, young children rapidly acquire two complex cognitive systems: They organize their experiences into concepts and categories, and they acquire their first language. How do children accomplish these critical tasks? How do conceptual systems influence the structure of the language we speak? How do linguistic patterns influence how we view reality? These questions have captured the interest of such theorists as Piaget, Vygotsky, Chomsky and Whorf but until recently very little has been known about the relation between language and thought...
From the time of birth through the early school years, young children rapidly acquire two complex cognitive systems: They organize their experiences i...
Navigating the social world requires sophisticated cognitive machinery that, although present quite early in crude forms, undergoes significant change across the lifespan. This book will be the first to report on evidence that has accumulated on an unprecedented scale, showing us what capacities for social cognition are present at birth and early in life, and how these capacities develop through learning in the first years of life. The volume will highlight what is known about the discoveries themselves but also what these discoveries imply about the nature of early social cognition and the...
Navigating the social world requires sophisticated cognitive machinery that, although present quite early in crude forms, undergoes significant change...
