Developmental Trajectory

Recommended Book

• Origins of Concepts 2009, by Susan Carey
• Understanding the Representational Mind 1993, by Josef Perner

General Comment

• Rational Constructivism and Nativism
  • Gopnik is mostly a toddler and preschooler researcher.
  • Spelke, Baillargeon, and Karen Wynn are mostly infant researchers. Carey is a theorist.
  • A big thing about theory theory is that theories are causal. Social cognition is pretty causal. Causal learning is. But number and language, for example, are harder to tell a causal story about.

Lec 1: Thoery Space

Lec 2: Theories

Lec 3: Perception and statistical learning as building blocks for cognition

Discussion: How far does statistical learning go?

Lec 5: Concepts of Objects

Lec 6: Concepts of Number

Discussion: Combining Concepts

Lec 8: Memory

Discussion: Conceptual Development

Discussion: Social Categories and Essentialism

Lec 11: Theory of Mind

Discussion: Pretense and Intentions

Lec 13 Social Learning

Discussion: Prosocial Behavior