HUMANIST GALAXY OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS:ALISON GOPNIK-BABY 9-15-20

ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY
HUMANIST GALAXY OF
SECULAR BRAIN SCIENCE STARS
ALISON GOPNIK
September 15, 2020

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Book #1
SCIENTIST IN THE CRIB:
Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn
by Alison Gopnik
William Morrow, 1999 (i-xv, 279 pages)

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BOOK OUTLINE
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note = Numbers in parentheses refer to pages

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (i-vii)

1) ANCIENT QUESTIONS AND A YOUNG SCIENCE (1-

2) WHAT CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT PEOPLE (23-

3) WHAT CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT THINGS (60-

4) WHAT CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT LANGUAGE (92-

5) WHAT SCIENTISTS HAVE LEARNED ABOUT CHILDREN'S MINDS (133-

6) WHAT SCIENTISTS HAVE LEARNED ABOUT CHILDREN'S BRAINS (174-

7) TRAILING CLOUDS OF GLORY (198-

[1] WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

[2] THE CLOUDS

NOTES (213-

REFERENCES (227-

INDEX (265-

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AUTHOR NOTES, SUMMARY,
AND BOOK DESCRIPTION
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AUTHOR NOTES = Alison Gopnik, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley and a leading cognitive scientist; Andrew N. Meltzoff, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington; and Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D. is a professor of speech and hearing at the University of Washington

SUMMARY = This book combines two worlds — children and science — in an entirely unique way that yields exciting discoveries about both. The authors show that by the time children are three, they have solved problems that stumped Socrates with an agility computers still can't match. This book explains just how, and how much, babies and young children know and learn, and how much parents naturally teach them. In fact, the book argues that evolution designed us to both teach and learn. Nurture is our nature, and the drive to learn is our most important instinct.

The new science of children also reveals insights about our adult capacities, helping to solve some ancient questions: How do we know there really is a world out there? How do we know that other people have minds like ours? It turns out that we find solutions to these problems when we are very small. But these astonishing capabilities don't disappear in later life, as the authors show in their engaging discussion of humans' potential for learning. In fact, they argue that even very young children — as well as adults use some of the same methods that allow scientists to learn so much about the world.

Written by three top scientists — themselves parents — who conducted much of the pioneering research in this field, the book is vivid, lucid, and often funny. It is filled with surprises at every turn and gives us a new view of the inner life of children and the mysteries of the mind.

LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW = Babies solve problems in exactly the same way that scientists work — by repeatedly testing "hypotheses" against real occurrences, then modifying their initial theories to fit reality better. The three authors — all parents as well as noted specialists in infant development — use this idea to organize their summary of research on cognitive development in early childhood. Chapters cover the development of language, of understanding, and of minds and brains (the "software" and "hardware" of cognition). The authors do a good job of staying appropriately neutral on the big political issues of childcare and emphasize that this is not a book of child-rearing advice. It is instead a readable, concise summary of the recent explosion of research on early childhood development. Recommended for public and undergraduate libraries. – Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW = Although Gopnik, Meltzoff and Kuhl have each conducted groundbreaking research into the cognitive development of infants and its philosophical implications, this book evokes less excitement than their more straightforward research. With breathless enthusiasm, the authors review recent findings in developmental psychology and explain, in a tone somewhat self-consciously aimed at the "lay reader," their hopes that they will help answer fundamental philosophical questions. They focus on Kuhl's work in early infant phonetic recognition and language acquisition, Meltzoff's work on imitation in infants and Gopnik's exploration of philosophical development in infants, as well as other important work in the field. How do babies learn? they ask, answering that "they are born knowing a great deal, they learn more and we are designed to teach them." They also give refreshing emphasis to the evolutionary basis for infant-caregiver interactions. For example, they explain that "motherese — the high-pitched, slightly louder than normal speech with elongated and articulated consonants and vowels — is not only preferred by babies but also optimally suited to their developing auditory systems. It's ironic, though, that these authors, who from the first pages decry ill-informed condescension to children, should be themselves so unthinkingly condescending in their tone and presentation: "children and scientists," they repeatedly aver, "are the best learners in the world." Agent, Katinka Matson, Brockman Inc.

BOOK LIST REVIEW = Gopnik and her coauthors are authorities on children's learning development and, in this book, at any rate, quite good writers. They present how children learn to understand and use language, control their emotions and arouse the emotions of others, and establish relationships. Babies are better at the elements and nuances of language than computers are, they show, for natural language far surpasses the artificial varieties. They demonstrate how science and messy reality intriguingly overlap in sections with such piquant titles as "The Three-Year-Old Opera: Love and Deception" and in such observations as "The babies' world isn't concrete any more than it's simple." They also willingly point out areas of development about which current understanding is fuzzy and more information is needed. Prospective and actual parents stand to learn much that may be helpful to them and their children from this lively book. – William Beatty

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