PSYC 335 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Joint Attention, Intersubjectivity
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Conceptual Development
Concepts
o General ideas or understandings used to group together objects, events, qualities, or
abstractions that are similar in some way
Perspectives on concepts
o Conceptual development reflects the interaction of nature and nurture, but the
particulars of this interaction are debated.
o Nativists
argue that innate understanding of concepts plays a central role in
development.
o Empiricists
o argue that concepts arise from basic learning mechanisms.
Who/ What? Dividing into Categories
o Young children attempt to divide the objects they perceive in three general categories
Inanimate objects
People
Living things
o Children divide objects into category hierarchies
(i.e., categories related by set-subset relations)
o Young children organize their knowledge of things into informal theories (Wellman
and Gelman, 1998)
Theory of physics
birth there is a primitive understanding that physical objects occupy space
and move in response to external forces
Theory of psychology
18 months understanding that other peopes actions reflect their desires
Theory of biology
understanding that people and other animals are living and differ from
nonliving things and plants
o These informal theories share characteristics with formal scientific theories
Identification of fundamental units for division of all objects and events into
basic categories
Explanation of many phenomena into fundamental principles
Explanation of events in unobservable causes
Categorizing Objects in Infancy
o Infants form categories of objects in the first months of life.
A key element in infants' thinking is perceptual categorization—grouping
together of objects that have similar appearances.
o By 2 years old...
Shape: Increasingly categorize objects on the basis of overall shape
Function: Form categories on the basis of function
Actions: Use their knowledge of categories to determine which actions go with
which type of objects
Categorizing Beyond Infancy
As children move beyond infancy, their ability to categorize expands greatly.
This involves knowledge of relations among categories
Document Summary
Concepts: general ideas or understandings used to group together objects, events, qualities, or abstractions that are similar in some way. Dividing into categories: young children attempt to divide the objects they perceive in three general categories. Living things: children divide objects into category hierarchies (i. e. , categories related by set-subset relations, young children organize their knowledge of things into informal theories (wellman and gelman, 1998) Birth there is a primitive understanding that physical objects occupy space and move in response to external forces. 18 months understanding that other peopes actions reflect their desires. Understanding that people and other animals are living and differ from nonliving things and plants: these informal theories share characteristics with formal scientific theories. Identification of fundamental units for division of all objects and events into basic categories. Explanation of many phenomena into fundamental principles. Categorizing objects in infancy: infants form categories of objects in the first months of life.
