Foundations of the Mind: Children's Understanding of Reality

“I am impressed by the freshness and creativity of Subbotsky’s approach. He has done a variety of experiments on the extent to which children and adults assume that certain causal regularities are always inviolable or will sometimes accept quasi-magical violations. His research concerns the so-called object permanence concept... He has also looked at other concepts, such as the distinction between animate and inanimate. Again, he argues that although we mostly insist that this barrier is insurmountable, under certain conditions we will accept that what was inanimate before has become animate... He is taking psychological research that is highly familiar to Western readers and offering a striking new perspective... I think it could be of major importance.”―Paul Harris, author of Trusting What You’re Told: How Children Learn from Others

“This is important and original work that can have significant impact on our ideas about the constitution of the mind.”―Michael Cole, University of California, San Diego

“The literature cited is cutting edge; the author is clearly aware of what has been happening in the field in the West for the past few years, and he integrates it very well with his own work. His experiments are well done and quite an interesting addition to the literature. I particularly like the explicit inclusion of adult subjects... This is in keeping with what I perceive to be a developing trend in the field: following developmental sequences in various areas into their adult manifestations. Overall, the research is strong, interesting, and currently relevant.”―Gary Bonitatibus, Keene State College