How Infants Know Minds

Vasudevi Reddy

ISBN 10: 0674046072 / ISBN 13: 9780674046078

Published by HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Feb 2010, 2010

About this Item

Neuware - Most psychologists claim we begin to develop a 'theory of mind' at age two or three, by inference, deduction, and logical reasoning. But does this mean small babies are unaware of minds Reddy deals with the persistent problem of 'other minds' that we know other minds if we can respond to them. And we respond most richly in engagement with them.

Seller Inventory # 9780674046078

Bibliographic Details

• Title: How Infants Know Minds
• Publisher: HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Feb 2010
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674046072
• ISBN 13: 9780674046078
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 153H x 18D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 153 millimeters height by 18 millimeters depth
• Weight: 456 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Most psychologists claim that we begin to develop a “theory of mind”―some basic ideas about other people’s minds―at age two or three, by inference, deduction, and logical reasoning.

But does this mean that small babies are unaware of minds? That they see other people simply as another (rather dynamic and noisy) kind of object? This is a common view in developmental psychology. Yet, as this book explains, there is compelling evidence that babies in the first year of life can tease, pretend, feel self-conscious, and joke with people. Using observations from infants’ everyday interactions with their families, Vasudevi Reddy argues that such early emotional engagements show infants’ growing awareness of other people’s attention, expectations, and intentions.

Reddy deals with the persistent problem of “other minds” by proposing a “second-person” solution: we know other minds if we can respond to them. And we respond most richly in engagement with them. She challenges psychology’s traditional “detached” stance toward understanding people, arguing that the most fundamental way of knowing minds―both for babies and for adults―is through engagement with them. According to this argument the starting point for understanding other minds is not isolation and ignorance but emotional relation.

About the Author

Vasudevi Reddy is Professor of Developmental and Cultural Psychology at the University of Portsmouth.