Core Knowledge and Conceptual Change

David Barner

ISBN 10: 0190467630 / ISBN 13: 9780190467630

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, US, 2016

About this Item

We acquire concepts such as "atom," "force," "integer," and "democracy" long after we are born; these concepts are not part of the initial cognitive state of human beings. Other concepts like "object," "cause," or "agent" may be present early in infancy--if not innately. Processes of change occur throughout our conceptual development, which prompts two key questions: Which human concepts constitute innate, core knowledge? How do humans acquire new concepts, and how do these concepts change in development?Core Knowledge and Conceptual Change provides a unique theoretical and empirical introduction to the study of conceptual development, documenting key advances in case studies, including ground-breaking science on human representations of language, objects, number, events, color, space, time, beliefs, and desires. Additionally, it explores how humans engage in moral reasoning and causal explanation: Are humans born good and tainted by an imperfect world, or do we need to teach children to be moral? Could a concept like "freedom" be woven into the human soul, or is it a historical invention, constructed over generations of humans? Written by an eminent list of contributors renowned in child development and cognitive science, this book delves widely, and deeply, into the cognitive tools available at birth that are repurposed, combined, and transformed to complex, abstract adult conceptual representations, and should be of interest to developmental psychologists, linguists, philosophers, and students of cognitive science.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780190467630

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Core Knowledge and Conceptual Change
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, US
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0190467630
• ISBN 13: 9780190467630
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: 1st.
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 23.11W x 15.49H x 2.03D centimeters 23.11 centimeters width by 15.49 centimeters height by 2.03 centimeters depth
• Weight: 408 grams

About this title

Synopsis

We acquire concepts such as "atom," "force," "integer," and "democracy" long after we are born; these concepts are not part of the initial cognitive state of human beings. Other concepts like "object," "cause," or "agent" may be present early in infancy--if not innately. Processes of change occur throughout our conceptual development, which prompts two key questions: Which human concepts constitute innate, core knowledge? How do humans acquire new concepts, and how do these concepts change in development?

Core Knowledge and Conceptual Change provides a unique theoretical and empirical introduction to the study of conceptual development, documenting key advances in case studies, including ground-breaking science on human representations of language, objects, number, events, color, space, time, beliefs, and desires. Additionally, it explores how humans engage in moral reasoning and causal explanation: Are humans born good and tainted by an imperfect world, or do we need to teach children to be moral? Could a concept like "freedom" be woven into the human soul, or is it a historical invention, constructed over generations of humans? Written by an eminent list of contributors renowned in child development and cognitive science, this book delves widely, and deeply, into the cognitive tools available at birth that are repurposed, combined, and transformed to complex, abstract adult conceptual representations, and should be of interest to developmental psychologists, linguists, philosophers, and students of cognitive science.

About the Author

David Barner, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology and Linguistics at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Barner studies the origin of human language and thought by studying how they develop in children in diverse cultural and linguistic contexts.

Andrew Scott Baron, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Dr. Baron's research explores the nature of the human capacity to be prejudiced by examining infants' and young children's tendency to categorize others into social groups and to form positive and negative attitudes and beliefs about these groups.