Words, Thoughts, and Theories

by Gopnik, Alison; Meltzoff, Andrew N.

• ISBN13: 9780262571265
• ISBN10: 0262571269
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-09-01
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

Words, Thoughts, and Theoriesarticulates and defends the "theory theory" of cognitive and semantic development, the idea that infants and young children, like scientists, learn about the world by forming and revising theories, a view of the origins of knowledge and meaning that has broad implications for cognitive science. Gopnik and Meltzoff interweave philosophical arguments and empirical data from their own and other's research. Both the philosophy and the psychology, the arguments and the data, address the same fundamental epistemological question: How do we come to understand the world around us? Recently, the theory theory has led to much interesting research. However, this is the first book to look at the theory in extensive detail and to systematically contrast it with other theories. It is also the first to apply the theory to infancy and early childhood, to use the theory to provide a framework for understanding semantic development, and to demonstrate that language acquisition influences theory change in children. The authors show that children just beginning to talk are engaged in profound restructurings of several domains of knowledge. These restructurings are similar to theory changes in science, and they influence children's early semantic development, since children's cognitive concerns shape and motivate their use of very early words. But, in addition, children pay attention to the language they hear around them and this too reshapes their cognition, and causes them to reorganize their theories.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	xi
Preface and Acknowledgments	xiii
The Other Socratic Method	1	(10)
Socrates' Problem	1	(3)
Augustine's Problem	4	(3)
A Road Map	7	(4)
I The Theory Theory	11	(62)
The Scientist as Child	13	(36)
But Surely It Can't Really Be a Theory?	13	(2)
A Cognitive View of Science	15	(3)
Naturalistic Epistemology and Development: An Evolutionary Speculation	18	(2)
Science as Horticulture	20	(2)
Objections: Phenomenology	22	(2)
Objections: Sociology	24	(2)
Objections: Timing and Convergence	26	(1)
Objections: Magic	27	(2)
Empirical Advances	29	(3)
What Is a Theory?	32	(2)
Structural Features of Theories	34	(2)
Functional Features of Theories	36	(3)
Dynamic Features of Theories	39	(2)
Theories in Childhood	41	(1)
Theories as Representations	42	(7)
Theories, Modules, and Empirical Generalizations	49	(24)
Modules	50	(3)
Theories and Development	53	(1)
Modules and Development	54	(2)
Modularity in Peripheral and Central Processing	56	(3)
Empirical Generalizations: Scripts, Narratives, and Nets	59	(4)
Interactions among Theories, Modules, and Empirical Generalizations	63	(5)
Nonconceptual Development: Information Processing and Social Construction	68	(5)
II Evidence for the Theory Theory	73	(114)
The Child's Theory of Appearances	77	(48)
The Adult Theory	77	(5)
The Initial Theory	82	(4)
The Paradox of Invisible Objects	86	(6)
An Alternative: A Theory-Change Account	92	(3)
The Nine-Month-Old's Theory	95	(3)
The A-Not-B Error as an Auxilliary Hypothesis	98	(3)
The Eighteen-Month-Old's Theory	101	(4)
Other Evidence for the Theory Theory	105	(4)
Semantic Development: ``Gone'' as a Theoretical Term	109	(6)
Later Developments: From Object Permanence to Perspective Taking	115	(4)
Later Semantic Developments: ``Gone'' and ``See''	119	(2)
Conclusion	121	(4)
The Child's Theory of Action	125	(36)
The Adult Theory	126	(2)
The Initial Theory	128	(10)
The Nine-Month-Old's Theory	138	(7)
The Eighteen-Month-Old's Theory	145	(6)
Other Evidence for the Theory Theory	151	(2)
Semantic Development: ``No,'' ``Uh-oh,'' and ``There''	153	(3)
Later Developments: From Actions to Desires	156	(3)
Later Semantic Developments: ``Want''	159	(1)
Conclusion	159	(2)
The Child's Theory of Kinds	161	(26)
The Adult Theory	161	(4)
Categories and Kinds	165	(3)
The Initial Theory	168	(2)
The Nine-Month-Old's Theory	170	(6)
The Eighteen-Month-Old's Theory	176	(3)
Other Evidence for the Theory Theory	179	(2)
Semantic Development: The Naming Spurt	181	(2)
Later Developments	183	(1)
Conclusion	184	(3)
III Theories and Language	187	(38)
Language and Thought	189	(22)
Prerequisites	189	(2)
Interactions	191	(2)
A Theory-Theory View	193	(2)
Methodological Issues: Specificity and Correlation	195	(3)
Developmental Relations between Language and Cognition	198	(3)
Theories and Constraints	201	(3)
Crosslinguistic Studies	204	(3)
Individual-Difference Studies	207	(1)
Conclusion	208	(3)
The Darwinian Conclusion	211	(14)
Who's Afraid of Semantic Holism?	211	(5)
A Developmental Cognitive Science	216	(2)
Computational and Neurological Mechanisms	218	(2)
After Piaget	220	(2)
Sailing in Neurath's Boat	222	(3)
Notes	225	(4)
References	229	(22)
Index	251