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Are Babies Able to See What Others Feel?
When adults look out at other people, we have what psychologists and philosophers call a “theory of mind”—that is, we think that the people around us have feelings, emotions and beliefs just as we do. And we somehow manage to read complex mental states in their sounds and movements. But what do babies see when they look out at other people? They know so much less than we do. It’s not hard to imagine that, as we coo and mug for them, they only see strange bags of skin stuffed into clothes, with two restless dots at the top and a hole underneath that opens and closes. Our sophisticated grown-up understanding of other people develops through a long process of learning and experience.
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Children Prefer the Real Thing to Pretending
Pretend-play is a favorite pastime for American children. They mentally transform the here and now, preparing pretend meals in toy kitchens, frolicking around on fake horses, and feeding baby dolls with plastic bottles. By age 4, children spend approximately 20% of their waking hours engaged in such play, and yet many of their pretend activities could be done for real. Indeed, several popular pretend activities, such as preparing food and caring for babies, are done for real every day by many children around the world. We wondered: when given the choice, do American children prefer pretend-play activities to their real-world counterparts?
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3 Ways To Elevate The Debate About Guns
Since the tragic shooting in Parkland, Fla., students have been pressing lawmakers for greater gun control, bringing with their appeals a maturity beyond their years. That maturity is something we could use: Debates about gun legislation have been tense and intractable, betraying only modest engagement with opposing points of view. Along with the passion stirred by recent events, we need some clear thinking to achieve that engagement and move debates forward. With that goal in mind, here are three prescriptions for better thinking: ways to move beyond butting heads and towards agreement on solutions.
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We Asked a Child Psychologist to Review the 17 ‘Toy of the Year’ Winners
A couple of weeks ago the Toy Association presented the winners of the Toy of the Year Awards, the Oscars of the toy industry, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. And this year the audience of industry insiders experienced a moment not far off from last year’s La La Land–Moonlight Oscars fiasco: The top prize, Toy of the Year, ended up a tie. Fingerlings and L.O.L. Surprise shared the win. For anyone that interacts with children, those winners aren’t much of a shock: Collectibles are in and these were by far some of the most popular, but we wondered, are collectibles actually good toys for children to play with? Do they encourage learning and collaboration?
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Bill Gates Is Obsessed With These 2 New Books
Bill Gates had some awesome answers for curious Redditors on his AMA this week, commenting on topics ranging from philanthropy to technology to beer. (He’s not really a beer guy, he says, but he’ll drink light beer at a ballgame “to get with the vibe of all the other beer drinkers.”) As you might have heard, billionaire entrepreneur Bill Gates is a big reader. In response to one question about his hobbies, he said, “I always try and read a few books every month and a bunch on vacation,” but admits it can be hard to find the time.
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Conservatives’ Love of Nostalgia Can Be Used to Promote Liberal Values
In these polarized times, liberals and conservatives tend to talk past each other. Leftists tend to envision a brighter future, while right-wingers lovingly look to a more-perfect past. "Forward," urged Barack Obama. "Make America Great Again," replied Donald Trump. Here's a thought: What if we could decouple those deep-seated propensities from actual policy positions? Specifically, what if liberals advocated for a progressive platform by evoking conservatives' nostalgia for a romanticized bygone era? Two researchers tried it—and found the approach markedly decreased conservatives' resistance to liberal ideas.
