Each new generation of children grows up in the new environment its parents have created, and each generation of brains becomes wired… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
One of the best ways of understanding human nature is to study children. After all, if we want understand who we are,… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
We know what makes babies smart and happy and thrive. It's having human beings who are dedicated to caring for them -… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Babies and young children are like the research and development division of the human species, and we grown-ups are production and marketing, — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
One of the most distinctive evolutionary features of human beings is our unusually long, protected childhood. — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
For better or worse, we live in possible worlds as much as actual ones. We are cursed by that characteristically human guilt… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
A theory not only explains the world we see, it lets us imagine other worlds, and, even more significantly, lets us act… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
In most places and times in human history, babies have had not just one person but lots of people around who were… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
I wanted to answer big questions about humanity, about how it is that we understand about the world, how we can know… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Scientists and philosophers tend to treat knowledge, imagination and love as if they were all very separate parts of human nature. But… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Samuel Johnson called it the vanity of human wishes, and Buddhists talk about the endless cycle of desire. Social psychologists say we… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Philosophers and psychologists have long puzzled over the question of how we know as much as we do despite our limited experiences. One way… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
Adults often assume that most learning is the result of teaching and that exploratory, spontaneous learning is unusual. But actually, spontaneous learning is more… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
Adults tend to think they have much free will. Kids younger than six are less sure. They may be more realistic! — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
From an evolutionary perspective children are, literally, designed to learn. Childhood is a special period of protected immaturity. It gives the young breathing time… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
There is a tension between our desire to get our kids to turn out a particular way versus letting them develop to be their… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
“Instead, it may be that experience itself has changed our brains so that we perceive and interpret the world in a certain way. Once… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
Caring for children has always been one of the deepest and most satisfying things that a human being does, and yet it is hard… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
Imaginary friends are one of the weirder forms of pretend play in childhood. But the research shows that imaginary friends actually help children understand… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
“Like their parents, the Korean children used more verbs than the English-speaking kids, while the English-speaking kids used more nouns. But in addition, the… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
“We decided to become development psychologists and study children because there aren't any Martians. These brilliant beings with the little bodies and big heads… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
Each new generation of children grows up in the new environment its parents have created, and each generation of brains becomes wired in a… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
I'm the oldest of six children and I had my own first baby when I was 23. So I've always been interested in babies,… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
“Literature is the equivalent of the climate scientist’s computer simulations: set up some new starting conditions, run the whole complicated process and see what… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
The brain knows the real secret of seduction, more effective than even music and martinis. Just keep whispering, 'Gee, you are really special' to… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share
