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
Siblings are the guarantors that the private childhood world - so unlike the adult world that scientists are only just beginning to… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Overall, female scientists have fewer resources than male scientists, just as poor people have less access to health care. But if you… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Our babies are like penguins; penguin babies can't exist unless more than one person is taking care of them. They just can't… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Something like reading depends a lot on just having people around you who talk to you and read you books, more than… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
If you just, pretty much, take a random 15-month-old, just sit and watch them for 10 minutes and count out how many… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Children have a very good idea of how to distinguish between fantasies and realities. It's just they are equally interested in exploring… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
We do nothing for children between the ages of zero and five. And we seem to be quite happy to have children… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Many philosophers say it's impossible to explain our conscious experience in scientific, biological terms at all. But that's not exactly true. Scientists… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
Even the very youngest children already are perfectly able to discriminate between the imaginary and the real, whether in books or movies… — 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
If you just casually look at a baby, it doesn't look like there's very much going on there, but they know more… — 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
