If you wanted to design a robot that could learn as well as it possibly could, you might end up with something… — 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
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
Knowing what to expect from a teacher is a really good thing, of course: It lets you get the right answers more… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
The science can tell you that the thousands of pseudo-scientific parenting books out there - not to mention the 'Baby Einstein' DVDs… — 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
What makes knowledge automatic is what gets you to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice. — 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
What we want in students is creativity and a willingness to fail. I always say to students, 'If you've never at some… — Alison Gopnik Copy Share Image
One of the things I say is, 'You want to know what it's like to be a baby? It's like being in… — 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
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
