--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Child psychologists have demonstrated…" description: "\"Child psychologists have demonstrated that our minds are actually constructed by these thousands of tiny interactions during the first few years of lif..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/sidney-poitier-4270_advertising_child-psychologists-have-demonstrated-th_524389.jpg" --- # Child psychologists have demonstrated that our minds are… ![“Child psychologists have demonstrated that our minds are actually constructed by these thousands of tiny interactions during the first few years of life. We aren't just what we're taught. It's what we experience during those early years - a smile here, a jarring sound there - that creates the…” quote by Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/sidney-poitier-4270_advertising_child-psychologists-have-demonstrated-th_524389.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/sidney-poitier-4270_advertising_child-psychologists-have-demonstrated-th_524389.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e9/sidney-poitier-4270_advertising_child-psychologists-have-demonstrated-th_524389.jpg) > “Child psychologists have demonstrated that our minds are actually constructed by these thousands of tiny interactions during the first few years of life. We aren't just what we're taught. It's what we experience during those early years - a smile here, a jarring sound there - that creates the pathways and connections of the brain. We put our kids to fifteen years of quick-cut advertising, passive television watching, and sadistic video games, and we expect to see emerge a new generation of calm, compassionate, and engaged human beings?” [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Early experiences shape neural pathways, influencing personality and behavior more than formal teaching. **In simple terms:** Early life experiences shape us more than lessons. Key Takeaway Prioritize healthy early environments. Themes development neuroscience parenting Mood concerned hopeful Type educational reflective When to use this quote - early childhood education - media consumption - parental guidance Key Concepts brain plasticity critical periods Questions to Reflect On - How can we protect children from harmful media? - What positive experiences foster empathy? A Different Perspective Children’s brains are still adaptable beyond early years. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Advertising](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advertising/) [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Calm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calm/) [Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/child/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Compassionate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compassionate/) [Connections](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/connections/) [Fifteen years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fifteen-years/) [Games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games/) [Generations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generations/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Interaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interaction/) [Kids](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kids/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Pathways](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pathways/) [Psychologist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychologist/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound/) [Television](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/television/) [Video](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/video/) [Video games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/video-games/) [Years of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-of-life/) ## Related quotes > [After 13 years of life on the half shell in Hollywood, I have made a trip where I wasn't a tourist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-bergen/after-13-years-of-life-on-the-half-shell-in-hollywood-i-have-made-a/) [Edgar Bergen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-bergen/) > [The middle years of life come on like thunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nellie-l-mcclung/the-middle-years-of-life-come-on-like-thunder/) [Nellie L. McClung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nellie-l-mcclung/) > [One discovers a friend by chance, and cannot but feel regret that 20 or 30 years of life may have been spent without the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dudley-warner/one-discovers-a-friend-by-chance-and-cannot-but-feel-regret-that-20/) [Charles Dudley Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dudley-warner/) > [Man is at his furthest remove from the animal as a child, his intellect most human. With his fifteenth year and puberty he comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/man-is-at-his-furthest-remove-from-the-animal-as-a-child-his/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Fifteen years ago tomorrow I had open heart surgery, a quintuple bypass surgery. Thanks to all of my doctors. 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It is only orderly that they arrive first at our common destination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-okay-nwachukwu/the-elderly-were-formerly-young-before-being-utterly-overtaken-by/) [Vincent Okay Nwachukwu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-okay-nwachukwu/) > [Once a day, especially in the early years of life and study, call yourselves to an account what new ideas, what new proposition or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-watts/once-a-day-especially-in-the-early-years-of-life-and-study-call/) [Isaac Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-watts/) > [If our society were truly to appreciate the significance of children's emotional ties throughout the first years of life, it would no longer tolerate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-greenspan/if-our-society-were-truly-to-appreciate-the-significance-of-children/) [Stanley Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-greenspan/) > [I hear hundreds of years of life. I hear wind and rain and fire and beetles. I hear the seasons changing and birds and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-stein/i-hear-hundreds-of-years-of-life-i-hear-wind-and-rain-and-fire-and/) [Garth Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-stein/) > [Although psychology and pedagogy have always maintained the belief that a child is a happy being without any conflicts, and have assumed that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melanie-klein/although-psychology-and-pedagogy-have-always-maintained-the-belief/) [Melanie Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melanie-klein/) ## More by Sidney Poitier > [Jackie Robinson is a true legend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/jackie-robinson-is-a-true-legend/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [In my case, the body of work stands for itself... I think my work has been representative of me as a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/in-my-case-the-body-of-work-stands-for-itself-i-think-my-work-has/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [You don't have to become something that you aren't to become better than you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/you-don-t-have-to-become-something-that-you-aren-t-to-become-better/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [So it's been kind of a long road, but it was a good journey altogether.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/so-it-s-been-kind-of-a-long-road-but-it-was-a-good-journey-altogether/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [I'd seen my father. He was a poor man, and I watched him do astonishing things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/i-d-seen-my-father-he-was-a-poor-man-and-i-watched-him-do-astonishing/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [If the image one holds of one's self contains elements that don't square with reality, one is best advised to let go of them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/if-the-image-one-holds-of-one-s-self-contains-elements-that-don-t/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [I think the way I want to think. I live the way I want to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/i-think-the-way-i-want-to-think-i-live-the-way-i-want-to-live/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [I had learned something of Miami from people who had visited there, so I knew what to expect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/i-had-learned-something-of-miami-from-people-who-had-visited-there-so/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [We're all imperfect, and life is simply a perpetual, unending struggle against those imperfections.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/we-re-all-imperfect-and-life-is-simply-a-perpetual-unending-struggle/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [I did not go into the film business to be symbolized as someone else's vision of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/i-did-not-go-into-the-film-business-to-be-symbolized-as-someone-else/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [I find myself, at this time in my life, no less challenged, no less plagued, no less intrigued by what I still don't know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/i-find-myself-at-this-time-in-my-life-no-less-challenged-no-less/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/living-consciously-involves-being-genuine-it-involves-listening-and/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [Every new fashion is a form of rebellion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/every-new-fashion-is-a-form-of-rebellion/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [I'll always be chasing you... Glory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/i-ll-always-be-chasing-you-glory/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) > [So I'm OK with myself, with history, my work, who I am and who I was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-poitier/so-i-m-ok-with-myself-with-history-my-work-who-i-am-and-who-i-was/) [Sidney Poitier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) [Explore all 112 Sidney Poitier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-poitier/) ## More Advertising quotes > [I saw this anti-drug commercial that showed a kid smoking pot in his dad's room with his friend. 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