Download or read book Words Thoughts and Theories written by Alison Gopnik and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1998-09-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Words, Thoughts, and Theories articulates and defends the "theory theory" of cognitive and semantic development, the idea that infants and young children, like scientists, learn about the world by forming and revising theories, a view of the origins of knowledge and meaning that has broad implications for cognitive science. Gopnik and Meltzoff interweave philosophical arguments and empirical data from their own and other's research. Both the philosophy and the psychology, the arguments and the data, address the same fundamental epistemological question: How do we come to understand the world around us? Recently, the theory theory has led to much interesting research. However, this is the first book to look at the theory in extensive detail and to systematically contrast it with other theories. It is also the first to apply the theory to infancy and early childhood, to use the theory to provide a framework for understanding semantic development, and to demonstrate that language acquisition influences theory change in children.The authors show that children just beginning to talk are engaged in profound restructurings of several domains of knowledge. These restructurings are similar to theory changes in science, and they influence children's early semantic development, since children's cognitive concerns shape and motivate their use of very early words. But, in addition, children pay attention to the language they hear around them and this too reshapes their cognition, and causes them to reorganize their theories.
Download or read book Words Thoughts and Theories written by Alison Gopnik and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text articulates and defends the 'theory theory' of cognitive and semantic development, the idea that infants and young children, like scientists, learn about the world by forming and revising theories.
Download or read book Thoughts and Ways of Thinking written by Benjamin Brown and published by Ubiquity Press. This book was released on 2017-08-31 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do we think differently from one another? Why do religious people adhere to their faith even against reason, whilst atheist thinkers label it “nonsense”? Why do some judges turn more to moral values and others less? Why do we attach different meanings to the same words? These questions can be tackled on psychological or sociological levels, but we can also analyze the subjects on the epistemological level. That is the purpose of this book. Thoughts and Ways of Thinking offers Source Theory as a single explanation for epistemic processes and their religious, legal and linguistic derivatives. The idea is simple: our senses, our understanding, our memory, the testimonies that we trust, and many other objects transmit data to us and so shape our beliefs. In this function they serve as our truth sources. Different beliefs stem from different sources or different hierarchies between same sources. This notion is formalized here through the new tool of Source Calculus, and, after balancing its relativistic consequences by adding pragmatic constraints, it is applied to the philosophies of religion, law and language. With this unified theory, old doubts are framed in new perspectives, and some of them even find their solution.
Download or read book Contemporary Theories of Learning written by Knud Illeris and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this definitive collection of today’s most influential learning theorists, sixteen world-renowned experts present their understanding of what learning is and how human learning takes place. Professor Knud Illeris has collected chapters that explain both the complex frameworks in which learning takes place and the specific facets of learning, such as the acquisition of learning content, personal development, and the cultural and social nature of learning processes. Each international expert provides either a seminal text or an entirely new précis of the conceptual framework they have developed over a lifetime of study. Elucidating the key concepts of learning, Contemporary Theories of Learning provides both the perfect desk reference and an ideal introduction for students. It will prove an authoritative guide for researchers and academics involved in the study of learning, and an invaluable resource for all those dealing with learning in daily life and work. It provides a detailed synthesis of current learning theories... all in the words of the theorists themselves. The theories of Knud Illeris Peter Jarvis Robert Kegan Yrjö Engeström Bente Elkjaer Jack Mezirow Howard Gardner Peter Alheit John Heron Mark Tennant Jerome Bruner Robin Usher Thomas Ziehe Jean Lave Etienne Wenger Danny Wildemeersch & Veerle Stroobants In their own words
Download or read book The Geometry of Meaning written by Peter Gärdenfors and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-01-17 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel cognitive theory of semantics that proposes that the meanings of words can be described in terms of geometric structures.
Download or read book Developing Theories of Intention written by Philip David Zelazo and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The chapters collected in this volume represent the "state-of-the-art" of research on the development of intentional action and intentional understanding--topics that are at the intersection of current research on imitation, early understanding of mental states, goal-directed behavior in nonhuman animals, executive function, language acquisition, and narrative understanding, to name just a few of the relevant foci. Collectively, the contributors demonstrate that intentionality is a key issue in the cognitive and social sciences. Moreover, in a way that was anticipated more than a century ago by the seminal work of J. Mark Baldwin, they are beginning to reveal how the control of action is related in development to children's emerging self-conscious and their increasingly sophisticated appreciation of other people's perspectives. This volume brings together the world's leading researchers on early social and cognitive development in an in-depth exploration of children's understanding of themselves and others.
Download or read book The Language of Thought written by Jerry A. Fodor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1975 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a compelling defense of the speculative approach to the philosophy of mind, Jerry Fodor argues that, while our best current theories of cognitive psychology view many higher processes as computational, computation itself presupposes an internal medium of representation. Fodor's prime concerns are to buttress the notion of internal representation from a philosophical viewpoint, and to determine those characteristics of this conceptual construct using the empirical data available from linguistics and cognitive psychology.
Download or read book Theories of Consciousness written by William Seager and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite recent strides in neuroscience and psychology that have deepened understanding of the brain, consciousness remains one of the greatest philosophical and scientific puzzles. The second edition of Theories of Consciousness: An Introduction and Assessment provides a fresh and up-to-date introduction to a variety of approaches to consciousness, and contributes to the current lively debate about the nature of consciousness and whether a scientific understanding of it is possible. After an initial overview of the status and prospects of physicalism in the face of the problem of consciousness, William Seager explores key themes from Descartes - the founder of the modern problem of consciousness. He then turns to the most important theories of consciousness: identity theories and the generation problem higher-order thought theories of consciousness self-representational theories of consciousness Daniel Dennett’s theory of consciousness attention-based theories of consciousness representational theories of consciousness conscious intentionality panpsychism neutral monism. Thoroughly revised and expanded throughout, this second edition includes new chapters on animal consciousness, reflexive consciousness, combinatorial forms of panpsychism and neutral monism, as well as a significant new chapter on physicalism, emergence and consciousness. The book’s broad scope, depth of coverage and focus on key philosophical positions and arguments make it an indispensable text for those teaching or studying philosophy of mind and psychology. It is also an excellent resource for those working in related fields such as cognitive science and the neuroscience of consciousness.
Download or read book Metaphor and Thought written by Andrew Ortony and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1993-11-26 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphor and Thought, first published in 1979, reflects the surge of interest in and research into the nature and function of metaphor in language and thought. In this revised and expanded second edition, the editor has invited the contributors to update their original essays to reflect any changes in their thinking. Reorganised to accommodate the shifts in central theoretical issues, the volume also includes six new chapters that present important and influential fresh ideas about metaphor that have appeared in such fields as the philosophy of language and the philosophy of science, linguistics, cognitive and clinical psychology, education and artificial intelligence.
Download or read book 30 Second Theories written by Martin Rees and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2010-05-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it comes to big science, very few things are conclusively known. From Quantum Mechanics to Natural Selection, what we have instead are theories - ideas explain why things happen the way they do. We don't know for certain these are correct - no one ever saw the Big Bang - but with them we can paint beautiful, breathtaking pictures of everything from human behaviour to what the future may hold. Profiling the key scientists behind each theory, "30-Second Theories" presents each entry in a unique, eye-catching full-colour design, with thought-provoking extras and stylish illustrations. It is essential for anyone keen on expanding their mind with science's most thrilling ideas.
Download or read book Theories and Things written by Willard Van Orman Quine and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here are the most recent writings, some of them unpublished, of the preeminent philosopher of our time. Quine is always, whatever his subject, an elegant writer, witty, precise, and forceful. Admirers of his earlier books will welcome this new volume.
Download or read book Building Theories written by David Danks and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-01-18 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores new findings on the long-neglected topic of theory construction and discovery, and challenges the orthodox, current division of scientific development into discrete stages: the stage of generation of new hypotheses; the stage of collection of relevant data; the stage of justification of possible theories; and the final stage of selection from among equally confirmed theories. The chapters, written by leading researchers, offer an interdisciplinary perspective on various aspects of the processes by which theories rationally should, and descriptively are, built. They address issues such as the role of problem-solving and heuristic reasoning in theory-building; how inferences and models shape the pursuit of scientific knowledge; the relation between problem-solving and scientific discovery; the relative values of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic view of theories in understanding theory construction; and the relation between ampliative inferences, heuristic reasoning, and models as a means for building new theories and knowledge. Through detailed arguments and examinations, the volume collectively challenges the orthodox view’s main tenets by characterizing the ways in which the different “stages” are logically, temporally, and psychologically intertwined. As a group, the chapters provide several attempts to answer long-standing questions about the possibility of a unified conceptual framework for building theories and formulating hypotheses.
Download or read book Theories of Human Development written by Barbara M. Newman and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2010-10-18 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intended for courses on theories of human development, this new text presents nine theories grouped into three major families - those that emphasize biological systems; those that emphasize environmental factors; and those that emphasize a dynamic interaction between biological and environmental forces. The nine theories selected have a long and productive history in human development and continue to evolve as a result of new insights. The inclusion of social role theory and life course theory expand the book's relevance to the study of adulthood and aging. Grouping the theories by families enhances students' ability to think critically about theoretical ideas, assess the strengths and weaknesses of each theory, and gain a deeper understanding of how each theory guides research and application. The three families are introduced with a brief overview of the unique perspectives of each theory and the rationale for grouping these theories together. Discussion of each theory includes: the historical and cultural context in which the theory was developed; an overview of key concepts and important ideas; new directions in contemporary scientific work; a research example illustrating how the theory has been tested and modified; an application showing how the theory has guided the design of an intervention or program; an analysis of how the theory answers basic questions about human development; and a critique highlighting the theories' strengths and weaknesses. Theories of Human Development serves as a text in advanced undergraduate and/or beginning graduate courses in theories of human development. Its clear organization and engaging writing style make it accessible to students with a minimal background in human development.
Download or read book Cognitive Gadgets written by Cecilia Heyes and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-16 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did human minds become so different from those of other animals? What accounts for our capacity to understand the way the physical world works, to think ourselves into the minds of others, to gossip, read, tell stories about the past, and imagine the future? These questions are not new: they have been debated by philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, evolutionists, and neurobiologists over the course of centuries. One explanation widely accepted today is that humans have special cognitive instincts. Unlike other living animal species, we are born with complicated mechanisms for reasoning about causation, reading the minds of others, copying behaviors, and using language. Cecilia Heyes agrees that adult humans have impressive pieces of cognitive equipment. In her framing, however, these cognitive gadgets are not instincts programmed in the genes but are constructed in the course of childhood through social interaction. Cognitive gadgets are products of cultural evolution, rather than genetic evolution. At birth, the minds of human babies are only subtly different from the minds of newborn chimpanzees. We are friendlier, our attention is drawn to different things, and we have a capacity to learn and remember that outstrips the abilities of newborn chimpanzees. Yet when these subtle differences are exposed to culture-soaked human environments, they have enormous effects. They enable us to upload distinctively human ways of thinking from the social world around us. As Cognitive Gadgets makes clear, from birth our malleable human minds can learn through culture not only what to think but how to think it.
Download or read book Mind in Motion written by Barbara Tversky and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eminent psychologist offers a major new theory of human cognition: movement, not language, is the foundation of thought When we try to think about how we think, we can't help but think of words. Indeed, some have called language the stuff of thought. But pictures are remembered far better than words, and describing faces, scenes, and events defies words. Anytime you take a shortcut or play chess or basketball or rearrange your furniture in your mind, you've done something remarkable: abstract thinking without words. In Mind in Motion, psychologist Barbara Tversky shows that spatial cognition isn't just a peripheral aspect of thought, but its very foundation, enabling us to draw meaning from our bodies and their actions in the world. Our actions in real space get turned into mental actions on thought, often spouting spontaneously from our bodies as gestures. Spatial thinking underlies creating and using maps, assembling furniture, devising football strategies, designing airports, understanding the flow of people, traffic, water, and ideas. Spatial thinking even underlies the structure and meaning of language: why we say we push ideas forward or tear them apart, why we're feeling up or have grown far apart. Like Thinking, Fast and Slow before it, Mind in Motion gives us a new way to think about how--and where--thinking takes place.
Download or read book Dual Process Theories of the Social Mind written by Jeffrey W. Sherman and published by Guilford Publications. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This volume provides an authoritative synthesis of a dynamic, influential area of psychological research. Leading investigators address all aspects of dual-process theories: their core assumptions, conceptual foundations, and applications to a wide range of social phenomena. In 38 chapters, the volume addresses the pivotal role of automatic and controlled processes in attitudes and evaluation; social perception; thinking and reasoning; self-regulation; and the interplay of affect, cognition, and motivation. Current empirical and methodological developments are described. Critiques of the duality approach are explored and important questions for future research identified"--
Download or read book 30 Second Psychology written by Christian Jarrett and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2011-06-21 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The key ideas in Psychology explained, with colour illustrations, in half a minute. Pavlov's Dogs, Psychoanalysis, Milgram's Obedience Study, and Beck's Cognitive Therapy? Sure, you know what they all mean. That is, you've certainly heard of them. But do you know enough about these psychology theories to join a dinner party debate or dazzle the bar with your knowledge? 30-Second Psychology takes the top 50 strands of thinking in this fascinating field, and explains them to the general reader in half a minute, using nothing more than two pages, 300 words, and one picture. The inner workings of the human mind will suddenly seem a lot more fun, and along the way we meet many of the luminaries in the field, including William James, Aaron Beck, and (of course) Sigmund Freud. From Behaviorism to Cognitivism, what better way to get a handle on your inner demons?
