Learning from Others : Children's Construction of Concepts

• Published in: Annual review of psychology Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 115 - 140
• Main Author: GELMAN, Susan A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto, CA Annual Reviews 2009; Annual Reviews, Inc
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Development; Child psychology; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Concept Formation; Developmental psychology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Imitative Behavior; Infant; Intention; Interpersonal Relations; Knowledge; Language Development; Learning; Personal Construct Theory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Semantics; Social Environment; Trust; Vocabulary; Human; Concept learning; parental input; Parent; Cognition; Social learning; Review; Parent child relation; Acquisition process; Language; Social interaction; developmental psychology; Family environment; Cognitive development; Child
• ISSN: 0066-4308; 1545-2085
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093659

Much of children's knowledge is derived not from their direct experiences with the environment but rather from the input of others. However, until recently, the focus in studies of concept development was primarily on children's knowledge, with relatively little attention paid to the nature of the input. The past 10 years have seen an important shift in focus. This article reviews this approach, by examining the nature of the input and the nature of the learner, to shed light on early conceptual learning. These findings argue against the simple notion that conceptual development is either supplied by the environment or innately specified, and instead demonstrate how the two work together. The implications for how children reconcile competing belief systems are also discussed.