Gelman Susan A
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1109, USA.
Annu Rev Psychol. 2009;60:115-40. 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.
儿童的许多知识并非源于他们与环境的直接体验，而是来自他人的输入。然而，直到最近，概念发展研究的重点主要还是放在儿童的知识上，相对较少关注输入的性质。在过去十年里，研究重点发生了重要转变。本文通过考察输入的性质和学习者的性质来审视这种方法，以阐明早期概念学习。这些发现反驳了概念发展要么由环境提供要么由先天决定的简单观点，而是展示了两者是如何共同起作用的。同时也讨论了这些发现对儿童如何协调相互冲突的信念体系的启示。
