Gelman Susan A
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
Am Psychol. 2023 Jul-Aug;78(5):667-677. doi: 10.1037/amp0001152. Epub 2023 Mar 9.
A hallmark of human cognition is the capacity to think about observable experience in ways that are nonobvious-from scientific concepts (genes, molecules) to everyday understandings (germs, soul). Where does this capacity come from, and how does it develop? I propose that, contrary to what is classically assumed, young children often extend beyond the tangible "here-and-now" to think about hidden, invisible, abstract, or nonpresent entities. I review examples from three lines of research: essentialism, generic language, and object history. These findings suggest that, in some respects, the standard developmental story may be backward: for young humans, going beyond the obvious can be easy, and sticking with the here-and-now can be a challenge. I discuss the implications for how children learn, what is basic in human thought, and how tendencies that make us so smart and sophisticated can also be sources of distortion and bias. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
人类认知的一个标志是能够以非显而易见的方式思考可观察到的经验——从科学概念（基因、分子）到日常理解（细菌、灵魂）。这种能力从何而来，又是如何发展的？我认为，与传统假设相反，幼儿常常超越有形的“此时此地”，去思考隐藏的、无形的、抽象的或不存在的实体。我回顾了来自三个研究领域的例子：本质主义、类属语言和物体历史。这些发现表明，在某些方面，标准的发展故事可能是颠倒的：对于幼儿来说，超越显而易见的事物可能很容易，而局限于此时此地则可能是一项挑战。我讨论了这些发现对儿童学习方式、人类思维的基础以及那些使我们如此聪明和复杂的倾向如何也可能成为扭曲和偏见来源的影响。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2023美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
