Topics in Development: The Developmental and Evolutionary Origins of Mind

Catalog description

Human behavior can sometimes appear strikingly different from other animals: we create complex tools, plan for the future, and have sophisticated cultural traditions and group behaviors. What cognitive processes underlie these behaviors, and to what extent are they shared with other animals or unique to humans (and is that even the right question to ask)? What "counts" as intelligence or as having a mind? To explore these exciting questions, we will examine research and theoretical perspectives from psychology, biology, behavioral ecology and philosophy, and look at diverse aspects of learning and cognition in human and non-human primates along with a sampling of other species. Possible topics include spatial and numerical cognition, physical and causal reasoning, cooperation, communication, social learning and theory of mind, culture, morality, emotions, memory, foresight, and self-control in both human children and non-human animals.