The cradle of thought /
Peter Hobson.
- xviii, 296 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-291) and index.
Just Think ... -- Before Thought -- The Dawn of Thinking -- The Cast of Thought -- The Fragile Growth of Mind -- The Inner and the Outer -- Fettered Minds -- Self and Others -- Understanding Minds. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
"Imaginative and creative thought is what distinguishes humans from animals. It is what defines us as Homo sapiens. What it means to have thoughts, and what gives us the remarkable capacity to think, have been subjects of debate for centuries. In The Cradle of Thought Peter Hobson presents a new and provocative theory about the nature and origins of uniquely human thinking." "A prevailing opinion on the acquisition of thought and language is that babies are born with pre-programmed modules in the brain. But this is too narrow and too simplistic an explanation. Professor Hobson's radical view is that what gives us the capacity to think is the quality of a baby's exchanges with other people over the first eighteen months of life. As part and parcel of an intellectual revolution in the second year, the child achieves new insight into the minds of itself and others. Human thought, language, and self-awareness are developed in the cradle of emotional engagement between infant and caregiver; social contact has vital significance for mental development." "In this book, Peter Hobson shows how very early engagement with others fosters the child's growth out of the cradle of infancy and into the realm of human thought and culture."--BOOK JACKET.
0333766334 9780333766330
2002421158
Cognition in infants Social interaction in infants Thought and thinking. Autism Autism in children Cognition. Interpersonal relations. Infant.