Andrew N. Meltzoff, Ph.D.

Professor and Co-Director,

University of Washington, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences

报告题目:

Social Learning in Children: Implications for Mind, Brain, and Education

报告摘要:

This talk concerns new discoveries about social cognition – the understanding  of other people and the mechanisms mapping between self and other. I will  discuss research in human children ranging from infancy to elementary school  children. A quick and efficient way to learn about people and the world is by  observing the examples of other social agents in one’s culture. Other people’s  actions serve as proxies for their own actions. Infants learn about self  by watching others. The process also works in the reverse direction: Infants  also come to understand others based on self. The actions of others are  imbued with ‘felt meaning’ due to infants’ own prior self-experiences. I have  called this bidirectional interplay between self and other the ‘Like-Me’  framework for developing infant social cognition (Meltzoff, Developmental  Science, 2007). In this talk I would like to discuss fundamental  psychological principles that apply across cultures, both in China and in  America. But at the same time we will discuss some possible differences between  the cultures and especially cases in which American stereotypes, beliefs, and  attitudes may differ from those in China. We will discuss how ideas shared in a  culture may influence the psychological development of children including their  academic development. By specifying culturally universal principles of the mind  and brain, as well as cultural variability, we can deepen our understanding of  human beings. This cross-cultural approach provides practical ideas and  applications for education.

报告人简介:

Andrew Meltzoff is the co-director of the University of Washington Institute  for Learning & Brain Sciences, an interdisciplinary center unit that is  dedicated to uniting the science and practice of learning. He currently holds  the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Chair at the University of Washington and  received his B.A. from Harvard and Ph.D. from Oxford University. Professor  Meltzoff has devoted more than 25 years studying how children learn and has  published numerous scientific articles and books, including a book co-authored  with Patricia Kuhl entitled, The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning  Tells Us about the Mind.