PSYC 315 Chapter Notes -Intersubjectivity, Essentialism, Social Media
Document Summary
Introduction: concepts are general ideas that organize objects, events, qualities, or relations on the basis of some similarity. There are an infinite number of possible concepts, because there are infinite way in which objects or events can be similar. They help us understand the world and act effectively in it by allowing us to generalize from prior experience. They tell us how to react emotionally to new experiences. Without concepts, every situation would be new, and we would have no idea what past experience was relevant in the new situation: nativists believe that innate understanding of basic concepts plays a central role in development. Within this perspective, the rapid and universal formation of fundamental concepts such as time, space, causality, number, and mind arises from infants" massive exposure to experiences that are relevant to these concepts. Dividing the objects they encounter into categories helps children answer both questions.
