As a species, humans have an extra-long childhood. And as any parent or caregiver knows, kids are expensive—they take an extraordinary amount of time, energy and resources to raise. So why do we have such a long childhood? What’s in it for us as a species? According to Alison Gopnik, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, the answer is that kids are the "R&D division of humanity," with brains optimized to explore the world and seek out new knowledge and experiences. Gopnik discusses her research and its implications for how we think about the purpose of childhood, how we raise and educate our children, the role of grandparents in teaching the next generation, and even how we might develop artificial intelligence systems inspired by children’s remarkable learning abilities.
Links
Alison Gopnik, PhD
Music
Inspiring Dramatic Beat #07 by tyops via Freesound.org
Perfectionism: When good is never good enough, with Gordon Flett, PhD, and Bonnie Zucker, PsyD
Revealing the Hidden Brain, with Shankar Vedantam
Why can some people speak dozens of languages? with Ev Fedorenko, PhD
Abortion and mental health, with Antonia Biggs, PhD
How living with secrets can harm you, with Michael Slepian, PhD
Can an app improve your health? With Gary Bennett, PhD
Racism, racial discrimination and mental health, with Riana Elyse Anderson, PhD
What is dissociative identity disorder? With Bethany Brand, PhD
Are we in a ‘loneliness pandemic’? With Louise Hawkley, PhD
Is technology killing empathy? With Sherry Turkle, PhD
What psychology has to say about art, with Ellen Winner, PhD
How exercise benefits the brain, with Jenny Etnier, PhD
Surviving the trauma of war in Ukraine, with Laura Murray, PhD
How to keep stress from harming your health, with George Slavich, PhD
How grieving changes the brain, with Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD
How to Keep Anger from Getting the Best of You with Howard Kassinove, PhD, and Raymond “Chip” Tafrate, PhD
Why psychopathy is more common than you think, with Abigail Marsh, PhD
Ambiguous loss and the “myth of closure,” with Pauline Boss, PhD
How our siblings influence our lives, with Laurie Kramer, PhD, and Megan Gilligan, PhD
Poker, con artists and the psychology of risk and deception, with Maria Konnikova, PhD
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