Allison Gopnik compares the development of a child’s mind to a scientist experimenting with their surroundings. Young children are able to absorb large amounts of information at a time while being able to explore their environment through hypothetical deductive reasoning. Hypothetical deductive reasoning is a scientific method that involves constructing and testing a hypothesis in order to come to a conclusion about one’s environment; if the hypothesis is proven correct then that hypothesis becomes a theory, if not then a new hypothesis is created and tested. According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, theory of mind is the ability to recognize your own mental state as well as understand that other people may have different mental states than your own. Piaget and Gopnik’s perspectives are similar in that they involve using abstract thinking in order to make conclusions about one’s surroundings, while their perspectives are different in that Piaget views cognitive development as a collection of different stages and Gopnik views cognitive development as a continuous
Allison Gopnik compares the development of a child’s mind to a scientist experimenting with their surroundings. Young children are able to absorb large amounts of information at a time while being able to explore their environment through hypothetical deductive reasoning. Hypothetical deductive reasoning is a scientific method that involves constructing and testing a hypothesis in order to come to a conclusion about one’s environment; if the hypothesis is proven correct then that hypothesis becomes a theory, if not then a new hypothesis is created and tested. According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, theory of mind is the ability to recognize your own mental state as well as understand that other people may have different mental states than your own. Piaget and Gopnik’s perspectives are similar in that they involve using abstract thinking in order to make conclusions about one’s surroundings, while their perspectives are different in that Piaget views cognitive development as a collection of different stages and Gopnik views cognitive development as a continuous