The last chapters of the book focus more about the philosophical part of the human being and how what we experience during our childhood shapes who we are as adults. To Gopnik it all comes down to three important aspects: truth, imagination, and love, and for children they are all intertwined. Babies and toddlers know exactly how love works, they can differentiate between the love and care they get from their parents and the love they get from sibblings, family members and babysitters. But not all children have the same idea about love and this is what psychologists describe as different styles of attachment, they basically describe the different reactions babies have when they are separated from their mothers or the person that represents their source of love. "Secure" attachment, is tipically portrayed by babies who are sad when the mother leaves and happy when she returns. "Avoidant" are those babies who don't react in any way when their mother leaves or returns, but after measuring their heart rate during separation they do feel sad but somehow learned not to express it. "Anxious" describes those babies that become very distressed when the mother leaves and once she returns they can't manage to calm down and relax and can also become mad at her.
These examples helped discover through an study that secure and insecure babies have different theories of love. It also has an effect on how they will talk and think about love later on as they grow up.
Truth, what Gopnik emphasizes in this aspect is the fact that "children are born knowing a lot about the world and other people" (244). Also they learn a lot just by observing and hearing the people around them, they are capable of performing experiments through playing and consequently change what they think. They also learn about other people, their feelings emotions , behaviors, and also learn about themselves. "This remarkable ability to find the truth, in turn, depends on the capacity to imagine and to love" (245).
Therefore, we see that truth, imagination and love depend on each other and are crucial in a child's development and it all has to do with the care and love we give them, "children can learn so freely because they are protected by adults, and they can imagine so freely because they are loved" (246).
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Not having enough with soap operas, my grandma is now crazy about webisodes!
The word webisode is a short episode which airs initially as internet television, it is downloaded opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television.
The word formation process is compounding, because it results from the combination of "web" and "episode."
Etymology: in 1995 the word was first created with the first internet serialization called "The Spot" by Scott Zakarin. In 2009 the word webisode is included in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
The word formation process is compounding, because it results from the combination of "web" and "episode."
Etymology: in 1995 the word was first created with the first internet serialization called "The Spot" by Scott Zakarin. In 2009 the word webisode is included in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Writing component for Presentation. Option #2
Dear Lucy Linguistics,
I am so glad that professor Jerskey recommended me to help you in choosing your book. As she said, it imparted a lot of knowledge and understanding to the idea I had about language.
And I say idea, because not until I took this class and actually started reading the book, I gave language the credit it really deserves. To be honest with you, even though I came from another country and I had no clue about what speaking another language was going to be like, and after putting so much effort into it, I never really took the time to acknowledge the significance my own language had, how it defined me as person, and its close relation with thoughts and behavior.
This book, "The Philosophical baby" is based in two important aspects that have always captured me, the mind, which I consider fascinating, and children, which I consider adorable and inspiring.
If you are looking for a book that talks about how language and the mind correlate, how this combination is perceived and absorbed by children, and how smart, thoughtful and conscious they are, then, this is the right book for you.
Alison Gopnik, the author, uses experimental methods to explain what children's minds can tell us about how we became the adults we are now. She also clarifies the misconceptions and wrong ideas we had about children, which were in fact influenced by Freud and Piaget, the "father" of developmental psychology. According to them, children were not only selfish, immoral and irrational, but also they didn't have the ability to differentiate between reality and fiction, but thanks to her research, she has been able to prove them wrong, and I have opened up my mind more and think of children as smarter, sensitive and rational little human beings, from whom I can learn perhaps even more that I would ever learn from an adult.
Let me tell you Lucy, at first, when I started reading the book I was a little confused because even though everything the author was saying about children was very interesting, I wasn't finding any connections yet with language, but as I continued reading, Gopnik emphasized in one chapter or the other how the mind and language intertwined. How could children express their thoughts and feelings if it wasn't for language? I learned, that even from the moment babies start saying their first words, they are already producing language which gives them the power and ability to imagine, and how good can children be at imagining and pretending, right? In fact, Gopnik says that children who have imaginary friends are better at predicting the feelings and thoughts of real people. How amazing is that! Their imagination besides influencing their language also contributes to their learning.
Overall, the book has impacted me so much, it target it lots of aspects that have to do with my psychology major, but it has also influenced and changed my perception toward children and language, as I told you before, it helped appreciate my own language, my culture, the one I grew up with and shaped me helping me become who I am and would never let me forget where I came from.
Therefore dear Lucy, I think, if you decide to choose this book, it would not only teach you about children and their big, tireless and creative minds, but it would also help you like the class and even remember it once is over, as a class that imparted knowledge not only to your brain but also to your life because it actually opens your eyes to the beauty and value language and all the people around the world have. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Carolina Pauletto.
I am so glad that professor Jerskey recommended me to help you in choosing your book. As she said, it imparted a lot of knowledge and understanding to the idea I had about language.
And I say idea, because not until I took this class and actually started reading the book, I gave language the credit it really deserves. To be honest with you, even though I came from another country and I had no clue about what speaking another language was going to be like, and after putting so much effort into it, I never really took the time to acknowledge the significance my own language had, how it defined me as person, and its close relation with thoughts and behavior.
This book, "The Philosophical baby" is based in two important aspects that have always captured me, the mind, which I consider fascinating, and children, which I consider adorable and inspiring.
If you are looking for a book that talks about how language and the mind correlate, how this combination is perceived and absorbed by children, and how smart, thoughtful and conscious they are, then, this is the right book for you.
Alison Gopnik, the author, uses experimental methods to explain what children's minds can tell us about how we became the adults we are now. She also clarifies the misconceptions and wrong ideas we had about children, which were in fact influenced by Freud and Piaget, the "father" of developmental psychology. According to them, children were not only selfish, immoral and irrational, but also they didn't have the ability to differentiate between reality and fiction, but thanks to her research, she has been able to prove them wrong, and I have opened up my mind more and think of children as smarter, sensitive and rational little human beings, from whom I can learn perhaps even more that I would ever learn from an adult.
Let me tell you Lucy, at first, when I started reading the book I was a little confused because even though everything the author was saying about children was very interesting, I wasn't finding any connections yet with language, but as I continued reading, Gopnik emphasized in one chapter or the other how the mind and language intertwined. How could children express their thoughts and feelings if it wasn't for language? I learned, that even from the moment babies start saying their first words, they are already producing language which gives them the power and ability to imagine, and how good can children be at imagining and pretending, right? In fact, Gopnik says that children who have imaginary friends are better at predicting the feelings and thoughts of real people. How amazing is that! Their imagination besides influencing their language also contributes to their learning.
Overall, the book has impacted me so much, it target it lots of aspects that have to do with my psychology major, but it has also influenced and changed my perception toward children and language, as I told you before, it helped appreciate my own language, my culture, the one I grew up with and shaped me helping me become who I am and would never let me forget where I came from.
Therefore dear Lucy, I think, if you decide to choose this book, it would not only teach you about children and their big, tireless and creative minds, but it would also help you like the class and even remember it once is over, as a class that imparted knowledge not only to your brain but also to your life because it actually opens your eyes to the beauty and value language and all the people around the world have. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Carolina Pauletto.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Research book summary 2. The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tells Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life
Children tend to create imaginary friends between the ages of two and six years old, and during the same time, they discover how their minds and the minds of others work. They also begin to understand the link between desires and beliefs, emotions and actions. Even more interesting, they develop what psychologists call "executive control" which is the ability to control your own actions, thoughts and feelings. After doing an experiment, Gopnik explains that children with imaginary friends were better at anticipating how people would feel, think, or act than those who did not. Also, these children tend to be more sociable than those who are shy and lonely. At the same time, just because children have imaginary friends doesn't mean they are replacing the real ones and it's not a form of therapy.
Another important aspect about children, and how they learn about the theory of the mind, in other words, how the mind works, is by observing the interactions and interventions of people around them. "Children learn from the patterns they see, but they also perform psychological experiments to explore the inner as well as the outer world" (Gopnik 100).
Language plays an important role in learning about the mind. According to Gopnik, a child's language ability correlates with his or her understanding of the minds of others. Therefore in order to know what people think, you have to hear what they say.
The most interesting fact that caught my attention about this part of the book was about the power that language has in deaf children. There is a big difference between deaf children who have deaf parents and those whose parents are not deaf.
In the first case, these children "learn sing as a native language, are surrounded by other signers, and have no trouble understanding minds" (102). In the second case, which is actually the most common, children have difficulty understanding minds because their parents learn sign as a second language and the children don't understand what people around them are saying, as Gopnik states: "they miss much of the psychological interaction that is going on around them" (102).
Another important aspect about children, and how they learn about the theory of the mind, in other words, how the mind works, is by observing the interactions and interventions of people around them. "Children learn from the patterns they see, but they also perform psychological experiments to explore the inner as well as the outer world" (Gopnik 100).
Language plays an important role in learning about the mind. According to Gopnik, a child's language ability correlates with his or her understanding of the minds of others. Therefore in order to know what people think, you have to hear what they say.
The most interesting fact that caught my attention about this part of the book was about the power that language has in deaf children. There is a big difference between deaf children who have deaf parents and those whose parents are not deaf.
In the first case, these children "learn sing as a native language, are surrounded by other signers, and have no trouble understanding minds" (102). In the second case, which is actually the most common, children have difficulty understanding minds because their parents learn sign as a second language and the children don't understand what people around them are saying, as Gopnik states: "they miss much of the psychological interaction that is going on around them" (102).
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
How to pronounce Carolina
For the linguists, the first syllable starts with a voiceless velar, stop sound with a rhyme of the low back vowel, [kɑ], followed by the voiced alveolar, liquid sound with a rhyme of the mid back vowel [ro], the third syllable is a voiced alveolar, liquid sound with a rhyme of the high, front vowel [li], and the fourth syllable has an alveolar, nasal voiced sound with a rhyme of the low back vowel [nɑ]. [kɑrolinɑ].
For the non-linguists, i would tell them to open the mouth half way and make the sound from the back of the throat making a stop, then to make a circle with the mouth, elevating and curling the tongue towards the palate to say "ro" followed by placing the tip and part of the front of the tongue on the alveolar ridge, and finally with the front and sides of the tongue to make contact with the alveolar ridge to make the nasal sound, [nɑ].
For the non-linguists, i would tell them to open the mouth half way and make the sound from the back of the throat making a stop, then to make a circle with the mouth, elevating and curling the tongue towards the palate to say "ro" followed by placing the tip and part of the front of the tongue on the alveolar ridge, and finally with the front and sides of the tongue to make contact with the alveolar ridge to make the nasal sound, [nɑ].
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Research book summary "The Philosophical Baby"
From the introduction to the first chapter the author has explained how we as adults tend to underestimate children and think that they don't understand much or are not as smart as we are.
Alison Gopnik states that "babies attend the world in a different way that we do, and this kind of attention is related to their extraordinary learning abilities" (16). Babies can be very intelligent and perceive the world and what goes on around them as well as we do.
through an intensive study, Gopnik and her colleagues have concluded that children's brains have an immense capacity to think counterfactually, which is basically when we look at different possibilities from a certain situation and ultimately choose the one we consider best. She describes in detail how she conducted such studies with babies to get to this conclusion.
Also, the power there is in children's imagination and how language plays an important role "learning language gives children a whole powerful new way to imagine." (28). She helps you see how language interacts with imagination, and the importance it has in a child's intelectual development "being able to talk about possibilities helps you to imagine them." (29).
Another aspect that caught my attention was that not only psycologists have become more interested about children's minds and behavior; philosophers and even scientists are also intrigued by how much can a baby now and understand and how much can we as adults learn from them, even more than we can imagine.
Alison Gopnik states that "babies attend the world in a different way that we do, and this kind of attention is related to their extraordinary learning abilities" (16). Babies can be very intelligent and perceive the world and what goes on around them as well as we do.
through an intensive study, Gopnik and her colleagues have concluded that children's brains have an immense capacity to think counterfactually, which is basically when we look at different possibilities from a certain situation and ultimately choose the one we consider best. She describes in detail how she conducted such studies with babies to get to this conclusion.
Also, the power there is in children's imagination and how language plays an important role "learning language gives children a whole powerful new way to imagine." (28). She helps you see how language interacts with imagination, and the importance it has in a child's intelectual development "being able to talk about possibilities helps you to imagine them." (29).
Another aspect that caught my attention was that not only psycologists have become more interested about children's minds and behavior; philosophers and even scientists are also intrigued by how much can a baby now and understand and how much can we as adults learn from them, even more than we can imagine.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Research Paper
The book i have chosen is "The Philosophical Baby" by Alison Gopnik. It caught my attention to see that Alison Gopnik is a psychologist, which is in fact what i desire to become, a child psychologist, and this book talks about the minds of infants and young children and how much we as adults can learn from them, appreciate and most importantly, understand them.
Therefore i am pretty sure this book will be of great help, not only as a learning tool for my career, and of course for the development of this paper, but also in a personal manner for whenever i have the opportunity to become a mother.
Therefore i am pretty sure this book will be of great help, not only as a learning tool for my career, and of course for the development of this paper, but also in a personal manner for whenever i have the opportunity to become a mother.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
My native language is Spanish, I was born in Colombia and had never learned another language before until I came to the United States and took ESL classes at la Guardia Community College. Since the beginning I knew it would be a challenge for me to learn English, and I am still in the process, but luckily thanks to my hard work and dedication I have been able to speak more fluently, communicate easily, and attend college.
I use both languages equally on a daily basis, but, perhaps because of college, I read and write more in English now.
In my opinion I consider language as one of the most precious resources we have as human beings. I don’t really know how does language happen; but it is definitely acquired through family, community and living with people. It would be impossible for a child to learn a language on his/her own. Therefore, two or more people are required to produce any type of language in order for it to happen.
The main questions I have about language, are how it originated, and which was the first language ever spoken. According to many, the origin of language is still a mystery.
After reading Deutscher’s article, I realized how extraordinary languages are, and it made me think of those who have the ability to learn many languages and are able to interpret them and translate them specially when they are completely different from each other.
Another interesting fact from his article is how languages influence the way we think, but the most fascinating one was his explanation about the language of space and “how we describe the orientation of the world around us.” His comparison between the Guugu Yimithirr and how geographic directions control their speech, while for us it is only used on certain occasions, helped me understand the power of language and depending on its type, how it can determine who we are and how we think.
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