In many cultures, people believe in an afterlife, where “personhood” continues to exist in the absence of a physical body. Does this spiritual stance reflect an innate bias of human psychology? To find out, researchers have examined whether children believe in souls.
Peer pressure and social conformity starts long before adolescence. When faced with a choice between telling the truth and backing a popular falsehood, even 4-year-old children will buckle. Yet kids also possess the ability to question — and even reject — majority opinion. What can we do to encourage children to think for themselves? Image … Continue reading
Telling kids they are smart might seem like encouragement, but it can backfire. Learn about person praise, process praise, and intelligence.
Babies possess amazing learning abilities. But to master language, they need our help. Studies suggest we can support language development by engaging babies in conversation, and by providing them with a variety of special cues and communicative experiences.
Depending on how you define it, the Mozart effect either doesn’t exist, or is a weak phenomenon with an extremely misleading name. But studies do hint that music can make us feel more alert and focused, giving us a brief cognitive boost. It may also deliver health perks.
Babies make lots of communicative noises, but coos, gurgles, and cries aren’t true speech. When do babies say their first words? Most babies can say at least one or two words by the end of their first year, but the timing may vary considerably from individual to individual.
What you believe about cognitive performance — the theory of intelligence that you adopt — can have brain-altering effects, and enhance your ability to learn. Yet programs designed to instill the right, “growth mindset” in students haven’t always worked. Why not?
How do newborns perceive the world? Can they see in color? Can they recognize you by scent? Learn more about the newborn senses.
The effects of praise aren’t always good. What can we do to maximize the benefits of praise – and avoid undermining children’s motivation?
Working memory is often likened to RAM in a computer. The more you have, the more information you can juggle at once — allowing for faster processing. But of course we humans can’t improve our memory capacity by installing a new RAM stick. Nor can we expect new humans to perform at the highest level … Continue reading
Many parents use infant-directed speech, a register that is exaggerated, emotional, melodic, and higher-pitched. Are their babies better off? Does it help babies learn language at an earlier age?
Spatial skills are crucial for success in STEM and the visual arts. So what can we do help kids develop strong spatial reasoning abilities? Happily, a growing body of research points the way. Improving spatial skils is possible through a combination of physical exploration, spatial, talk, hands-on activities, and explicit instruction.