My Child the Scientist

Thoughts about cognitive development from the eyes of an expectant father

Dave Sobel is an Associate Professor at Brown University. He studies cognitive development in infants and preschoolers. See full bio

November 14, 2009

I Want my Jetpack!

I've been to two conferences in the last year. At one, a number of developmental psychologists asked me whether modeling was important. At another, a number of computational modelers presented models of development that really missed the point. Why are these fields seem so disparate?

October 20, 2009

A note about blankets

An update from my last entry. I found a blanket that comes so close to claiming it promote development, that I felt compelled to mention it.

October 17, 2009

Confessions of an Average Driver

Why are we so afraid of being average?

September 29, 2009

This Entry is not about The Sexual Paradox

I received a book mysteriously. This isn't a review of it, but rather of the book that I was reading at the time.

September 17, 2009

The Biggest Lie I was Told about Becoming a Parent

How do children learn to decieve? In order to do so, they have to know something about mental states. When does this develop? Classic ideas in developmental psychology suggest that the ability emerges during the preschool years. But, recent evidence suggests that it might be much earlier.

September 6, 2009

The Philosophical Baby Daddy

Thoughts on Alison Gopnik's new book, The Philosophical Baby.

August 30, 2009

Expertise and Scientific Thinking

How much does what we tell children matter over what they observe themselves?

August 24, 2009

Parents and Experts

Children discover a great deal of knowledge on their own, but most of what they learn is from other people. How do they do it? Do parents matter?

August 16, 2009

75 Days Later

The voice I use to talk to the cats is not the same voice I use to talk to Lisa—it's happier, higher pitched, and has lots of modulation. None of this seemed irregular to me until Lisa became pregnant and I started having conversations with her belly. What's important is that I talked to her belly in pretty much the same voice that I use to talk to the cats.

Child Development Basics

The speedy physical and psychological changes that children undergo from birth through adolescence often leave parents wondering how best to care for them at each stage. From how to talk so kids will listen to when to back off and allow them to fail, PT's experts weigh in.

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