Susan Gelman
Encyclopedia
Susan Gelman is a Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor
of Psychology
at the University of Michigan
. Her research focuses on the topics of cognitive development
, language acquisition
, categorization
, inductive reasoning
, causal reasoning, and relationships between language and thought. Gelman subscribes to the domain specificity
view of cognition, asserting that the mind is composed of specialized modules
subserving specific cognitive functions.
in psychology
and classical Greek from Oberlin College
in 1980 and a Ph.D.
in psychology
with a minor in linguistics
from Stanford University
in 1984, since which time she has been employed at University of Michigan. Her research has been recognized by several awards including the James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowship (2007-2008), the American Psychological Foundation Robert L. Fantz
Award (1992), and the Eleanor Maccoby Book Prize from Division 7 of the American Psychological Association (2005) for The Essential Child.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. Her research focuses on the topics of cognitive development
Cognitive development
Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of brain development and cognitive psychology compared to an adult's point of...
, language acquisition
Language acquisition
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate. This capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary. This language might be vocal as with...
, categorization
Categorization
Categorization is the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Categorization implies that objects are grouped into categories, usually for some specific purpose. Ideally, a category illuminates a relationship between the subjects and objects of knowledge...
, inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning, also known as induction or inductive logic, is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations. It is commonly construed as a form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances...
, causal reasoning, and relationships between language and thought. Gelman subscribes to the domain specificity
Domain specificity
Domain specificity is a theoretical position in cognitive science that argues that many aspects of cognition are supported by specialized, presumably evolutionarily specified, learning devices...
view of cognition, asserting that the mind is composed of specialized modules
Modularity of mind
Modularity of mind is the notion that a mind may, at least in part, be composed of separate innate structures which have established evolutionarily developed functional purposes...
subserving specific cognitive functions.
Education and Awards
Gelman received a B.A.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and classical Greek from Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
in 1980 and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
with a minor in linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 1984, since which time she has been employed at University of Michigan. Her research has been recognized by several awards including the James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowship (2007-2008), the American Psychological Foundation Robert L. Fantz
Robert L. Fantz
Robert L. Fantz was an American developmental psychologist who pioneered several for studying infant perception. In particular, the preferential looking paradigm introduced by Fantz in the 1960s is widely used in cognitive development and categorization studies among small babies.Working at the...
Award (1992), and the Eleanor Maccoby Book Prize from Division 7 of the American Psychological Association (2005) for The Essential Child.
Representative Publications
- Gelman, S. A., Taylor, M G., and Nguyen, S. (2004). Mother-child conversations about gender: Understanding the acquisition of essentialist beliefs. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. Volume 69, No. 1.
- Gelman, S. A. (2003). The essential child: Origins of essentialism in everyday thought. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Gelman, S. A., and Bloom, P. (2000). Young children are sensitive to how an object was created when deciding what to name it. Cognition, 76, 91-103.
- Gelman, S. A. (2000). The role of essentialism in children's concepts. In H. W. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior, Vol. 27 (pp. 55-98). San Diego: Academic Press.
- Gelman, S. A., and Heyman, G. D. (1999). Carrot-eaters and creature-believers: The effects of lexicalization on children's inferences about social categories. Psychological Science, 10, 489-493.
External links
- "The Essential Child" at Amazon