Baillargeon’s Explanantion Of Early Infant Abilities

Question 1

Knowledge of the Physical World

Answer 1

The extent to which we understand how the physical world works. An example the of this knowledge is object permanence. There is a debate about which ages children develop this kind of knowledge.

Question 2

Nativist approach

Answer 2

A theory that suggests humans are born with innate abilities.

Question 3

Physical Reasoning system

Answer 3

An innate system that provides a framework for reasoning about the displacements and interactions of physical objects.

Question 4

Violation of expectation (VoE) research

Answer 4

An approach to investigating infant knowledge of the world. The idea is that if children understand how the physical world operates then they will expect certain things to happen in particular situations. If these do not occur and children react accordingly, it suggests that they have an intact knowledge of that aspect of the world.