Spelke+(WK+2)

Notes on Spelke:

This paper proposes 4 core systems for learning with a possible 5th system. The four systems are: Possible 5th
 * 1) Objects** - cohesion, continuity and contact.
 * 2) Ag****ents** - cause and effect
 * 3) Number -** is imprecise, applies diversely, and can be used to compare and combine
 * 4) Geometry** - reorientation and association
 * Us vs. Them** - categorizing self and others into groups

Kinzler and Spelke seek to understand how we organize our knowledge and then how an understanding of that organization can lead to change. While certainly not limited to the core systems discussed here, this article provides a good basis. The authors explain that the human mind is not a, "single, general purpose device." The mind is built from a few core systems that have signature limits which are characterized thus giving identification including, tasks, ages, cultures, etc. (Pg. 257, 259).

Four of the systems are found in research while the fifth is "hinted at". Most interesting is that the four core systems in this paper have been tested not only on modern, connected people, but also on groups of remote peoples. The fifth system, Social Grouping (US vs. Them) researches reasons for both children and adults, and I believe non-humans, to feel the need to be apart of a particular group and categorize others into groups. Infants use their gaze direction to interpret their actions, so these biases have been shown in studies done on infants who show a visual preference for people of their own race and people who speak their native tongue by looking longer at the person they relate with. Social Grouping has been researched, but not yet tested on groups of remote people to see if it is a general human system, or one of the flexible skills developed as different groups of people converge in an increasingly global world.

Errors based on the core systems point to a opportunity to improve the human experience through change. Especially remarkable is the opportunity for social change, since the "most serious errors...may spring from the system for identifying and reasoning about the members of one's own social group" (Kinzler & Spelke, 2007, p. 261). The very system that evolved to help us live as communities in our own group don't work as well when many groups are in close proximity to one another.

These systems help progress humans and animals while at the same time cause severe damage in diverse societies. Though, Spelke suggests, "conceptual change may be useful in thinking about ways to alleviate conflicts" because the "understanding of human cognitive development yields insight into its malleability" (Pg. 261). It seems important to note that the core concepts can possibly be overcome. While it has been noted in changing the conceptions of number in young children, it would be interesting to see how it applies to the social group core belief.

__**Questions:**__ Will this system (social group) continue to evolve in the coming generations, or will a paradigm shift be needed to cope with a truly global world?

Evolutionary psychology is an interesting field, but when misused by some scholars' can be dangerous territory. In so many words, the article seemed to be saying that the tendency towards racism, sexism, etc. ism's is an innate part of being human (I realize that this might be a stretch, but in some sense it was saying that). It seems like common sense that we organize the world and the people and things in it by what is familiar and what is not familiar to us- but the feelings of hate or prejudice that some people hold towards what is unfamiliar is, in my opinion, social conditioning. What do other people think on this tricky topic? Do scientific findings trump morality?

Does the proposed fifth core system really go along with this article? I feel like it is out of place. I understand the four core systems as fundamental to the human cognitive process. But I feel like //us vs them// is not really a core system, but a preference based on environmental exposure. I would like to discuss this.

spatio-temporal principles: principles relating to both space and time or to space-time. scalar variability: representable by position on a scale or line; having only magnitude
 * __Vocab:__**