do babies think like we do?

Question: do babies think like we do?

Asked by mayakatz to Betul, Bridget, Ceri-Wyn, Laurel, Maria on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
- Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 16 Jun 2010:
  
  Human babies continue to develop after they are born, so their brains and cognitive abilities (thinking abilities) are not as developed as adult brains. Babies don’t problem solve in the same way, nor do they think critically about things in the same way adults do- but they learn very quickly and follow our behaviour very closely and they have the ability to recognise faces and respond to social cues early on!
- Bridget Waller answered on 16 Jun 2010:
  
  Very good question! Many developmental psychologists (scientists who study children) are interested in that question, and want to know when and how babies start to understand things like adults do. Babies are like animals – because they can’t speak we may never know exactly what they are thinking! BUT, you can do experiments to work out how they make decisions, and what they can detect in their environment. Experiments like these have shown us that from birth babies like to look at faces, and can tell their mother apart from other women. So there are certainly some thinking processes that are there from the start. Other more complex thinking processes (such as language abilities, complex emotion, understanding others) take some time and experience to develop. Great question!
- Maria Pawlowska answered on 16 Jun 2010:
  
  Until babies learn words, and they learn them before they can start saying them – so around 3-4 months, they think very differently to us. Mostly they want to eat and sleep, but afterward once they’ve started learning words, they never stop, become very curious and definitely think a lot like us.

Question: do babies think like we do?

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