Lia Simon

Human infants and children are simultaneously the most adept learners, yet the least able to care for themselves. This course will wrestle with understanding how children’s development is shaped by human capacities and by the ways in which family, friends, and the larger community influence the maturational process. Through lectures, discussions, activities, and first-hand observations of children at the Child Study Center, we will examine children’s social, cognitive, emotional, perceptual, physical, and language development and try to understand how they relate to one another from conception (or before!) through early adolescence. Special attention will be given to public policy issues related to education, parenting, and children’s rights in the international community.

How do we become who we are? This course explores developmental creation of the self in infancy and childhood. We are not born knowing that others are different from ourselves, so how do we create our sense of self? How do we conceptualize ourselves in relation to family and friends? Emphasis will be placed on the negotiation between inside and outside forces—how do children navigate their own wants versus those that others have for them? We will discuss cognitive changes that occur in perception of self and others, and the social psychology of understanding the self in relation to family and friends. Students will use theory and literature and their own experiences to understand individuation and the conception of the self.