Via Neuron Narrative
Adding to the “nature versus nurture” debate, child psychologists have found support for the idea that human emotion and the accompanying expressions of those emotions are evolutionarily hardwired and nearly universal (not being a product of culture). For example, children who are blind and deaf from birth display virtually the full gamut of emotions on their faces (across cultures and societies).
What’s the source of this one, Kyle?
I found this fact while reading Steven Pinker’s “How the Mind Works”.
I think that you should be presenting this as a finding, rather than a fact, Kyle.
And preferably providing a reference to the original work.
Especially as Pinker shows, in many of his writings, a strong bias towards the Rationalist belief in innate knowledge. Which is not fully justified.
Jesse Prinz, who is, like myself, of the Empiricist faith, provides a well balanced critique of Chomskyan claims in “Beyond Human Nature”
He there underlines the ambiguities that often arise in the interpretation of studies which are used to support the notion of innate knowledge, particularly that of basic language.
An underlying universality of facial expression may, or may not, have a sound experimental basis. But the evidence for and against needs to be looked at rather carefully before proclaiming it to be a fact.
Fair enough. Perhaps my title “Science Fact #…” is a bit too strong for some of these.
You make a good point, but I wouldn’t take the critique of “innate knowledge” too far. Sure, it isn’t fully justified in many cases (especially in some grand claims of evo-psych), but I do not see a reason to discredit it wholesale.
Certainly it is entirely reasonable to assume that the human CNS would have evolved in such a way as to facilitate some aspects of language.
Neither Prinz nor I would suggest otherwise.
However, rather than “the blank slate” my preferred analogy is a computer, which, after all, is an information processing device whereas the “blank slate” is, at best, an information storage device.
Considered in this way we can make more meaningful comparisons in terms of hardware, firmware (e.g. boot sequence) and software.
The discussion then resolves to neural architecture (hardware), innate behavioral programs e.g. “detect tit and suckle” (firmware) and software, derived (most likely) from statistical interpretation of environmental stimuli.(learning).
Later in our development, of course, the statistical learning phase is augmented by the provision of “plug-ins” or “apps”, such as, for instance, a degree course in engineering or chemistry.
I shall be expanding upon this particular model in a section of my own next work which I hope to release next year but meanwhile suggest that “Beyond Human Nature” should be on your reading list with regard to this subject.