R. P. Hobson, or Peter Hobson, is a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Developmental Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitosi ...

Psychopathology Psychopathology is the study of abnormal cognition, behaviour, and experiences which differs according to social norms and rests upon a number of constructs that are deemed to be the social norm at any particular era. Biological psychopatholo ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

known for his work on

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and experimental

child psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development ...

. His research leads him to conclusions concerning the origins of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

, summarized in a book for the general reader, The Cradle of Thought. The core of his analysis is that human minds are the outcome of a successful series of interactions between infant and caregiver(s). In this Hobson's research has built on foundations established by

Colwyn Trevarthen Colwyn Trevarthen (born 1931) is Emeritus Professor of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Edinburgh. Background After training as a biologist in New Zealand at Auckland University College and Otago University, Trevarthen res ...

from the mid-1970s onwards. Trevarthen identified distinct steps in pre-lingual infant development, Primary Intersubjectivity and Secondary Intersubjectivity, which endow the infant's developing mind/brain with the architecture necessary for the achievement of symbolic thought. Hobson throws further light on this basic claim by examining what occurs in cases where, for genetic or

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

reasons, infants are denied the opportunity to investigate

intersubjective In philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, intersubjectivity is the relation or intersection between people's cognitive perspectives. Definition is a term coined by social scientists to refer to a variety of types of human inter ...

relationships. To achieve a rare vantage point on human development without

unethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

experimentation, Hobson examines cases of

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

congenital A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can ...

blindness and extreme social deprivation (for which statistically significant numbers of orphans rescued from

Nicolae Ceauşescu Nicolae may refer to: * Nicolae (name), a Romanian name * ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel See also *Nicolai (disambiguation) *Nicolao Nicolao is an Italian given name and a surname. It may refer to the following: Given name *Nicolao Civitali ...

's Romanian

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

s were available). The obstacles each of these circumstances placed in the way of normal infant-caregiver interaction are finely examined. Hobson's argument constitutes a challenge to certain flavors of

sociobiology Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to examine and explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within t ...

and

Evolutionary Psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...

, in that it traces the conception of the human mind back to a 'cradle' of social interactions, without which consciousness in the full, human sense is unobtainable. On the other hand, Hobson demonstrates that a hard-wired emotional connection is crucial for an infant to start the process of intersubjective learning. The experience of having an emotion elicited by another human being, and eliciting emotional responses in others, is identified as the material out of which humans fashion their sense of

self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

other Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ai ...

and

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

. Hobson's thesis is of growing interest in

Philosophy of Mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

and related disciplines.

Edward Skidelsky Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

suggests that Hobson fatally overlooks the fact that people with autism learn to speak (see External Links, below). Others have understood Hobson to be blaming parents for autism, a charge explicitly rejected in The Cradle of Thought.

Publications

* The Cradle of Thought 2002 *Cognitive and social factors in the development of infants with Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome Research and Practice. Moore DG, Oates JM, Hobson RP and Goodwin J. (2002) *On engaging with people in early childhood: The case of congenital blindness. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry. Sandler AM and Hobson RP (2002) *Are infants with autism socially engaged? A study of retrospective parental reports. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Wimpory DC, Hobson RP, Williams JMG and Nash S. (2000) *Imitation and identification in autism. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 40: 649-659. Hobson RP and Lee A. (1999) *Autism and Congential Blindness. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 29: 45-56. Hobson RP and Lee A. (1999) *Individual differences in young children's IQ: A social-developmental perspective. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 40: 455-464. Crandell LE and Hobson RP (1999) * Autism and the Development of Mind 1993

External links

Interview in New ScientistCriticism from Edward SkidelskyMore background on the concepts of Primary and Secondary intersubjectivityPeter Hobson's current researchReview of Cradle of Thought
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Peter Academics of the University of London Autism researchers 21st-century British psychologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)