Susan A. Gelman (born July 24, 1957) is currently Heinz Werner Distinguished University Professor of

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and the director of the Conceptual Development Laboratory at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. Gelman studies language and concept development in young children. Gelman subscribes to the

domain specificity Domain specificity is a theoretical position in cognitive science (especially modern cognitive development) that argues that many aspects of cognition are supported by specialized, presumably evolutionarily specified, learning devices. The posit ...

view of

cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

, which asserts that the mind is composed of specialized

modules Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a sy ...

supervising specific functions in the human and other animals. Her book ''The Essential Child'' is an influential work on cognitive development. Gelman was elected to the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States of America, United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bow ...

in 2008 and the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2012. She has served as the President of the

Society for Philosophy and Psychology The Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SPP) is a professional organization in North America that promotes discussion and research at the intersection of philosophy, psychology and cognitive science. Its stated purpose is "to promote interacti ...

(2018) and the President of the

Cognitive Development Society Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of Intellect, intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attentio ...

(2005-2007). Gelman is a founding

co-editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the journal the '' Annual Review of Developmental Psychology''.

Education

Gelman received her B.A.,

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and Classical Greek from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in 1980, and her Ph.D. in Psychology, with a Ph.D. minor in

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1984. Her PhD advisor was

Ellen Markman Ellen Markman is Lewis M. Terman Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. She specializes in word learning and language development in children, focusing specifically on how children come to associate words with their meanings. Markman c ...

Career

Gelman is currently the Heinz Werner Distinguished University Professor of

and

and the director of the Conceptual Development Laboratory at the

. She was previously the Frederick G. L. Huetwell professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Research

Gelman directs the Conceptual Development Lab in the Psychology Department of the

. Most of the studies conducted at the lab focus on children between the ages of 2 and 10, and are carried out in a home-like laboratory setting or in local preschools and middle schools. Gelman is the author of over 200 publications in

research or related articles. Her research focuses on

cognitive development Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult bra ...

language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

categorization Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as Object (philosophy), objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by a ...

inductive reasoning Inductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which a general principle is derived from a body of observations. It consists of making broad generalizations based on specific observations. Inductive reasoning is distinct from ''deductive'' re ...

causal reasoning Causal reasoning is the process of identifying causality: the relationship between a cause and its Result, effect. The study of causality extends from ancient philosophy to contemporary neuropsychology; assumptions about the nature of causality ma ...

, and the relationship between language and thought. Her books include: * * *

Essentialism

Gelman has been a major contributor to

essentialism Essentialism is the view that objects have a set of attributes that are necessary to their identity. In early Western thought, Plato's idealism held that all things have such an "essence"—an "idea" or "form". In ''Categories'', Aristotle sim ...

and relating essentialist ideas to varying aspects in psychology. Gelman's work within the two fields share a familiar subsection: development of children. Her work has established that children, within a given age range, are able to detect underlying essences or root causes for predicting observed behaviors. Gelman's work has yielded insights into how children acquire language. Her book ''The Essential Child: Origins of Essentialism in Everyday Thought'' is an influential work on cognitive development and essentialism that has been cited more than 2000 times.

Research areas and topics of interest

Developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the science, 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 deve ...

Cognitive development Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult bra ...

Language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

Categorization Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as Object (philosophy), objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by a ...

and

* Psychological

* Social categories; Ownership, Authenticity, and Object history * Parent-child conversations *

Semantic development Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift) is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage—usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from ...

Causal reasoning Causal reasoning is the process of identifying causality: the relationship between a cause and its Result, effect. The study of causality extends from ancient philosophy to contemporary neuropsychology; assumptions about the nature of causality ma ...

* Relations between language and thought

Awards

* 2016, G. Stanly Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology, Division 7, American Psychological Association. * 2012, elected to the

* 2012, Developmental Psychology Mentor Award, Division 7, American Psychological Association *2008, elected to the

* 2007–2008,

James Mckeen Cattell James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Fund Fellowship,

Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...

* 2005,

Eleanor Maccoby Eleanor Emmons Maccoby (May 15, 1917 – December 11, 2018) was an American psychologist who was most recognized for her research and scholarly contributions to the fields of gender studies and developmental psychology. Throughout her career she ...

Book prize from Division 7 at the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

for ''The Essential Child: Origins of Essentialism in Everyday Thought'' (2003) * 2005, inaugural Best Authored Book Award, Cognitive Development Society. for ''The Essential Child'' (2003) * 1996, J. S.

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

* 1992,

Robert L. Fantz Robert Lowell Fantz (1925–1981) was an American developmental psychologist who pioneered several studies into infant perception. In particular, the preferential looking paradigm introduced by Fantz in the 1961 is widely used in cognitive develo ...

Award,

American Psychological Foundation The American Psychological Foundation (abbreviated APF) is an American philanthropic organization dedicating to awarding research grants to psychologists in the early stages of their careers. It is affiliated with the American Psychological Associ ...

* 1992, Distinguished Scientific Award, American Psychological Association, for Early career Contribution to Psychology

Family

Her younger brother is the statistician

Andrew Gelman Andrew Eric Gelman (born February 11, 1965) is an American statistician and professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University. Gelman received bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and in physics from MIT, where he was a ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. The cartoonist

Woody Gelman Woodrow Gelman (1915 – February 9, 1978) was a publisher, cartoonist, novelist and an artist-writer for both animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcove ...

was her uncle.

References

External links

The Conceptual Development Lab at University of Michigan
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelman, Susan American women psychologists American psychologists Developmental psycholinguists Women cognitive scientists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Oberlin College alumni Stanford University alumni University of Michigan faculty 1957 births Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society American women academics Annual Reviews (publisher) editors 21st-century American women