Alison Gopnik is Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at Berkeley and an internationally recognized leader in the study of children's learning and development. She was the first to argue that children's minds could help us understand deep philosophical questions. She was one of the founders of the study of "theory of mind," illuminating how children come to understand the minds of others, and she formulated the "theory theory," the idea that children learn in the same way that scientists do.

Among her many books are The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life (2010), The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind (2000), and Words, Thoughts, and Theories (Learning, Development, and Conceptual Change) (1998).

Alison Gopnik and the Science of Play

Alison Gopnik and the Science of Play from EG on FORA.tv
Alison Gopnik takes her study of children's play and compares them to scientists performing experiments and thinking about counterfactual realities.

Alison is a Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at Berkeley, and one of the most prominent researchers in the effects of language on thought. She is renowned for her work on cognitive development in babies.