Learning through Others

Natural Pedagogy and Mindreading: A possible cooperation

Emiliano Loria

• Publisher: Accademia University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9788831978446
• eBook ISBN: 9788831978576
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

The theory of natural pedagogy provides a model of social learning based on the direct communicative ostensive relation and aimed to the transfer of generic cultural knowledge. The pedagogical transmission of information originates from an explicit manifestation of teaching made by knowledgeable adults, who are naturally inclined to manifestly provide their cultural baggage to naïve conspecifics. The domain of transferable knowledge encompasses artifact functions, novel means actions, first words, gestural symbols, social practices, and rituals. This teaching process can be fast and efficient in virtue of a natural inclination possessed by infants to seek information and decode signals of ostensive communication.
In this sense, the natural pedagogy represents, as the two proponents – György Gergey and Gergely Csibra – claim, «a communicative system of mutual design specialized for the fast and efficient transfer of new and relevant cultural knowledge from knowledgeable to ignorant conspecifics». This book suggests that natural pedagogy utilises early belief attribution competences, which are employed by infants in a variety of contexts to approach and navigate the social world. Therefore, the natural pedagogy, in cooperationwith the early mindreading system, may represent one of the most efficient adaptive strategies to firmly create that deep wittgensteinian «nest of propositions» which build cultural shared beliefs structures to be relied upon and followed.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Action interpretation criteria for the infant mind
• 2. The infant’s sensitivity to ostensive communication
• 3. The Natural Pedagogy theory:“A relevance-guided learning device”
• 4. Mindreading and assumption of universality. Part 1)A primary form of representational mindreading system
• 5. Mindreading and assumption of universality. Part 2)The propositional nature of attributed beliefs
• 6. Limitations of the natural pedagogy model
• 7. Beyond the limits. Social Biofeedbackand Natural Pedagogy theories
• 8. Conclusion
• References