How do young children make sense of the world? Are they limited to what they see, or can they think beyond the here and now? This talk will discuss how children's reasoning about hidden, invisible, and abstract entities provides a unique and valuable window into the human mind. Indeed, our early capacity to look beyond the obvious underlies humanity's greatest strengths, such as our search for knowledge and meaning, as well as our gravest challenges, such as prejudice and social inequities.

About the speaker: Susan Gelman is the Heinz Werner Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Michigan. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Classical Greek from Oberlin College and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. She is a developmental psychologist whose research focuses on children's concepts and language development.

Note that this talk is free and open to the public and will take place at the Ann Arbor District Library's Downtown Branch.