Alison Gopnik

Alison Gopnik is a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Since joining the faculty in 1988, she has become recognized for her extensive work in cognitive and language development, specifically the effect of language on thought, the development of a theory of mind, and causal learning. As one of the leading figures in cognitive science, particularly in the study of children's learning and development, she has authored four books and over 100 journal articles. Her books include "The Scientist in the Crib," "The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us about Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life," and "The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the new science of child development tells us about the relationship between parents and children."

As part of her work at Berkeley's Child Study Center, Gopnik develops mathematical models of how children learn, a project that has implications for improving artificial intelligence algorithms. She is also known for her advocacy of the "theory theory," which proposes that children use mechanisms similar to those of scientists to develop causal models of their environment.

Her accomplishments have been recognized with numerous awards and honors. In 2021, she was awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization and the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013 and became a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society in 2014. Further, she has received a lifetime achievement award from the University of California, Berkeley. Gopnik's work has also been featured in the documentary "The Singularity," which highlights futurist ideas.

Gopnik also writes for the Mind and Matter science column for The Wall Street Journal and has contributed to The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Science, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Review of Books, New Scientist, and Slate. Her frequent appearances on TV and radio, such as "The Charlie Rose Show" and "The Colbert Report," have further broadened her reach. Her TED talk alone has been viewed over 4.2 million times.

Among her acclaimed publications, Gopnik's book "The Philosophical Baby" has received considerable recognition, becoming a New York Times Extended List Bestseller and earning a spot on the New York Times Editor's Choice list. It is also a San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller, an Independent Bookstores Bestseller, and received a recommendation from Scientific American.