Monday, Nov. 4: L.A. Paul, "What you can't expect when you're expecting"

Please join us for a presentation by Professor Laurie Paul, Department of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

What you can't expect when you're expecting

Abstract: It seems natural to choose whether to have a child by reflecting on what it would be like to actually have a child. I argue that this natural approach fails. If you choose to become a parent, and your choice is based on projections about what you think it would be like for you to have a child, your choice is not rational. If you choose to remain childless, and your choice is based upon projections about what you think it would be like for you to have a child, your choice is not rational. This suggests we should reject our ordinary conception of how to make this life-changing decision, and raises general questions about how to rationally approach important life choices.

Monday, November 4, 12:00-1:30pm in 3105 Tolman Hall

Monday, Oct. 28: Jenny Saffran, Sounds and meanings working together: Word learning as a collaborative effort

Professor Jenny Saffran, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison will present:

Sounds and meanings working together: Word learning as a collaborative effort

When we think about word learning, we tend to focus on the fundamental act of mapping a word onto the world. However, lexical learning does not occur in a vacuum. At the outset of word learning, infants already have a great deal of experience with the sound patterns that make up their native language, and the objects that clutter their proximal environment. In this talk, I will consider recent data suggesting that knowledge of sounds and knowledge of referents go hand in hand during the language learning process.

Monday, October 28, 12:00-1:30pm in 3105 Tolman Hall

Oct. 21: Dr. Alexandra Minnis, Social environment influences on adolescent reproductive health: Epidemiologic evidence from San Francisco's Mission District and intervention directions

Social environment influences on adolescent reproductive health: Epidemiologic evidence from San Francisco's Mission District and intervention directions.

Dr. Alexandra Minnis, Senior Research Epidemiologist, RTI International and Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health (UCB), will present her research highlighting the role of gang affiliation and migration in reproductive health outcomes in a predominantly Latino community. She will also discuss novel intervention directions and present feasibility results from a randomized study of Yo Puedo, a social networks-based intervention that combines conditional cash transfers and life skills to promote sexual health.

Please join us on Monday, October 21, 12:00-1:30pm in 3105 Tolman Hall.

Institute of Human Development & Change, Plasticity and Development Seminar, Fall 2013

9/16 Linda Wilbrecht
Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley

9/23 Emily Ozer
School of Public Health, UC Berkeley

10/21 Alexandra Minnis
Senior Research Epidemiologist, Women's Global Health Imperative, RTI International

10/28 Jenny Saffran
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

11/4 Laurie Paul
Philosophy Department, UNC Chapel Hill

11/18 Mahesh Srinivasan
Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley

11/25 Ndola Prata
Associate Professor in Residence, SPH

12/2 Danny Pine
Chief of Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health

All talks will be held in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm