10 May
2010
10 May
'10
9:40 a.m.
Special Public Lecture at Central European University
Organized by the Cognitive Development Center and the Department of
Gender Studies
Speaker:
Elizabeth Spelke
Marshall L. Berkman Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
Title:
Gender, Math and Science: Perspectives from Cognitive Development
Abstract:
Why are there more men than women in the fields of science,
technology, and mathematics? Here I consider three reasons why men
might predominate in these fields: because they have higher aptitude
for science and mathematics on average or at the highest levels;
because they have greater motivation for hard and extended work in
these fields; or because biased patterns of evaluation tend to enhance
the progress of male scientists, relative to females. Drawing on
research in human cognitive development, I suggest that the third
factor is the most important one, and also that it is likely to change.
About the speaker:
Elizabeth Spelke is the Marshall L. Berkman Professor of Psychology
and the co-Director of the Laboratory for Developmental Studies, both
at Harvard. Elizabeth Spelke studies the cognitive capacities of human
infants, in relation to those of non-human primates, human children,
and adults from different cultures. Her current research focuses on
the origins and development of knowledge of objects and their motions,
of other people and their social interactions, and of two domains at
the foundations of formal mathematics: number and geometry.
Date:
Thursday, 13 May 2010, 6.00 pm
Location:
Toth Istvan Gyorgy room
Central European University
Nádor u. 11.
Budapest 1051
Contact:
Andrea Schrök: schroka(a)ceu.hu
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Elizabeth Spelke will also give a talk on "Core Social Cognition" the
same day at 10.30 am in the Cognitive Development Center of CEU
(Hattyuhaz).