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Ready to Teach or Ready to Learn: A Critique of the Natural Pedagogy Theory

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Abstract

According to the theory of natural pedagogy, humans have a set of cognitive adaptations specialized for transmitting and receiving knowledge through teaching; young children can acquire generalizable knowledge from ostensive signals even in a single interaction, and adults also actively teach young children. In this article, we critically examine the theory and argue that ostensive signals do not always allow children to learn generalizable knowledge more efficiently, and that the empirical evidence provided in favor of the theory of natural pedagogy does not defend the theory as presented, nor does it support a weakened version of the theory. We argue that these problems arise because the theory of natural pedagogy is grounded in a misguided assumption, namely that learning about the world and learning about people are two distinct and independent processes. If, on the other hand, we see the processes as interrelated, then we have a better explanation for the empirical evidence.

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Notes

  1. Moreover, the theory of natural pedagogy includes not only the learners’ side but also the teachers’ side, such that we should expect cognitive adaptations for teachers as well as learners (e.g., Gelman et al., 2013). However, since there is no clear empirical evidence that adults have the variety of cognitive adaptations predicted for teachers, our examination will focus on the learner’s side of the natural pedagogy theory.

  2. Only one exception is Hewlett et al. (2011)’s report showing that !Kung children depend largely on explicit teaching. However, if Csibra and Gergely’s evolutionary story is right, we should expect to find explicit teaching in many different cultures. This one exception is insufficient for supporting their claim.

  3. Note that Sterelny himself thinks his model is consistent with the theory of natural pedagogy. However, his argument challenges Csibra and Geregly’s evolutionary story for the theory of natural pedagogy by showing that the evolution of complex cultures does not necessarily need the evolution of teaching with ostensive communications.

  4. For instance, as we have already mentioned, they said “[i]nfants smile to any adult who communicates to them” not just their parents (Csibra & Gergely, 2011, 1155, italics added). They claim too that children can “learn generic kind-relevant information directly…from benevolent communicators who manifest generic knowledge ‘for’ them that would be difficult (if not impossible) to acquire without such support.” (Csibra & Gergely, 2009, 152). These are just two examples of the many instances in which Csibra and Gergely suggest that natural pedagogy allows children to gain generalizable knowledge from any adult who ostensively communicates with them.

  5. For the sake of space, the paper does not refer to some experiments on function of ostensive cues, especially on identity of objects (Yoon et al. 2008) and A-not-B errors (Topál et al. 2008) though it seems that both have some problems. For instance, Yoon et al. (2008) does not seem to distinguish between identifying an object over time and as a member of a kind, and Vorms (2012) has also pointed out some problems with Topál et al. (2008).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas No. 26118504 “The Evolutionary Origin and Neural Basis for the Empathethic Systems” to the first author. We are grateful to Olivia Sultanescu for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Corresponding author: School of Advanced Studies, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama-cho (Shonan Kokusaimura), Miura–gun, Kanagawa, 240-0193, Japan

    Hisashi Nakao

  2. Department of Philosophy and Cognitive Science Program, York University, Toronto, Canada

    Kristin Andrews

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  1. Hisashi Nakao
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  2. Kristin Andrews
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Correspondence to Hisashi Nakao.

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Nakao, H., Andrews, K. Ready to Teach or Ready to Learn: A Critique of the Natural Pedagogy Theory. Rev.Phil.Psych. 5, 465–483 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-014-0187-2

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