Paul Bloom - Department of Psychology, Yale University

Paul Bloom

organization:	Department of Psychology, Yale University, http://www.yale.edu/psychology/index.html
homepage:	http://www.yale.edu/psychology/FacInfo/Bloom.html
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Description

Research Interests

I am interested in the development and nature of our common-sense understanding of ourselves and other people. My current research explores the following areas:

Bodies and souls. There is considerable evidence that adults are natural dualists--we see the world as Descartes did, as containing physical things (or bodies) and social entities (or souls). I am interested in how this common-sense dualism emerges in development, and the implications that it has for domains such as morality and religion.

Art and fiction. There are some hard questions that arise when we consider the human capacity to make sense of artwork and fiction. What distinguishes art from everything else? Why do adults consider forgeries to be inferior to the real thing (even if they are perfect duplicates) and when in development does this intuition emerge? And how do we think about the relationship between different fictional worlds, such as the fictional world of Harry Potter and the (also fictional, but very different) world of Batman and Robin?

Moral Reasoning. My students and I are becoming interested in certain fundamental questions within moral psychology. Why do we find certain actions to be disgusting (such as certain sex acts), and why does this emotional reaction lead to moral condemnation? What are children's intuitions about fair and unfair distribution of resources? When does moral hypocrisy emerge? One goal of this research is to understand the developing interplay between deliberative reasoning and the moral emotions.

Most of these projects are student-initiated, and all of the work in my laboratory is strongly interdisciplinary, bringing in theory and research from areas such as cognitive, social, and developmental psychology, evolutionary theory, linguistics, theology, and philosophy.

Sample Publications

Birch, S. & Bloom, P. (in press) The curse of knowledge in reasoning about false beliefs. Psychological Science.

Preissler, M. A. & Bloom, P. (in press) Two-year-olds appreciate the dual nature of pictures. Psychological Science.

Bloom, P. (Dec. 2005). Is God an accident? Atlantic Monthly.

Bloom, P. (2004). Descartes' Baby: How the science of child development explains what makes us human. New York: Basic Books.

Bloom, P. (2000). How children learn the meanings of words. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Lectures:

716 views, 53:18	lecture Lecture 2 - Foundations: This Is Your Brain as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 716 views	663 views, 29:36	lecture Lecture 1 - Introduction as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 663 views
334 views, 52:47	lecture Lecture 14 - What Motivates Us: Sex as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 334 views	307 views, 56:30	lecture Lecture 3 - Foundations: Freud as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 307 views
275 views, 56:30	lecture Lecture 6 - How Do We Communicate?: Language in the Brain, Mouth and the Hands as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 275 views	212 views, 48:57	lecture Lecture 5 - What Is It Like to Be a Baby: The Development of Thought as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 212 views
YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology (Spring, 2007)	event YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 0 views	167 views, 1:09:32	lecture Lecture 9 - Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Love (Guest Lecture by Professor Peter Salovey) as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 167 views
149 views, 1:05:49	lecture Lecture 13 - Why Are People Different?: Differences as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 149 views	127 views, 59:48	lecture Lecture 10 - Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Evolution and Rationality as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 127 views
125 views, 54:25	lecture Lecture 18 - What Happens When Things Go Wrong: Mental Illness, Part I (Guest Lecture by Professor Susan Nolen-Hoeksema) as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 125 views	109 views, 59:42	lecture Lecture 7 - Conscious of the Present; Conscious of the Past: Language (cont.); Vision and Memory as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 109 views
79 views, 47:35	lecture Lecture 20 - The Good Life: Happiness as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 79 views	77 views, 56:47	lecture Lecture 19 - What Happens When Things Go Wrong: Mental Illness, Part II as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 77 views
61 views, 58:46	lecture Lecture 4 - Foundations: Skinner as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 61 views	43 views, 1:04:52	lecture Lecture 17 - A Person in the World of People: Self and Other, Part II; Some Mysteries: Sleep, Dreams, and Laughter as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 43 views
38 views, 53:14	lecture Lecture 11 - Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Emotions, Part I as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 38 views	34 views, 58:14	lecture Lecture 16 - A Person in the World of People: Self and Other, Part I as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 34 views
30 views, 59:42	lecture Lecture 8 - Conscious of the Present; Conscious of the Past: Vision and Memory (cont.) as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 30 views	25 views, 1:01:16	lecture Lecture 15 - A Person in the World of People: Morality as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 25 views
23 views, 56:06	lecture Lecture 12 - Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Emotions, Part II as author at YALE PSYC 110 - Introduction to Psychology with Professor Paul Bloom, 23 views

Description

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