Making Sense of Neonatal Imitation

Bibliographic Data

ID20401372
AuthorsMichael A Tissaw (STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, COLLEGE AT POTSDAM,, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume17
Issue2
Pages217-242
Publication date2007-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory & Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-3543 • E-ISSN: 1461-7447
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0959354307075044
OpenAlexW2034427003
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited29

This essay applies philosophical principles and method to compare `imitation' as it is used in everyday contexts with its use in laboratory research and theorizing on human neonates. Its primary goal is to demonstrate the practicability and effectiveness of a philosophical method of conceptual analysis and to suggest benefits of the method's use in contexts of empirical research and theorizing in psychology. A selective summary of research and theorizing including and subsequent to Meltzoff and Moore's experiments on neonatal imitation is followed by a discussion of general principles of conceptual analysis in the analytical tradition, including the distinction between `sense' and `nonsense'. The concept of imitation is analyzed toward producing a `conceptual snapshot' for direct comparison between its possibilities of use and meaning outside and in the laboratory. Analysis shows that the concept is virtually devoid of sense in latter contexts. Results of analysis are defended against possible objections and applied to some relevant theorizing

Cognitive science · Epistemology · Imitation · Nonsense · Sociology · Child and Animal Learning Development · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity

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