Past Programs
Education - 2003
2008 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Alien Minds?: Getting Inside Babies' Heads
03/08/2003
As you peer into your baby's crib, can you be sure of what's going on inside their heads? Is theirs an alien mind, vastly different to our own? People long believed that babies were incapable of higher thought. Psychologist William James described babies as "living in a blooming buzzing confusion"; philosopher John Locke argued they were born as a blank slate; whilst Freud believed that children's most basic perceptions of the world were deeply distorted fantasies. But today's developmental psychologists argue that we shouldn't underestimate the brain capacity of babies. Join two of the world's leaders in the field, as they contemplate the brilliance of little minds.
Summer Series 4: Thought Crime
19/01/2003
In his novel Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell introduced the frightening possibility of Thought Police. We like to believe that our thoughts are private, but is this really the case? And are there circumstances when the contents of our minds can become a public menace? This week, we investigate a post-September-11 debate in the United States, where freedom of thought and expression on university campuses is at stake.
