Teaching Is a Natural Cognitive Ability for Humans

We suggest that a multidisciplinary approach to teaching has potential to widen its scope. In that vein, we revisit our original claim that teaching is a natural cognitive ability among humans. We elaborate on three requirements for such an ability and report that, first, teaching strategies may be developmentally reliable. Findings indicate a possible normative developmental trajectory from age one year through adulthood. Second, teaching seems to be species-typical, that is, it is a universal human achievement. Third, human teaching with a theory of mind (ToM) is species-unique. Nonhuman animals may teach without a ToM. Teaching is often seen exclusively as what happens when an adult teacher teaches children in school settings. However, teaching's reach is greater than that. Adults teach youngsters in societies where there are no schools. Regardless if there are schools or not in a particular society, young children teach each other. These and other findings about teaching led us to claim, a decade ago, that teaching is a natural cognitive ability in humans (Strauss, Ziv, & Stein, 2002). That claim was subsequently expanded by Strauss (2005). In the ensuing years, the idea has been picked up by others, especially Csibra and Gergely (2009), and has been elaborated and expanded. We revisit our claim in light of advances occurring in a number of fields that impinge on our idea. In this article, we provide a panoramic view of teaching, define teaching, characterize properties of natural cognitive abilities, discuss the claim that teaching is a natural cognitive ability with emphasis on its being developmentally reliable, and make some final remarks.

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