Question

The theory that human infants are born with a rudimentary knowledge of the world and they use their experience to expand this knowledge underlies the ____ hypothesis.

Answer 1

This statement underlies the nativism hypothesis.

Nativism ( in psychology ) is the view that certain skills or abilities are already in the infant's brain at birth. There are some preexisting ideas in the mind that are 'hard wired' into the brain even before the child is born.

This statement is a direct contrast to the theory of empiricism, where it is believed that the brain is a 'blank slate' at birth and it does not contain any content.

According to the nativists, some color preferences are innate as well as some moral intuitions. Some of the world's most famous nativists are Noam Chomsky and Jerry Fodor.