hertz066: November 2011 Archives

In a society that values education and intelligence at a very high level, it is only natural that their model citizen has an IQ of 210, an IQ score that is off the charts. Kim Ung-Yong was born in the year of 1962 during the month of March in Korea. By June, a mere 4 months after his birth, Kim was already able to speak. Talking in most infants usually does not take place until they have reached about one year in age. Kim's speech was perfected by 6 months. This means that Kim could talk and converse with his parents before most infants are able to muster together 3-4 word phrases! Additionally Kim had picked up the art of reading at a supersonic speed. In America most children learn to read in kindergarten, first, and second grade, By second grade most children are able to read many texts in their first language. In Kim's case, he could not only read texts in his primary language, Korean, but also those in English, Japanese, and German. Not to mention, his ability to read all of these four languages was fine tuned by age two, three years before the average child can read! By age three, Kim had dabbled into calculus and high level math concepts. When Kim was 5 he showed off these intense math skills on a Japanese television show. Kim was mathematically at the level of an average high school student or freshman college student. All throughout his childhood and adolescence Kim was considered to be a child prodigy. Naturally, Kim enrolled in university classes at the ages of 7 and 8, when he was offered a position at NASA to study. After attending multiple prestigious American and international universities, Kim ended up switching his major from physics to civil engineering. His work is extensive and he has published many scientific journals and articles. As of the late 2000's Kim serves on the faculty of Chungbuk National University. You can also find him in The Guinness Book of World Records!

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldtvc9L3Ps1qbw5qb.jpg
Here is a link to Kim performing complicated math at a young age.

Developmental psychology is defined as the study of how behavior changes over the life span. Many studies and experiments have been conducted on the development of infants and children, and many theories have been hypothesized about how and why we develop the way we do mentally, emotionally, and physically. Many characteristics of the behavior of infants have been founded and studied such as stranger anxiety, attachment, and imprinting. One man named Konrad Lorenz went on to create one of the most famous studies on imprinting that ended up earning him a Nobel Prize! Lorenz's experiment involved the observation of geese. What Lorenz was about to discover was a mere accident. Lorenz stood by one day as goslings were hatching. Lorenz was "the first, large moving object" they goslings saw upon hatching. With this Lorenz essentially became Mother Goose. The goslings followed Lorenz around as if he was their real mother. This process became to be known as imprinting. Lorenz later discovered that something called a "critical period" exists in birds and other species that experience imprinting. A critical period is "a specific window of time during which an event must occur". If the Lorenz's goslings had not seen a large, moving object such as himself or a goose within about 36 hours, the goslings would not have imprinted to anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqZmW7uIPW4
Here is a link to a video of Konrad Lorenz's geese in action.

Humans don't necessarily imprint as severely as geese, but we do in a sense form an incredible bond with our primary caregiver as an infant. All in all, at very young ages we are still able to form close bonds, or relationships, with those who provide us with nourishment and care.