Under normal circumstances, development is a complicated process that unfolds in early childhood in sometimes contradictory ways. For example, a typical six-year-old may be highly attuned to people's subtle changes in emotions, but only able to verbally describe people in the black and white terms of either a "good" or a "bad guy." When we...

For the first time in history, we can get a clear idea of how the brain operates. The explosion in our understanding of the brain has come about by new neuroimaging tools that allow us to see inside the brain as it operates to accomplish everyday emotional and cognitive tasks. Currently we know more about...