I think there's some truth to that. I often think that the difference is in how people learn second languages. It may have a lot of personality differences, which is you've got to be comfortable sounding like an idiot. Don't give up, people get better. The pace though is glacial. Whereas for that newborn or that five-year-old, it's like pouring out of a giant fire hose into a big container. Yeah. Well, I'm working at it. Not giving up, and I'm better.
Do psychologists know anything? Psychologist Paul Bloom says yes--but not the things that you might think. Bloom discusses his book Psych with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and what the field of psychology can teach us about human intelligence, consciousness, and unhelpful instincts. They also discuss just how far psychology is from a true understanding of the human mind, and why, according to Bloom, that might not be such a bad thing.