Early understanding of age- and environment-related noxiousness in biological kinds: Evidence for a naive theory |
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| Institution: | 1. CSIRO Agriculture and Food, 306 Carmody Rd, St Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia;2. CSIRO Agriculture and Food, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia;1. Harvard University, United States;2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States;1. Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, 55 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON M5G 2C3, Canada;2. Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, 73 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02108, United States;3. Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow (UK), Gilbert Scott Building, University Ave, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom;1. Harvard University, United States;2. Ohio State University, United States;3. Hunter College, City University of New York, United States |
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| Abstract: | Four experiments evaluated whether children have a naive theory in which biological kinds, specifically foods, are distinguished by potential for decomposition. In the first two experiments, 4- through 6-year-olds judged that natural changes such as aging make biological natural kinds (BNK; e.g., apple) noxious, but do not have a comparable effect on nonbiological natural kinds (e.g., rock) or artifacts. In Experiment 3, few children were able to articulate specific biological mechanisms responsible for perceptible signs of noxiousness. But most children in Experiment 4 exhibited the more general understanding that the processes by which BNK become noxious are irreversible. In sum, young children seem to have a domain-specific theory of biological kinds, although they are unaware of the exact mechanisms operative in the domain. Children may thus develop a theory that picks out a domain of objects before the causal principles organizing this domain are fully understood. |
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