Five-year-olds' beliefs about the discreteness of category boundaries for animals and artifacts

Marjorie Rhodes; Susan A. Gelman

doi:10.3758/PBR.16.5.920

Five-year-olds' beliefs about the discreteness of category boundaries for animals and artifacts

Marjorie Rhodes, Susan A. Gelman

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Research on adult concepts indicates that category structure varies by domain; adults view membership in animal categories as absolute but membership in artifact categories as graded. In this study, we examined domain differences in beliefs about category boundaries among young children (5-year-olds). The results indicated that young children, like adults, were less likely to endorse graded category membership for animal than for artifact categories. These domain differences could not be attributed to domain differences in typicality. Implications for conceptual development and for models of domain specificity in adult cognition are discussed.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	920-924
Number of pages	5
Journal	Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
Volume	16
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.16.5.920
State	Published - Oct 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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Five-year-olds' beliefs about the discreteness of category boundaries for animals and artifacts

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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