scholarly journals There is no privileged link between kinds and essences early in development

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (20) ◽  
pp. 10633-10635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Noyes ◽  
Frank C. Keil
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Category Representation ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Cultural Properties ◽  
Generic Language ◽  
American Children ◽  
Causal Structures

According to the dominant view of category representation, people preferentially infer that kinds (richly structured categories) reflect essences. Generic language (“Boys like blue”) often occupies the central role in accounts of the formation of essentialist interpretations—especially in the context of social categories. In a preregistered study (n = 240 American children, ages 4 to 9 y), we tested whether children assume essences in the presence of generic language or whether they flexibly assume diverse causal structures. Children learned about a novel social category described with generic statements containing either biological properties or cultural properties. Although generic language always led children to believe that properties were nonaccidental, young children (4 or 5 y) in this sample inferred the nonaccidental structure was socialization. Older children (6 to 9 y) flexibly interpreted the category as essential or socialized depending on the type of properties that generalized. We uncovered early-emerging flexibility and no privileged link between kinds and essences.

There is no privileged link between kinds and essences early in development

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Noyes ◽  
Frank Keil
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Category Representation ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Cultural Properties ◽  
Generic Language ◽  
American Children ◽  
Causal Structures

[Please note the Y-axis for Figure 1 is incorrect. It should read: "Percent endorsing formal explanations."] According to the dominant view of category representation, people preferentially infer that kinds (richly structured categories) reflect essences. Generic language (“Boys like blue”) often occupies the central role in accounts of the formation of essentialist interpretations – especially in the context of social categories. In a pre-registered study (N = 240 American children, ages 4-9), we tested whether children assume essences in the presence of generic language or whether they flexibly assume diverse causal structures. Children learned about a novel social category described with generic statements containing either biological properties or cultural properties. Although generic language always led children to believe that properties were non-accidental, young children (4-5) in this sample inferred the non-accidental structure was socialization. Older children (6-9) flexibly interpreted the category as essential or socialized depending on the type of properties that generalized. We uncovered early-emerging flexibility and no privileged link between kinds and essences.

scholarly journals Generics designate kinds but not always essences

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (41) ◽  
pp. 20354-20359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Noyes ◽  
Frank C. Keil
Keyword(s):  
Causal Structure ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Causal Beliefs ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Spontaneous Production ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Cultural Properties ◽  
Generic Language ◽  
Causal Structures ◽  
Inductive Potential

People believe that some categories are kinds with reliable causal structure and high inductive potential (e.g., tigers). Widely endorsed theories propose that people are biased to assume kinds are essential, and so naturally determined by internal causal properties. Generic language (e.g., “men like sports”) is 1 mechanism thought to evoke this bias. We propose instead that generics principally designate that categories are kinds. Participants can entertain diverse causal structures in the presence of generics: Hearing that biological properties generalize to a category (e.g., “men grow beards”) prompts participants to infer essential structure, but hearing neutral or social properties (“women are underpaid”) generalized prompts other causal beliefs. Thus, generics induce essentialism only in interaction with cues that reasonably prompt essentialist explanation. We tested our model with adult participants (n = 739 total), using measures that disentangle essentialist beliefs from kind beliefs. In study 1, we replicate prior methods with our new measures, and find that generics influence kind beliefs more than essentialism. In study 2, we vary property content (biological vs. cultural properties), and show that generics only increase essentialism when paired with biological properties. In study 3, we show that generics designate kinds but not essentialism when neutral properties are used across animals, tools, and people. In study 4, we show that believing a category is a kind increases the spontaneous production of generic statements, regardless of whether the kind is essential or socially constructed. Generics do not necessitate essentialist beliefs. Participants were flexible in their reasoning about kinds.

Generics designate kinds but not always essences

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Noyes ◽  
Frank Keil
Keyword(s):  
Causal Structure ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Causal Beliefs ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Spontaneous Production ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Cultural Properties ◽  
Generic Language ◽  
Causal Structures ◽  
Inductive Potential

People believe that some categories are kinds with reliable causal structure and high inductive potential (e.g., Tigers). Widely endorsed theories propose that people are biased to assume kinds are essential, and so naturally determined by internal causal properties. Generic language (e.g., “Men like sports”) is one mechanism thought to evoke this bias. We propose instead that generics principally designate that categories are kinds. Participants can entertain diverse causal structures in the presence of generics: Hearing that biological properties generalize to a category (e.g., “Men grow beards”) prompts participants to infer essential structure, but hearing neutral or social properties (“Women are underpaid”) generalize prompts other causal beliefs. Thus, generics induce essentialism only in in interaction with cues that reasonably prompt essentialist explanation. We tested our model with adult participants (N = 739 total), using measures that disentangle essentialist beliefs from kind beliefs. In Study 1, we replicate prior methods with our new measures, and find that generics influence kind beliefs more than essentialism. In Study 2, we vary property content (biological vs. cultural properties), and show that generics only increase essentialism when paired with biological properties. In Study 3, we show that generics designate kinds but not essentialism when neutral properties are used across animals, tools, and people. In Study 4, we show that believing a category is a kind increases the spontaneous production of generic statements, regardless of whether the kind is essential or socially constructed. Generics do not necessitate essentialist beliefs. Participants were flexible in their reasoning about kinds.

What Made Sahar Scared?: Imaginary and Realistic Causes in Palestinian and American Children’s Concept for Fear

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 32-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary H. Kayyal ◽  
Sherri C. Widen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Group 3 ◽  
Palestinian Children ◽  
American Children ◽  
Age And Sex

Young children associate fear with monsters, ghosts, and other imaginary creatures more than with real threats to safety, such as robbers or bullies – at least in Western societies. Cross-cultural studies are rare, are limited to older children, and have not asked if the role of the imagination extends to emotions other than fear. In this study, young Palestinian and American children (60 in each group, 3–7 years, age- and sex-matched) were asked to tell stories in which they generated a cause for fear as well as happiness, sadness, anger and surprise. Imaginary creatures were rarely cited as the cause of any emotion other than fear, but were cited frequently for fear by both Palestinians and Americans. There was also a cultural difference: Palestinians generated significantly fewer imaginary and more realistic causes for fear than did Americans. Thus, imaginary causes are a part of Palestinian children’s fear concept, but imaginary causes are not primary as they are for American children; for Palestinian children, realistic causes are primary in their fear concept.

How Culture Shapes Social Categorization and Inductive Reasoning: A Developmental Comparison between the United States and China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yian Xu ◽  
Megan Burns ◽  
Fangfang Wen ◽  
Emily Dahlgaard Thor ◽  
Zuo Bin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inductive Reasoning ◽  
Social Categorization ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Chinese Sample ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
American Children ◽  
Socially Relevant

Social categories allow us to make sense of the social world and generate predictions about novel encounters. Yet, how people use particular social categories varies by culture. The current study examined how social categorization varies across traditionally individualistic and collectivistic societies among young children and adults. Using the triad picture task, American and Chinese preschoolers and adults made categorization and inductive reasoning judgments based on categories perceived as biological (e.g., age and gender) or categories perceived as more social (e.g., occupation). The developmental trajectory of social categorization varied by culture: American adults were more likely than American children to categorize based on biologically-relevant categories, whereas Chinese adults were more likely than Chinese children to do so based on socially-relevant categories. The Chinese sample also relied on socially-related categories to make predictions about biological properties more than the US sample. The current findings suggest a broad cultural influence on the perceived meanings and structures of biologically- and socially-based categories.

scholarly journals Beliefs about moral obligation structure children’s social category-based expectations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Chalik ◽  
Yarrow Dunham
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Negative Behaviors ◽  
Positive Behaviors

Young children view social category members as morally obligated toward one another, and expect these obligations to shape people’s social behavior. The present work investigates how children specify which behaviors are constrained by social categories in this way. In two studies (N = 128), 4- and 5-year-old children predicted that morally positive behaviors would be directed toward ingroup members, and that morally negative behaviors would be directed toward outgroup members, but did not hold equally strong expectations about behaviors described as positive or negative for reasons irrelevant to morality. Thus, notions of morality are embedded within children’s representations of social categories, such that when learning about novel moral norms, children immediately expect those obligations to uniquely hold within social groups.

scholarly journals Suboptimal Clinical Documentation in Young Children with Severe Obesity at Tertiary Care Centers

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra C. Brady ◽  
Vidhu V. Thaker ◽  
Todd Lingren ◽  
Jessica G. Woo ◽  
Stephanie S. Kennebeck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Early Onset ◽  
Severe Obesity ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Clinical Documentation ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Children's Hospital ◽  
Children’S Hospital ◽  
American Children

Background and Objectives.The prevalence of severe obesity in children has doubled in the past decade. The objective of this study is to identify the clinical documentation of obesity in young children with a BMI ≥ 99th percentile at two large tertiary care pediatric hospitals.Methods.We used a standardized algorithm utilizing data from electronic health records to identify children with severe early onset obesity (BMI ≥ 99th percentile at age <6 years). We extracted descriptive terms and ICD-9 codes to evaluate documentation of obesity at Boston Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center between 2007 and 2014.Results.A total of 9887 visit records of 2588 children with severe early onset obesity were identified. Based on predefined criteria for documentation of obesity, 21.5% of children (13.5% of visits) had positive documentation, which varied by institution. Documentation in children first seen under 2 years of age was lower than in older children (15% versus 26%). Documentation was significantly higher in girls (29% versus 17%,p<0.001), African American children (27% versus 19% in whites,p<0.001), and the obesity focused specialty clinics (70% versus 15% in primary care and 9% in other subspecialty clinics,p<0.001).Conclusions.There is significant opportunity for improvement in documentation of obesity in young children, even years after the 2007 AAP guidelines for management of obesity.

scholarly journals Unique Pattern of N-Glycosylation, Sialylation, and Sulfonation on TSH Molecules in Serum of Children Up to 18 Months

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (10) ◽  
pp. 4651-4659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Wide ◽  
Karin Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Receptor Function ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Third Trimester ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Unique Pattern ◽  
Normal Adults ◽  
Serum Tsh

Abstract Context N-glycosylation and glycan composition of human TSH molecules modulate the biological properties of TSH in different physiological and clinical situations. The degree of sialylation of serum TSH was reported to be very low in normal third-trimester fetuses compared with normal adults. The circulating TSH glycoforms and their glycan compositions in young children have hitherto not been determined. Objective To characterize N-glycosylation and glycan composition of circulating TSH molecules in young children. Design, Participants, Main Outcome Measures Serum samples were obtained from euthyroid individuals: 33 children, age 2 weeks to 3 years, and 264 adults. The di-glycosylated TSH and tri-glycosylated TSH glycoforms were determined and characterized with respect to sialylation and sulfonation. The TSH N-glycosylation was also examined in pituitary extracts of 75 individuals. Results In children up to 18 months of age, most TSH molecules were low-N-glycosylated, high-sulfonated, and low-sialylated compared with older children and adults. The degree of N-glycosylation was similar in serum and pituitary extracts up to 3 months of age and after that was higher in serum than in pituitary extracts. Conclusions Children up to age 18 months had low-sialylated TSH molecules, similar to those reported for third-trimester fetuses. Most TSH molecules in young children were of smaller size and less negatively charged, favoring transport into their target tissues. The low sialylation favors a high biopotency at thyroid and extrathyroidal TSH receptors. A delayed development of the liver SO3-N-acetylgalactosamine receptor function after birth is a likely explanation of the highly sulfonated TSH molecules in serum samples of infants.

Instruction Helps and Hinders Young Children’s Feature Learning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Kalish ◽  
Nigel Noll
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Feature Learning ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Diagnostic Feature ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Prediction Task ◽  
Feature Correlation ◽  
The Future

Existing research suggests that adults and older children experience a tradeoff where instruction and feedback help them solve a problem efficiently, but lead them to ignore currently irrelevant information that might be useful in the future. It is unclear whether young children experience the same tradeoff. Eighty-seven children (ages five- to eight-years) and 42 adults participated in supervised feature prediction tasks either with or without an instructional hint. Follow-up tasks assessed learning of feature correlations and feature frequencies. Younger children tended to learn frequencies of both relevant and irrelevant features without instruction, but not the diagnostic feature correlation needed for the prediction task. With instruction, younger children did learn the diagnostic feature correlation, but then failed to learn the frequencies of irrelevant features. Instruction helped older children learn the correlation without limiting attention to frequencies. Adults learned the diagnostic correlation even without instruction, but with instruction no longer learned about irrelevant frequencies. These results indicate that young children do show some costs of learning with instruction characteristic of older children and adults. However, they also receive some of the benefits. The current study illustrates just what those tradeoffs might be, and how they might change over development.

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