Effects of generic language on category content and structure

We hypothesized that generic noun phrases (“Bears climb trees”) would provide important input to children’s developing concepts. In three experiments, four-year-olds and adults learned a series of facts about a novel animal category, in one of three wording conditions: generic (e.g., “Zarpies hate i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognitive psychology 2010-11, Vol.61 (3), p.273-301
Main Authors: Gelman, Susan A., Ware, Elizabeth A., Kleinberg, Felicia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adults
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Attention - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Categorization
Child
Child development
Child, Preschool
Children
Children & youth
Cognitive psychology
Concept Formation - physiology
Developmental psychology
Essentialism
Experimental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Generics
Humans
Impact analysis
Kinds
Language
Language Development
Male
Memory - physiology
Nouns
Property
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Wording
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Summary:We hypothesized that generic noun phrases (“Bears climb trees”) would provide important input to children’s developing concepts. In three experiments, four-year-olds and adults learned a series of facts about a novel animal category, in one of three wording conditions: generic (e.g., “Zarpies hate ice cream”), specific–label (e.g., “This zarpie hates ice cream”), or no-label (e.g., “This hates ice cream”). Participants completed a battery of tasks assessing the extent to which they linked the category to the properties expressed, and the extent to which they treated the category as constituting an essentialized kind. As predicted, for adults, generics training resulted in tighter category–property links and more category essentialism than both the specific-label and no-label training. Children also showed effects of generic wording, though the effects were weaker and required more extensive input. We discuss the implications for language-thought relations, and for the acquisition of essentialized categories.
ISSN:0010-0285
1095-5623
DOI:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2010.06.001