Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 52, Issue 9, Pages 1353-1362Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/dev0000183
Keywords
generic language; inductive reasoning; categorization; conceptual development
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Canada Research Chairs Program
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [HD-36043]
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We examined whether the distinction between generic and nongeneric language provides toddlers with a rapid and efficient means to learn about kinds. In Experiment 1, we examined 30-month-olds' willingness to extend atypical properties to members of an unfamiliar category when the properties were introduced in 1 of 3 ways: (a) using a generic noun phrase (Blicks drink ketchup); (b) using a nongeneric noun phrase (These blicks drink ketchup); and (c) using an attentional phrase (Look at this). Hearing a generic noun phrase boosted toddlers' extension of properties to both the model exemplars and to novel members of the same category, relative to when a property had been introduced with a nongeneric noun phrase or an attentional phrase. In Experiment 2, properties were introduced with a generic noun phrase, and toddlers extended novel properties to members of the same-category, but not to an out-of-category object. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that generics highlight the stability of a feature and foster generalization of the property to novel within-category exemplars.
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