EARLY UNDERSTANDING OF AGE-RELATED AND ENVIRONMENT-RELATED NOXIOUSNESS IN BIOLOGICAL KINDS - EVIDENCE FOR A NAIVE THEORY

Four experiments evaluated whether children have a naive theory in whi ch biological kinds, specifically foods, are distinguished by potentia l for decomposition. In the first two experiments, 4- through 6-year-o lds 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 Experimen t 3, few children were able to articulate specific biological mechanis ms responsible for perceptible signs of noxiousness. But most children in Experiment 4 exhibited the more general understanding that the pro cesses by which BNK become noxious are irreversible. In sum, young chi ldren seem to have a domain-specific theory of biological kinds, altho ugh 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 understo od.