CHILDRENS USE OF SAMPLE-SIZE AND DIVERSITY INFORMATION WITHIN BASIC-LEVEL CATEGORIES

Category-based induction involves making decisions about some member(s ) of a category based on information concerning other category members . Recent studies indicate that although adults make use of information concerning sample size (larger samples are a stronger basis of infere nce than smaller samples) and sample diversity (more diverse samples a re better than more homogeneous samples) when making category-based in ductive judgments, children do not do so until age 8 or 9 and even the n to only a limited degree. This research however, was conducted at th e superordinate level of categorization, and it is unclear if general difficulty with this category level may have masked children's ability to use size and diversity, or if these results represent a more entre nched conceptual difficulty in using this information. We therefore co nducted three studies that investigate both 8- and 9-year-olds' and ad ults' ability to use sample size and diversity within basic level cate gories. Our results indicate that children's difficulty with this info rmation is independent of category level, and may be based on preferen ces for other strategies concerning category membership and perceptual similarity. (C) 1997 Academic Press.