The importance of knowing a dodo is a bird: Categories and inferences in 2-year-old children.

Abstract

This study examined 2-year-old children's ability to make category-based inferences. Subjects were asked a series of questions that they could answer based on category membership, appearances, or both. In one condition, all pictures were named; in a second condition, none were named. Children performed well on prototypical pictures regardless of whether they were named; on atypical pictures, they performed better when category labels were provided. A control study demonstrated that children ignored the label when it named a transient property rather than a stable category. Contrary to standard views of young children, these results indicate an early-emerging capacity to overlook salient appearances. However, one important development still to take place is the ability to use subtle perceptual cues to determine category membership in the absence of language. Are young children's categories based on appearances alone, or are children aware that categories can reflect deeper commonalities? Many years of developmental research and theory have suggested that children cannot look beyond the obvious (Wellman & Gelman, 1988). Children are highly attentive to