Sensing the coherence of biology in contrast to psychology: young children's use of causal relations to distinguish two foundational domains.

Erickson JE; Keil FC; Lockhart KL; Erickson, Jane E; Keil, Frank C; Lockhart, Kristi L

To what extent do children understand that biological processes fall into 1 coherent domain unified by distinct causal principles? In Experiments 1 and 2 (N = 125) kindergartners are given triads of biological and psychological processes and asked to identify which 2 members of the triad belong together. Results show that 5-year-olds correctly cluster biological processes and separate them from psychological ones. Experiments 3 and 4 (N = 64) examine whether or not children make this distinction because they understand that biological and psychological processes operate according to fundamentally different causal mechanisms. The results suggest that 5-year-olds do possess this understanding, and furthermore, they have intuitions about the nature of these different mechanisms.

Child Development, 2010, Vol 81, Issue 1, p390

0009-3920

Academic Journal

10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01402.x