Developmental Changes in the Coherence of Essentialist Beliefs about Psychological Characteristics

Autor/inn/en	Gelman, Susan A.; Heyman, Gail D.; Legare, Cristine H.
Titel	Developmental Changes in the Coherence of Essentialist Beliefs about Psychological Characteristics
Quelle	In: Child Development, 78 (2007) 3, S.757-774 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-3920
DOI	10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01031.x
Schlagwörter	Adults; Rhetoric; Psychological Characteristics; Social Characteristics; Children; Concept Formation; Beliefs; Age Differences; Child Development; Developmental Stages + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Rhetorik; Gesellschaftsbild; Child; Kind; Kinder; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Belief; Glaube; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Kindesentwicklung
Abstract	Essentialism is the belief that certain characteristics (of individuals or categories) may be relatively stable, unchanging, likely to be present at birth, and biologically based. The current studies examined how different essentialist beliefs interrelate. For example, does thinking that a property is innate imply that the property cannot be changed? Four studies were conducted, examining how children (N=195, grades 1-7; ages 7-13) and adults (N=187) reason about familiar and novel social characteristics. By 3rd grade (9 years), children showed some coherence of essentialist beliefs. In contrast, younger children expected less interrelatedness among dimensions than older children or adults. These findings suggest that essentialist attributions at first consist of separate strands that children eventually link together into a more coherent understanding. (Contains 7 tables.) (Author).
Anmerkungen	Blackwell Publishing. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8599; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: customerservices@blackwellpublishing.com; Web site: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/jnl_default.asp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10