PMID: 3772292Aug 1, 1986Paper

Children's understandings of the attributes of life

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
D D Richards, R S Siegler

Abstract

Previous investigations of children's understandings of the life concept have focused on their classifications of the life status of familiar objects. In this study, we attempted to examine more directly the processes by which children infer life status by examining their reasoning about unfamiliar objects. In Experiment 1, 4- to 11-year-olds and adults were asked to name attributes of living things to establish which attributes they associated most closely with life. Children age 7 and younger most often named attributes true only of animals but not of plants; older children more often named attributes true of both animals and plants. However, movement was the single attribute cited most frequently by children of all ages tested. In Experiment 2, 4- to 11-year-olds and adults were presented information about attributes of imaginary objects on a distant planet and were asked to infer if those objects were alive. Again, young children relied relatively heavily on qualities true only of animals but not of plants, whereas older children relied more on attributes true of both plants and animals. Also as before, movement was viewed as indicative of life at all ages tested. In Experiment 3, we examined the hypothesis that children di...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 24, 2001·Psychological Bulletin·D H Rakison, D Poulin-Dubois
Mar 1, 1990·The Journal of Genetic Psychology·D Poulin-Dubois, T R Shultz
Dec 1, 1996·Child Development·K Inagaki, G Hatano
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Jun 4, 2015·Journal of Experimental Child Psychology·Patricia Megías, Pedro Macizo
Nov 5, 2010·Cognitive Psychology·David K Sewell, Stephan Lewandowsky
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Nov 5, 2016·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·Mung Balding, Kathryn J H Williams
Sep 16, 2017·Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education·April N WynnE Kathleen Archer

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