Children's Use of Generics in Inductive Inferences
Abstract
What conditions foster or constrain children's category-based induction? This study examined the role of language, specifically the scope of noun phrases used to convey novel property information. We focused on generic noun phrases, which are especially common in child-directed speech and have been argued to play an important role in the growth of category knowledge. In Study 1, 4-year-olds and adults were taught novel properties about familiar categories, using 1 of 3 types of wording: a generic noun phrase (e.g., "Bears like to eat ants"), a universally quantified noun phrase (e.g., "All bears like to eat ants"), or an indefinite plural noun phrase (e.g., "Some bears like to eat ants"). Study 2 was a follow-up study with adults using a more sensitive task. Results indicated sensitivity to type of wording among both preschoolers and adults, with "all" eliciting the most inferences, "some" eliciting the fewest inferences, and generics in between "all" and "some." However, children made fewer category-based inferences from generics than did adults. Together, these studies suggest that (a) preschool children as well as adults distinguish generics from both "all" and "some," and (b) age differences exist in the interpretation of generic noun phrases.
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Past research found that generic sentences implied that a property was broadly true and conceptually central, and that the category expressed was stable with inherent properties.
“Past research found that generic sentences implied that a property was broadly true (28,35,45,46) and conceptually central (37,38), and that the category expressed was stable with inherent properties (41,47).”
From Generic language in scientific communication (2019) · cites this paper as [45]
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Reet, J. V., Pinkham, A. M., & Lillard, A. S. (2015) · Cognitive Development · doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.12.010 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
How children use examples to make conditional predictions
Kalish, C. W. (2010) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.03.008 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
The Innate Endowment for Language
Baker, M. C. (2005) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179675.003.0010 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
What Developmental Biology Can Tell Us about Innateness
Marcus, G. (2005) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179675.003.0002 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Pedagogical cues influence children's inductive inference and exploratory play
Butler, L. P., & Markman, E. M. (2010) · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Gardelle, L. (2023) · Studies in language companion series · doi:10.1075/slcs.228.04gar · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Learning from generic language.
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Preschoolers’ ability to navigate communicative interactions in guiding their inductive inferences
Butler, L. P., & Markman, E. M. (2013) · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Finiasz, Z., Gelman, S. A., & Kushnir, T. (2023) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105707 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationChildren’s Use of Generic Labels, Discreteness, and Stability to Form a Novel Category
Peretz‐Lange, R., & Muentener, P. (2020) · Journal of Cognition and Development · doi:10.1080/15248372.2020.1757452 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Two Insights about Naming in the Preschool Child
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Self-citationHow Cultural Input Shapes the Development of Idealized Biological Prototypes
Foster‐Hanson, E., Ziska, K. M., & Rhodes, M. (2024) · Journal of Cognition and Development · doi:10.1080/15248372.2024.2409680 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
The role of exceptions in children's and adults' judgments about generic statements
Simmons, E., & Gelman, S. A. (2024) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2024.106016 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citationHoicka, E., Saul, J. M., Prouten, E., Whitehead, L., & Sterken, R. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/xe6sj · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Children's Use of Race in Drawing Inferences Based on Their Understanding of Race Constancy
Dawson, C. A. (2007) · TopSCHOLAR (Western Kentucky University) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gelman, S. A., Star, J. R., & Flukes, J.
- Venue
- Journal of Cognition and Development
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2002-05
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 179-199
- ISSN
- 1524-8372 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7647
- OpenAlex
- W1987803247
- Cited by
- 125
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 21.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Cognition and Development (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- category-based induction, inductive reasoning, child-directed speech, quantifiers, universal quantification, existential quantification, preschool children, age differences, category knowledge, language and cognition
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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