Numerous fields stake claims about essentialism but this is the first book to address the issues surrounding essentialism from the perspective of developmental psychology. Gelman synthesizes 15 years of empirical research on essentialism into a coherent framework, examining children's thinking and ways in which language influences thought. She argues that young children's use of concepts such as "dog," "man," or "intelligence," reflects their deep commitment to the presence of these categories' properties that extends beyond the observable information about objects. The presence of this commitment in children also means that they do not come into the world as passive recipients of data, but rather have an organizational scheme that supports categories. This volume will be of interest to developmental, cognitive, and social psychologists, as well as to scholars in cognitive science and philosophy.
Readership: Researchers, students and professor in developmental and cognitive psychology, cognitive science and philosophy
Susan A. Gelman, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
1: Introduction Part I: The Phenomena: Notes on Research Methods 2: Inductive Potential 3: Hidden, Non-Obvious Properties 4: Conceptions of Nature versus Nurture 5: Causal Explanations, Causal Determinism 6: Conclusions to Part I Part II: Mechanisms of Acquisition 7: What Parents Say - and Don't Say - about Essences 8: Essentialism in Language 9: Theory Theories and DAM Theories Part III: Implications and Speculations 10: Unfinished Business 11: Why Do We Essentialize?
