Reasoning about artifacts at 24 months: The developing teleofunctional stance

Abstract From the age of 2.5, children use social information to rapidly form enduring functionbased artifact categories. The present study asked whether even younger children likewise constrain their use of objects according to teleo-functional beliefs that artifacts are ''for'' particular purposes, or whether they use objects as means to any desired end. Twenty-fourmonth-old toddlers learned about two novel tools that were physically equivalent but perceptually distinct; one tool was assigned implicit function information through a short demonstration. At test, toddlers returned to the demonstrated tool when asked to repeat the task, but, unlike older children, also used it for another task. Results imply that at 24 months, toddlers expect artifacts to have functions and proficiently use a model's intentional use to inform tool choices, suggesting cognition that differs from that of tool-using monkeys. However, their artifact representations are not yet specified enough to support exclusive patterns of tool use

Fault rotation and core complex formation : significant processes in seafloor formation at slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 13°–15°N)

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 9 (2008): Q03003, doi:10.1029/2007GC001699.The region of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) between the Fifteen-Twenty and Marathon fracture zones displays the topographic characteristics of prevalent and vigorous tectonic extension. Normal faults show large amounts of rotation, dome-shaped corrugated detachment surfaces (core complexes) intersect the seafloor at the edge of the inner valley floor, and extinct core complexes cover the seafloor off-axis. We have identified 45 potential core complexes in this region whose locations are scattered everywhere along two segments (13° and 15°N segments). Steep outward-facing slopes suggest that the footwalls of many of the normal faults in these two segments have rotated by more than 30°. The rotation occurs very close to the ridge axis (as much as 20° within 5 km of the volcanic axis) and is complete by ∼1 My, producing distinctive linear ridges with roughly symmetrical slopes. This morphology is very different from linear abyssal hill faults formed at the 14°N magmatic segment, which display a smaller amount of rotation (typically <15°). We suggest that the severe rotation of faults is diagnostic of a region undergoing large amounts of tectonic extension on single faults. If faults are long-lived, a dome-shaped corrugated surface develops in front of the ridges and lower crustal and upper mantle rocks are exposed to form a core complex. A single ridge segment can have several active core complexes, some less than 25 km apart that are separated by swales. We present two models for multiple core complex formation: a continuous model in which a single detachment surface extends along axis to include all of the core complexes and swales, and a discontinuous model in which local detachment faults form the core complexes and magmatic spreading forms the intervening swales. Either model can explain the observed morphology.D. Smith and H. Schouten were supported in this work by NSF grant OCE-0649566. J. Escartın was supported by CNRS

The nature and development of the teleological stance.

Teleological reasoning--reasoning that is based on the assumption of purpose, design or function--is a fundamental aspect of adult cognition. It leads us to think about the actions of others in terms of goals and to presume that people's creations are designed for a purpose. It also causes us to reason about biological entities in terms of functions and characterizes much of our metaphysical musing on life and meaning. This dissertation explores the nature and development of teleological thought in preschool children. One hypothesis ("Biology-Based Teleology") is that teleological thinking is an innate mode of construal which is limited to artifacts (such as clocks) and biological traits (such as eyes) and provides children with the core of a biological theory. This dissertation presents an alternative proposal ("Promiscuous Teleology"). It argues that children's teleological understanding develops from knowledge of intentional goal-directed behavior and is not inherently restricted to any particular category of phenomena. In the absence of scientific knowledge, children may draw upon intention-based teleological knowledge and--as many adults have done in the past--view all kinds or phenomena as intentionally caused for a purpose. Several studies are presented that explore the predictions of Promiscuous Teleology and Biology-Based Teleology regarding the scope of children's and adults' attribution of function to different kinds of entities and their parts. These studies lend support to the notion that children's teleological intuitions are unconstrained. In other words, that preschoolers broadly view natural objects (e.g., mountains), artifacts (e.g., clocks) and biological organisms (e.g., tigers) and their parts as "made for something." Further studies then explored possible explanations for these results by examining the relationship between children's and adults' concept of function. The findings suggest that children's beliefs about function are more influenced by the degree of intention involved in an activity than adults. The implications of these findings for notions of a "teleological stance" are discussed

The effects of domain-specific knowledge on similarity judgements

The study contrasts natural kinds versus artifacts in order to assess the impact of domain-specific knowledge on adult subjects strategies in a perceptual classification task. Subjects classifications show differential weighting of perceptual dimensions as a consequence of background context. In addition, subjects display a tendency to reject identity within a specific dimension when such a non-identity based strategy permitted the creation of a theoretically cohesive category. This provides evidence against the view that identity possesses an inherent value in classification and supports the alternative, that background knowledge determines the degree to which identity is valued and the manner in which categories are constructed

Az artefaktumok (eszközök) esszenciája

Többen amellett érvelnek, hogy mivel az eszközök (artefaktumok) nem természetes fajták, ezért nem részei a fogalmak azon körének, amelyek az elmélet-elmélet területéhez tartoznak. Szemben ezzel az állásponttal, nézetünk szerint az eszközök valójában nagyon is úgy funkcionálnak, mint a természetes fajták fogalmai. A felnőttek eszközfogalmainak alapját a „tervezeti hozzáállás”-nak nevezett kauzális-magyarázati struktúra képezi. A tervezeti hozzáállás értelmében minden eszköz létezése, fajtája és tulajdonságai a tervező eredeti szándékának megfelelő funkció alapján magyarázhatók. A szándékolt funkció fogalma ugyanúgy határozza meg és irányítja az eszközökre vonatkozó érveléseinket, mint ahogyan az oksági esszenciák reprezentációi determinálják a természetes fajtákra vonatkozó inferen­ciá­kat. Továbbá: ugyanúgy, ahogyan egyes keretelméleteket - mint például a vitalista biológiát -, amelyek meghatározzák a természetes fajtákról való gondolkodásunkat, a gyermekkor folyamán konstruálunk meg, a tervezeti hozzáállás is csak elég későn, az óvodáskor idejére alakul ki (csupán négy- és hatéves kor között konszolidálódik). Szemben azonban a vitalista biológiával, a tervezeti hoz­záállás konstrukciója olyan fejlődési primitívekre épül, amelyek részei a csecsemő igen korán meg­je­lenő alaptudás („mag-tudás”) rendszereinek, elsősorban azoknak, amelyek az intencionális ágencia területéhez tartoznak

Journal of Cognition and Culture 11 (2011) 137-150 Just Rewards: Children and Adults Equate Accidental Inequity with Intentional Unfairness

Abstract Humans expect resources to be distributed fairly. They also show biases to construe all acts as intentional. This study investigates whether every unequal distribution is initially assumed to be intentional unfairness. Study 1 presents a control group of adults with a movie showing one individual accidentally receiving less reward than expected for a task. The experimental group was shown the same scenario, except that the individual was now in the presence of an additional person who received the full reward. Despite the similarity of the scenarios, as predicted, participants in the control condition responded as if the disappointing reward was accidental, while those in the experimental condition responded as if the act was intentional: Their tendency to avoid the &quot;perpetrator&quot; did not differ from that of participants in another control condition who saw an intentionally unfair reward distribution. In Study 2, 7-and 8-year-old children&apos;s results replicated those of adults. Implications for social and moral cognition are discussed

The Development of Children&apos;s Prelife Reasoning: Evidence From Two Cultures

Two studies investigated children&apos;s reasoning about their mental and bodily states during the time prior to biological conception-&quot;prelife.&quot; By exploring prelife beliefs in 5-to 12-year-olds (N = 283) from two distinct cultures (urban Ecuadorians, rural indigenous Shuar), the studies aimed to uncover children&apos;s untutored intuitions about the essential features of persons. Results showed that with age, children judged fewer mental and bodily states to be functional during prelife. However, children from both cultures continued to privilege the functionality of certain mental states (i.e., emotions, desires) relative to bodily states (i.e., biological, psychobiological, perceptual states). Results converge with afterlife research and suggest that there is an unlearned cognitive tendency to view emotions and desires as the eternal core of personhood