Body and Soul: Do Children Distinguish Between Foods When Generalizing Biological and Psychological Properties?

1) Research Findings. In two experiments, we tested whether children generalize psychological and biological properties to novel foods. We used an induction task in which a property (either biological or psychological) was associated with a target food. Children were then asked whether a taxonomically-related and a script-related food would also have the property. In a “yes-no” task (Experiment 1) 9-year olds preferentially generalized the property to taxonomically related foods, but 4-year-olds did not. In a forced-choice task (Experiment 2, 4-to-6-year olds), children preferred the taxonomic choice over the script choice. This preference was weak at age 4 but established by age 5. In both experiments, age groups, biological and psychological properties were treated similarly. It is argued that the children do not distinguish biological and psychological properties of food most likely because they believe that psychological properties are caused by biological dispositions.