The essential child : origins of essentialism in everyday thought
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The essential child : origins of essentialism in everyday thought
（Oxford series in cognitive development / Paul Bloom and Susan A. Gelman, series editors）
Oxford University Press, 2003
- : cloth
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
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.
Table of Contents
- PART I: THE PHENOMENA: NOTES ON RESEARCH METHODS
- PART II: MECHANISMS OF ACQUISITION
- PART III: IMPLICATIONS AND SPECULATIONS
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