Developmental changes within the core of artifact concepts

Three experiments addressed the relative importance of original function and current function in artifact categorization. Subjects were asked to judge whether an artifact that was made for one purpose (e.g. making tea) and was currently being used for another purpose (e.g. watering flowers) was a teapot or a watering can. Experiment 1 replicated the finding by Hall (1995) (unpublished manuscript) that adults rely on the original function of an artifact over a current function in their kind judgments. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that whereas the kind judgments of 6-year-olds, like those of adults, patterned with the original function, those of 4-year-olds did not. Four-year-olds were influenced by the order in which the functions were mentioned in the story. Further, in their justifications 6-year-olds and adults referred to the origin of the objects, whereas 4-year-olds virtually never did. We conclude that 6-year-olds have begun to organize their understanding of artifacts around the notion of original function, and that 4-year-olds have not. The data are discussed as they bear on childrenʹs understanding of the design stance (Dennett, D. C. (1987). The intentional stance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).