The influence of categorization level on inductive reasoning in two and three-year children ¹¹⁴³

Previous studies using the method of successive touches show that children under fifteen years tend to take up the objects from the same category in a row, if they represent categories differing on a superordinate level, but do it at random if the difference between the categories is on base level. These results are considered to be the evidence of an earlier development of superordinate categories, compared to the basic ones. In our experiment, we asked the two and three year old children to fulfill an inductive reasoning task after using the method of successive touches. We found that the two-year children after the categorization of objects with the superordinate contrast performed more successfully on inductive inference task than with contrast at a basic level. The three-year children were successful in the implementation of the inductive inference task after any categorization experience. The results prove that the superordinate category in two year old children appear before the categories of the basic level and facilitate learning a new categorical information.

Keywords: learning, categorization, inductive inference, superordinate category, basic category

Column: Developmental Psychology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2016090107