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The present set of studies examined the impact of intentionality (wanting/not wanting to get sick) on the transmission of contagious illness and injuries. Study I examined whether preschoolers and adults thought that a recipient of an illness is more likely to get sick if he/she wanted to. Studies 2, 2a, and 3 examined if the intentions of the transmitter would influence the transmission of illness to the recipient. Study 4 examined the influence of germs on intentionality. Both preschoolers and adults reasoned that the intentions of the recipient would play a significant role in the probability of contracting an illness but only adults reasoned that the recipient having knowledge of the transmitter's intentions would have an impact on illness. Moreover, preschoolers (but not adults) judged that biological contaminants such as germs would interact with the intentionality of the recipient to increase the chances of contracting an illness whereas adults reasoned that psychological states can have a direct influence on the manifestation of illness. These results suggest that preschoolers and adults entertain a highly sophisticated and selective process when assessing, the impact of psychological factors such as intentionality on biological processes such as the origins of illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What factors promote conceptual (deep) processing in young children? In this research we examine two factors that seem likely to invite a focus on important conceptual information. The first is comparison processing: comparisons (such as “cats are like dogs”) involve a structural alignment that highlights common relational structure as well as differences connected to that structure. The second factor is the use of generic language (such as “cats have sharp teeth”), which invites a construal organized around information that is relatively central to the represented item. We ask whether these two forces can combine to foster deep processing in 4-year-olds, as well as in adults. Our secondary goal is to test whether the process of comparison operates in the same way in preschool children as in adults. In two studies (N = 132), we examined preschool children's and adults' comparison processing, by asking participants to produce either commonalities or differences for pairs of items while varying similarity (highversus low) and wording (generic versus specific). As predicted, for both ages, (a) high-similarity pairs generated both more commonalities and more alignable differences than low-similarity pairs; (b) generic wording differed from specific language in relatively more deep properties for both ages; and (c) the combination of generic language and high similarity was especially favorable for producing deep properties. The detailed parallels between age groups suggest that the same comparison processes hold for children as for adults. Most important, the results show that two ways of highlighting deep conceptual structure—generic language and structural alignment—can be combined to provide a source of insight for both children and adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigated three seemingly contradictory views of the conception of illness: (a) the traditional, development "naive child" view; (b) a more contemporary, "sophisticated child" outlook; and (c) a largely social-psychological, "irrational adult" approach. They concluded that participants had a variety of views of the conception of illness and that they used different views in different experimental contexts. They found that, under certain conditions, children appeared to have sophisticated beliefs; under other conditions, children, and even adults, showed signs of folkloric and immanent justice reasoning. They also found that, with advancing grade level, children increasingly recognized psychological contributors to the cause of illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Weight gain is due to unhealthy foods rather than engaging in unhealthy activities. • Three year olds do not make a food/activity distinction for height or weight. • Four and 5 year olds think foods primarily cause height and weight differences. • Results suggest that the role of foods tends to predominate in people's conceptions of body size. Despite the important ways that both food and physical activities influence body size, much prior research has focused exclusively on children's concepts of food. The present studies address this issue by comparing preschoolers' (N = 128) and adults' (N = 64) understanding of the causal consequences of different foods and activities on height and weight. Participants were asked to make predictions (Study 1) or provide explanations (Study 2). Three- to 5-year-olds predicted heavier weight more on the basis of unhealthy foods than unhealthy activities, but did not differentiate their predictions about height on the basis of food or activity. We also found that 4- and 5-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, explained differences in weight and height more on the basis of food than on the basis of activity. Together, these results suggest that children's and adults' strongest links were between unhealthy food and greater weight, suggesting that the role of food tends to predominate in people's conceptions of body size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]