Intrinsic causal mechanisms (explanation)
After the teaching phase, participants will be asked three questions about why they think that an individual Fooly has a certain property included in the storybook. In the first step we will ask an open question (for example, “Look, this Fooly thinks stones can come alive! Why do you think she thinks so?”) – note that the open-ended manner in which we will ask this question is a deviation from Noyes and Keil (2020), who asked a yes/no question. This is to prevent a possibly leading question. Following Rhodes et al. (2018) and Cimpian & Markman (2011), open-ended responses will be coded along two dimensions: First, if the explanation is based on intrinsic, functional, or trait-based factors (e.g., “because Foolies are crazy”) it will be coded as “essentialist”. If responses refer to learning, problems, or extrinsic factors (e.g., “because there are many stones there”) they would be considered “non-essentialist”. Second, we will examine whether they refer to the category (e.g., “because Foolies are crazy”, score 1) or not (e.g., “because he is crazy”, score 0). Two coders, one of them ignorant of experimental condition, will examine the explanations. Disagreement in coding will be resolved through discussion.
After asking the open-ended question, we will follow it up with a yes/no question: “Is that because s/he is a Fooly?” “Yes” will be coded as an essentialist and “no” as a non-essentialist belief. Following Noyes and Keil (2020), a cross-condition question will be included among the test questions in this battery as well. For participants in the cultural content condition, they will be asked an explanatory question about a biological feature of a Zarpie, and for those in the biological content condition, they will be asked an explanatory question about a cultural feature of a Zarpie.