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.