We propose that conceptual development is facilitated by an early emerging bias that leads children to privilege learning about kinds of things in the world (e.g., dogs, chairs). Three studies (N = 144) provided evidence consistent with this proposal. When given a choice between finding out about a kind or about a concrete individual from that kind, 4- and 5-year-olds preferred to find out about the kind. This preference was broad in scope, extending to both familiar (Experiment 3) and unfamiliar (Experiments 1 and 2) kinds. Children's desire to learn about kinds was also expressed flexibly rather than being automatically cued by superficial features of the task: Children who talked to an ostensibly ignorant experimenter did not favor the facts about kinds (Experiments 1 and 3). Moreover, children's preference was specific to kinds rather than extending to plural sets more generally: Children who chose between facts about a single individual and facts about multiple individuals did not favor the latter (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that conceptual development may be driven in part by a heightened motivation to learn about kinds.
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