The origins of the shape bias: Evidence from the Tsimané

Jara-Ettinger, Julian; Levy, Roger; Sakel, Jeanette; Huanca, Tomas; Gibson, Edward

Abstract

In the United States, children often generalize the meaning of new words by assuming that objects with the same shape have the same name. We propose that this shape bias is influenced by children’s exposure to objects of different categories (artifacts and natural kinds) and language to talk about them. We present a cross-cultural study between English speakers in the United States and Tsimane’ speakers in the Bolivian Amazon. We found that U.S. children and adults were more likely to generalize novel labels by shape rather than by material or color, relative to Tsimane’ participants. Critically, Tsimane’ children and adults systematically avoided generalizing labels to objects that shared no common features with the novel referent. Our results provide initial evidence that the relative exposure to objects of different kinds and language to talk about them can lead to cross-cultural differences on object name learning.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 7, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 28, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-10
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 2, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
• Print ISSN: 0096-3445
• Electronic ISSN: 1939-2222
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 151
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 2437–2447
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001195
• Keywords: origins; shape bias; Tsimane
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/8541013
• Publisher URL: https://psyarxiv.com/7q4tj