The Role of Knowledge in the Development of the Life Concept

The role of knowledge in children’s concepts of living things is discussed. Six-year-olds judged some nonliving objects to be alive. In considering children’s knowledge about physical, behavioral and mental properties, as well as their life judgments, we found three types of characteristic objects: (a) objects with respect to which they knew the attributes but not whether the object was a living thing; (b) objects whose attributes were not well-known, but with respect to which the children did know whether they were living things, and (c) objects for which they neither knew the attributes nor whether the objects were living things. Knowledge of the definition of living things, of categories of living things, of attributes of particular classes of living things, and of the hierarchical relations among categories all seemed to influence children’s judgments of whether objects were alive.