Object individuation studies have been a valuable tool in understanding the development of kind concepts. In this article, we review evidence from object individuation paradigms to argue that by their first birthday, infants represent at least three superordinate-level sortal kinds: OBJECT, ANIMATE, and AGENT (possibly also ARTIFACT). These superordinate sortal-kind concepts share key characteristics of adult kind concepts, such as prioritizing causal properties and having inductive potential. We then discuss the implications of this body of research. First, we discuss how the early development of these sortal-kind concepts (i.e., OBJECT, ANIMATE, and AGENT) relate to the two major theories of concepts: core knowledge and psychological essentialism. Second, we suggest that superordinate kind concepts set the stage for later development of basic-level kind concepts and present evidence that human communication, either in the form of language or pedagogical demonstration, plays a key role in constructing basic-level kinds. Third, we compare feature-based versus kind-based object individuation studies and put forth the hypothesis that they may reflect two modes of construal theory. Last, we discuss several open theoretical and empirical questions about sortal-kind concepts and suggest directions for future research. Overall, our review underscores the importance of object individuation methods as a powerful research tool for investigating the development of kind concepts, mechanisms of learning, and the relationship between language and thoughts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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种类概念的发展：来自对象个体化的见解。


对象个体化研究一直是理解种类概念发展的宝贵工具。在本文中，我们回顾了来自对象个性化范式的证据，以论证到他们的一岁生日时，婴儿至少代表了三种上级排序类型：OBJECT、ANIMATE 和 AGENT（也可能是 ARTIFACT）。这些上级排序概念具有成人类型概念的关键特征，例如优先考虑因果属性和具有归纳潜力。然后，我们讨论了这一研究主体的含义。首先，我们讨论了这些分类概念（即 OBJECT、ANIMATE 和 AGENT）的早期发展如何与两个主要的概念理论相关联：核心知识和心理本质主义。其次，我们建议高级种类概念为后来基本层次的种类概念的发展奠定了基础，并提供了证据，证明人类交流，无论是以语言还是教学示范的形式，在构建基本种类中起着关键作用。第三，我们比较了基于特征和基于种类的对象个体化研究，并提出了它们可能反映两种解释理论模式的假设。最后，我们讨论了关于排序类概念的几个开放性理论和实证问题，并为未来的研究提出了方向。总的来说，我们的综述强调了对象个性化方法作为研究种类概念的发展、学习机制以及语言与思想之间关系的强大研究工具的重要性。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。