The Relation Between Essentialist Beliefs and Evolutionary Reasoning

Historians of science have pointed to essentialist beliefs about species as major impediments to the discovery of natural selection. The present study investigated whether such beliefs are impediments to learning this concept as well. Participants (43 children aged 4

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: COGSCI
• Authors: Andrew Shtulman, Laura Schulz
• Keywords: COGSCI 2008, Major Impediments, Natural Selection, Within-species Variation