Childrenprefercertainindividualsoverperfectduplicates.PDFVIP

Available online at Cognition 106 (2008) 455–462 /locate/COGNIT Brief article Children prefer certain individuals over perfect duplicates Bruce M. Hood a,*, Paul Bloom b a Bristol Cognitive Development Centre, Department of Experimental Psychology, 12a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK b Department of Psychology, Yale University, Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA Received 10 August 2006; revised 21 December 2006; accepted 12 January 2007 Abstract Adults value certain unique individuals—such as artwork, sentimental possessions, and memorabilia—more than perfect duplicates. Here we explore the origins of this bias in young children, by using a conjurer’s illusion where we appear to produce identical copies of real- world objects. In Study 1, young children were less likely to accept an identical replacement for an attachment object than for a favorite toy. In Study 2, children often valued a personal possession of Queen Elizabeth II more than an identical copy, but showed no such bias for another sort of valuable object. These findings suggest that young children develop attach- ments to individuals that are independent of any perceptible properties that the individuals possess. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cognitive development; Object representation; Authenticity * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Bruce.Hood@bris.ac.uk (B.M. Hood). 0010-0277/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.01.012 456 B.M. Hood, P. Bloom / Cognition 106 (2008) 455–462 1. Introduction The med