Effects of Language and Similarity on Comparison Processing

What factors promote conceptual (deep) processing in young children? In this research we examine two factors that seem likely to invite a focus on important conceptual information. The first is comparison processing: comparisons (such as “cats are like dogs”) involve a structural alignment that highlights common relational structure as well as differences connected to that structure. The second factor is the use of generic language (such as “cats have sharp teeth”), which invites a construal organized around information that is relatively central to the represented item. We ask whether these two forces can combine to foster deep processing in 4-year-olds, as well as in adults. Our secondary goal is to test whether the process of comparison operates in the same way in preschool children as in adults. In two studies (N = 132), we examined preschool children's and adults' comparison processing, by asking participants to produce either commonalities or differences for pairs of items while varying similarity (highversus low) and wording (generic versus specific). As predicted, for both ages, (a) high-similarity pairs generated both more commonalities and more alignable differences than low-similarity pairs; (b) generic wording differed from specific language in relatively more deep properties for both ages; and (c) the combination of generic language and high similarity was especially favorable for producing deep properties. The detailed parallels between age groups suggest that the same comparison processes hold for children as for adults. Most important, the results show that two ways of highlighting deep conceptual structure—generic language and structural alignment—can be combined to provide a source of insight for both children and adults.