Beliefs About the Origins of Human Psychological Traits

The development of children's reasoning about the origins of human psychological traits was investigated across 4 studies with a total of 316 participants ranging in age from kindergartners to 5th graders and adults. The primary methodology was a switched-at-birth task ( L. A. Hirschfeld, 1995 ), which poses a hypothetical nature-nurture conflict. Two major issues were addressed: (a) the extent to which psychological traits are viewed as a product of environmental influence and (b) whether individuals can be primed to think about the origins of psychological traits in particular ways. Results suggest that there is an age-related increase in the tendency to make distinctions among different psychological traits and that over time, individuals come to believe that psychological traits are determined primarily by nurture. Results also show that young children's beliefs about trait origins are subject to subtle priming effects before an adultlike response pattern is seen.