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Abstract
The study centered on the influence of MA and CA on the attribution of life and life traits to animate and inanimate objects. Twenty 11-year-old normals, 20 six-year-old normals, and 20 11-year-old retardates, were randomly selected from two Philadelphia public schools. A 70-item questionnaire was designed to assess the subjects' attribution of life and life traits to four animate and six inanimate objects. The results indicated that neither CA nor MA alone determined the attribution of life and life traits. The attribution of life to animate objects and the attribution of botanical and animal traits to inanimate objects were dependent on the interaction of MA and CA. Analysis of the supplementary answers revealed that for the young normal and retarded children the attribution of life and life traits was highly dependent on perceptual object characteristics. Most of the older normals attributed life and life traits on the basis of a vague or explicit notion of the biological nature of the object and/or the logical implication of such attribution. The inadequacy of the number of correct answers as an index for the understanding of the criteria of life and the relationship between the attribution of life and life traits with other forms of classificatory thinking were discussed.