Table 1.

Root capacities underlying essentialism. (from Gelman, 2003)

Root capacities		Essentialist instantiations
Appearance/reality distinction	→	Non-obvious properties as core
Induction from property clusters	→	Inferences about the unknown
Causal determinism	→	Causal properties as core
Tracking identity over time	→	Importance of origins
Deference to experts	→	Acceptance of category anomalies
ABOVE, COLLECTIVELY	→	Realist assumption about categories and names
		Boundary intensification
		Immutability; stability over transformations
		Importance of nature over nurture