Publications
2022
How Culture Shapes Social Categorization and Inductive Reasoning:A Developmental Comparison between the United States and China
Human Exceptionalist Thinking about Climate Change
Betz, N. & Coley, J.D. (2022). Sustainability, 14, 9519. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159519
Effects of Reading Interventions on Student Understanding of and Misconceptions about Antibiotic Resistance
Pickett, S.B., Nielson, C., Marshall, H., Tanner, K.D., & Coley, J.D. (2022). Journal of Microbiology Education, 23 (1), https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00220-21
Essentialist thinking predicts culpability and punishment judgments
Xu, Y., Berryessa, C.M., Dowd, M., Penta, D., & Coley, J.D. (2022). Psychology, Crime & Law, 28 (3), 246-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2021.1905812
2021
Beliefs about Human-Nature Relationships and Implications for Investment and Stewardship Surrounding Land-Water System Conservation
Coley, J.D,; Betz, N.; Helmuth, B.; Ellenbogen, K.; Scyphers, S.B.; Adams, D. (2021). Land, 10(12), 1293. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10121293
Do I Know You? The Role of Culture in Racial Essentialism and Facial Recognition Memory
Leffers, J. & Coley, J.D. (2021). Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 10(1), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0101791
[pdf]
How essentialist beliefs about national groups differ by cultural origin and study abroad experience among Chinese and American college students
Xu, Y.; Li, X., & Coley, J.D. (2021). Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 24(4), 537-552). https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12456
2020
Development of Conceptual Flexibility in Intuitive Biology: Effects of Environment and Experience
Betz, N. & Coley, J.D. (2020). Front Psychol. 11:537672. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.537672
Do We See Masculine Faces as Competent and Feminine Faces as Warm? Effects of Sexual Dimorphism on Facial Perception
Wen, F., Zuo, B., Ma, S., Xu, Y., Coley, J.D., & Wang, Y. (2020). Evolutionary Psychology, (18)4. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704920980642
The development of essentialist, ethnic, and civic intuitions about national categories
Feeney, A., Dautel, J., Phillips, K., Leffers, J., & Coley, J.D. (2020). Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 59:95-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2020.05.004
[pdf]
2019
Cognitive Construal-Consistent Instructor Language in the Undergraduate Biology Classroom
Betz, N., Leffers, J., Thor, E.E.D., Fux, M., de Nesnera, K., Tanner, K., & Coley, J.D. (2019). Life Science Education, 18(4):ar63. https://doi.org/10.1187%2Fcbe.19-04-0076
2018
Cognitive Constraints Shape Public Debate on the Risks of Synthetic Biology
Swiney, L., Bates, D.G., & Coley, J.D. (2018). Trends in Biotechnology, 36(12):1199-1201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2018.09.002
Expertise
Coley, J.D. & Betz, N.J. (2018). The Sage Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development, (pp. 818-820). http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781506307633.n303
Anthropocentric by Default? Attribution of Familiar and Novel Properties to Living Things
Arenson, M. & Coley, J.D. (2018). Cognitive Science, 42(1), 253-285. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12501
2017
Investigating Undergraduate Students’ Use of Intuitive Reasoning and Evolutionary Knowledge in Explanations of Antibiotic Resistance
Richard, M., Coley, J.D. & Tanner, K.D. (2017). CBE: Life Sciences Education, 16(3):ar55. https://doi.org/10.1187%2Fcbe.16-11-0317
Development of essentialist thinking about religion categories in Northern Ireland (and the United States).
Smyth, K., Feeney, A., Eidson, R.C., & Coley, J.D. (2017). Developmental Psychology, 53(3), 475–496. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/dev0000253
Intuitive Biological Thought: Developmental Changes and Effects of Biology Education in Late Adolescence
Coley, J.D., Arenson, M.B., Xu, Y., & Tanner, K.D. (2017) Cognitive Psychology, 92, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2016.11.001
2015
Relations between Intuitive Biological Thinking and Biological Misconceptions in Biology Majors and Nonmajors
Coley, J.D. & Tanner, K.D. (2015). CBE: Lfe Sciences Education, 14, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1187%2Fcbe.14-06-0094
2014
Not So Fast: Reassessing Gender Essentialism in Young Adults
Eidson, R.C. & Coley, J.D. (2014) Journal of Cognition and Development, 15(2), 382-392. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2013.763810
2013
Development of the Biology Card Sorting Task to Measure Conceptual Expertise in Biology
Smith, J.I., Combs, E.D., Nagami, P.H., Alto, V.M., Goh, H.G., Gourdet, M.A.A., Hough, C.M., Nickell, A.E., Peer, A.G., Coley, J.D. & Tanner, K.D. (2013). CBE: Life Sciences Education, 12, 628-644. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-05-0096
2012
Trees, Fish, and Other Fictions: Folk Biological Thought and Its Implications for Understanding Evolutionary Biology
Coley, J. D. & Muratore, T.M. (2012). Evolution challenges: Integrating research and practice in teaching and learning about evolution (22-46). Cambridge: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730421.003.0002
Where the wild things are: informal experience and ecological reasoning
Coley, J. D. (2012). Child Development, 83 (3), 992-1006. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01751.x
Common origins of diverse misconceptions: cognitive principles and the development of biology thinking
Coley, J. D. & Tanner, K. D. (2012). CBE: Life Sciences Education, 11, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.12-06-0074
Inside the Mind of a Medicinal Chemist: The Role of Human Bias in Compound Prioritization during Drug Discovery
Kutchukian, P.S., Vasilyeva, N.Y., Xu, J., Lindvall, M.K., Michael P. Dillon, M.P., Glick, M., Coley, J.D. & Brooijmans, N. (2012). PLoS ONE 7(11): e48476. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048476
2010
Generating Inductive Inferences: Premise Relations and Property Effects
Coley, J.D. & Vasilyeva, N.Y. (2010). The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 53, 183-226. Burlington MA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-7421(10)53005-6
The Relevance Framework for Category-Based Induction: Evidence From Garden-Path Arguments
Feeney, A., Coley, J.D. & Crisp, A. (2010). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 36(4), 906-919. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019762
2005-2009
Inductive reasoning about causally transmitted properties
Shafto, P., Kemp, C., Bonawitz, L.B., Coley, J.D. & Tenenbaum, J.B. (2008). Cognition, 109, 175-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.07.006
Availability in category-based induction.
Shafto, P., Coley, J.D. & Vitkin, A. (2007). In A. Feeney & E. Heit (Eds.), Inductive reasoning: Experimental, developmental, and computational approaches (pp. 114–136). Cambridge University Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1017/CBO9780511619304.006
Effects of time pressure on context-sensitive property induction
Shafto, P., Coley, J.D. & Baldwin, D. (2007). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 890-894. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03194117
The human animal: Developmental changes in judgments of taxonomic and psychological similarity among humans and other animals.
Envy and jealousy in Russian and English: Labeling and conceptualization of emotions by native speakers and bilinguals
Sachs, O.S. & Coley, J.D. (2006). E. In A. Pavlenko (Ed.), Bilingual minds: Emotional experience, expression, and representation(209-231). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Folkbiology of freshwater fish
Medin, D.L., Ross, N.O., Atran, S., Cox, D., Coley, J.D., Proffitt, J.B. & Blok, S. (2006). Cognition, 99, 237-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2003.12.005
Knowledge and Category-Based Induction
Coley, J.D., Shafto, P., Stepanova, O, & Barraff, E. (2005). In Ahn, W., Goldstone, R. L., Love, B. C., Markman, A. B., & Wolff, P. (Eds.),Categorization inside and outside the laboratory: Essays in honor of Douglas L. Medin (69-85). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/11156-005
2000-2004
Knowledge, expectations, and inductive reasoning within conceptual hierarchies
Cultural and experiential differences in the development of folkbiological induction
Ross, N., Medin, D.L., Coley, J.D. & Atran, S. (2003). Cognitive Development, 18, 25-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2014(02)00142-9
Development of Categorization and Reasoning in the Natural World: Novices to Experts, Naive Similarity to Ecological Knowledge
Shafto, P. & Coley, J.D. (2003). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 29, 641-649 https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.29.4.641
A relevance theory of induction
Medin, D., Coley, J.D., Storms, G. & Hayes, B. (2003). Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 10, 517-532. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196515
The development of folkbiology: A cognitive science perspective on children’s understanding of the biological world.
Coley, J.D., Solomon, G.E.A., & Shafto, P. (2002). In P. Kahn & S. Kellert (Eds.), Children and nature: Psychological, sociocultural and evolutionary investigations (65-91). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Folkecology, Cultural Epidemiology, and the Spirit of the Commons
Atran, S., Medin, D., Ross, N., Lynch, E., Vapnarsky, V., Ucan Ek, E., Coley, J., Timura, C., & Baran, M. (2002). Current Anthropology, 43(3), 421-450. https://doi.org/10.1086/339528
A bird’s eye view: biological categorization and reasoning within and across cultures
Bailenson, J.B., Shum, M.S., Atran, S., Medin, D. & Coley, J.D. (2002). Cognition, 84, 1-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-0277(02)00011-2
The Green Eyed Monster: Linguistic Influences on Concepts of Envy and Jealousy in Russian and English
Stepanova, O. & Coley, J.D. (2002). Journal of Cognition & Culture, 2, 235-262. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685370260440991
Why essences are essential in the psychology of concepts
Ahn, W., Kalish, C., Gelman, S.A., Medin, D.L., Luhmann, C., Atran, S., Coley, J.D. & Shafto, P. (2001). Cognition, 82, 59-69. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/S0010-0277(01)00145-7
Tall is typical: Central tendency, ideal dimensions, and graded category structure among tree experts and novices
Lynch, E. B., Coley, J. D., & Medin, D. L. (2000). Memory & Cognition, 28, 41-50. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211575
On the Importance of Comparative Research: The Case of Folkbiology
Coley, J.D. (2000). Child Development, 71, 82-90. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00121
Expertise and Category-Based Induction
Proffitt, J.B., Coley, J.D. & Medin, D.L (2000). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 26, 811-828 https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0278-7393.26.4.811
1995-1999
Inductive reasoning in folkbiological thought.
Coley, J. D., Medin, D. L., Proffitt, J. B, Lynch, E. B., & Atran, S. (1999). In D.L. Medin, D. L. & S. Atran (Eds.), Folkbiology (205-232). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Folkecology and commons management in the Maya Lowlands
Atran, S.; Medin, D.; Ross, N.; Lynch, E.; Coley, J.; Ucan Ek’; E.; & Vapnarsky, V. (1999). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A., 96, 7598-7603. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.96.13.7598
Concepts and categorization.
Medin, D. L. & Coley, J. D. (1998). In Hochberg, J. & Cutting, J. E. (Eds.), Handbook of Perception and Cognition (2nd Ed.): Perception and Cognition at Century’s End (403-440). San Diego: Academic Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/B978-012301160-2/50015-0
Beyond labeling: the role of maternal input in the acquisition of richly structured categories
Gelman, S. A., Coley, J. D., Rosengren, K. R., Hartman, E. E., & Pappas, A. S. (1998). Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 63, Serial No. 253. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1132220
Categorization and Reasoning among Tree Experts: Do All Roads Lead to Rome?
Medin, D. L., Lynch, E. B., Coley, J. D, & Atran, S. (1997). Cognitive Psychology, 32, 49-96. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1997.0645
The Tree of Life: Universal and Cultural Features of Folkbiological Taxonomies and Inductions
López, A., Atran, S., Coley, J. D., Medin, D. & Smith, E.E. (1997). Cognitive Psychology, 32, 251-295. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1997.0651
Generic species and basic levels: Essence and appearance in folk biology
Atran, S., Estin, P., Coley, J. D., & Medin, D. L. (1997). Journal of Ethnobiology, 17(1), 22-45.
Does rank have its privilege? Inductive inferences within folkbiological taxonomies
Coley, J. D., Medin, D. L., & Atran, S. (1997). Cognition, 64(1), 73-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-0277(97)00017-6
Emerging Differentiation of Folkbiology and Folkpsychology: Attributions of Biological and Psychological Properties to Living Things
Coley, J. D. (1995). Child Development, 66, 1856-1874. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131915
1989-1994
Psychological essentialism and cultural variation: Children's beliefs about aggression in the United States and South Africa
Gelman, S. A., Coley, J. D., & Gottfried, G. M. (1994). In L. W. Hirschfeld & S. A. Gelman (Eds.), Mapping the mind: Domain specificity in cognition and culture (341-365). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.537
Language and categorization: The acquisition of natural kind terms.
Gelman, S. A., & Coley, J. D. (1991). In J. P. Byrnes & S. A. Gelman (Eds.), Perspectives on language and thought: Interrelations in development (pp. 146-196). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1017/CBO9780511983689.006
The Importance of Knowing a Dodo Is a Bird: Categories and Inferences in 2-Year-Old Children
Gelman, S. A., & Coley, J.D. (1990). Developmental Psychology, 26, 796-804. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0012-1649.26.5.796
The Effects of Object Orientation and Object Type on Children's Interpretation of the Word "Big"
Coley, J. D., & Gelman, S.A. (1989). Child Development, 60, 372-380. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1989-21937-001