Two Forces in the Development of Relational Similarity

Analogy commands the attention of developmental psychologists, first, because like grammar and mathematics, analogy is a supremely elegant form of thought ; and, second, because of its importance in cognitive development . An appreciation of relational similarity is fundamental to learning beyond the basic level-to grasping theory-laden concepts that must be defined relationally, such as predator in biology and limiting case in mathematics . In this chapter, we explore two forces that promote the development of relational similarity . Our goal is to illuminate both the nature of the similarity mechanism and its role in experiential learning . Despite the attention given to how and when children acquire the ability to process relational similarity=to carry out analogies-a number of important issues remain unresolved . Most researchers agree that there is a relational shift from early reliance on either holistic or object-level similarities to the possibility of purely relational similarities (Gentner, 1988; Gentner & Rattermann, 1991) . However, there is disagreement as to the nature of the shift . Is it governed by cognitive stage or by degree of domain knowledge ; is it maturational or the product of learning ; is it an all-or-none shift from object similarity to relational similarity ; and finally, when does

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