{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T05:21:35Z","timestamp":1792819295935,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2007,11,1]],"date-time":"2007-11-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1193875200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Psychol Sci"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Unlike educated adults, young children demonstrate a \u201cpromiscuous\u201d tendency to explain objects and phenomena by reference to functions, endorsing what are called teleological explanations. This tendency becomes more selective as children acquire increasingly coherent beliefs about causal mechanisms, but it is unknown whether a widespread preference for teleology is ever truly outgrown. The study reported here investigated this question by examining explanatory judgments in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), whose dementia affects the rich causal beliefs adults typically consult in evaluating explanations. The results indicate that unlike healthy adults, AD patients systematically and promiscuously prefer teleological explanations, suggesting that an underlying tendency to construe the world in terms of functions persists throughout life. This finding has broad relevance not only to understanding conceptual impairments in AD, but also to theories of development, learning, and conceptual change. Moreover, this finding sheds light on the intuitive appeal of creationism.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,10,19]],"date-time":"2007-10-19T16:06:43Z","timestamp":1192810003000},"page":"999-1006","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":104,"title":["Inferring Design"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Tania","family":"Lombrozo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Deborah","family":"Kelemen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Boston University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Deborah","family":"Zaitchik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2007,11,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2006.01791.x"},{"key":"bibr2-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/sce.3730680412"},{"key":"bibr3-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Casler K., Kelemen D. (2007).\n                      Developmental continuity in teleo-functional explanation: Reasoning about nature among Romanian Romani adults\n                      . 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Modularity and constraints in language and cognition","author":"Keil F.C.","year":"1992"},{"key":"bibr12-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S1364-6613(03)00158-X"},{"key":"bibr13-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","first-page":"278","volume-title":"The descent of mind: Psychological perspectives on hominid evolution","author":"Kelemen D.","year":"1999"},{"key":"bibr14-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S1364-6613(99)01402-3"},{"key":"bibr15-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0012-1649.35.6.1440"},{"key":"bibr16-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0956-7976.2004.00672.x"},{"key":"bibr17-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327647jcd0601_2"},{"key":"bibr18-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","unstructured":"Kelemen D., Rosset E. (2007).\n                      The human function compunction: Adults' teleo-functional bias\n                      . Unpublished manuscript, Boston University."},{"key":"bibr19-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2006.08.004"},{"key":"bibr20-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2004.12.009"},{"key":"bibr21-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2005.12.001"},{"key":"bibr22-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1212\/WNL.34.7.939"},{"key":"bibr23-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","volume-title":"Natural theology; or, evidence of the existence and attributes of the deity","author":"Paley W.","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr24-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0140525X00081061"},{"key":"bibr25-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogpsych.2005.10.001"},{"key":"bibr26-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1212\/WNL.41.4.545"},{"key":"bibr27-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","first-page":"105","volume-title":"Integrating the mind","author":"Sloman S.","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr28-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/13546800344000246"},{"key":"bibr29-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0894-4105.20.1.11"},{"key":"bibr30-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","unstructured":"Zaitchik D., Solomon G. (2007).\n                      Conservation of species, liquid, and belief: Evidence for category-specific conceptual impairment in patients with Alzheimer's disease\n                      . Manuscript submitted for publication."},{"key":"bibr31-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","author":"Zaitchik D.","journal-title":"Cognitive Neuropsychology"},{"key":"bibr32-j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0028-3932(02)00110-0"}],"container-title":["Psychological Science"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T01:32:31Z","timestamp":1777599151000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x"}},"subtitle":["Evidence of a Preference for Teleological Explanations in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease"],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2007,11]]},"references-count":32,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,11]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.02015.x","relation":{},"ISSN":["0956-7976","1467-9280"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0956-7976","type":"print"},{"value":"1467-9280","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2007,11]]}}}