Children prefer certain individuals over perfect duplicates
Adults prize one-of-a-kind objects such as art, keepsakes and memorabilia over identical copies, and the authors tested whether young children do too, using a magic trick that appeared to duplicate real objects. In the first study children were less willing to accept an identical replacement for a comfort object than for a favourite toy. In the second, children often preferred a personal belonging of Queen Elizabeth II to an identical copy but showed no such preference for another valuable object. The authors conclude that children form attachments to particular objects that do not depend on any perceptible difference between them.
Adults prize one-of-a-kind objects such as art, keepsakes and memorabilia over identical copies, and the authors tested whether young children do too, using a magic trick that appeared to duplicate real objects. In the first study children were less willing to accept an identical replacement for a comfort object than for a favourite toy. In the second, children often preferred a personal belonging of Queen Elizabeth II to an identical copy but showed no such preference for another valuable object. The authors conclude that children form attachments to particular objects that do not depend on any perceptible difference between them.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-27 via Europe PMC.
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Hood, B. M., & Bloom, P. (2008). Children prefer certain individuals over perfect duplicates. Cognition, 106(1), 455-462. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.01.012