Water Is and Is Not H 2 O, Depending on Who You Ask

Conceptualizations of Water Vary Across Chemists and Laypeople

Bibliographic Data

ID7150301
AuthorsClaudia Mazzuca (0000-0002-8369-5789, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies Sapienza University of Rome, corresponding author), Marta Arcovito (Department of Ancient and Modern Civilisations University of Messina), Ilenia Falcinelli (0000-0002-7692-5881, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies Sapienza University of Rome), Chiara Fini (0000-0002-9939-4745, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies Sapienza University of Rome), Anna M Borghi (0000-0001-9455-8408, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies Sapienza University of Rome)
Year2025
Volume49
Issue8
Pagese70094-e70094
Publication date2025-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCognitive Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0364-0213 • E-ISSN: 1551-6709
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cogs.70094
PMID40762281
OpenAlexW4412994701
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited95

Conceptual representations can be shaped by multiple factors, including expertise. In this study, we tested whether the concept of water is represented differently across laypeople and chemists, focusing on psychological essentialism. Essentialized categories are thought to be determined by internal factors (e.g., chemical composition). Previous research suggests laypeople do not essentialize “water.” Here, we sought to verify whether extensive experience with chemicals might lead to more essentialist conceptions. In the first two experiments, participants provided H 2 O estimates, typicality, centrality, and frequency ratings for water examples, which showed that chemists partially incorporate H 2 O in their conceptual representation of “water.” Experiment 3 underlined qualitative differences in the semantic organization of “water” across the two groups using similarity ratings. Experiment 4 consolidated these results with a sentence acceptability task, underlying the importance of chemical composition in determining what counts as “water” for chemists. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that laypeople consider both “H 2 O” and “water” as more abstract compared to chemists. Our results provide evidence on the variability of both psychological essentialism and conceptual representation overall, which can vary as a function of expertise

Centrality · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Concept learning · Epistemology · Essentialism · Mental representation · Natural language processing · Sentence · Statistics · Action Observation and Synchronization · Advanced Text Analysis Techniques · Child and Animal Learning Development · Computer Science · Engineering · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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