Children persist with objects that violate their expectations, not merely novel ones.

Evidence

When children played with blocks that behaved as they expected, their standard novelty bias crept in and led them to abandon the blocks in favor of another, newer toy when offered the chance. But the children for whom the blocks appeared to violate their theory of how blocks should balance—regardless of whether their theory was actually correct!—stayed riveted and continued playing with them, even when another toy was on offer. — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 854

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 854
• XREF: connects to: Children fixate on objects that violate their specific theories — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 854; Toddlers distinguish deliberate choices from forced actions when imitating — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 948

Broader Connections

• Toddlers distinguish deliberate choices from forced actions when imitating #expands (0.55) — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 948