Is psychological essentialism an inherent feature of human cognition?

Recent evidence shows that psychological essentialism is neither a universal nor stable feature of human cognition. The extent to which people report essentialist intuitions varies enormously across cultures and education levels, and is also influenced by subde, normatively irrelevant contextual manipulations. These results challenge die notion that the human mind is "fitted" with a built-in inherence heuristic that produces essentialist intuitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]