Tom is a two-year-old with reasonably good command of English. His family has a fox terrier at home. On a road trip to the countryside, they passed a pasture that had cows grazing near the roadside....

Tom is a two-year-old with reasonably good command of English. His family has a fox terrier at home. On a road trip to the countryside, they passed a pasture that had cows grazing near the roadside. Tom squealed, pointed to the pasture, and loudly announced to his mother that there were many large dogs in the field. What caused Tom’s error in calling a cow a dog?

A. Tom could not see the cows properly, and hence, assumed they were dogs.

B. Tom is lagging behind in his language development.

C. Tom provided a label to refer to a class of similar objects and, thus, applied a built-in bias.

D. Tom’s parents have not taught him the difference between a cow and a dog.