Why Do We Assume There’s A Perfect Fit?
We approached this question by considering that word-use in a language is but one example of the many consistencies people encounter on a regular basis. Just like the word “zebra” always refers to a particular kind of animal in English, we’re used to seeing mint-flavored toothpaste, yellow school buses, and round coins, for example. There are many things that people encounter that are regularly paired together; these are sometimes called “regularities.”
As people go about their day and try to explain these regularities, they tend to use information that comes to mind quickly and easily. Interestingly, what comes to mind easily tends to be information that is solely about the thing being explained, its inherent characteristics. For instance, when considering why most toothpaste is mint-flavored, people will often think the fresh taste of mint is relevant because of how easily this trait comes to mind. People are more likely to overlook information that they have in memory that doesn’t pop into their minds as quickly – things like important historical events, societal trends, or the context in which the regularity began.
This may also be what people are doing when they reason about words. They might be overlooking the role of history and society on current word-use and instead reasoning that there is something about the word or object that makes the two go together particularly well.