A right way to explain? Function, mechanism, and the order of explanations

People generally prefer functional explanations over mechanistic ones. This preference might arise from attributing greater value to functional information. However, instead of an overall preference for functional explanations, people might simply expect functional information to precede mechanistic information. Here, we ask whether people have such preferences for the order of functional and mechanistic information in explanations and how those preferences might arise. In a first set of studies, we show that adults do in fact prefer functional information to precede mechanistic. In a second set of studies, we show that people have a more general preference for explanations to address the whole before parts. Finally, we show that the preference for function to precede mechanism may be related to the broader whole-before-parts preference.