Categories and Concepts

Question 1

What do categories and concepts do?

Answer 1

Group together objects, events, etc., that are similar in some way

Question 2

Categories and concepts support ______ of prior experience

Answer 2

generalization

Question 3

What is the distinction between concepts and categories?

Answer 3

Categories group things in the world that go together; Concepts are the things (representations) in your head that allow you to categorize things in the world

Question 4

Categories can be _____ or _____. What is the difference?

Answer 4

Categories can be TAXONOMIC or THEMATIC.
-Taxonomic is based on shared physical features
-Thematic is based on shared function or context

Question 5

What are the three varieties of categories?

Answer 5

Natural, Artificial, and Ad hoc

Question 6

What are the traits of a natural category?

Answer 6

Things created by nature that typically have shared physical features

Question 7

What are the traits of an artificial category?

Answer 7

Things created by humans that typically have shared functions

Question 8

What are the traits of an ad hoc category?

Answer 8

They are formed for a specific purpose or context, for example, things to take on a picnic

Question 9

Children (and adults) organize categories and concepts into ________.

Answer 9

Children (and adults) organize categories and concepts into HIERARCHIES.

Question 10

List the hierarchies from most to least general

Answer 10

most general, superordinate, basic, subordinate

Question 11

Write a hierarchy for a La-Z Boy chair.

Answer 11

most general: inanimate object
superordinate: furniture
basic: chair
subordinate: La-Z-Boy

Question 12

What was the traditional view about categories. Is this true?

Answer 12

The traditional view was that infants do not categorize. This isn’t true.

Question 13

What are the two mechanisms of categorization?

Answer 13

Perceptual categorization and forming a prototype

Question 14

What is perceptual categorization?

Answer 14

Grouping based on shared perceptual features.

Question 15

What is forming a prototype?

Answer 15

Grouping based on similarity to a “representational average”

Question 16

As children develop, categorization shifts from ______ to ______.

Answer 16

As children develop, categorization shifts from PERCEPTUAL to CONCEPTUAL.

Question 17

What does conceptual development reflect?

Answer 17

The interaction of nature and nurture

Question 18

What do nativists argue about conceptual development?

Answer 18

That innate understanding of concepts plays a central role in development

Question 19

What do empiricists argue about conceptual development?

Answer 19

That concepts arise from basic learning mechanisms.

Question 20

Children form ____ ____ for different domains. What are these domains?

Answer 20

Children form NAIVE THEORIES for different domains. They are physics, psychology, and biology

Question 21

What does naive physics cover?

Answer 21

forces and motion, substance and object, and actual phenomenon

Question 22

What does naive psychology cover?

Answer 22

The relationship between intention, belief and behavior; Knowing psychological phenomena such as perception, emotion, etc

Question 23

What does naive biology cover?

Answer 23

The difference between biological and abiotic; Knowing of biological phenomena such as growth, death, and so on.

Question 24

What characteristics do naive theories and formal scientific theories share?

Answer 24

Units, principles, and causality

Question 25

What is Piaget's theory to how infants form naive theories?

Answer 25

Infant's physical interactions with objects

Question 26

What is the infomational processing approach's theory to how infants form naive theories?

Answer 26

Through basic processing skills

Question 27

What is core-knowledge theory's explanation for how infants form naive theories?

Answer 27

Infants have a biological predisposition to form particular responses

Question 28

What is sociocultural theory's explanation for how infants form naive theories?

Answer 28

the social world structures and communicates information about important concepts

Question 29

Understanding others requires appreciating _______ _______ for behavior. This includes ______, ______, _______, and _______.

Answer 29

Understanding others requires appreciating MENTAL EXPLANATIONS for behavior. This includes DESIRES, INTENTIONS, ACTIONS, and BELIEFS.

Question 30

What is the theory of mind?

Answer 30

The ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others

Question 31

How does a child pass a false-belief test? What age do children usually pass?

Answer 31

They need to predict the behavior of another person based on an inferred mental state that differs from reality. Usually pass at 5 y.o.

Question 32

What does theory of mind say about two-year olds?

Answer 32

They understand the connection between other people's desires and actions, but show little understanding of beliefs. They will give someone their preferred snack

Question 33

What does theory of mind say about three-year olds?

Answer 33

They understand that desires and beliefs affect behavior, but have difficulty with false belief problems where others' beliefs are in conflict with the child's own knowledge

Question 34

What does theory of mind say about five-year olds?

Answer 34

They understand desires, beliefs, and intentions. They can pass false belief problems

Question 35

Put these in the trajectory of development: earliest to latest; diverse desires, knowledge access, contents false belief, real-apparent emotion, explicit false belief, belief emotion, diverse beliefs

Answer 35

diverse desires, diverse beliefs, knowledge access, contents false belief, explicit false belief, belief emotion, real-apparent emotion

Question 36

What are the four explanations for the development of theory of mind?

Answer 36

1. children overcome egocentrism thorough assimilation and accomodation 2. general information processing skills allow children to understand people's minds 3. there is a theory of mind module (TOMM) 4. interactions with other people are crucial for developing theory of mind

Question 37

What two things do preschoolers understand through naive biology?

Answer 37

1. That biological processes are different from psychological processes 2. The properties of living that are crucial for their functions

Question 38

At _____ (age), children can distinguish people from other animals and from inanimate objects

Answer 38

1 year old

Question 39

At _____ (age), children can assess properties of living and nonliving things

Answer 39

3-4 years old

Question 40

At _____ (age), children realize plants are living things

Answer 40

7-9 years old

Question 41

How do nativists argue that children acquire biological knowledge?

Answer 41

They argue that humans are born with a "biology module" that helps children learn quickly about living things; includes fascination of plants and animals

Question 42

How do nativists support their argument for the "biology module"?

Answer 42

It was crucial for survival during early periods of evolution; Throughout the world, information about plants and animals are organized in similar ways

Question 43

How do empiricists argue that children acquire biological knowledge?

Answer 43

That children's biological understanding comes from observations and information received from parents, teachers, and culture.

Question 44

What is the theory of mind module (TOMM)?

Answer 44

A hypothesized brain mechanism devoted to understanding other human beings