Ch 9 - Concepts

Question 0

Ross and Murphy

Answer 0

Sorting task: eggs sometimes classified as a breakfast food, sometimes as a dairy product

Question 1

Bruner et al.

Answer 1

Categorising is to make different things equivalent, responding to them as members of that group, not to their uniqueness.

Question 2

Barsalou

Answer 2

Categorisation reflects a person’s goals

Question 3

Eco

Answer 3

Platypus- categorisation is complex

Question 4

Macintyre

Answer 4

The diagnosis of ME is based on one major criterion plus 4 out of 8 minor criteria

Question 5

Bruner et al

Answer 5

People do categorise using necessary and sufficient conditions.

Question 6

Rosch

Answer 6

Asked ppts to state ‘goodness of exemplar’ of several instances.
Fruit= fruity
Olive=\ fruity

Therefore categories have internal structure

Question 7

Barsalou: Rosch

Answer 7

Typicality does not correlate with frequency. Penguins would be atypical if we lived in the South Pole.

Question 8

Rips et al.
also
Rosch

Answer 8

Sentence verification:

‘A robin is a bird’ verified faster than ‘A penguin is a bird.’

Question 9

Rosch and Mervis

Answer 9

Property/attribute listing method:

Less typical instances have fewer properties in common with other category members.

Question 10

Problems with classical view? (TrILBy)

Answer 10

1) typicality
2) intransitivity of categories
3) lack of definitions
4) borderline cases

Question 11

Borderline cases- evidence?

Answer 11

McCloskey n Glucksberg- bookends

Question 12

Intransitivity- evidence?

Answer 12

Hampton- car seats

Question 13

Lack of definitions- evidence?

Answer 13

Wittgenstein- games (not proof, just evidence)

Putman, Kripke- robot cats thought experiment

Question 14

Rosch’s belief aggregation of characteristics

Answer 14

Certain attributes cluster together in nature, eg. Feathers, wings, beak, ability to fly.

Question 15

Problems with prototype theory

Mic

Answer 15

meaning (what does typicality mean?/instability/context-sensitivity
complex concepts

Question 16

‘Meaning of typicality’ - evidence?

Answer 16

Armstrong et al. - definitional concepts, eg. odd number/even number show typicality effects

Question 17

Armstrong

Answer 17

Proposed dual-process model: classical view = core

Prototype theory = identification procedures

Question 18

Roth n shoben

Answer 18

Typicality effects changed by linguistic context, eg. riding/milking cow/horse

Question 19

Medin n Shoben

Answer 19

Spoon eg.:

The contribution of large/small to typicality depends on whether spoon is made of wood/metal - instability of typicality depending on context

Question 20

Why instability is a problem

Answer 20

• it is at odds with Rosch’s argument that prototypes are clusters of correlated properties reflecting the natural world
• if diagnostic power of attributes can change, what does that mean about typicality?
• the contribution made by different properties to typicality (eg spoon size vs material)

Question 21

Fodor

Answer 21

Complex concepts create problems for most theories of concepts

Question 22

Hampton, using mcCloskey n Glucksberg’s data

Answer 22

Typicality is a good predictor, explaining 46-96% of variance of categorisation probability

Question 23

Hampton, using McCloskey n Glucksberg’s data - factors other than typicality

Answer 23

familiarity/lack thereof

‘Technicality’ of membership

Question 24

‘Similarity is a quack’

Answer 24

Goodman- not similarity, just ‘sharing properties with’ - so not ‘similarity’ that’s driving categorisation at all

Question 25

Lawn mowers and plums- who?, n what did they conclude?

Answer 25

Murphy n Medin

Similarity is shorthand for something else that makes categories coherent

Question 26

Murphy n Medin’s idea n example they used

Answer 26

Concepts are explanation based, eg intoxicated explains jumping into pool

Question 27

Pizza/quarter study:

Who? What does it show?

Answer 27

Rips

More similar to a quarter/more likely to be a pizza
Shows dissociation between similarity/what it is. This means ‘being’ and ‘similarity’ are not the same.

Question 28

Kroska n goldstone

Answer 28

Ppts categorised some scenarios as ‘fear’, but more similar to joy.