Chapter 9 - Conceptual Knowledge

Question 1

Conceptual knowledge enables us to…

Answer 1

recognize objects and events and to make inferences about their properties.

Question 2

_______ have been defined in a number of ways, including “the mental representation of a class or individual” and “categories of objects, events, and abstract ideas”

Answer 2

Concepts

Question 3

How do we organize different concepts in our mind?

Answer 3

By Categories

Question 4

The ________ “cats” includes tabbies, Siamese cats, Persian cats, wildcats, leopards, and so on.

Answer 4

category

Question 5

The process by which things are placed into groups called are knows as what? (ex. furniture, animals)

Answer 5

Categorization

Question 6

Why are categories useful?

Answer 6

Help simplify our world

Question 7

How many approaches of categorization are there?

Answer 7

1. Definitional approach
2. Prototype approach
3. Exemplar approach

Question 8

According to a ______________, a triangle is a polygon with three sides and three angles. Anything that meets this precise definition is considered a triangle. If an object has four sides, it does not fit the strict definition of a triangle.

Answer 8

definitional approach

Question 9

What are some weaknesses of the definitional approach?

Answer 9

Not all members of everyday categories have the same defining features

Question 10

In the ___________, a robin might be considered a prototypical bird because it shares many characteristics commonly associated with birds, such as feathers, beak, and the ability to fly. Unusual birds, like penguins or ostriches, may be seen as less prototypical.

Answer 10

Prototype approach

Question 11

What is high prototypicality and low prototypicality?

Answer 11

High prototypicality refers to how closely the category member resembles the typical member and low prototypicality is the opposite–does not resemble

Question 12

Advantage and Disadvantage for prototype approach

Answer 12

Advantage:
● allows for flexibility in categorization

Disadvantage:
● very subjective

Question 13

Under the ___________, you might categorize fruits based on your experiences with specific fruits like apples, oranges, and bananas. Each time you encounter a new fruit, you compare it to these specific examples to determine if it belongs to the category of fruits.

Answer 13

exemplar approach

Question 14

__________ may work best for small categories and __________ may work best for larger categories

Answer 14

Exemplars, prototypes

Question 15

The kind of organization, in which larger, more general categories are divided into smaller, more specific categories, creating a number of levels of categories, is called…

Answer 15

hierarchical organization.

Question 16

How many levels of categories?

Answer 16

1. Global level
   - “furniture”
2. Basic level
   - “table”
3. Specific level
   - “dining table”

Question 17

Which level is special psychologically because going above it results in a large loss of information and going below it results in little gain of information?

Answer 17

Basic Level