Exam 2 Flashcards
How many theories are there for categorization?
Three
What are the three theories of categorization?
- Family resemblance view/probabilistic representations
- Prototype view
- Exemplar view
What is the family resemblance view/probabilistic representation theory of categorization, and who is responsible for it?
Rosch; when we form a category, we form a network of criss-crossing similarity, clusters of correlated attributes. Categories have a correlational structure that humans perceive
What are the three levels of categories (according to Rosch)?
- Superordinate level
- ‘Basic’ level
- Subordinate level
What is the ‘basic’ level of categorization?
The best mirror of correlational structure
Examples - dog, cat, fish, bird, banana
What is the subordinate level of categorization?
More specific than basic
Examples - types of cats (Persian, tabby, munchkin, Siamese, calico, etc.)
What is the superordinate level of categorization?
‘Global’ categories
Examples - animals, food
What is category resemblance?
How much similarity is seen in the category; how many features are shared
- Many shared features - high category resemblance
- Few shared features - low category resemblance
What is cue validity?
How predictive a feature is for telling you what category the object is in; distinguish and shared
- Predictive - high cue validity
- Not predictive - low cue validity
The superordinate level has _____ category resemblance, and ______ cue validity.
Low; low
The subordinate level has _____ category resemblance and ____ cue validity.
High; low
The ‘basic’ level has _____ category resemblance and _____ cue validity.
High; high
This is the level where similarities and differences are maximized
Is basic level special? Evidence.
Yes.
- In adults, when naming objects, name ‘basic’ level
- First words are usually at the ‘basic’ level
- Easier to teach categories at ‘basic’ level (easier to dishabituate at ‘basic’ level)
What is the problem with the family resemblance view/probabilistic theory of categorization?
Need the category to know which features to prioritize, but Rosch says we use features to define a category - circular logic
What is the prototype view theory of categorization?
Form a summary representation (perfect/prototype); loos individual exemplars; category judgements are made by comparing objects to prototype
What is the exemplar view theory of categorization?
Keep only exemplars, don’t form prototype; compare new exemplar to older exemplars -> to see if it fits; can get prototype effect without storing prototype
What is the prototype effect?
Example - show 10 faces, then make summary of 10 faces, will think they’ve seen the 11th face
Detail some of Paul Quinn’s studies
3- to 4-month-old infants
Infants have formed (‘basic’ level) categories of specific animals
Human category is special
Experiment - 12 horses or 12 humans; habituate to horses -> dishabituate to humans, horses, and cars; habituate to humans -> only dishabituate to cars
Explanation - humans are the prototypical/perfect animal
Infants can also discriminate global categories (mammals vs. fish vs. birds vs. furniture)
Quinn and Eimas study (not a paper we read)
3- to 4-month-old infants
Showed whole dog/cat, face-only, or body-only, shown opposite at test -> only dishabituated to face-only or whole animals
Quinn & Tanaka, 2007
3- and 4-month-old infants
Used beagles/St. Bernards or Siamese/tabby cats
Were familiarized, and could for categories for tabbies, excluding Siamese, and for beagles, excluding St. Bernards, but only succeeded after seeing another subordinate level category
Those who could form a subordinate level category for one (St. Bernards) could learn a second subordinate level category (beagles) with the same basic level category (dogs), but not from a different one (cats)
Horst, Oakes, & Madole, 2005
10-month-old infants
Exemplar study
Infants were familiarized to four objects sharing a common function or application, wanted to look at infants’ attention to appearance and function
Infants had highest looking time at new function in both function constant and appearance familiar conditions
What infants learn first depends on what they are familiarized to first
This could be because function is more salient
Schulz, Standing, and Bonawitz, 2008
3- and 4-year-olds
“Blicket” study
Main finding - exploratory actions generated in free play can support causal learning
Experiment 1 - shown blickets and dax in 2-condition and only blickets in 1-condition
Results - children accept that members of different categories can have different causal properties but they explore more when causal properties are varied within a category
Were more likely to continue testing whether or not the objects stuck to the table if they believed that they were all blickets
Basically - children continue to test in free play if it goes against their original thought
What are the four characteristics of theories?
- Abstract
- Go beyond evidence (lead to an explanation)
- Coherent
- Dynamic
What is naïve (folk) psychology?
Children’s understanding of their own thoughts and the thoughts of other people
Understand behavior
What are the three core naïve theories?
Naïve psychology, naïve biology, and naïve physics
