Exam 2

Question 1

How many theories are there for categorization?

Answer 1

Three

Question 2

What are the three theories of categorization?

Answer 2

1. Family resemblance view/probabilistic representations
2. Prototype view
3. Exemplar view

Question 3

What is the family resemblance view/probabilistic representation theory of categorization, and who is responsible for it?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What are the three levels of categories (according to Rosch)?

Answer 4

1. Superordinate level
2. ‘Basic’ level
3. Subordinate level

Question 5

What is the ‘basic’ level of categorization?

Answer 5

The best mirror of correlational structure

Examples - dog, cat, fish, bird, banana

Question 6

What is the subordinate level of categorization?

Answer 6

More specific than basic

Examples - types of cats (Persian, tabby, munchkin, Siamese, calico, etc.)

Question 7

What is the superordinate level of categorization?

Answer 7

‘Global’ categories

Examples - animals, food

Question 8

What is category resemblance?

Answer 8

How much similarity is seen in the category; how many features are shared

1. Many shared features - high category resemblance
2. Few shared features - low category resemblance

Question 9

What is cue validity?

Answer 9

How predictive a feature is for telling you what category the object is in; distinguish and shared

1. Predictive - high cue validity
2. Not predictive - low cue validity

Question 10

The superordinate level has _____ category resemblance, and ______ cue validity.

Answer 10

Low; low

Question 11

The subordinate level has _____ category resemblance and ____ cue validity.

Answer 11

High; low

Question 12

The ‘basic’ level has _____ category resemblance and _____ cue validity.

Answer 12

High; high

This is the level where similarities and differences are maximized

Question 13

Is basic level special? Evidence.

Answer 13

Yes.

1. In adults, when naming objects, name ‘basic’ level
2. First words are usually at the ‘basic’ level
3. Easier to teach categories at ‘basic’ level (easier to dishabituate at ‘basic’ level)

Question 14

What is the problem with the family resemblance view/probabilistic theory of categorization?

Answer 14

Need the category to know which features to prioritize, but Rosch says we use features to define a category - circular logic

Question 15

What is the prototype view theory of categorization?

Answer 15

Form a summary representation (perfect/prototype); loos individual exemplars; category judgements are made by comparing objects to prototype

Question 16

What is the exemplar view theory of categorization?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What is the prototype effect?

Answer 17

Example - show 10 faces, then make summary of 10 faces, will think they’ve seen the 11th face

Question 18

Detail some of Paul Quinn’s studies

Answer 18

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)

Question 19

Quinn and Eimas study (not a paper we read)

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Quinn & Tanaka, 2007

Answer 20

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)

Question 21

Horst, Oakes, & Madole, 2005

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Schulz, Standing, and Bonawitz, 2008

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What are the four characteristics of theories?

Answer 23

1. Abstract
2. Go beyond evidence (lead to an explanation)
3. Coherent
4. Dynamic

Question 24

What is naïve (folk) psychology?

Answer 24

Children’s understanding of their own thoughts and the thoughts of other people
Understand behavior

Question 25

What are the three core naïve theories?

Answer 25

Naïve psychology, naïve biology, and naïve physics