Chp 5 - Concepts & Categories Flashcards
Category
Mentally represented grouping of entities that share some kind of psychological similarity
Concept
-Our collective knowledge about particular category; grouping of things on a more or less functional commonality
- e.g. living things
- difference between “concept” and “category”
The mental representations we form of categories are called concepts
Why do we conceptualise/ categorise? (3)
- allow for adaptive behaviour
why? - savings in storage space?
- allow for inferences and predictions about new entities we encounter
things we tend not to notice about our concepts/ categories
There are only a small subset of all possible concepts/categories
- concept of edible
There is a great deal of commonality about individuals’ concepts/ categories
Semantic Memory
- organised knowledge about the world
- categories and concepts are basic components
The Classical View: The Feature Comparison Model (Smith et al., 1974)
Concepts are stored in memory according to a list of necessary features or characteristics
- e.g. features of cat
- Characteristic Features
- Defining Features
A two-stage decision process is necessary to make judgments about these concepts.
Pro: typicality effect
Based on classical view
-shows input process
Characteristic Features (The Classical View: The Feature Comparison Model)
attributes that are descriptive of the item but not essential
Defining Features (The Classical View: The Feature Comparison Model)
attributes that are necessary to the meaning of the item
Typicality Effect
Decisions are faster when an item is a typical member of the category than when it is not
- is robin a bird? vs.
- “a penguin is a bird
- robin looks more typical than a penguin in a category of a bird
The Prototype View
- Eleanor Rosch
- Some members of a category are more representative than others
- suggests that when people categorize objects, they do so based on how similar the object is to a prototypical (or ideal) example of that category
e.g. Prototype of a tree:
- pine tree is not prototypical in features
Prototypes can shift over time and can be based on culture
→ Prototypes tend to be listed as examples of categories (Mervis et al., 1976)
→ Typically show large priming effects
Network Models: Parallel Distributed Processing, Connectionism
- network organization of concepts with many interconnections
- Cognitive processes are represented in a model with activation through networks linking simple, neutron-like units
Levels of categorisation
- Superordinate level: most general (e.g. vehicle)
- Basic level: mid-point between the 2 levels (e.g. car)
- Subordinate level: most specific level (e.g. Ferrari)
The Classical View
Suggests we categorize items according to defining features that are both necessary and sufficient for category membership
Limitations of the Classical View
→ Trouble accounting for the typicality effect (i.e., people respond faster to an item when it is a typical member of the category)
→ Does not account for relationships among categories or the fact that features tend to be correlated
Limitations of The Prototype View
→ Prototypes do not necessarily show the most family resemblance
→ Prototypes differ in different contexts and seem unstable over time
