lecture 8

Question 1

what is the minimal group paradigm

Answer 1

Arbitrary assignment to groups
Participants don’t know each other
Group assignment based on a coin toss (random)
Ask people how they want to distribute rewards between individuals in their group and out of their group
The graph shows: both groups would rather distribute reward between their group rather than other group

Question 2

why is it called MINIMAL group paradigm

Answer 2

because it took minimal effort for them to stick to their group

Question 3

whats the INGROUP HOMOGENEITY EFFECT (painting experiment)

Answer 3

The graph shows: they pick the people in their group as having less differences from self and out group have more differences from self
Result: us vs them is very strong for how we feel and behave about other group

Question 4

What makes a category?
CLASSICAL VIEW: CATEGORIES AS PROPER SETS
(dog study)

Answer 4

Defining features
Vertical arrangement into hierarchies
Adding defining features to create subsets
Horizontal relations “all or none”
Homogeneous internal structure
All instances are equally good (both golden retrievers are equally good examples of the dog breed)

Question 5

Problems with the classical view of categories as proper set

Answer 5

1. Disjunctive categories
   - Categories with members not sharing common features
   Baseball strike
   Batter swing and miss, pitcher pitchers in strike zone
2. Unclear category membership
   - Is pickle a vegetable?
3. Difficult to specify defining features (things are hard to categorize)
   - What are the defining features of a game?
4. Imperfect nesting
   - Chicken as a bird (you are in a category but are dislike anyone else)