Problem 2- Essentials

Question 1

classical approach

Answer 1

-Categories are clearly defined, mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
-hard boundaries
-

Question 2

prototype approach

Answer 2

• Membership in a category is determined by comparing the object to a prototype that represents the category
• best example representing the concept (kind of average of what you think the concept is about)
• family resemblance
• fuzzy borders

Question 3

exemplar approach

Answer 3

• Like prototype approach involves determining whether an object is similar to another object
• based on all the examples from life experience?

Question 4

levels of categories

Answer 4

• superordinate level
• basic level
• subordinate level

Question 5

essentializing race

Answer 5

-belief that race is a real entity that consists of underlying essence, determining a person’s dispositions

Question 6

inductive potential

Answer 6

-group membership is telling of members’ characteristics

Question 7

inalterability

Answer 7

-group membership is fixed for a relatively long duration

Question 8

hypodescent

Answer 8

• assigns multiracial individuals to the subordinate racial category
• > one drop rule

Question 9

One drop rule

Answer 9

• individuals with any no-white ancestry are classified as members of the non-white race
• evolved in America as slavery was established

Question 10

concepts for categorization - essentialism (3)

Answer 10

1) nominal kind concepts
2) natural kind concepts
3) artifact-kind concepts

Question 11

Lay racial essentialism

Answer 11

-lay theories -> theories formed by people to make sense of their environment, guide behavior, provide systems of believes and organize the social world

Question 12

problems exemplar approach

Answer 12

• memory capacity

- unclear boundaries about storage (when and what is stored?)

Question 13

category types

Answer 13

• natural -> plants, animals
• formal -> like adverbs, prime numbers
• functional -> like items for traveling, study materials
• adhoc

Question 14

problems classical approach

Answer 14

-object needs to be a perfect match to its definition

Question 15

Theory/knowledge -based categorization

Answer 15

• category based on explanations ( not focused on the features)
• ad hoc categorization
• > things that are not generally together can come under the same category
  (e. g. what do you bring if your room catches fire?)

Question 16

negative affects of essentialism

Answer 16

• people are less creative

- unflexible about their beliefs

Question 17

basic level effect

Answer 17

• basic level categorization is the most salient and gives the most information
• preferred by people
• categorization depends on experience/expertise