Approaches to Categorization and Classification: Rule, Similarity, and Theory-Based - Prof, Study notes of Cognitive Psychology

Download Approaches to Categorization and Classification: Rule, Similarity, and Theory-Based - Prof and more Study notes Cognitive Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Categories • What are categories? • The internal structure of categories • Rule-based approaches • Similarity-based approaches • Theory-based approaches What are categories • Categorization is a huge topic • How are people able to apply prior knowledge? – By recognizing a new situation as an instance of a previous situation. – Categorization is the process that allows this to occur • Categories have many functions – Classification – Prediction – Reasoning – Communication Start with classification • The most highly studied function • How to people learn to classify new items? • Three approaches – Rule-based approaches – Similarity-based approaches – Theory-based approaches 2 Rule-based approaches • Classical view of categories – A set of necessary and sufficient features • Necessary feature to be in a category – All instances of that category must have it. • Four sided • Sufficient feature set – All instances of the category have the set of features – No instance not in the category has the set of features • Four sided closed figure Problems with rules • It is hard to find a set of necessary and sufficient features for most categories • Bachelor – Unmarried adult male – But what about a Catholic Priest or a widower? • Maybe the definition is no good. – Almost any definition would have exceptions Rule + Exception models • Nosofsky and colleagues – Find a simple rule that classifies most items – Store the exceptions separately • Model accounts for laboratory studies – Hard to see what else you could do with rules and exceptions – How would you make predictions, reason or communicate? 5 Theory-based models • Sometimes similarity does not help to classify. – Daredevil Theories and development • The use of theories increases with development • Keil – Kids told about a cat given an operation • Painted black with a white stripe • A bag of smelly stuff put in its stomach • It can shoot the smelly stuff – Young kids call this animal a skunk – Older kids call it a cat – Reflects a developing theory of biology Psychological Essentialism • People act as if categories are governed by rules • We believe that there is something that makes an object what it is – Even if we do not know what that thing is. – We use this as a basis for predictions • For living kinds: DNA? • For nonliving natural kinds: Atomic structure? • For artifacts: Function or intended function? 6 Summary • Classical models • Similarity-based models • Theory-based models • Human concepts use a combination of these