PSYC 336 Lecture 9: 9.7 - Concepts and Generic Knowledge VII

• School: University of San Diego
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 336
• Professor: Appleton-Knapp

Document Summary

Judgments about categories are often influenced by typicality. Sometimes, category judgments are independent of typicality. You judge some candidates to be category members even though they don"t resemble the prototype. Moby dick is a whale, an abused lemon is still a lemon. Judge some candidates not to be in the category even though they do resemble the prototype. You focus on attributes that you believe are essential for each category. Your judgments about what"s essential depend on your beliefs about that category. Prototype and exemplar view both depend on judgments of resemblance. Objects resemble each other if they share properties, the more properties shared greater the resemblance. Resemblance does depend on shared properties but it depends on whether the objects share important, essential properties. Your decisions about which features are important depend on your beliefs about the concept in question. Prototype use depends on judgments of resemblance.