Psychology 3130A/B Study Guide - Final Guide: Status Quo, George Lakoff, Chromosome
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21 Dec 2017
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Similarity Week 2
City block vs. Euclidean metrics
• Theories of Similarity = geometric, contrast, alignment, transformational
• Similarity and thinking (memory retrieval) activation theory is important bc it spreads to other concepts,
spreads faster for things that are more similar
o Spreading activation theory based on similarity
• When looking at the geomtric model, use formula to calculate similarity between 2 objects by
understanding the distance between them in psych space
• Euclidean = most direct method possible (shortest distance b/w 2 points), like how birds fly from point A to
point B…however this is not always possible
• City block = more steps and takes you longer
• When to use which when comparing similarity between 2 objects
o City = when dimensions are perceptually separable (fish)
o Euclidean = when dimensions are perceptually inseparable (2 colors)
3 Problems with geometric model
• Minimality: thing must be closer to/more similar to itself than any other
o However, can be violated in letter identification
o E.g. letter “c” can be shown to be more similar to O than w is to itself
▪ C:O < W:W (bc W has more features)
• Symmetry: assumes object symmetrical
o E.g. distance between A and B is same as B and A
o Violated: Amos Tversky says North Korea more similar to China than China to NK
• Triangle Inequality: straight line connecting 2 points is shortest path between two points
o However sometimes doesn’t work in psych space
o ** pink red, white circle example
o Euc. Distance shorter than city block but in ratings not how it appears, perceive AD more similar
in psych space bc like ideas 2 circles are same size
Contrast Model
o account for shortcomings of geo.
o Says similarity = result of feature matching
o Simiarlity of A and B is expressed as linear combo of the measures of the common and distinctive
features
o Predicts asymmetric similarity bc a isn’t constrained to equal b
o E.g. NK more Similar to China than VS bc China has more salient features
Alignment model: feature comparisons are important…tries to specify how and why features should count
Transformation model: assumes things are similar if one can be transformed into another, and similarity is a function
of how many steps it takes to transform
• E.g. water to steam = 1 step, very similar
• Similarity is flexible
Memory
Availability and representativeness
• Availability heuristic = way in which memory influences our thinking behaviour
• Ppl make judgements and decisions on basis of relevant memories they retrieve
o On basis of evidence
Working memory model
• Working memory divided in terms of duration, assume there are sensory and ST memory systems which
can process info actively for ST use
• Working memory closely tied to active, conscious processing
• By Alan Baddeley
• Assumes there is a system of neurological structures that work to process immediate sensory info
• Working memory systems acts as buffer so info can be maintained, processed further or discarded
• Auditory and verbal info is handled by system called the phonological loop
o Store that is connected to inputs from auditory cortex
o Memory trace in phon loop will face after 2 seconds uless maintained
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• Visual and spatial handled by visuospatial sketchpad
• Coordination handled by central executive
Diff varieties of ST and LT memory
• Declarative memory = memory that can declare existence of memory for ideas, facts, events, places,
personal characteristics
• Non-declarative = things that are hard or impossible to declare existence of such as procedural memory and
motor memory
• Semantic memory: memory for facts
• Episodic: memory for past memory with personal connection
Memory Errors
• Seven sins (Daniel Schacter): lays out seven key ways in which the very feature that allow our memories to
work so well also guarantee some kinds of errors
• All implications for how thinking can be affected by and undermined by memory failures
o Transience, absent-mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, persistence
• E.g. DRM test: list of words to remember, see words around sleep but not actually sleep most convinced
they had seen that word…indicated explicitly seeing it, clearly memory error
Dual Process Theory
• Accounts for how thought can arise in two different ways or result of two different processes
• Implicit (automatic), unconscious process and explicit (controlled) conscious process
Concepts and Categories: Week 3
Core Assumptions of Classical View
• It emphasizes categories as strict classes
• However, too rigid to be realistic
• Two core assumptions:
o Central to theory is idea of necessary and sufficient conditions as qualifiers for category
membership
o Second: categorization is absolute; members of a class are of equal standing
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
• Conditions that need to be met for something?
• E.g. the necessary conditions of a dog
• Reside within strict hierarchy
Wittgenstein and family resemblance
• Family resemblance = idea members of a category or class resemble each other but don’t share one single
defining characteristic
• argues that things which could be thought to be connected by one essential common feature may in fact be
connected by a series of overlapping similarities, where no one feature is common to all of the things
• follows prototype model? Where category of things is represented in mind
o summary representation of the category
Prototype and Rosch’s view
• idea that comes out of Rosch’s work is idea that category membership is probabilistic
o rather than be ing based on set of necessary and sufficient conditions and residing within strict
hierarchy, concept is thought to represent a category of things that are grouped together with
shared feature and overlapping similarity
• referred to as probabilistic view, category membership is not definite
• prototype assumes category is represented by central tendency known as prototype
o summary representation
o classify objects by comparing them to prototype
Basic Level Categories (superordinate and subordinate)
• high within similarity (members very similar)
• low between members of contrast, seem to be very dissimilar
• Hierarchical organization
• Superordinate lvl (low w/in, low b/w)
• E.g. Plant, animal, vehicle
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• Basic: high w/in, low b/w Dog, Cat, Lizard
• Subordinate: High within and high b/w Lab, German Shepard, Husky
Typicality and typicality effects
• Basic hierarchical model doesn’t deal w/ typicality effects
• Typicality effect is problematic for any definitional or rule based account of concepts
• Occurs wen people rate some category exemplars as being better or more typical category members than
others (e.g. what makes dog typical? Hairless dog is still a dog but view as one less so)
Thought and Language: Week 4
Hocketts’ design features
• Charles Hockett described 13 characteristics of human languages
o All features of human language that suggest a unique and highly evolved system designed for
communication with others and also with self (e.g. thinking)
o E.g. vocal/auditory channel (transfer b/w vocal and auditory apparatus), broadcast
transmission/directional reception (signal can be sent out in many directions, but perceived in
one), rapid fading, semanticity (language has semantic content)
Linguistic relativity and Sapir/Whorf
• Says language influences cognition
• Thought native language influences thought
• Inuit have more words for snow, can perceive more dif in snow and distinction
• Weak vs. strong versions
o Weak “language limits thought”
o Strong “language determines thoughts”
Malt’s work on bottles, jars, etc
• Barbara Malt: looked at naming of objects; jars and jugs
• Spanish speakers label them same, North Americans don’t
• If linguistic determinism held true Spanish speaker should show less ability to classify them
• Results didn’t support this
• Didn’t differ much when classifying these containers via similarity
o Might have same label for all of the diff objects, but when asked to sort them into groups based on
similarity, all sorted them roughly the same
• Linguistic label didn’t interfere with their ability to perceive and process surface features
Boroditsky’s research on time
• Noted that across diff language and cultures there are differences in the metaphors that people use to talk
about time (final ex. Of how language affects thinking)
• Related to Lakoff’s idea of conceptual metaphors
• English talk about it as if its horizontal (pusb deadline back), While Mandarin speak as if it is on a vertical
axis
Categorical perception
• Phonemes differ by voice onset time
• “ba” short VOT (voice onset time)
• “pa” longer VOT
• create a ba to pa continumm (by varying VOT)
o identification or discrimination
• is categorical perception
Conceptual metaphors
• George Lakoff suggested that conceptual metaphors play a big role in how a society thinks of itself
o Iraq war ex: one is aggressive action against a country, other is aggressive act taking place in a
country
• Argues these conceptual metaphors constrain and influence the thinking process
• Suggest there is an interaction between a given conceptual metaphor and produced statements and utterance
and that this interaction relates to how we understand the world
Induction: Week 6
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