Caterization & Category
The mental process of classification is commonly called categorization and its products are the cognitive categories(concept).
eg. the color categories RED, YELLOW, GREEN and BLUE.
Experiments
Color
Berlin&Kay(1969)
Rosch(1971)
Beyond color category:shapes,organisms,objects,birds... Rosch:foci→prototype
Cup
Labov(1978)
black white red yellow
green
blue
grey
orange
purple
pink
brown
图1图2
Rosch's (1971) t wo Concepts:
Foci/Focal colours
Implicational Hierarchy（蕴涵层级）of Basic Colours
Prototype theory
Goodness(typicality),Good examples and bad examples
To judge the goodness(or typicality)is to decide how good an example. Category boundaries:Vagueness and fuzziness
●The boundaries of entities(vague entity)
●The boundaries of cognitive categories(fuzzy category boundaries)
Prototype theory
Attribute
Attribute is the embodiment of properties in cognitive world.
Essential features
According to Aristotle,a category is defined by a limited set of necessary and sufficient conditions.These conditions are conceived as clear-out,discrete features(or essential features).
Prototype theory
Game:Wittgenstein
Family resemblance
●Family resemblance is defined as…a set of items of the
form AB,BC,CD,DE.That is,each item has at least one, and probably several,elements in common with one or more other items,but no,or few,elements are common to all items.——Rosch&Mervis(1975:575)
Prototype theory
The term prototype has been defined in Eleanor Rosch's study" Natural Categories"(1973)and was first defined as a stimulus, which takes a salient position in the formation of a category as it is the first stimulus to be associated with that https://www.doczj.com/doc/559383496.html,ter,sh e redefined it as the most central member of a category.
Prototype theory
Several important definitions
●Categories are formed around prototype,which function as cognitive
reference points.Prototype shifts depending on the context.
●Situation as the interaction of objects in the real world.
●Context as the cognitive representation of the interaction between
cognitive categories(concepts).
Prototype theory
Several important definitions
●cognitive model as the sum of the experienced and stored
contexts for a certain field by an individual;
●cultural model as a view of cognitive models highlighting the
fact that they are intersubjectively shared by the members of a society or social group.
Prototype theory
Several important definitions
●Expert model as the assumption based on hard scientific facts and
the rules of logic.
●Naive model(folk model)as the assumption based on informal
observations,traditional beliefs and even superstitions.
The prototype theory
In terms of attributes,prototypical members are maximally distinct from the prototypical members of other categories.
Prototype is at the center of the category structure(monocentric structure or polycentric structure).
Fuzzy boundaries.
Category members have differnt prototypicalities.
The classical theory Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,consectetur adipisicing elit,
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commodo consequat.Defined by the Cluster of Features or a Set of Necessary and Sufficient Conditions.
The features are binary.Category boundaries are clear.All members of the category are equal.
The classical theory vs the prototype theory
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Three levels of categorization A
B
C
Animal
Horse Dog Cat
Chihuahua German
shepherd Dachshund
Vertical organization
Superordinate level Basic Level
Subordinate level
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Characteristics of basic levels:
①It is the most inclusive level at which there are characteristic patterns of
behavioral interaction.
②The most inclusive level for which a clear visual image can be formed.
③The most inclusive level at which part-whole information is represented.
④The level used for everyday neutral reference.
⑤Individual items are more rapidly categorized as a members of superordinate or
surbordinate categories.
The symbiosis of basic level and prototype categories
Prototype categories are most fully developed on the basic level. Basic level categories only function as they do because they are structured as prototype categories.
The prototype is a refential notion.
The basic level is a naming relation.
The prototype is a thing that a word is typically used to refer to. The basic level is the expression you typically use to refer to sth.