Structure of Categories
Spencer reviews these concepts starting on p. 25.
Theories of category representations
- Classical
- Prototypical
- Exemplar (note Spencer doesn't explicitly mention this)
Category Structure
- Horizontal structure: Prototype effects
- Vertical structure: Basic-level effects
Discussion questions
- Consider the chair category: what are prototypical examples? Is chair at the basic level? What is a super-ordinate category? Subordinate categories?
- Provide an ad hoc example of a chair.
- Can card sorting reveal ad hoc categories?
- Are super-ordinate categories useful for navigation categories?