PSYC 3030 Chapter : 3 21 2013
Document Summary
You can"t always use definitions to describe our categorical knowledge. We have a vast warehouse of general knowledge (what"s a chair?) It makes more sense to group things as a whole rather than having to learn what each different type of dog is. Early theorists assumed that any organization would be as economical as possible. Generally, the most efficient way to organize natural concepts is a hierarchy. Each lower level shares things with their upper levels. Rosch introduced the idea of basic level categories to describe this hierarchy. She theorized that this basic level was cognitively privileged. Things that you use to eat: utensils-spoon, fork, knife-soup spoon, salad fork, steak knife. When we"re describing common features in each category, we see the biggest boost when going from global to basic level. Basic level is where there are the most common features. Most people use the basic-level name instead of the specific-level name when naming things in the general environment.
