categorization

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 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.