Cross-classification and category representation in children's concepts.

Nguyen, Simone P.

doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.3.719

Cited by 70 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Finally, Ross & Murphy showed that both taxonomic and situation-based category labels prime retrieval of category members, and that both kinds of categories can guide inferences in inductive reasoning. Similar results have been obtained by researchers investigating the domains of biology (Shafto & Coley, 2003;Boster & Johnson, 1989;Medin et al, 2005;Proffitt, Coley, & Medin, 2000) and person categorization (Nelson & Miller, 1995;Smith, Fazio, & Cejka, 1996;Zarate & Smith, 1990), and in research with children (Nguyen & Murphy, 2003;Nguyen, 2007). Together, these results provide a compelling demonstration that people spontaneously produce, consistently agree about, and reason based on multiple systems of categories.…”

Section: Empirical Evidence For Cross-cutting Systems Of Categoriessupporting

confidence: 80%

A probabilistic model of cross-categorization

et al. 2011

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Most natural domains can be represented in multiple ways: we can categorize foods in terms of their nutritional content or social role, animals in terms of their taxonomic groupings or their ecological niches, and musical instruments in terms of their taxonomic categories or social uses. Previous approaches to modeling human categorization have largely ignored the problem of cross-categorization, focusing on learning just a single system of categories that explains all of the features. Cross-categorization presents a difficult problem: how can we infer categories without first knowing which features the categories are meant to explain? We present a novel model that suggests that human cross-categorization is a result of joint inference about multiple systems of categories and the features that they explain. We also formalize two commonly proposed alternative explanations for cross-categorization behavior: a features-first and an objects-first approach. The features-first approach suggests that cross-categorization is a consequence of attentional processes, where features are selected by an attentional mechanism first and categories are derived second. The objects-first approach suggests that crosscategorization is a consequence of repeated, sequential attempts to explain features, where categories are derived first, then features that are poorly explained are recategorized. We present two sets of simulations and experiments testing the models' predictions about human categorization. We find that an approach based on joint inference provides the best fit to human categorization behavior, and we suggest that a full account of human category learning will need to incorporate something akin to these capabilities.People explain different aspects of everyday objects in different ways. For example, steak is high in iron because it is a meat; however, it is often served with wine because it is a dinner food. The different ways of thinking about steak underscore different ways of thinking about the domain of foods: as a system of taxonomic categories including meats and vegetables, or as a system of

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Section: Empirical Evidence For Cross-cutting Systems Of Categoriessupporting

confidence: 80%

A probabilistic model of cross-categorization

et al. 2011

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“…Recently, there has been increasing recognition that children have the ability to use different systems of categorization to think about the same items (e.g. Nguyen, 2007b;Nguyen & Murphy, 2003). For example, ice cream can be considered as belonging to both a taxonomic category (dairy products) and a script category (things at a birthday party).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's evaluative categories and inductive inferences within the domain of food

Nguyen

2008

Infant and Child Development

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Evaluative categories include items that share the same value-laden assessment. Given that these categories have not been examined extensively within the child concepts literature, the present research explored evaluative categorization and induction within the domain of food as a test case. Specifically, two studies examined the categories of healthy and junky foods in children aged 4 and 7 years. Study 1 showed that by aged 4 years, children appropriately apply the evaluative categories of healthy and junky foods to a variety of different foods. Study 2 showed that by age 4 years, children also selectively use the evaluative categories of healthy and junky foods for inductive inferences about the human body, but not for arbitrary or unrelated inferences. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of evaluative processing in young children's categorization and induction.

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“…Besides the versatile use of categorization in consumer research, several of these studies support that the food domain can be organized in multiple ways (Nguyen, 2007;Nguyen & Murphy, 2003;Ross & Murphy, 1999). Particularly, taxonomic categories seem to be more common and accessible, and are more likely to be used as a kind of neutral organization (Beltran et al, 2008b;Blake et al, 2007;Ross & Murphy, 1999).…”

Section: The Strong Taxonomic Categorization Of Meat Productsmentioning

confidence: 95%