Understanding Categorical Hierarchies: The Earliest Levels of Skill

Abstract

2 categorization skills necessary for understanding hierarchies are the ability to form categories at different levels of generality and the ability to include the same objects into multiple categories. 2-year-olds appear to have the first skill, but some theoretical and empirical work suggests that the second may be a later acquisition. Yet, in 3 studies, 2-and 3-year-olds applied familiar basic level and superordinate labels to the same objects, even when reminded of basic labels before being tested with superordinates. They did not reserve superordinates for objects with unfamiliar basic level names (Study 2), and they were willing to apply superordinates to objects presented singly rather than in groups (Study 3). Thus, contrary to the implications of some previous work, 2-and 3-year-olds appear to have both of the categorization skills necessary for forming categorical hierarchies.

The development of object categorization in young children: Hierarchical inclusiveness, age, perceptual attribute, and group versus individual analyses.

“…An understanding of categorization is also evidenced by the ability to form categories at different levels of abstraction. A logical and informative goal of research on children’s categorization is to focus on process and identify the conditions under which children do and do not categorize one way or another (e.g., Blewitt, 1989, 1994; Greco, Hayne, & Rovee-Collier, 1990; Oakes & Madole, 2000). However, the world of categories also consists of universal, structural taxonomies, and understanding which categorical representations children of different ages acknowledge or possess is equally valuable to understanding mental development in childhood or a process orientation (Neisser, 1987).…”

Annual Research Review: Categories versus dimensions in the classification and conceptualisation of child and adolescent mental disorders – implications of recent empirical study

“… Psychology: Studies in experimental psychology show that human beings are natural categorisers. Children as young as few months can learn to distinguish between stimuli along categorical lines (Blewitt, 1994; Eimas & Costello, 1994; Younger, 1993), and people, when presented with a stimulus array with little or no formal structure, will group its component parts into categories (but see Dagostino & Beegle, 1996). This manifests as categorical perception when relating to physical stimuli and group polarisation when relating to social stimuli.…”

Hierarchical classification as relational framing

“…Most work on hierarchical classification has been conducted by cognitive-developmental researchers (e.g., Blewitt, 1994;Deneault & Ricard, 2006;Greene, 1994;Inhelder & Piaget, 1964). Theorists from this tradition see it as involving three core features.…”