Conceptual DevelopmentConcepts involve grouping together differententi - PDF document

1 Conceptual DevelopmentConcepts involve g
Conceptual DevelopmentConcepts involve grouping together differententities on the basis of some similarityConcepts allow us to organize our experienceinto coherent patterns and to draw inferencesConcepts also save us

2 mental effort, byallowing us apply previ
mental effort, byallowing us apply previous knowledge to newsituations How Do People Represent Concepts?Defining Features Representation : Define concepts in terms of a few necessary and sufficient propertiesimagina

3 ryhas great powers “All examples are equ
ryhas great powers “All examples are equally good” How Do People Represent Concepts?Defining Features Representation ballsdolls Do Children’s Concepts Differ From Adult Concepts?Representational Development Hypothesis

4 incomplete superordinategroupings Stage
incomplete superordinategroupings Stage –Thematic Groupings (6 yr olds) 2nd Stage –Chain Concepts (7-8 year olds)–mention same feature, but different for–taking an item and linking all others to it–associative links

5 3rd Stage –SuperordinateConcepts (9-11 y
3rd Stage –SuperordinateConcepts (9-11 yr olds)6 yrs –50% superordinate9 yrs –75% superordinate11 yrs –95% superordinate Children’s Concepts: Changing Basis of Organization with AgeTask: that belong from an array of

6 pictures of familiar objectsPerceptual f
pictures of familiar objectsPerceptual features first (6 yrs old)“the barn and apple go together because they are both red”“the clock and ruler go together because they Finally, superordinategroupings (10 yrs old) H

7 ow Do People Represent Concepts?Probabil
ow Do People Represent Concepts?Probabilistic Representation bilisticrelations between the concept and Probabilistic RepresentationsCue Validities: presence of feature increases the likelihood it’s a member of a conc

8 epte.g., has gills (fish?)sit on it (
epte.g., has gills (fish?)sit on it (chair?)red (apple?)Mistakes can be made based on common featurese.g., a bat is a birddolphins are fish Probabilistic RepresentationsBasic Level Categories: furniture –chair –k

9 itchen chairanimal –bird –canaryvehicle
itchen chairanimal –bird –canaryvehicle –car –Saab Probabilistic RepresentationsCorrelated Features: features of natural e.g., things that bark, also tend to have four legs, a tail, a wet nose, sharp teeth and fur Pr

10 ototypes: There are more representative
ototypes: There are more representative instances of a concept, these instances have high cue validitiese.g., a robin flies, builds a nest in a tree, has a bird song, is a typical bird sizea penguin has none of these

11 features How Do People Represent Conce
features How Do People Represent Concepts?Theory-Based Representation : There is more to concepts than correlations among features or defining features. Concepts also embody theoretical beliefs about the world and

12 the relations of entities to each other.
the relations of entities to each other.“What concept has the following members: children, portable TVs, jewelry, and photo albums?” answer: the things we would take out first from a burning home Theory-Based Repre

13 sentationsTheoretical beliefs about the
sentationsTheoretical beliefs about the world influence our reactions to new information.e.g., “Today I saw a car with orange wheels”situation is novel, but not implausibleWe might imagine the owner is a prankster or

14 hippie, & the whole car may be brightly
hippie, & the whole car may be brightly painted.situation is novel, but also implausibleWe infer it cannot move, that is was not supposed to move, perhaps it’s a sculpture. Theory-Based RepresentationsMost concepts ar

15 e partial theories, that include explana
e partial theories, that include explanations that include causal relations.e.g., “Why do yaks have four legs rather than three or five”A child might respond by noting that four legs can be moved in pairs, which allow

16 s yaks to run relatively quickly and sti
s yaks to run relatively quickly and still maintain their balance.The child also uses her knowledge about animals in general to produce an explanation. Theory-Based RepresentationsCore Theories: –concerning inanimat

17 e objects-concerning living things–conce
e objects-concerning living things–concerning the human mind What Can We Conclude About Children’s Conceptual RepresentationsChildren from a very early age use all threetypes of conceptual representationsThe prominenc

18 e of different types of conceptualchange
e of different types of conceptualchanges with understanding/age. Early onchildren may rely on probabilistic conceptsTheory-based representations may form later for some concepts, with defining featurerepresentations