Order of Acquisition of Subordinate-, Basic-, and Superordinate-Level Categories

Abstract

MERVIS, CAROLYN B., and CRIsAFI, MARIA A. Order of Acquisition of Subordinate-, Basic-, and Superordinate-Level Categories. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 258-266. The present research was concerned with the order of acquisition of the ability to categorize at different hierarchical levels. The first experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that categorization ability is acquired in the following order: basic, superordinate, subordinate. Children aged 2-6, 4, and 5-6 were asked to indicate which, of 2 nonsense stimuli, was the same kind of thing as a standard for sets at each hierarchical level. The results supported our hypothesis. The second and third experiments considered 1 hypothesis concerning the basis for the obtained order: the greater the differentiation of categories at a given hierarchical level, the earlier categorization at that level should be acquired. To determine degree of differentiation, subjects made pairwise similarity judgments for stimuli used in the first experiment or for members of 2 natural-category hierarchies. Because of the complexity of the task, adults rather than children participated. Order of degree of differentiation paralleled acquisition order. Therefore, degree of differentiation is a possible determinant of acquisition order.