Spontaneous Categorization Research Articles

The lay distinction between primary and secondary emotions: A spontaneous categorization?

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Face-based categorization, context-based categorization, and distortions in the recollection of gender ambiguous faces

In three studies, we examined the impact of face-based and context-based categorization in the recollection of gender ambiguous faces. Gender ambiguous faces were created by morphing male and female source faces. In Study 1, the recollection of moderately ambiguous faces (i.e., 70% male–30% female faces and 70% female–30% male faces) was accentuated towards face distracters that were more typical of the spontaneous (i.e., face-based) categorization of these faces. In Study 2, the recollection of extremely ambiguous faces (50% male–50% female faces) was accentuated towards face distracters that were more typical of the gender category suggested by context cues attached to these faces prior to the face presentation. Study 3 relied on the same design as Study 2, but this time context cues were provided after face encoding. In line with predictions, no accentuation effect emerged under the latter conditions. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Inter‐category versus intra‐category fit: when social categories match social context

AbstractThe goal of the research reported in this article was to examine whether social categorization, commonly thought to be a function of accessibility and intra‐category fit, is also sensitive to changes in inter‐category fit. Intra‐category fit refers to the match between a target person's features and stored categorical knowledge, inter‐category fit to the extent to which category memberships and targets' features covary across perceived group members. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, members of social categories of low, medium, and high accessibility, respectively, were shown in a group discussion. Inter‐category fit was manipulated in three steps. Category salience in memory increased as an additive function of accessibility and inter‐category fit. Experiment 4 replicated the effects of inter‐category fit while intra‐category fit and the information presented for individual discussants were held constant. The present studies are the first to demonstrate an effect of inter‐category fit on a relatively direct measure of spontaneous social categorization. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The formation of a generalized categorization repertoire: effect of training with multiple domains, samples, and comparisons.

The present experiment explored the effects of three variables on the spontaneous categorization of stimuli in perceptually distinct and novel domains. Each of six stimulus domains was created by morphing two images that were the domain endpoints. The endpoints of the domains were male and female faces, two abstract drawings, a car and a truck, two banded-elevation satellite land images, a tree and a cat, and two false-color satellite images. The stimulus variants at each end of a domain defined two potential perceptual classes. Training was conducted in a matching-to-sample format and used stimuli from one or two domains, one or three variants per class as samples, and one or three variants per class as comparisons. The spontaneous categorization of stimuli in the untrained stimulus domains showed the emergence of a generalized categorization repertoire. The proportion of spontaneously categorized stimuli in the new domains was positively related to the number of domains and samples used in training, and was inversely related to the number of comparisons used in training. Differential reaction times demonstrated the discriminability of the stimuli in the emergent classes. This study is among the first to provide an empirical basis for a behavior-analytic model of the development of generalized categorization repertoires in natural settings.

Children's gender categorization: An investigation of automatic processing

It is suggested that previous research examining children's social categorization has relied on techniques which call upon controlled cognitive processes, that is, processes under voluntary control. As such, this research may say little about children's spontaneous categorization of social information. The present study introduces an unobtrusive measure of categorization which enables examination of automatic processing with respect to gender categorization ‐ the ‘who said what?’ technique (Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff, & Ruderman, 1978). A sample of 84 children aged between 7 and 12 years were presented with four photographs, two of boys and two of girls, together with 16 statements attributed to each of the children (i.e. four statements to each child). Subsequently, 16 statement cards each had to be assigned to a particular photograph to indicate ‘who said what?’ Children made significantly more within‐gender errors than between‐gender errors, indicating that they had spontaneously assimilated social information to gender‐based categories.

On the spontaneity of behaviour categorization and its implications for personality measurement

In the present study 36 university students were asked to read behaviour‐descriptive sentences either under memory instructions or under behaviour‐categorization instructions. It was demonstrated that after reading sentences under memory instructions sentence recall cued by a corresponding trait adjective was better than sentence recall cued by a strong semantic associate of a sentence part. This was found despite the fact that no actors were mentioned in the sentences. This result suggests that the spontaneous encoding of sentences in trait terms during the first stage of processing behavioural information has to be interpreted as the categorization of actions rather than as the attribution of traits to actors. This categorization of a behaviour is less pronounced when it occurs spontaneously than when explicit instructions are given to do so. The impact of the occurrence of spontaneous behaviour categorization on memory‐based seq‐ or other ratings with concrete behaviour‐descriptive items is discussed.

The Development of Categorization in the Second Year and Its Relation to Other Cognitive and Linguistic Developments

GOPNIK, ALISON, and MELTZOFF, ANDREW. The Development of Categorization in Second Year and Its Relation to Other Cognitive and Linguistic Developments. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1987, 58, 1523-1531. We report changes in children's categorization behavior between 15 and 21 months of age and relate them to developments in language, object permanence, and means-end understanding. 12 children were studied longitudinally from 15 to 20 months. The children received 3 tasks involving spontaneous categorization of a mixed array of objects and also received object-permanence and means-ends tasks. Their language development was also recorded. There was an invariant developmental sequence of 3 kinds of active categorization behavior. There were strong relations between development of highest-level categorization behavior, 2-category grouping, and onset of naming explosion. The highest-level categorization behavior was not strongly related to attainment of highest-level object-permanence and means-ends behaviors, though all 3 of these behaviors emerged at about same age, 18 months. The findings support the specificity hypothesis, according to which there are certain very specific relations between semantic developments and conceptual developments. Children acquire early words that are relevant to specific cognitive problems that interest them.

Behavioral and Metamnemonic Indicators of Strategic Behaviors under Remember Instructions in First Grade

SALATAS, HARRIET, and FLAVELL, JOHN H. Behavioral and Metamnemonic Indicators of Strategic Behaviors under Remember Instructions in First Grade. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 81-89. The distinction between perceiving and memorizing was investigated with first graders, using a free-recall paradigm. The use of strategic behaviors (looking more during study and categorizing during study) in response to remember instructions versus look instructions was examined. In addition, subjects were given repeated trials to assess the effects of practice, metamemory questions after the free-recall trials to assess the relationship between behavior and knowledge, and a retest 6 weeks later to determine which measures, behavioral or metamnemonic, would predict subsequent categorization. The remember subjects showed spontaneous categorization and subsequent superior recall, while looking time did not differ in the 2 instruction groups. Practice effects included increased recall over trials and a stable positive relationship between looking time and recall after trial 1. Correct answers on the metamemory questions about the facilitative effect of category grouping were frequent, but unrelated to previous categorization on the free-recall trials. Categorization increased on the retest and showed a significant positive relationship only to recall clustering 6 weeks earlier. Metamemory did not predict subsequent categorization.