Graded Structure

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that studies have examined the way the human mind categorizes objects and acquires conceptual ideas of graded structure by (1) central tendencies defined as the level to which one item in a category relates to other items in the same category or by (2) other factors, such as ideals and personal experience. The author points out that in one reviewed study the concept is defined as items having a 'family resemblance', or the idea that members of a certain category have attributes which overlap those of other members in the same category. It concludes, after examining three specific studies and the literature review, that the organization of graded structure is one of great complexity.

From the Paper:

"One study which examined how categories are structured was the 1975 study at the University of California at Berkley, which consisted of six separate experiments. Researchers Rosch and Mervis hypothesized that the members of any category which are considered to be most prototypical, or those that serve as the basis for other categorizations, are those members that have more in common with other members of their category. The researchers sought to show that members of a category come to be viewed as prototypical of that category to the extent that they share attributes with the other members of the category,"

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