PSYC 3320 EXAM 3 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. Two different definitions of offered by your book include (a) "the mental representation
of a class or individual," and (b) "the meaning of objects, events, and abstract ideas."
a. exemplars
b. concepts
c. units
d. prototypes - Answers- b. concepts
2. Which of the following statements is NOT cited in your text as a reason why
categories are useful?
a. Categories provide definitions of groups of related objects.
b. Categories help us understand behaviors that we might otherwise find baffling.
c. Categories serve as a valuable tool for making inferences about things that belong to
other categories.
d. Categories have been called "pointers to knowledge" because once you know an
object's category, you know a lot of general things about it. - Answers- a. Categories
provide definitions of groups of related objects.
3. Not all of the members of everyday categories have the same features. Most fish
have gills, fins, and scales. Sharks lack the feature of scales, yet they are still
categorized as fish. This poses a problem for the approach to categorization.
a. prototype
b. exemplar
c. definitional
d. family resemblance - Answers- c. definitional
4. is a "typical" member of a category.
a. A prototype
b. An exemplar
c. A unit
d. A component - Answers- a. A prototype
5. The prototype approach to categorization states that a standard representation of a
category is based on
a. the definition of the category.
b. a universal set of category members.
c. a defined set of category members.
d. category members that have been encountered in the past. - Answers- d. category
members that have been encountered in the past.
6. Which approach to categorization involves forming a standard representation based
on an average of category members that a person has encountered in the past?
a. Exemplar
, b. Network
c. Typicality
d. Prototype - Answers- d. prototype
7. Olin and Bob are neighbors. Olin loves birds and his father works for the zoo. He has
been to a dozen bird sanctuaries, and he and his dad go on bird watching hikes once a
month. In contrast, Bob doesn't think much about birds. His only contact with them is in
his backyard. It would be correct to say that Olin's standard probably involves
a. more prototypes than Bob's.
b. more exemplars than Bob's.
c. more prototypes and more exemplars than Bob's.
d. the same prototypes and exemplars as Bob's. - Answers- b. more exemplars than
Bob's
8. The definitional approach to categorization
a. is not well suited for geometrical objects but works for familiar everyday objects.
b. sets definite criteria called family resemblances that all category members must have.
c. doesn't work well for most natural objects like birds, trees, and plants.
d. was proposed to replace the prototype approach - Answers- c. doesn't work well for
most natural objects like birds, trees, and plants.
9. The principle illustrated when most people are able to recognize a variety of
examples of chairs even though no one category member may have all of the
characteristic properties of "chairs" (e.g., most chairs have four legs but not all do) is
a. family resemblance.
b. prototypicality.
c. graded membership.
d. instance theory. - Answers- a. family resemblance
10. A task for determining how prototypical an object is would be
a. a fill-in-the-blank task where participants generate paired members within a category.
b. a task where participants rate the extent to which each member represents the
category title.
c. a task where participants rate the extent to which category members resemble one
another.
d. a fill-in-the-blank task where participants generate the category classification for a list
of members. - Answers- b. a task where participants rate the extent to which each to
which each member represents the category title
11. Which of the following members would most likely be ranked highest in
prototypicality in the "birds" category?
a. Crow
b. Goose
c. Hummingbird
d. Sparrow - Answers- d. sparrow
1. Two different definitions of offered by your book include (a) "the mental representation
of a class or individual," and (b) "the meaning of objects, events, and abstract ideas."
a. exemplars
b. concepts
c. units
d. prototypes - Answers- b. concepts
2. Which of the following statements is NOT cited in your text as a reason why
categories are useful?
a. Categories provide definitions of groups of related objects.
b. Categories help us understand behaviors that we might otherwise find baffling.
c. Categories serve as a valuable tool for making inferences about things that belong to
other categories.
d. Categories have been called "pointers to knowledge" because once you know an
object's category, you know a lot of general things about it. - Answers- a. Categories
provide definitions of groups of related objects.
3. Not all of the members of everyday categories have the same features. Most fish
have gills, fins, and scales. Sharks lack the feature of scales, yet they are still
categorized as fish. This poses a problem for the approach to categorization.
a. prototype
b. exemplar
c. definitional
d. family resemblance - Answers- c. definitional
4. is a "typical" member of a category.
a. A prototype
b. An exemplar
c. A unit
d. A component - Answers- a. A prototype
5. The prototype approach to categorization states that a standard representation of a
category is based on
a. the definition of the category.
b. a universal set of category members.
c. a defined set of category members.
d. category members that have been encountered in the past. - Answers- d. category
members that have been encountered in the past.
6. Which approach to categorization involves forming a standard representation based
on an average of category members that a person has encountered in the past?
a. Exemplar
, b. Network
c. Typicality
d. Prototype - Answers- d. prototype
7. Olin and Bob are neighbors. Olin loves birds and his father works for the zoo. He has
been to a dozen bird sanctuaries, and he and his dad go on bird watching hikes once a
month. In contrast, Bob doesn't think much about birds. His only contact with them is in
his backyard. It would be correct to say that Olin's standard probably involves
a. more prototypes than Bob's.
b. more exemplars than Bob's.
c. more prototypes and more exemplars than Bob's.
d. the same prototypes and exemplars as Bob's. - Answers- b. more exemplars than
Bob's
8. The definitional approach to categorization
a. is not well suited for geometrical objects but works for familiar everyday objects.
b. sets definite criteria called family resemblances that all category members must have.
c. doesn't work well for most natural objects like birds, trees, and plants.
d. was proposed to replace the prototype approach - Answers- c. doesn't work well for
most natural objects like birds, trees, and plants.
9. The principle illustrated when most people are able to recognize a variety of
examples of chairs even though no one category member may have all of the
characteristic properties of "chairs" (e.g., most chairs have four legs but not all do) is
a. family resemblance.
b. prototypicality.
c. graded membership.
d. instance theory. - Answers- a. family resemblance
10. A task for determining how prototypical an object is would be
a. a fill-in-the-blank task where participants generate paired members within a category.
b. a task where participants rate the extent to which each member represents the
category title.
c. a task where participants rate the extent to which category members resemble one
another.
d. a fill-in-the-blank task where participants generate the category classification for a list
of members. - Answers- b. a task where participants rate the extent to which each to
which each member represents the category title
11. Which of the following members would most likely be ranked highest in
prototypicality in the "birds" category?
a. Crow
b. Goose
c. Hummingbird
d. Sparrow - Answers- d. sparrow
