Deference and essentialism in the categorization of chemical kinds

Psychological essentialism has been subject to much debate. Yet a key implication – that people should defer to experts in categorizing natural kinds – has not been widely examined. Three experiments examine deference in the categorization of chemical kinds. The first establishes borderline cases used in the second and third. These latter show limited deference to experts, and some deference to non-experts. These data are consistent with a perspectival framework for concepts in which categorization is sometimes based on micro-structural properties and sometimes on appearance and function

Similarity and categorisation: getting dissociations in perspective

Dissociations between similarity and categorization have constituted critical counter-evidence to the view that categorization is similarity-based. However, there have been difficulties in replicating such dissociations. This paper reports three experiments. The first provides evidence of a double dissociation between similarity and categorization. The second and third show that by asking participants to make their judgments from particular perspectives, this dissociation disappears or is much reduced. It is argued that these data support a perspectival view of concepts, in which categorization is similarity-based, but where the dimensions used to make similarity and categorization judgments are partially fixed by perspective

Lexical acquisition in elementary science classes

The purpose of this study was to further researchers' understanding of lexical acquisition in the beginning primary schoolchild by investigating word learning in small-group elementary science classes. Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of semantic scaffolding (e.g., use of synonymous terms) and physical scaffolding (e.g., pointing to referents) in children's acquisition of novel property terms. Children's lexical knowledge was assessed using multiple tasks (naming, comprehension, and definitional). Children struggled to acquire meanings of adjectives without semantic or physical scaffolding (Experiment 1), but they were successful in acquiring extensive lexical knowledge when offered semantic scaffolding (Experiment 2). Experiment 2 also shows that semantic scaffolding used in combination with physical scaffolding helped children acquire novel adjectives and that children who correctly named pictures of adjectives had acquired definitions

Children's acquisition of science terms: simple exposure is insufficient

The ability of school children (N = 233) to acquire new scientific vocabulary was examined. Children from two age groups (M = 4;8 and M = 6;5) were introduced to previously unknown words in an educational video. Word knowledge was assessed through accuracy and latency for production and comprehension over a nine month period. A draw and write task assessed acquisition of domain knowledge. Word learning was poorer than has previously been reported in the literature, and subject to influences of word type (domain-specificity) and word class. The results indicate that the acquisition of scientific terms is a complex process moderated by lexical, semantic and pragmatic factors

Children's acquisition of science terms: does fast mapping work?

About the book: This proceedings contains 99 selected papers from the 8th Conference of the International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL) held in Donostia-San Sebastián in the Spanish Basque Country in July 1999. The proceedings includes the plenary addresses by Jean-Paul Bronckart, Brian MacWhinney, and Miquel Siguan. The other 96 papers are organized into sections on bilingualism, discourse, phonology, language disorders, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and signed languages. Several of these sections include symposia with introductions as well as individual papers

How Radio Can Improve Lives in Minority Communities

This thesis will draw upon radio production, specifically community radio, to examine how the participation of the audience can empower participants and offer a voice to the voiceless. By embedding the values of community radio into community/rehabilitation projects, can radio improve lives for those participating in the production? This research will explore what is meant by the term minority community, and how those within a minority community can be better represented through the medium of radio. Radio produced ‘by the prisoner for the prisoner’ is beginning to draw academic interest as a means to help prisoners with their rehabilitation process. This thesis will explore the nature of the media within minority communities, and will specifically examine how radio production can be used to connect with the more challenging to reach communities such as prisoners and patients within a high-secure hospital. Are prisoners a minority community? If so, what defines them as such? By focusing on one element of minority communities; those who are incarcerated, this body of work examines the broader implications for other minority communities. It is necessary to examine the impact that radio has on the producer to analyse how radio can improve lives. By drawing on the theory and practice of media production, as well as the impact on participants, a conclusion can be made on how the lives of those involved are improved. The DiGi DBT (Digital Dialectical Behavioural Therapy) project will act as a case study to test the theory that radio production can improve lives. Through an observational research approach, the project will look specifically at patients diagnosed with personality disorders, living in a high-secure hospital. By encouraging patients to engage with community radiobased projects, can they be empowered? If empowerment takes place, can this aid the patients’ rehabilitation process? DiGi DBT was initially a two-year project, funded by Knowledge Transformation Partnerships (KTP), which was later extended to three years. DiGi DBT was observed first-hand by the researcher and author of this thesis, while being employed as the Media and Therapy Developer responsible for leading the programme. The project saw the University of Lincoln and Rampton High Secure Hospital come together to use radio as a medium to help patients diagnosed with personality disorder redesign Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) for future patients through radio production. This thesis uses ethnographic, observational and qualitative research techniques to evaluate the success of the project, the project aims and how this project can be used as a case study to evidence how radio can improve lives in minority communitie

Effects of classification context on categorization in natural categories

The patterns of classification of borderline instances of eight common taxonomic categories were examined under three different instructional conditions to test two predictions: first, that lack of a specified context contributes to vagueness in categorization, and second, that altering the purpose of classification can lead to greater or lesser dependence on similarity in classification. The instructional conditions contrasted purely pragmatic with more technical/quasi-legal contexts as purposes for classification, and these were compared with a no-context control. The measures of category vagueness were between-subjects disagreement and within-subjects consistency, and the measures of similarity based categorization were category breadth and the correlation of instance categorization probability with mean rated typicality, independently measured in a neutral context. Contrary to predictions, none of the measures of vagueness, reliability, category breadth, or correlation with typicality were generally affected by the instructional setting as a function of pragmatic versus technical purposes. Only one subcondition, in which a situational context was implied in addition to a purposive context, produced a significant change in categorization. Further experiments demonstrated that the effect of context was not increased when participants talked their way through the task, and that a technical context did not elicit more all-or-none categorization than did a pragmatic context. These findings place an important boundary condition on the effects of instructional context on conceptual categorization