Dedre Gentner

Alice Gabrielle Twight Professor of Psychology & Education


Curriculum vitae



(847)467-1272


Department of Psychology

Northwestern University



Making a silk purse out of two sow's ears: young children's use of comparison in category learning.


Journal article


L. Namy, D. Gentner
Journal of experimental psychology. General, 2002

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APA   Click to copy
Namy, L., & Gentner, D. (2002). Making a silk purse out of two sow's ears: young children's use of comparison in category learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Namy, L., and D. Gentner. “Making a Silk Purse out of Two Sow's Ears: Young Children's Use of Comparison in Category Learning.” Journal of experimental psychology. General (2002).


MLA   Click to copy
Namy, L., and D. Gentner. “Making a Silk Purse out of Two Sow's Ears: Young Children's Use of Comparison in Category Learning.” Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 2002.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{l2002a,
  title = {Making a silk purse out of two sow's ears: young children's use of comparison in category learning.},
  year = {2002},
  journal = {Journal of experimental psychology. General},
  author = {Namy, L. and Gentner, D.}
}

Abstract

Comparison mechanisms have been implicated in the development of abstract, relational thought, including object categorization. D. Gentner and L. L. Namy (1999) found that comparing 2 perceptually similar category members yielded taxonomic categorization, whereas viewing a single member of the target category elicited shallower perceptual responding. The present experiments tested 2 predictions that follow from Gentner and Namy's (1999) model: (a) Comparison facilitates categorization only when the targets to be compared share relational commonalities, and (b) providing common labels for targets invites comparison, whereas providing conflicting labels deters it. Four-year-olds participated in a forced-choice task. They viewed 2 perceptually similar target objects and were asked to "find another one." Results suggest an important role for comparison in lexical and conceptual development.


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