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PSY 357 Reasoning using categories
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROJECT
Faculty:
Arthur B. Markman, Ph.D.
Contact:
Sergey Blok, blok@psy.utexas.edu, 512-232-5572
Description:
A number of years ago, scientists discovered that a particular kind of tree, the Pacific Yew, contained a substance that worked well against certain kinds of cancers. Because the concentration of the substance in the Pacific Yew was very low, scientists began searching for other things that might have the substance. They hypothesized that other kinds of Yew trees might have this substance. It turned out that there are Arabian Yew trees that also had the substance.
How is this story related to my research? As cognitive psychologists, we are interested in the way people categorize and reason about the world. In the story, scientists thought that a related tree might have the substance. Why did they think that? It turns out that humans (and not just scientists!) often use this kind of strategy. It is called category-based reasoning. Most of the time, this is a good strategy because things that are in related categories (i.e. Pacific Yew and Arabic Yew) often share many important properties. My research looks at the factors that play a role in such reasoning. For example, to what extent does the perceived similarity between the categories involved in reasoning (the Pacific and Arabian Yew trees in the story) play a role in people's willingness to believe that the categories share properties?
Duties:
Research in this area involves conducting experiments with college students, analyzing data and interpreting the results. After some experience is obtained, students will have an opportunity to design
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