Category vs Concept

Exemplar View

We categorize by comparing a new item to specific stored examples we’ve seen before, not to one average prototype. Instead of one abstract “average dog,” you implicitly compare to dozens of specific dogs you’ve encountered.

  • Strength: explains why experience matters; handles irregular categories more flexibly than the Prototype View
  • Problem: memory-heavy (implies storing lots of examples); still struggles with exact boundaries

Also a similarity-based view.