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quality > cognitive quality > basic level

Preferred term

basic level  

Definition

  • According to Rosch's theory of natural categories, a privileged categorical level of information processing. A basic level category is informative (members of the category have many attributes in common) and distinctive (members of a basic level category have few attributes in common with members of other categories of the same level). "[...] basic objects are the most inclusive categories whose members: (a) possess significant numbers of attributes in common, (b) have motor programs which are similar to one another, (c) have similar shapes, and (d) can be identified from averaged shapes of members of the class." (Rosch et al., 1976, p. 382).

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Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Brown, R. (1958). How shall a thing be called? Psychological Review, 65(1), 14–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0041727

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Cordier, F. (1993). Les représentations cognitives privilégiées : typicalité et niveau de base. Presses Universitaires de Lille.

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Rosch, E. (1978). Principles of categorization. In E. Rosch & B. Lloyd (Eds.), Cognition and categorization (p. 27‑48). Laurence Erlbaum Associates.

    [Study type: literature review / Access: closed]
  • • Rosch, E., Mervis, C. B., Gray, W. D., Johnson, D. M., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 8(3), 382–439. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(76)90013-X

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

Editorial note

  • The basic level is used in a privileged way when people name or categorize objects, and appears first in child's development. However, the choice of the abstraction level depends on object typicality and the level of expertise.

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URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-W3JQ1BQL-Q

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