Cracking the AP Psychology Exam, 2019 Edition by Princeton Review

Author:Princeton Review
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2018-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

CONCEPTS

We are constantly being inundated with information about our surroundings. In order to organize all of this information, we devise concepts. A concept is a way of grouping or classifying the world around us. For example, chairs come in a large variety of sizes and shapes, yet we can identify them as chairs. The concept of chairs allows us to identify them without learning every possible trait of all chairs. Typicality is the degree to which an object fits the average. What are the average characteristics of a chair? When we picture “chair,” an image emerges in our brain. This typical picture that we envision is referred to as a prototype. But we can imagine other images of a chair that are distant from the prototype to varying degrees.

Concepts can be small or large, more or less inclusive. A superordinate concept is very broad and encompasses a large group of items, such as the concept of “food.” A basic concept is smaller and more specific—for example, “bread.” A subordinate concept is even smaller and more specific, such as “rye bread.” Concepts are essential for thinking and reasoning. Without such categorization, we would be so overwhelmed by our surroundings that we would be incapable of any deeper thought.

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