Has anyone tried just asking people to name a color and a tool. I wonder what percent would say "RED HAMMER" without the math prompts. :) Tim
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 6:59 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: RE: Fwd: Brain game Being yet another of that reported 2% (orange hammer, in my case), I'm a bit disinclined to explain a phenomenon that so far doesn't seem to exist. However, I can imagine a mechanism by which the math would make a difference. "Red" and "hammer" seem fairly prototypical of their respective categories, right? What causes a person to mention a NON-prototypical member of a category when asked to mention a member of a category? Is it possible that a heavy mental load (the calculating) heads off some other process that might otherwise "kick in" when we decide to show off our uniqueness by coming up with some non-prototypical example? > Without the math, ask a group of people to name a color. Then ask > them to name a tool. Red and hammer are probably most likely (although not 98%, with or without the math). Have a large group do it with the math. Have another large group do it without the math. Have another large group do it with some other fairly heavy but non-mathematical task (perhaps "count the letters 't' in this sentence"). I imagine there'd be slightly different frequencies of "red hammer" across the groups. I would also look at the frequencies of oddball responses: things like "purple t-square", for example. I'd predict a lot more of those in the no-task group, and an effect that was less subtle than the "red hammer" effect (because that might not be the clear prototypes for everyone). Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee Michael T. Scoles, Ph.D. Interim Chair, Dept. Psychology & Counseling University of Central Arkansas Conway, AR 72035 >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 02/08/05 4:23 PM >>> Note: forwarded message attached. Hi: Any Tipster know what makes this one work? Gerry Palmer __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page * Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
