Hi -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij [mailto:[email protected]] (1) Regarding robins: Whenever I cover Eleanor Rosch's work on the structure of categories, I emphasize that the prototype is the most representative example of a category or the modal instance of the category (i.e., the instance that one has experienced most often) and THAT depends upon one's experience. The degree to which different people will have the prototype or not will depend upon how
JC: I very much agree with Mike here. If you compare category generation norms from different regions of North America, you will find different exemplars represented. (2) I think you confuse things in the Duncker candle problem. First, modern construction does NOT use concrete in all walls -- that is why God created drywall. The current method of putting up a "modern" building (usually >= 6 floors) is to pour concrete for the floors and pillars and leave the rest of the area clear except for the few supporting walls. When the main construction is done, aluminum studs are put into place and drywall is screwed into the studs (a remarkable number of such building are going up in my area of Manhattan, including a dormitory for the Cooper Union college). Anyone who has experience with drywall knows that it is easy to penetrate and damage -- sticking pushpins into it should not be too difficult. Now, if your students live in low level building made out of cinder blocks, (a) that is hardly a modern construction (indeed, it substitutes cinderblocks for bricks, a technique that goes back thousands of years when "bricks were made of mud, straw, and other materials), and (b) given that Duncker did the research back in the 1930s, isn't the real problem your students have is "presentism", that is, thinking and interpreting past situations in terms of current day terms? Perhaps having the students read Duncker's article (translated into English for the non-German reading hordes) might be good for them; see: JC: Here I have to disagree being very familiar with modern building techniques in Greece (and perhaps same holds in India?). Cement columns are filled in with bricks that are directly plastered over. Tracks are actually chiseled into the bricks for wiring etc. So no studs and dry wall involved. To hang a picture or other object, one needs to drill into the plaster/brick. Made me quite nervous the first few times I did it. Same might actually apply to a certain degree in some buildings in NA. Our condo in Winnipeg (one of the top 20 places in the world to visit according to National Geographic), for example, has one long wall of brick because it is a renovated warehouse. But what I would have thought people in many parts of the world would be familiar with are cork boards for announcements etc., to which thumb tacks could be applied. And of course if people were not familiar with some such use for them, then they would probably not know what thumb tacks are. There is also a literature on the culture-specificity of some logical tasks. Failure in some cultures to perform well at certain tasks used in the literature in the west became success when more familiar but logically equivalent tasks were developed for the culture. Like Mike, I'm not sure that Eurocentrism or equivalent terms is the appropriate way to label these phenomena. And as a footnote I have to disagree with NG's inclusion of Winnipeg in the top 20, but don't let that stop you from visiting. I would just wait 6 months or so unless you want to skate (or even drive) on a frozen river, ice fish, or something like that. Take care Jim --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=47428 or send a blank email to leave-47428-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
