Definition
Same-different categorization refers to the ability to judge two or more objects or events as sharing an attribute or as being dissimilar with regard to an attribute.
Introduction
It is unequivocally accepted that humans have the capacity to reason about sameness and difference. It is also apparent that many animals share the capacity to generalize responses between items that are the same or different. Reasoning about sameness and difference at a more abstract level is more difficult to ascertain, however, and is important because it reflects an ability to think about relations between objects, rather than simply representing the perceptually apparent properties of the stimuli – a feat that many animals can easily perform. Scientists have acknowledged the importance of this ability from the dawn of the study of psychology.
Demonstrating Sameness/Difference Concepts in Nonhumans
Being able...
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Vonk, J. (2016). Same-Different Categorization. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3112-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3112-1
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