The research done by Dunsmoor and Murphy focused on typicality and how it related to fear- that is, how the knowledge of fear is learned depending if it is first associated with a typical or atypical exemplar. To explain what an exemplar is, we must first explain what a category is in relation to this research. A category is a mental concept of an object, event, or person. These items are usually connected in some way and share properties with each other. (Murphy, 2017) A good example of this are dogs. There are many different breeds of dogs, but they all fit within the same category and share certain properties (i.e., walk on all fours, can bark, have fur, etc.). There might be dogs that don’t share all of these traits, but this does not make them any less of a dog.
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The summary of this knowledge is abstracted across different experiences. Exemplars will form if you have plenty of exposure to a category. There are also items that fit into a category better than others. We refer to these kind of items as typical, and the items that do not fit as well in a category are referred to as atypical (Murphy, 2017). According to Brooks et al, similarity to an exemplar can influence categorization. That is to say, items that share more similarities with an exemplar are more likely to be identified
The summary of this knowledge is abstracted across different experiences. Exemplars will form if you have plenty of exposure to a category. There are also items that fit into a category better than others. We refer to these kind of items as typical, and the items that do not fit as well in a category are referred to as atypical (Murphy, 2017). According to Brooks et al, similarity to an exemplar can influence categorization. That is to say, items that share more similarities with an exemplar are more likely to be identified