Abstract
This study aimed to explore whether solving distant analogies makes individuals tend to categorize information based on either taxonomic or thematic relations. In the study, one group of participants solved far analogies (far analogy group), while another group solved near analogies (near analogy group). Then, all participants completed the triad task which is the task of measuring the propensity to classify. The research findings revealed that, regardless of whether the object of classification was the artifact or natural object, the far analogy group exhibited a higher percentage of thematic responses than the near analogy and control group in the triad task. The present study demonstrated that solving far analogies could make individuals tend to categorize information based on thematic relations.
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Data availability
The datasets generated for this study are available upon request to the corresponding authors.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Professor Holyoak for his help with the experimental materials, which is very important for us to complete the research.
Funding
This research is supported by the Foundation for Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province (21JR7RA139).
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The study was conducted after obtaining Institutional Review Board approval from the Department of Psychology at Northwest Normal University. We received the written consent of all participants before testing began. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were by the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Li, J., Shi, K., Wei, X. et al. Generating solutions to far analogies makes individuals tend to categorize information based on thematic relations. Cogn Process 24, 471–480 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-023-01148-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-023-01148-y