Categorization Inside and Outside the Laboratory: Essays in Honor of Douglas L. Medin presents the state of knowledge on how people partition the world into categories. This volume in APA's Decade of Behavior series raises key questions about the nature and universality of naturally occurring concepts in human thinking. Researchers in this area have tended to assume that there are universal aspects of categorization and that crosscultural differences are relatively minor. However, the work showcased in this book suggests that categories can differ significantly across cultures with respect to fundamental human concepts such as space, time, and objecthood. Traditionally, these categories have been studied using artificial stimuli in the laboratory, with the goal of developing real world applications. However, the contributors to this volume also study naturally occurring concepts in a variety of cultures and domains, and in this way are able to inform basic laboratory research in a productive way. This building of bridges across communities that do not frequently interact has been inspired by the pioneering work of cognitive psychologist Douglas L. Medin, to whom this book is dedicated.
Art Markman is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. His research explores a variety of topics in thinking including the way people form and use analogies, generate creative ideas, and make decisions. He blogs for Psychology Today, Huffington Post, SmartBlogs and HBR. His next book, Smart Thinking, will be published in January, 2012.
In his spare time, Art plays blues saxophone, writes for the Psychology Department Limerick Committee, and hangs out with his family.
