Abstract
Individual differences in stimulus boundness were hypothesized to underlie number of categories formed on object sort and similarity between category labels and characteristics of objects in categories. Experimental sorting instructions accentuated and attenuated, respectively, the effects of stimulus boundness. Free sort was used to designate Ss as high or low categorizers. Significant main effects were found for experimental instructions and categorizing tendencies, confirming the main hypothesis and the reliability of categorizing behavior. The relationship between similarity of category labels and number of categories, although confirming the prediction, suggests the presence of a curvilinear relationship, decreasing in strength toward the lower range of stimulus boundness.
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