Psychologists Have Noted That People Tend Make Classifications Based on Their

question 9

Essay

Psychologists have noted that people tend make classifications based on their "typicality." For example, a dog is more readily classified as a mammal than is a whale, because dogs are "more typical" of mammals than are whales. Previous large-scale studies have established the following for songbirds such as robins: when young children are shown a picture of a songbird and asked if it is a bird they respond "yes" in an average of 750 milliseconds. Do children regard chickens as representative of birds? If so, are they more representative or less representative of birds than are songbirds? Let μ represent the mean time it takes children to respond to a question about whether a chicken is a bird. The investigators wish to determine whether the classification time differs from the time needed to classify songbirds.
a) What is the appropriate null hypothesis?
b) What is the appropriate alternative hypothesis?
c) In your own words, distinguish between a Type I and a Type II error in this context.

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Definitions:

Down Syndrome

A genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra chromosome 21, characterized by intellectual disability and physical abnormalities.

Cognitive Deficits

Impairments in mental processing abilities, such as memory, attention, and problem-solving skills.

Analytical Intelligence

One aspect of intelligence involving the ability to analyze, evaluate, judge, compare, and contrast information.

Algorithmic

Pertaining to or involving a finite set of rules that provides a step-by-step process for solving a problem or accomplishing a goal.