Attribute criteriality and sex-linked conservatism as determinants of psychological similarity.

"Two hypotheses were proposed: 1… . One event is more likely to be judged similar to a standard event if the two differ on some property which… has not been learned as criterial for defining it, than if this property has been learned as criterial for its definition. 2… . When presented with events of varying criterial difference from a standard, females should judge fewer of these events as similar to the standard than males, on the ground that the former tend to categorize more narrowly… . It was concluded that recognition of similarity depends on learned classification rules and on individual differences in conceptual conservatism." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)