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# Categorization in the wild

## Details

**Authors** Glushko et al.

**Year** 2008

**Publisher** Trends in Cognitive Sciences

**Discipline** Cognitive Science

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.01.007) 
10.1016/j.tics.2008.01.007

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Explored the highly adaptive nature of categories.

### What they found (results)

The process of categorization is so prevalent in human thought and research because they were evolutionarily useful, as an adaptive tool easily applied to situations throughout time. As the context changes in which human categorization mechanisms operate, they produce new types of classification systems. When new technological tools become available, categorization mechanisms adapt quickly and new classification systems result. Rather than categorization being a fixed process, it evolves dynamically as situational constraints change.

## Commentary

### In short

Categories are structures born of several elements of thinking -- part-whole Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives. Notably, once categories are formed, they also become boundaries/distinctions in and of themselves.

### In more detail

The process of categorization is prevalent in human thought and research because of their utility evolutionarily. Categories are an adaptive tool easily applied to situations throughout time. Glushko et. al. 2008, discussed the highly adaptive nature of categories. The evolutionary origins of categorization relate to the ever-changing world of technology, as technology and technological categorization (part-whole Systems) change and evolve, one’s brain quickly adapts in concert. They write, “this illustrates a fundamentally important principle of human categorization mechanisms: as the context

changes in which human categorization mechanisms operate, they produce new types of classification systems. When new technological tools become available, categorization mechanisms adapt quickly and new classification systems result. Rather than categorization being a fixed process, it evolves dynamically as situational constraints change.” This quick ability to adapt to differing categorization systems implies that there are neurological structures built into our brain that make categorization easier for us. It also indicates that the categories we make are not merely static part-whole Systems or groupings, but are sensitively dependent on the perspective that is being used to organize content or phenomena into categories in the first place. In short, categories are structures born of several elements of thinking—part-whole Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives. Notably, once categories are formed, they also become boundaries/distinctions in and of themselves.

**Patterns it shows** S

**How to cite this** Glushko et al. (2008). Categorization in the wild. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.