familial resemblance

The concept that whether or not an element is a member of a certain group may not be determined by common characteristics.

https://gyazo.com/65041f75b35b16a9903a8525291966c5

Is the target in the figure similar to Group 1 or Group 2?

Orientals tend to choose Group 1 and Westerners Group 2.

https://gyazo.com/26318f028c04d1e3c3906a8c03c30b89

Norenzayan, A., Smith, E. E., Kim, B. J., & Nisbett, R. E. (2002). Cultural preferences for formal versus intuitive reasoning. Cognitive science, 26(5), 653-684.

https://gyazo.com/06c3b8cf1bbbf5bdd1323efe70f86ed8

Let's delve into the two ways of thinking.

Four attributes.

Attribute 1: Target petals are round, Group 1 has 3/4 petals round, Group 2 has 1/4 petals round

Attribute 2: Target flower center is a single circle, 3/4 of Group 1 is a single circle, 1/4 of Group 2 is a single circle

Attribute 3: Target has leaves on it, Group 1 has leaves on 3/4, Group 2 has leaves on 1/4

Attribute 4: Target stems are straight, Group 1 has 0/4 stems straight, Group 2 has 4/4 stems straight

In this situation, would you put the target in group 1 or group 2?

Oriental type: the idea that since three of the four attributes indicate that "Group 1 is closer", it should be placed in Group 1.

Western: Attributes 1-3 do not clearly separate the groups. The idea is that Attribute 4 is the criterion that separates these two groups, and if you follow that criterion, you should be placed in Group 2.

Western types can easily explain to others the reasons for their decisions. It can be made into a clear proposition: "If the stem is straight, it is group 2." On the other hand, it is vulnerable to noise. In this example, attribute 4 could cleanly separate the two groups, but if noise is introduced and even attribute 4 cannot separate the two groups, the Western type will fall into the trap of thinking, "There is no clear criterion to distinguish between the two groups. It is also vulnerable to cases where some of the attributes are unobservable. If attribute 4 happens to be unobservable, the decision is reversed.

The oriental type is resistant to noise and to unobservables. However, the reason for the decision cannot be simply explained. If we dare to explain, the rule would be: "If the petals are round, one vote for group 1; if the center of the flower is a single circle, one vote for group 1; if it has leaves, one vote for group 1; if the stem is straight, two votes for group 2. The rule is: "The group with the highest total number of votes shall be the group with the highest number of votes.

Related: In [Orientalists are logistic regression and Westerners are decision trees.

---