Alternative Approaches to Understanding the Determinants of Typicality

Data were collected for eight sets of product- and brand-level categories to better understand the determinants of typicality and the relationship between typicality and attitude of reach category level. Measures of both feature similarity (family resemblance) and goal achievement (ideals, attribute structure) predicted typicality. However, the latter measures were more likely to moderate the typicality-attitude relationship. Frequency of instantiation was superior to a general familiarity measure in predicting typicality. Attitudes and attribute structure better predicted typicality for subordinate (e.g., fast-food restaurants) than superordinate (e.g., restaurants) categories. Implications for the nature and structure of product and brand categories are discussed. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

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