Have you thought about how we perceive the world? Why, even looking at an unfamiliar object, we can assume which group it belongs to. We can see some animal for the first time, not know its name, but know for sure that it is an animal. This happens through the formation of prototypes.
What is a prototype
For the first time, prototypes within the framework of cognitive psychology were spoken about in the 1970s. The authorship belongs to the American psychologist E. Roche. The author found that the prototype consists of a concept (“bachelor”, “mother”, “wife”, “unemployed”, “homeless”, “designer”) and a core (the main significant features). In fact, this is a kind of stigma applied to a group of people or a complex of phenomena.
Like a stereotype, a prototype is a way of perceiving the outside world. Prototype – an image, a complex of personality traits or characteristics of an object, extended to objects of the same group. Simply put, a prototype is an average, typical image of a representative of a group or some object, phenomenon, environmental conditions. “Such an average typical …” – we say, planning to introduce the interlocutor to someone. With this phrase we begin to reproduce the prototype.
For example, speaking about a house in a village, we will imagine what we saw ourselves, and in most cases it is a small cozy house. Although, for a long time already, “palaces” or apartment buildings have been built in the villages. This is exactly how some people can imagine a house in the village, and then be surprised at a different picture. It all depends on personal experience.
In cognitive psychology, there are 2 approaches to considering the origin of prototypes:
- Fashionable or the most common signs of individual situations, objects or subjects are recorded.
- The main central generalized features for a whole group of similar situations, objects, subjects are fixed.
Moreover, within the framework of the second approach, all the traits recorded in memory do not have to be met in one copy, perhaps they met in different, but similar situations or people. And then there were associations in the form of a prototype. That is, it is precisely such an instance that may not exist in real life.
With the help of a prototype, we get to know the world, perceive things familiar to us, and remember. Receiving an external stimulus, we begin to correlate it with all prototypes in our head and come to a conclusion. For example, we see a creature unfamiliar to us, but upon thinking, we decide that it is clearly some kind of bird. How we understand it:
- We see the wings, beak, paws characteristic of birds.
- We find these features in memory, look at which prototype they correspond to.
- As a result, the conclusion follows: “Some kind of bird, but what it is called, I do not know.”
The same goes for the appearance of people. For individual traits learned through personal experience, we assume a person’s profession, favorite type of leisure, lifestyle. We recognize a child not only by external signs, but also by behavioral ones. From the same principle, we say to some adults “behave like a child.”
Prototype and stereotype
The prototype and the stereotype have both differences and similarities:
- The prototype differs from the stereotype in that it is formed under the influence of a person’s personal experience (individual practical experience and acquired knowledge).
- At the heart of the prototype is the principle of induction, at the heart of the assimilation of stereotypes is deduction.
- Prototypes are useful in that, like stereotypes, they allow you to save time and effort on cognition and perception of the world. Adequate and correct prototypes allow you to better build relationships with people, find a common language. But the problem is that the prototype may not be adequate. That’s why they say “don’t judge by the cover”.
- Prototypes to a certain extent depend on the culture of a particular society, but more often they are universal, despite the fact that they are formed on the basis of the individual experience of a person. Stereotypes are largely determined by the culture of a particular society.
Are prototypes dangerous?
Why prototypal thinking is dangerous:
- A person may look for an ideal image created in the head, but not existing in life: the prototype of an ideal man, an ideal woman, an ideal relationship, an ideal job, and so on.
- This, in turn, is dangerous due to failure in the main spheres of life, frustrating collision with reality, and disappointment. Equally dangerous is the demand for oneself to follow a stereotype. This can lead to intrapersonal conflict.
- The influence of the prototype may not be realized by the person himself. In this, the phenomenon of the prototype is similar to the scenario of life. That is, a prototype can subconsciously influence a person’s life and not succumb to reflection.
- The prototype can be formed on the basis of fixing frequently occurring meetings, but gradually supplemented by generalizations and modified. At the same time, it tends to be fixed and become central, as a result of which other objects that differ from the prototype are excluded from the field of view.
In the latter feature, we again see the echoes of script programming. There are positive and negative prototypes. For example, a daughter may have a prototype of an unfavorable father. Due to the reinforcement of the stereotype, as an adult, she excludes and does not notice other men. She only wonders why she comes across solid copies of her would-be father.
The prototype is a cognitive schema. Cognitive circuitry is the well-established neural connections in the brain that provide storage and organization of past personal experience. These are the elements of memory that determine the understanding and perception of the world, the reaction to it (decision-making and characteristic behavior).
Since the formation is based on personal experience, then I dare to assume that prototypes can be controlled, changed, and new ones created. You just need to learn to act differently. However, the problem is that the existing prototypes determine our behavior. But it is in our power to control ourselves and by willpower to achieve new results.
Do you need prototypes
Prototypes are generated automatically. It starts from the age of 3 months. Actually, this is how we master such categories as “animals”, “letters”, “people”. Prototypes and stereotypes pervade our entire lives. So, for example, a prototype of an adult is formed in children. And the attitude of children towards all adults depends on how parents and other close relatives behave. Depending on personal experience, a child can unconditionally trust all adults or, on the contrary, be afraid of them. Prototypes allow us to systematize, categorize the world around us.
This is good, because living in a house, uncertainty and misunderstanding is not easy, moreover, it is dangerous. Better yet, prototypes can be changed. This is largely determined by a person’s confidence in the correctness of his reactions, actions, sensations, emotions. If uncertainty arises, a person begins to doubt the adequacy of the prototype, then an activity is launched to search for confirmations or refutations of the existing statement, search for confirming or refuting signs among the surrounding world.
Thus, a prototype is an abstract image of traits that are similar for one group, collected by us in the process of socialization through knowledge and personal experience. Prototypes are stored in memory and help organize activities.
Epilogue
“Father’s prototype”, “Mother’s prototype” are the most popular phrases on the topic, that is, the image of a father and mother. But each person has his own. At the heart of any prototype is a prototype, conventionally speaking “the best specimen”. If we parse the word “prototype”, then “proto” is primary, “type” is a group of similar objects. Accordingly, a person is able to selectively approach these parts.
So, a prototype is not a specific description of an object, a subject, but its generalized perception with other objects and subjects similar in terms of the same characteristics. For the prototype, the most illustrative and typical example from personal experience is always selected.
The problem is that the scope for personal experience is limited. Therefore, whether we like it or not, we have to use other people’s experience (stories, books, films, other sources of information). That is why the prototype is sometimes distorted or turns into a stereotype.
