An Analysis of Holistic Mode by Verbal Reports

Abstract

120 college students were given a classification task with strong or weak family-resemblance structure under the “Impression” or the “Dimension” instruction. After reaching each of two learning criteria (4/4 and 10/10), the subjects were tested whether or not they used the holistic mode and then they were required to justify the basis of their test performances. Four classification strategies were inferred from the verbal reports. Even when the subjects showed the holistic mode, they used the impression, the single-dimension, the multiple-dimension, or the general-rule strategy. For the last three strategies the test exemplars were assumed to be processed dimensionally. The finding!, suggest that the holistic mode is not necessarily based on nondimensional processing or over-all similarity.