People don't form categories of things in their minds by storing a list of attributes that define the category (e.g. category "birds" would have "has wings, has feathers, has two legs" etc.). Even when people give such descriptions of a category, it's a rationalisation and it's not how people intuitively recognize a thing as belonging to a category.
Prototype theory says that as we experience more and more examples of something, we unconsciously extract information about it that over time forms and average (prototype) representation of that thing in our mind.
People can easily tell how prototypical something is for its category (e.g. sparrow being a more prototypical bird than e.g. penguin or ostrich).
How does this apply in UI design? Prototype theory in product design
Tags: design psychology user interface design
ID: 2022-0905-1028
References: https://medium.com/i-am-interface/prototype-theory-design-convention-db3cb227bcb9
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