The importance of being nonalignable: Structural alignment in the judgment of similarity and difference
Abstract:
The structural alignment theory of similarity distinguishes 2 types of difference that may occur between
stimuli: Alignable differences are those related to a commonality, whereas nonalignable differences are
not related to a commonality. Alignment theory predicts that alignable differences should be more
heavily weighted than nonalignable differences in similarity judgment. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate
that, contrary to this prediction, nonalignable differences exerted a greater impact than alignable
differences in similarity and difference judgments of geometric stimuli. Experiment 3 revealed that the
relative weight accorded a given difference was also affected by contextual constraints. Thus, although
the experiments supported the validity of the distinction between alignable and nonalignable differences,
results were discordant with the specific prediction of structural alignment theory.