100 Things: Every Designer Needs to Know About People

35. People are Driven to Create Categories

If you’re between the ages of 5 and 60 and grew up with a television in the U.S., you probably know what I mean if I say, “One of these things is not like the other.” This is a snippet from the popular children’s show Sesame Street.

Watch the Sesame Street video

If you don’t know what I am talking about, you can view YouTube clips, for example, http://bit.ly/eCSFKB.

The purpose of this Sesame Street lesson is to teach young children how to notice differences, and essentially how to start to learn to categorize.

Interestingly, it’s probably unnecessary, and perhaps even ineffective, to try and teach children ...