Concept Formation: Classes Thought

concept formation
Introduction
concept formation, process by which a person learns to sort specific experiences into general rules
or classes. With regard to action, a person picks up a particular stone or drives a specific car. With regard
to thought, however, a person appears to deal with classes. For instance, one knows that stones (in
general) sink and automobiles (as a class) are powered by engines. In other words, these things are
considered in a general sense beyond any particular stone or automobile. Awareness of such classes can
help guide behavior in new situations. Thus two people in a bakery may never have met before, but, if one
can be classified as a customer and the other as a clerk, they tend to behave appropriately. Similarly, many
people are able to drive almost any automobile by knowing how to drive a specific automobile.
The term concept formation describes how a person learns to form classes, whereas the term conceptual
thinking refers to an individual’s subjective manipulation of those abstract classes. A concept is a rule that
may be applied to decide if a particular object falls into a certain class. The concept “citizen of the United
States” refers to such a decision rule, meaning any person who was born in U.S. territory or who is a child
of a U.S. citizen or who has been legally naturalized. The rule suggests questions to ask in checking the
citizenship of any particular individual. As most concepts do, it rests on other concepts; “U.S. citizen” is
defined in terms of the concept’s “child” and “territory.” Many scientific or mathematical concepts cannot
be understood until the terms by which they are defined have been grasped. In this way concept formation
builds on itself.
Conceptual classification may be contrasted with another type of classification behaviour

called discrimination learning. In discrimination learning, objects are classified on the basis of
directly perceived properties such as physical size or shape. The emphasis on concrete physical features in
discrimination learning can be contrasted with the more abstract nature of concept formation. When a
stimulus is perceived to match several different past experiences, however, the response may be a
compromise, because an object need not bear an all-or-none relation to a set of others in discrimination
learning; for example, there is no absolute distinction between tall and short people.
While human beings are capable of abstract thought, many of the classifications people make seem to be
concrete discriminations. For example, people may use the same term in a discriminative or conceptual
way. A child might use the term policeman in discriminating a man who wears a distinctive uniform, while a
lawyer may use the term to represent a civil servant charged with enforcing criminal codes. In practice,
people seem to think in ways that combine abstractness and concreteness. They also may blend class
membership with assignment along a scale—e.g., such concepts as leadership, an abstract quality that
people are said to exhibit in varying degrees. The same would apply to vivacity, avarice, and
other personality traits.
People seem to develop more-complex sets of classes than do other animals, but this does not
necessarily mean that human modes of learning are unique. It may be that all animals have the
same basic biochemical machinery for learning but human animals exhibit it in greater variety.
Yet, it seems no more appropriate to account for human concept formation in terms of
discrimination learning alone than it does to reduce the functions of a piston engine to
chemical reactions.
About the experiment

The term concept formation describes how a person learns to form classes,
whereas the term conceptual thinking refers to an individual's subjective
manipulation of those abstract classes. A concept is a rule that may be applied to
decide if a particular object falls into a certain class.
Example concept formation in psychology
One observes that two or more objects are alike or similar in some respects and different in
other respects. For example, in acquiring the concept 'dog', a child may hear the word 'dog'
over and over in different situations and learns to apply the word to any object that has the
same general characteristics as a dog.
Four main steps of concept formation

The four main steps are involved in the formation of concepts. The steps are 1.
Observation 2. Generalisation 3. Discrimination or Differentiation 4.
Abstraction.
1. Observation:
The first stage in the formation of concepts is the observation of an
event, object or an experience. This can also be called the stage of becoming
aware. This can be either direct or indirect. The child can directly see a dog and
become aware of it.
On the other hand, he also hears stories about devils and giants from his
parents and grandparents; here the awareness is indirect. Thus, all of us have
some knowledge or awareness of primitive people (or at least we believe we
have) even though most of us have not seen them. Generally repeated
experiences provide the basis for the development of concepts.
2. Generalisation:
Repeated experiences or observations of different objects
result in a tendency to form a general idea. Thus, a child first sees one dog,
then another dog, then a third and so on and begins to form the general idea of
a dog. This is called the process of generalisation. The process of generalisation
explains how the child acquires many concepts like the concepts of gender,
shape, number, etc.
3. Discrimination or Differentiation:
Along with generalisation and the observation and
organisation of similarities among things and objects, the child also becomes
aware of the differences between them. Thus, all dogs are alike and all cows are
alike. Dogs run on four legs and cows also do the same.
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At the same time dogs and cows are different from each other and big dogs are
different from small dogs, and bulls are different from cows. It is this type of
sequential operation of generalisation and differentiation in interaction that
leads to the formation of concepts.
4. Abstraction:
From the description of the above processes the operation of
abstraction becomes evident. The child has seen dogs and he happens to see a
cow on a different occasion. He does not observe them at the same time but
inwardly he compares his experiences on the two occasions.
The perceptions and the experiences are now inwardly analysed and re-
experienced in the absence of the objects. This results in an appreciation of
similarities and differences. This process by which the experience is analysed
in the absence of actual situations is known as abstraction. It is abstraction
which actually transforms comparable and contrasting experiences into
concepts.
This ability to respond to concrete situations in the absence of the actual

situations is known as abstract thinking ability. It can be seen that as the child
grows older, the process of abstraction plays an increasingly important role in
the development of concepts. It is this process of abstraction which helps us to
form ideas of the future and far off objects.
The growth of science, in particular, and knowledge, in general and, perhaps,

the growth of culture and civilisation, have all been possible because of our
ability to form abstract concepts. Concepts like force, energy, mind, truth are
all examples of abstract concepts. Literary creations, masterpieces in art and
other fields, are all embodiments of abstract concepts.
The ability to form abstract concepts is related to the intellectual ability of an

individual and the richness of his experience. To a large extent performance in
intelligence tests also reflects the ability to form abstract concepts. The
development of concepts proceeds from general and undifferentiated concepts
to differentiated concepts.
For example, when a child looks at an object for the first time, he forms a
vague and general idea of the object as a whole. This is why, a child’s concepts
are not very clear. Gradually the details of the concepts become clear. One of
the authors remembers that once upon a time his little niece referred to a pig
as a big rat.
It was only subsequently that the little girl developed both the concepts and
was able to differentiate a pig from a rat. The formation of clear concepts,
therefore, involves the three processes – generalisation, differentiation and
abstraction.
The greater, the wider and the richer an individual’s experience with different
objects and stimuli the better is the process of formation of concepts. The
reader will, no doubt, understand the importance of the formation of clear
concepts for proper adjustment and the importance of a rich and varied
environment for enhancing the development of concepts in children.

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concept formation

Conceptual classification may be contrasted with another type of classification behaviour

About the experiment

Four main steps of concept formation

This ability to respond to concrete situations in the absence of the actual

The growth of science, in particular, and knowledge, in general and, perhaps,

The ability to form abstract concepts is related to the intellectual ability of an

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