A Further Investigation of the Higher Structural Phases of Concept Formation

Factors influencing the learning and retention of concepts. I. The influence of set.

“…Although concepts are the principal tools of thinking and were among the first psychological problems to be investigated by the ancient Greeks, particularly the Platonic Socrates, they have been the subjects of many fewer investigations than have other cognitive processes, for example, those relating to sensation, perception, imagery, serial learning, and retention. Among the better known direct experimental studies are those of Fisher (6), Hull (8), Smoke (23,24,25), Kuo (i2) ; Long (13,1.4,15), and Welch (27,28,29)all of which were limited to some phase of the process of concept formation. None of them included the closely correlated process of retention, which, however, has been the subject of numerous separate investigations.…”

“…71 definition of a concept and found that negative instances were of slight importance. Long (13,14,15) and Welch (27,28,29) studied the genetic development of concepts in relation to chronological age and also the influence of the level of abstractness and of the number of antecedents. Insufficient studies have so far been made of the influence upon concept formation and retention of such factors as the following: set or directions, the number of cases from which the concept is to be derived, the complication of the stimulus, the level of abstractness, the distinguishability of the symbols by which the concepts are designated, the number of concepts to be learned at one sitting, the intelligence of the learner, the age of the learner, the form of guidance, the time of guidance, concrete versus symbolic material, the distribution of effort, emotional factors, and a number of others that might be mentioned.…”

The investigation of concept formation.

“…Age. Welch and Long (42,68,70,71) have shown that the conceptualizing ability of children seems to develop from simple to more complex levels. A pre-abstract period leads gradually to an ability to grasp first-hierarchy concepts, such as that "men" and "women" are all "people."…”

“…Another way in which concepts are structured has been outlined by Welch (68,70,71). He has shown that they have both horizontal and vertical organization and that, in consequence, the same object (or relation) has different points of reference depending upon the other objects with which it is compared.…”

Developmental trends in perception and the acquisition of concepts.

“…It can be seen that abstract concepts develop in a gradual, orderly manner with age progression -as the abilities of discrimination, generalization, and memory increase. In further studies of the higher structural phases of concept formation, Welch and Long (111,112) have concluded that the development of concepts occurs in two directions: (1) vertical, in which the child moves from the names of particular objects to a first-hierarchy concept, then from two or more first-hierarchy concepts to a second-hierarchy concept, and so on;…”