Practical- 4

Concept formation

Purpose

To study the process of concept formation by prompting method using a concept formation test
based on Hanfmann and Kasanin test.

Introduction

Concepts are the categorization of objects, events, or people that share common
properties. By using concepts, we are able to organize complex notions into simpler, and
therefore more easily usable forms.
Concept formation, is defined by Bruner, Goodnow, & Austin (1967) as "the search
for and listing of attributes that can be used to distinguish exemplars from non exemplars of
various categories".
While research on learning in animals has been used by some psychologists as
evidence that primates at least, if not other species, are capable of concept formation, and
computers have been programmed to process information by using and developing
classification rules, these accomplishments are all relatively impoverished compared to
human concept formation. For human beings, concept formation is essential to our life in the
complex world of interactions with not only objects but also people and abstract ideas.
Child developmentalists, such as Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, have researched the
way children form their own concepts through experience, assimilate existing concepts such
as cultural values, norms, and beliefs from adults, and further create and develop their own
concepts as they mature toward adulthood. Cognitive psychologists, like Eleanor Rosch,
have suggested that rather than a strictly logico-mathematical form of classification people
develop natural categories that are graded, involving typical examples.

Concept Formation in Humans and Animals

Concepts are (a) acquired dispositions to recognize perceived objects as being of this
kind or of that kind, and at the same time (b) to understand what this kind or that kind of
object is like, and consequently (c) to perceive a number of perceived particulars as being the
same in kind and to discriminate between them and other sensible particulars that are
different in kind.
Experiments in animal learning generally involve discrimination between stimuli
with different characteristics, say a red object rather than ones of other colors, a lightened
pathway over a darkened one, the larger of two objects, or even the different one from a
 group. Such studies have suggested to some psychologists that animals are capable of a
primitive level of concept formation.
Concepts are acquired dispositions to understand what certain kinds of objects are like both
(a) when the objects, though perceptible, are not actually perceived, and (b) also when they
are not perceptible at all, as is the case with all the conceptual constructs we employ in
physics, mathematics, and metaphysics.
Images, concepts, and symbols are the basic units of thought. Images are picture-like
mental representations. Seeing something in our "mind's eye" is similar to seeing real objects.
Information from the eyes normally activates the brain's primary visual area, creating an
image. Other brain areas help us recognize the image by relating it to store knowledge. When
we form a mental image, the system works in reverse. Brain areas where memories are stored
send signals back to the visual cortex, where once again, an image is created. For example, if
we visualize a friend's face, the area of our brain that specializes in perceiving faces will
become more active.
Though visual imagery is dominant in our everyday life, images do not have to be
only visual. They can also be auditory and even olfactory (involving the sense of smell).
According to the data of cognitive psychology, ninety-seven percent of people have visual
images, ninety-two percent have auditory images, and fifty percent have imagery for
movements, touch, and smell.
Types of Concepts

Three types of concepts are differentiated: Conjunctive, rational, and disjunctive.

Conjunctive concepts are defined by the presence of at least two features, which
means that a conjunctive concept is a class of objects that have two or more common
features.
Rational concept is defined by the relationship between the features of an object or
between an object and its surroundings. This means that rational concepts are based on how
an object relates to something else, or how its features relate to one another.
Disjunctive concepts are either/or they have at least one of several possible features.
Disjunctive concepts are defined by the presence of at least one of several possible features.
Types of Concept Formation

Direct Experience is the first step of concept formation, in which the learner
develops concept through direct experience with the particular objects/ person/ events. It is
developed through the early childhood onwards. For example, the concept about cows.
Indirect Experience is where the learner develops the concept through pictures,
reading descriptions, photos and hearing from others. For example, the concept of kangaroos.
 Faulty concepts are the concepts or ideas we have about the object, persons or events,
are not always adequate and accurate. Small children have so many concepts that are quite
erroneous and inadequate. For example, one anxiety over the crossing of his way by a cat or
one’s feelings of hatred towards the person belonging to the other caste or religion is the
result of faulty concepts. Faulty concepts should not be allowed to develop in children.

Methods of learning a concept

1. Discovery – Every baby discovers concepts for itself, such as discovering that each of
its fingers can be individually controlled or that caregivers are individuals. Although
this is perception driven, formation of the concept is more than memorizing
perceptions.
2. Examples – Supervised or unsupervised generalizing from examples may lead to
learning a new concept, but concept formation is more than generalizing from
examples.
3. Words – Hearing or reading new words leads to learning new concepts, but forming a
new concept is more than learning a dictionary definition. A person may have
previously formed a new concept before encountering the word or phrase for it.
4. Exemplars comparison and contrast – An efficient way to learn new categories and
to induce new categorization rules is by comparing a few example objects while being
informed about their categorical relation. Comparing two exemplars while being
informed that the two are from the same category allows identifying the attributes
shared by the category members, as it exemplifies variability within this category. On
the other hand, contrasting two exemplars while being informed that the two are from
different categories may allow identifying attributes with diagnostic value. Within
category comparison and between categories contrast are not similarly useful for
category learning, and the capacity to use these two forms of comparison-based
learning changes at childhood.
5. Invention – When prehistoric people who lacked tools used their fingernails to scrape
food from killed animals or smashed melons, they noticed that a broken stone
sometimes had a sharp edge like a fingernail and was therefore suitable for scraping
food. Inventing a stone tool to avoid broken fingernails was a new concept
Theories of concept formation

Theories of concepts and concept formation are those which try to understand and
explain the principles and ways concepts are formed and how the thinking process as a whole
develops.

1. The Classical View

The classical Aristotelian view claims that categories are discrete entities
characterized by a set of properties which are shared by their members. These are
assumed to establish the conditions which are both necessary and sufficient to capture
meaning.

According to the classical view, categories should be clearly defined,

mutually exclusive, and collectively exhaustive. This way, any entity of the given
classification—universe belongs unequivocally to one and only one of the proposed
categories.

2. Ayn Rand’s Formulation

The first step in concept formation, called differentiation, is to isolate two or
more things as belonging together, as units of the same class. Where many theories
of concept formation hold that such isolation begins by noticing degrees of
similarity, Ayn Rand's Objectivism holds that it starts by noticing degrees of
differences. In psychology, particularly studies of animal learning, this process is
known as discrimination.

Ayn Rand defines similarity as: "the relationship between two or more existents
which possess the same characteristic(s), but in different measure or degree."
Similarity is a matter of measurement.

The second step of concept formation, integration, is based on a process Ayn

Rand called measurement omission. In this step, we combine or integrate the units
into a new, single mental unit by eliding the quantitative differences between the two
units. We retain the characteristics of the units, but we elide the particular
measurements-on
the principle that these measurements must exist in some quantity, but may exist in any
quantity.

3. Cognitive science: Prototype theory

The prototype view of concept learning holds that people abstract out the
central tendency (or prototype) of the examples experienced and use this as a basis
for their categorization decisions.

The prototype view of concept learning holds that people categorize based on
one or more central examples of a given category followed by a penumbra of
decreasingly typical examples. This implies that people do not categorize based on a
list of things that all correspond to a definition, but rather on a hierarchical inventory
based on semantic similarity to the central example(s).

Hypotheses:

1. Time Taken in the test progressively decreases as the combined concept of the size and height
is formed.

2. Number of errors committed in sorting the blocks progressively decreases as the combined
concept of size and height is formed.

Method

Materials required: the concept formation test which consists of 22 blocks differing in colour,
height, size and shape; writing materials and data sheet.

Subject details:

Name: JJ

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Educational qualifications: Undergraduate

Preliminary setup:

 The blocks are properly mixed before starting the test.

 The blocks are kept so that the subject is not able to see the number written below them
 the order of presentation is changed for each trial systematically.
 There should be no disturbance when the subject takes the test.

Procedure:

The subject is seated comfortably. The experimenter takes out all the twenty- two blocks
from the box and keeps them on the table in a mixed order in front of the subject.

The experimenter should take care to see that the numbers printed below each block is
not visible to the subject. He should have a stopwatch and a pencil to note the time and errors on
the data sheet. Instructions are given to the subject to select the blocks, which form a set with the
sample block shown by the experimenter.

The subject selects the block and the experimenter sees the number written below. If it is
the right block, he allows the subject to select the next block, but if it is a wrong block, the
experimenter indicates the error and allows the subject to go on with the experiment. If the
subject selects the wrong block, it is an error and the experimenter notes it down. The subject is
thus prompted whenever he/she makes a mistake. This procedure is followed in an effort to get
the subject to learn the proper grouping of each block the time taken to complete the set and
errors committed are noted down.

When the subject succeeds in selecting all the blocks of a group, the experimenter mixes
these blocks with the remaining blocks and shows a sample block of another group, say set 3,
and asks the subject to find those blocks which fall in this group, using the same procedure as the
last test. The same procedure is followed by the experimenter for the remaining two groups.

Successful sorting of all the four groups constitutes one trial. In the second trial, the order
of presentation of the set is changed. The following counter balancing order is adopted.

Trial 1: set 1, 3, 2, 4
2: set 3, 2, 4, 1
 3: set 2, 4, 1, 3
4: set 4, 1, 3, 2
5: set 1, 4, 3, 2

Precautions taken

1. The experimenter should make sure that the subject has understood the instructions.
2. The subject should easily understand and comprehend the content of the scale.
3. The subject must meet the requirements of age, language and educational qualifications
needed for the experiment.

Results:

TRAIL 1 TIME (S) NO. OF ERRORS

Set 1 15 0

Set 3 20 0

Set 2 12 0

Set 4 17 1

TRAIL 2 TIME (S) NO. OF ERRORS

Set 3 22 0

Set 2 26 0

Set 4 10 0

Set 1 10 0
 TRAIL 3 TIME (S) NO. OF ERRORS

Set 2 15 0

Set 4 20 0

Set 1 13 0

Set 3 20 0

TRAIL 4 TIME (S) NO. OF ERRORS

Set 4 20 0

Set 1 10 0

Set 3 10 0

Set 2 12 0

Interpretation

The time taken and the number of errors both progressively decrease as the subject
slowly starts forming the concept. Hence the hypotheses is correct.