Forming Concepts

The study of thinking has a long and respectable tradition in both philosophy and psychology. William James, the founding personality of  a school of psychology called functionalism, defined psychology as the science of mental life. And this is close to the commonsense view of psychology. Most people think of it in this way. It is the science of the mind; and the concept of the mind includes both our conscious awareness and our ability to think. 

Thinking is a mental process characterized by the use of symbols and concepts to represent both inner and outer reality. A symbol is a word, mark, sign, drawing, or object that stands for something else. The process of thinking about thinking is called metathought. 

A concept is a mental category. Concept is an idea that represents a class of objects or events. They are powerful tools because they allow us to think more abstractly, free from distracting details. It is a way in which we organize and simplify information. Concept formation is the process of classifying information into meaningful categories. Adults more often acquire concepts by learning or forming rules. For example, a triangle must be a closed shape with three sides made of straight lines. Rule learning is generally more efficient than examples, but examples remain important. It is unlikely that memorizing a series of rules would allow an uninitiated listener to accurately categorize punk, new wave, fusion, salsa, heavy metal, and rap music.

Concepts put the world of experience into mental boxes. There are three basic kinds of concepts: conjunctive, disjunctive and relational. A conjunctive concept strings together perceived attributes. A conjunction in grammar has the function of joining words and phrases. Similarly, a conjunctive concept joins attributes to make a perceptual whole. It refers to a class of objects having more than one feature in common. Sometimes called "and" concepts: to belong to the concept class, an item must have "this feature and this feature and this feature." For example, a motorcycle must have two wheels and an engine and handle bars. The concept of a lemon is conjunctive because to most of us a lemon is an object that has a yellow skin and an elongated shape and a somewhat sour taste.

Concepts are formed by both positive and negative exemplars. A positive exemplar is an object or an idea that fits the concept that can be contained within it. A negative exemplar is an object or an idea that does not fit the concept that cannot be contained within it. 

A disjunctive concept treats perceived attributes in either-or terms. It refers to objects that have at least one of several possible features. These are "either-or concepts." To belong, an item must have "this feature or that feature or another feature." In the game of baseball, a strike is either a swing and a miss or a pitch down the middle or a foul ball. The either-or quality of disjunctive concepts makes them difficult to learn. A relational concept treats perceived attributes in terms of some connection between objects or ideas such as ―more than, ―less than, ―bigger than, ―more beautiful than, and so forth. A concept such as ―cheapskate is a relational concept. 

Concepts have two types of meaning: denotative and connotative meaning. The denotative meaning of a word or concept is its exact definition. Connotative meaning is its emotional or personal meaning. Connotations of some one thing can differ. 

(Sumber: Reading English Text dalam perkuliah English for Psychology of Student) 

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