CHAPTER 7
Conceptual Development
, JOHN GEORGE BROWN (1813–1913), The Little Joker (oil on canvas)
Understanding Who or What
Understanding Why, Where, When, and How Many
THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
Shawna, an 8-month-old, crawls into her 7-year-old brother’s
bedroom. The room contains many objects, among them a bed, a
dresser, a dog, a puck, a hockey stick, books, magazines, shoes, and
dirty socks. To her older brother, the room includes furniture,
clothing, reading material, and sports equipment. But what does the
room look like to Shawna?
Infants lack concepts of furniture, reading material, and sports
equipment. They also lack more specific concepts such as hockey
sticks and books. Thus, Shawna does not understand the scene in the
same way as her older brother. However, without knowledge of child
development research, an observer would not know whether a baby
as young as Shawna has formed other concepts relevant to
understanding the scene. Has she formed concepts of living and
,nonliving things that help her understand why the dog runs around
but the books never do? Has she formed concepts of heavier and
lighter that allow her to understand why she could pick up a sock but
not a dresser? Has she formed concepts of before and after that allow
her to understand that her brother always puts on his socks before his
shoes rather than in the opposite order? Or is it all a jumble to her?
What does this infant see when he looks at this room?
As this imaginary scene indicates, concepts are crucial for people to
make sense of the world. But what exactly are concepts, and how do
they help us understand the world?
Concepts are general ideas that organize objects, events, qualities, or
, relations on the basis of some similarity. There are infinite possible
concepts because there are infinite ways in which objects or events
can be similar. For example, objects can have similar shapes (all
soccer fields are rectangular), materials (all diamonds are made of
compressed carbon), sizes (all skyscrapers are tall), tastes (all lemons
are sour), colours (all colas are brown), functions (all knives are for
cutting), and so on.
concepts
general ideas or understandings that can be used to group together objects, events,
qualities, or abstractions that are similar in some way
Concepts help us understand the world and act effectively in it by
allowing us to generalize from prior experience. If we like the taste of
one carrot, we probably will like the taste of others. Concepts also tell
us how to react emotionally to new experiences, as when we fear all
dogs after being bitten by one. Life without concepts would be
unthinkable: every situation would be new, and we would have no
idea what past experience would be relevant in a new situation.
Several themes are especially prominent in research on conceptual
development. One is nature and nurture: children’s concepts reflect
the interaction between their specific experiences and their
biological predispositions to process information in particular ways.
Another recurring theme is the active child: from infancy onward,
many of children’s concepts reflect their active attempts to make
sense of the world. A third major theme is how change occurs:
Conceptual Development
, JOHN GEORGE BROWN (1813–1913), The Little Joker (oil on canvas)
Understanding Who or What
Understanding Why, Where, When, and How Many
THEMES
NATURE AND NURTURE
THE ACTIVE CHILD
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT
Shawna, an 8-month-old, crawls into her 7-year-old brother’s
bedroom. The room contains many objects, among them a bed, a
dresser, a dog, a puck, a hockey stick, books, magazines, shoes, and
dirty socks. To her older brother, the room includes furniture,
clothing, reading material, and sports equipment. But what does the
room look like to Shawna?
Infants lack concepts of furniture, reading material, and sports
equipment. They also lack more specific concepts such as hockey
sticks and books. Thus, Shawna does not understand the scene in the
same way as her older brother. However, without knowledge of child
development research, an observer would not know whether a baby
as young as Shawna has formed other concepts relevant to
understanding the scene. Has she formed concepts of living and
,nonliving things that help her understand why the dog runs around
but the books never do? Has she formed concepts of heavier and
lighter that allow her to understand why she could pick up a sock but
not a dresser? Has she formed concepts of before and after that allow
her to understand that her brother always puts on his socks before his
shoes rather than in the opposite order? Or is it all a jumble to her?
What does this infant see when he looks at this room?
As this imaginary scene indicates, concepts are crucial for people to
make sense of the world. But what exactly are concepts, and how do
they help us understand the world?
Concepts are general ideas that organize objects, events, qualities, or
, relations on the basis of some similarity. There are infinite possible
concepts because there are infinite ways in which objects or events
can be similar. For example, objects can have similar shapes (all
soccer fields are rectangular), materials (all diamonds are made of
compressed carbon), sizes (all skyscrapers are tall), tastes (all lemons
are sour), colours (all colas are brown), functions (all knives are for
cutting), and so on.
concepts
general ideas or understandings that can be used to group together objects, events,
qualities, or abstractions that are similar in some way
Concepts help us understand the world and act effectively in it by
allowing us to generalize from prior experience. If we like the taste of
one carrot, we probably will like the taste of others. Concepts also tell
us how to react emotionally to new experiences, as when we fear all
dogs after being bitten by one. Life without concepts would be
unthinkable: every situation would be new, and we would have no
idea what past experience would be relevant in a new situation.
Several themes are especially prominent in research on conceptual
development. One is nature and nurture: children’s concepts reflect
the interaction between their specific experiences and their
biological predispositions to process information in particular ways.
Another recurring theme is the active child: from infancy onward,
many of children’s concepts reflect their active attempts to make
sense of the world. A third major theme is how change occurs:
