Discuss concept formation; differentiate the three types of concepts and give an example of each; describe the use of prototypes in concept identification; and explain the difference between the denotative and the connotative meanings of words and concepts and the use of semantic differential.

What will be an ideal response?

Concept formation is the process of classifying information into meaningful categories. At its most basic, concept formation is based on experience with positive and negative instances (examples that belong, or do not belong, to the concept class). As adults, we often acquire concepts by learning or forming conceptual rules, guidelines for deciding whether objects or events belong to a concept class. For example, a triangle must be a closed shape with three sides made of straight lines. Rules are an efficient way to learn concepts, but examples remain important. Students will also provide a description and example of each of the three types of concepts: conjunctive, relational, and disjunctive, with examples varying but meeting the criteria to be a particular type of concept. Conjunctive concepts, or "and concepts," are defined by the presence of two or more features. An item must have "this feature and this feature and this feature." For example, a motorcycle must have two wheels and an engine and handlebars. Relational concepts are based on how an object is related to something else, or how its features relate to one another. All of the following are relational concepts: larger, above, left, north, and upside down. Another example is sister, which is defined as "a female considered in her relation to another person as having the same parents." Disjunctive concepts have at least one of several possible features. These are "either/or" concepts. To belong to the category, an item must have "this feature or that feature or another feature." For example, in baseball, a strike is either a swing and a miss or a pitch over the plate with no attempt, or a foul ball. The either/or quality of disjunctive concepts make them hard to learn. In addition to rules and features, we use prototypes, or ideal models, to identify concepts. A robin, for example, is a prototypical bird; an ostrich is not. In other words, some items are better examples of a concept than others are. It's hard to identify concepts when we can't come up with relevant prototypes. Generally speaking, concepts have two types of meaning. The denotative meaning of words or concepts is their exact definition. The connotative meaning is their emotional or personal meaning.
Connotative meaning can be measured with a rating scale technique called the semantic differential. When we rate words or concepts, most of their connotative meaning boils down to the dimensions good/bad, strong/weak, and active/passive. These dimensions give words very different connotations, even when their denotative meanings are similar. Connotative differences can influence how we think about issues. The arts of political spin and propaganda often amount to manipulating connotations.