Concept Attainment - Part 1 YouTube Lecture Handouts

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Concepts: Simultaneous & Successive Scanning, Conservative Focusing & Focus Gambling

  • Concepts are part of thinking
  • Learning concept is like problem solving – we must think in order to learn concepts
  • Concept cannot be formed by seeing a single instance – red toy box (red can be toy or box or apple …)
  • Person must see many examples before confirming or denying a hypothesis about concept
  • Concept learning (simple or complex) is slow process

3 Elements of Concepts

  • Examples (positive and negative) which contain all the characteristic features or essential attributes in them
  • Attributes (essential and non-essential) are the features of objects. Essential attributes are the common features of the concepts
  • Attribute value is the specific content of that category

Types of Concepts

  • Conjunctive concepts are defined by the joint presence of several attributes.
  • Disjunctive concepts require the presence of some attributes and the absence of others.
  • Relational concepts have several attributes, but these bear some kind of relationship to one another
Illustration: Types of Concepts
  • 81 cards
Table of Features and 3 Values for Each featureTable of Features and 3 Values for Each Feature
Features3 values for each feature
Borders1 to 3
ShapesCircle, Cross, Square
Number of Objects1 to 3
ColorRed, Green, Black
  • Can create 255 hypothesis
  • Conjunctive concepts – joint presence of two or more features (zebra as mammal – of size and shape of horse found in wild)

4 Strategies for Concept Attainment

Simultaneous Scanning

  • Subject rationally uses information to eliminate several hypotheses and rationally thinks that remaining hypotheses can be true.
  • Eliminate all but correct hypothesis and leaves subjects with fewest choices.
  • Requires better reasoning and memory of positive and negative instances
  • Does not provide way to control the riskiness of choices
  • All red cards, all cards with circles and all red circles
Illustration: Simultaneous Scanning

✍ Manishika