CONCEPT may be defined as a thought or an idea. In philosophical terms a concept is an idea that includes everything characteristically associated with or suggested by a class of logical species. The history of philosophy has been characterized by the conflict over the nature of reality: is the general idea or the particular object more real? The conceptualist school held that universals—ideas held everywhere to be valid—have real existence only in the mind, where they exist as concepts uniting individual things. See CONCEPTUALISM.

概念可以被定义为一种思维或一种理念。在哲学术语中概念是一种理念，它包括与一类逻辑种类相关的或暗示的一切典型事物。哲学的历史一直是以对实现本质的冲突为特征的：到底是一般理念真实，还是特定的物体更为真实？概念论学派认为，一般概念---被认为在任何地方都是有效的理念---只在头脑中真实地存在，在头脑中，它们作为统一个体事物的概念而存在。可参阅概念论词条。

In psychology, the problem of defining reality—whether as the group of objects, the quality they share in common, or their unifying concept—has lost much of its relevance. The significance of understanding what a concept is lies, rather in its relation to the learning process. For the psychologist, a concept is knowledge not directly perceived through the senses, but which results from the manipulation of sensory IMPRESSIONS. It includes in it the isolation of a property and its application to several different objects. The general idea or ideas used for a group of objects is a concept; the process by which a person comes to give the same response to all those objects that share certain common qualities is called concept formation.

在心理学中，定义现实问题---无论是一组物体，它们共有的性质，还是它们统一的概念---已经失去了许多它们的相关性。了解一个概念的意义确切地说在于它与学习过程的关系。对心理学家来说，一个概念并不是通过感官直接感知的知识，而是来自对感觉印象处理的结果。它包括对其中各种不同物体的属性和其应用的隔离。一般理念或用于一组物体的理念就是一个概念；一个人会对拥有某些共同特性的所有这些物体给予相同反应的这个过程被称为概念形成。

Concept Formation.  Among the most notable researches into the nature of the process of concept formation is the work of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget starting in the 1920’s. By applying techniques of naturalistic research and extensive interviews with children of all ages, Piaget ascertained four stages in the formation of a concept.

概念形成。在对概念形成过程本质的研究中，最著名的是20世纪20年代开始的瑞士心理学家让·皮亚杰的工作。通过运用自然主义研究的技巧和对所有年龄段孩子的大量采访，皮亚杰确定了概念形成中的四个阶段。

In the first stage, the child demonstrates his ability to discriminate objects by his characteristic reactions to particular objects. These first “pre-concepts” are action-ridden, imagistic, and concrete. All members of a particular class of objects are seen as reappearances of the same member of that class. In the second stage, the child employs words to stand for particular objects but cannot yet use them to represent whole classes. In the third stage, the child responds symbolically to an entire class of objects but is unable to give an adequate explanation of the rationale for his concept. Finally, in the last stage, the child is able to give an acceptable definition of his concept.

第一个阶段，孩子凭借他对特定物体的独特反应展示了他区别物体的能力。这些最初的“前概念”是行动驱使的，形象的和具体的。一个对象特定类的所有成员被认为是那个类级相同成员的重现。在第二阶段，孩子使用词语来代表特定的物体，但还不能使用它们来代表整个类别。在第三阶段，孩子象征性地对整个物体类别给予反应，但不能对他的概念原理给予适当的解释。最终，在最后阶段，孩子可以对他的概念给予一种可接受的定义。

It is clear that while some concepts are grasped early in life, others are not grasped until much later. The factors involved here include the complexity of the concept and the degree of abstraction required. Research by other psychologists has demonstrated that even adults learn new concepts without first being able to give adequate verbal EXPRESSION to their rationale, thus providing empirical verification for some of Piaget’s work.

很显然，虽然一些概念是在生命的早期就已掌握，但其它一些概念直到很久以后才能掌握。在此涉及的因素包括概念的复杂性和需要抽象的程度。其他心理学家的研究证明，即使是成年人学习新概念时，一开始也无法对它们的逻辑依据给予适当的口头表达，因此，这为皮亚杰的一些工作提供了经验证实。

A critical study by the American psychologist Edna Heidbreder indicates that concepts involving concrete objects are more readily learned than those involving spatial forms or abstract numbers. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that even lower animals are capable of rudimentary concept formation in concrete situations. For example, rats have been trained to respond to triangular shapes in preference to other shapes in a discrimination task. A related line of research indicates that injury to the frontal lobe of the cortex will impede the development of abstract concepts, but has less effect on an individual’s ability to deal concretely with particular object.

美国心理学家埃德娜·海德布雷德的一项批判性研究表明，涉及具体物体的那些概念相比涉及空间形式或抽象数字的那些概念更易学习。的确，已得到证实，即使是低等动物也能够在具体的情境中形成基本的概念。例如，经过训练的老鼠在辨别任务中对三角形的反应要优先于其它的形状。一项相关的研究方向表明，对大脑皮层额叶的损伤会阻碍抽象概念的发展，但对个体具体处理特定对象的能力影响不大。

These facts have been utilized in the development of psychological tests for the detection and diagnosis of brain damage. An example is the “object sorting test.” The subject is instructed to group the objects on the basis of some common characteristic. The objects can be grouped on fairly concrete grounds, such as color or use, or higher levels of abstraction may be used to categorize them. Normal adults are quite capable of categorizing on both levels, but children, brain-damaged adults, and schizophrenics usually deal with the objects only in very concrete ways. In fact, once many brain-damaged patients have settled on a particular means of organizing the material, they find it difficult if not impossible to shift to a new mode. Additional research findings tend to support clinical evidence for the notion of regressive deterioration in the thinking processes of brain-damaged and schizophrenic patients.

这些事实已应用于检测和诊断脑损伤心理学测试的开发中。“物体排序测试”就是一个例证。实验对象按指示根据某些共同的特征将物体进行分组。这些物体可以根据相当具体的理由进行分组，例如颜色或用途，或可以用更高的抽象层面来对它们进行分类。正常的成年人完全能在两个层面进行分类，但孩子们，脑损伤的成年人以及精神分裂症的患者通常只能以非常具体的方式处理这些物体。实际上，许多脑损伤的患者对组织材料一旦确定了特定的方式，他们发现，要转换到一种新的模式即使并非不可能，也是很困难的。另外的研究发现也倾向于支持脑损伤患者和精神分裂症患者的思维过程退步恶化概念的临床证据。

Creativity in concept Formation.  Many contemporary learning theorists and educators view the process of concept formation in a new light, as evidence of creativity. Most of the concepts that people learn and use are those they cull from the culture in which they are brought up. The individual does not invent them. Rather, he acquires them in his interactions with others. The invention of new concepts is far more difficult, and it is here, in the ability to formulate novel combinations not previously considered, that creativity plays a critical role.

概念形成中的创造力。许多当代的学习理论家和教育家用一种新的眼光将概念形成的过程视为创造力的证据。人们学习和使用的大多数概念都是从他们成长的文化中挑选出来的。个体并没有创造它们。相反，他是在与他人的交往中获得的。创造新概念要困难得多，而正是在这点上，在形成以前未考虑的新组合的能力方面，那种创造力起到了至关重要的作用。

There are several general classes of concept, and it is clear that some require more creativity in their formulation than others. The first type is the conjunctive concept, in which is found the joint presence of several attributes, as in the concept of red circles. A second general type is the disjunctive concept, in which there must be at least one of several possible attributes present for an object to be considered part of a class, as any organization having as its membership requirement such different contingencies as “anyone who lives or pays taxes in this district”. This is a difficult type because of the lack of apparent relation between attributes that can be substituted for each other. A third type is the relational concept, defined as any specifiable relationship between the defining variables. Thus income tax brackets are defined in terms of the relationship between number of dependents and level of income. It is in his third class that there is the greatest need for creativity and the most potential for the development of concept formation.

关于概念，存在着几种一般的分类，而且很明显，一些概念在它们的阐述方法上相比其它概念需要更多的创造力。第一种类型是合取概念，在这种概念中我们发现了几种属性的共存，如红圈的概念。第二种一般类型是析取概念，其中一个物体必须有至少几种可能的属性才能被认为是一个类别的一部分，就像任何有其成员的组织要求“任何在该区域生活或纳税的人”这类不同的事件。这是一种困难的类型，因为在属性之间缺乏可以相互代替的明显联系。第三种类型是关系概念，被定义为定义变量之间任何可指定的关系。因此，所得税等级是根据抚养人数和收入水平之间的关系界定的。在其第三种类别中，存在着最大的创造力需求，而且对概念形成的发展最具潜力。

It seems evident that the old philosophical debate about the concept as a universal is irrelevant, and the answer, if there is one, to the question of where reality resides will be of no apparent practical value in helping us to better understand our world. For in operational terms, concepts are networks of relational inferences that may be sent into play by an act of categorization. Here, it seems, is the next fruitful direction for theoretical consideration and empirical investigation. See also COGNITION; LEARNING; PSYCHOLOGY.

似乎很明显，概念作为一种普遍原则的古老哲学辩论是无关紧要的，而答案是，如果存在的话，对于现实存在于何处的疑问，在帮助我们更好地理解我们的世界方面并没有明显的实用价值。因为，在操作的术语方面，概念是可以通过分类行为来发挥作用的关系推理网络。这里，它似乎是下一个富有成效的理论思考和实证调查的方向。也可参阅认知；学习；心理学词条。

                                              MICHAEL G. ROTHENBERG

                                                 Columbia University

                                                麦克尔·G. 罗腾贝格

                                                  哥伦比亚大学

                                                2022年6月23日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第7卷，第500页至501页）