Conjunctive, Disjunctive & Relational Concepts

A concept is a way of organising information into a mental category.

For example, if you see a bowl containing apples and bananas, you can quickly categorise that visual information into a bowl, apples and bananas.

Each of these is a concept, because it is a way we mentally organise what we see.

If we explore a concept individually such as the concept of an apple, we start to think about things which make up that concept such as the taste of the apple, its colour and its texture.

So concepts can give us both a broad overview of something when using many concepts (e.g. bowl, apple, banana), or they can give us a more detailed picture when looking at an individual concept (e.g. the attributes something possesses).

In psychology there are three main types of concepts :

• Conjunctive

• Disjunctive

• Relational

Each of these concepts can affect how we organise the information we receive from the outside world, so let’s look at them now.

Conjunctive Concept

A conjunctive concept is something that groups together individual attributes to create a whole.

For example, an apple is a conjunctive concept because an apple (the whole) is an apple because of its individual attributes such as its skin colour, shape and taste.

Positive & Negative Exemplars

As children when we begin to create mental concepts we can sometimes become confused when two different things contain similar attributes.

For example, a child who is learning the concept of a dog may incorrectly label a seal as a dog because it barks like a dog.

If the child is then told by their parent that a seal is not a dog because seals do not have legs like dogs do, the child is said to have received a negative exemplar.

A negative exemplar simply means an incorrect example, and helps to shape the correct concept of a dog in the child’s mind.

If the child were to then see a dog barking then this would be classified as a positive exemplar, because it is a correct example of a dog which again shapes the child’s concept of what dogs are.

So basically what this all means is that when we are growing up, we group together bits of information into concepts so that we can easily identify what we see.

However sometimes the concepts we create for one thing (e.g. a dog) may seem applicable to other things (e.g. a seal).

This can result in confusion and the formation of incorrect concepts (e.g. a seal is a dog because it barks like a dog).

Therefore in order to create correct concepts (e.g. a dog is a dog) we sometimes need to be exposed to positive exemplars (correct examples) and negative exemplars (incorrect examples), to “fine tune” the concept we have already formed.

Without such examples, we would continue to group similar things together even though they are completely different.

It is also worth remembering that whenever we receive a negative exemplar of something (e.g. a dog is not a seal) we also receive a positive exemplar (e.g. a seal is a seal)

Conjunctive concept = Joins together bits of information to make up a whole.

Disjunctive Concept

A disjunctive concept looks at whether individual attributes create a whole, and is therefore useful in creating a concept of something.

For example, you go to a party with a friend and your friend says they won’t drink any beer or spirits. Later you see your friend being offered a drink by someone but they refuse the drink.

As a result, you conclude that your friend was offered a beer or a spirit which is why they refused the drink.

In this example, the disjunctive concept is “drinks your friend will not drink”.

So what you have done here to create the disjunctive concept, is to use bits of information (e.g. beer & spirits) to form a concept (e.g. drinks your friend will not drink).

Disjunctive concepts are viewed in either-or terms, so that a concept is formed either because of X or Y.

Relational Concept

A relational concept looks at the connection between objects or ideas.

For example, if you work at a restaurant and someone leaves you a small tip, you may call them a “cheapskate”. But if someone leaves you a large tip, you may call them a “big spender”.

These two concepts (cheapskate & big spender) are relational because one person tips more than the other person.

Another example of a relational concept can be found within the structure of words.

For example, “really good”, “very good” and “amazingly good”, are all relational concepts because they relate to something being “good”.

Relational concept = Different concepts which are connected to a central theme.

Summary

• Concepts allow us to group information into mental categories.

• Multiple concepts can give us a broad overview of something, whilst individual concepts can give us a more detailed view of something.

• A conjunctive concept is a concept that is formed by grouping together the individual attributes of something to form a whole.

• A positive exemplar is a positive/correct example of a concept, and helps to refine the concept we currently have.

• A negative exemplar is a negative example of something, and also helps to refine the concepts we form. Negative exemplars also become positive exemplars of something else.

• A disjunctive concept is a concept made up either of x or of y.

• A relational concept revolves around a central theme with individual attributes being connected in someway to it.