Concept formation in pre-school children

The primary purpose of this study was to provide a sharper focus for evaluating a current issue in genetic psychology concerning the process of development of conceptual behavior. This issue exists because of conflicting evidence in the experimental literature. Some of this evidence indicates that conceptual development proceeds through a definite sequence of qualitatively different stages, each of each represents the unique conceptual behavior of a particular age group. Proportionately more evidence exists to indicate that conceptual development progresses in a continuous, linear fashion as a function of a number of variables. The former studies have primarily employed pre-school children, while in the latter studies the children have usually been of school age. [...]