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The article presents an elaboration of the paper of Barbel Inhelder on some aspects of Jean Piaget's genetic approach to cognition. The paper of Inhelder concentrated on the idea of reversibility which in her view is one of the most important marks of thought operations in the formal and concrete stages of thinking. Inhelder elaborated on the two forms of reversibility which are negation and reciprocity. According to her, inversion infers that displacements in one direction can be set aside by displacements in another direction.

This article discusses the concepts of social status and social structure. It is the specific purpose of this essay to examine the interrelation between value-judgment and empirical research with regard to the analysis of social stratification. Discussions of different theories of class are often academic substitutes for a real conflict over political orientations. This ideological involvement of the social scientists who deal with social class may be responsible for the methodological confusion which prevails in this field. As yet there is little discussion of class as an abstraction and of the different theories of class as different abstractions depending on the purpose for which the research is undertaken. In analysing the implications of studies of class structure, this paper shall take examples from the analysis of social class which Professor W. Lloyd Warner and his associates. But the objective in this discussion of the Warner researches is not to add another critical appraisal. This paper is concerned with evaluating his findings for a broader understanding of social class in American society. The basic concern here is to re-analyse the data which he and others have made available. This article presents an analysis of social class and gives a comparison between the economic and subjective aspects of class, defines class as an abstraction, presents a distinction between scientific analysis and popular opinions, an index of social class and status reputation in metropolitan areas.

The article presents a paper on some aspects of Jean Piaget's genetic approach to cognition by Barbel Inhelder. The development of knowledge appears to be the outcome of a process of elaboration that is based basically on the activity of the child. Two activity types can be differentiated, namely logico-mathematical and physical activities. The logico-mathematical type of activity brings together, dissociates, orders, and counts. The physical type of activity extracts information from objects, such as weight, color and form.

The article presents information about a study of the reliability of an alternate form for the Shipley-Hartford abstraction scale. The purpose of this paper is to report on an alternate form of the Shipley-Hartford Scale, which, it is hoped, will measure reliably the same abilities, as does the original form, thus providing the clinician with another useful, comparative tool with which to work. The Shipley-Hartford Scale has been found useful for obtaining a quick estimate of present intellectual functioning, and for detecting impairment in mental efficiency. The total scale consists of a vocabulary test of forty items and an abstraction test of twenty items, each having a ten-minute time limit. The vocabulary score is merely the number of correct responses for the forty items plus one point for each four items not tried.

Subjects (four groups of 20 Zambian women of little schooling) were used in all four possible combinations of two kinds of stimuli (toys and their photographs) and two response arrays (toys and their photographs). Under all conditions the subjects were given a stimulus (a photograph or a toy) and were required to identify the corresponding stimulus in an array. The results suggest that apart from the previously reported difficulties in handling of pictorial material additional difficulties arise when subjects are required to translate from one level of abstraction into another (photographs into toys and vice versa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general philosophical analysis of measurement is proposed, using the concept of a theoretical domain. A theoretical domain consists of units of analysis, environments within which the theory is supposed to hold, a substantive focus described by a set of concepts, and a set of functional forms of relations between concepts. A spanning set of concepts for a domain is a set in which all the relations of a domain can be stated. A causal locus in a domain is a set of variables which occupy the same place in all statements of laws within the domain. The problem of measurements is to find observable variables which occupy all the distinct casual loci of a domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the use of scientific terms in the language of depth psychology that rarely attains the level of abstraction. Psychopathological description of a disease; Recognition of the similarities in the constellations of conflicts; Comparison of the psychopathology of a hyperkinetic heart syndrome from cardiac neurosis; Types of Jungian psychology.

Discusses the use of verbal mediators in concept formation by children with mental disabilities at different intelligence levels. Difficulties experienced by mentally disabled children to report similarities among stimulus words without using abstraction; Effect of stimulus predifferentiation on subsequent conceptual tasks; Correlation between conceptual performance and the presence of mediating responses among mentally disabled children.

The issue of generality versus separability of alienation constructs is examined through re-analysis of alienation data, utilizing alternative procedures for factor analysis. By certain factorial criteria, the generality of alienation is suggested as an abstract concept tying together common elements of the lower-order constructs. By other factorial criteria, the separability of alienation constructs is indicated. Results denoting both uni- and multidimensionality are not contradictory if they derive from variant orders of abstraction. Implications of the proliferation of conceptual schemes and modes of data analysis in alienation research are reviewed in light of the dimensionality problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses certain issues concerning laboratory experiments. Sociologists have been skeptical about the possibilities of laboratory experimentation as a method in sociological studies. The establishment of the validity of laboratory replicas of concepts has been more difficult in practice as compared to the validation of methods used in field studies. The skilled use of laboratory experiments is stated to result in presenting the findings with a higher degree of confidence than in the case of field studies. Laboratory experimentation requires a higher level of abstraction.

The overall purpose of the total investigation was to determine if training in the use of abstractions, listening comprehension, and extra practice improved attainment by means of instruction designed to promote creative problem solving. Thirty filth-grade classes were assigned randomly to five treatment groups—three with a basic program in problem solving, yet with three varying additions: (1) an emphasis on abstract thinking, (2) an emphasis on development of listening skill, and (3) extra practice in problem solving. The two control groups were distinguished by presence or absence of pretests and a specific program consisting of state adopted materials. Children were given a battery of 12 pretests and (23 weeks later) postests. Experimental groups scored significantly higher than control groups according to Scheffé tests. The consistency and direction of the results appeared to indicate transfer of a trained subskill of abstract thinking mainly to performance on measures of problem solving, and of reading, especially for the low IQ level. It was implied that all three treatments may contribute to acquisition of language/thinking skills as hierarchies become sufficiently operational and modular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the boundaries of theoretical abstraction or the content of appropriate scientific analysis given the practical intent to design economic changes. Difference between engineering design and economic design; Emphasis on abstraction from politics; Information on the Seven Year Plan.

The article specifies the need for an activity-centered science program for elementary science education in the United States. Apparently, existing general science programs have become a superficial smattering of unarticulated topics, that is, it has become too general. One of the basic advantages of the doing approach or activity-centered program is its variety for individual differences of ability. More significantly, the guided activities permit tangible evidence of difficult abstractions, leading to increased comprehension and physical evidence.

The article cites a study that aims to present and to illustrate a general approach to the study and the improvement of a group of children's scientific concept development in the U.S. The study also intends to describe and analyze what was learned about the scientific concept development of a group of 29 children through a study of their percepts, interpretations, and problem solving. And the children studied were 10 to 12 years of age, and of superior intelligence. Concept development is essential to effective thinking and learning. Because concept development is so intricately related to children's total development, teachers and parents need to know and understand more about it.

The article investigates the effect of science inquiry on the abstract categorization behavior of deaf children. Categorization is a basic cognitive process and through the categorization process, equivalent qualities of diverse stimuli are perceived. The development of formal thought is the goal of the education of the deaf. The results of the analysis demonstrate a significant change in the level of categorization used by the deaf children in the experimental group. It indicates that sensory experiences may be the critical factor in the development of categorization.

Common to the concepts of balance, congruity, and dissonance is the notion that thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior tend to organize themselves in meaningful and sensible ways. In the respect, people who live in glass houses apparently do not throw stones, the concept of consistency underscores and presumes human rationality. It holds that behavior and attitudes are not only consistent to the objective observer, but that individuals try to appear consistent to themselves. It assumes that inconsistency is a noxious state setting up pressures to eliminate it or reduce it. The concepts of consistency are not novel. Nor are they indigenous to the study of attitudes, behavior, or personality. These concepts have appeared in various forms in almost all sciences. It has been argued by some that it is the existence of consistencies in the universe that made science possible, and by others that consistencies in the universe are a proof of divine power. There is, of course, a question of whether consistencies are real or mere products of ingenious abstraction and conceptualization. For it would be entirely possible to categorize natural phenomena in such a haphazard way that instead of order, unity, and consistency, one would see a picture of utter chaos. If one of the spatial dimensions were to be eliminated from the conception of the physical world, the known consistencies and the consistencies which allow human to make reliable predictions would be vastly depleted. The concept of consistency in man is, then, a special case of the concept of universal consistency. The fascination with this concept led some psychologists to rather extreme positions.

Focuses on the influence of consciousness of abstracting on modern literary thought. Significance of the consciousness of abstracting in modern criticism and poetry; Analysis of work of Henri Bergson in context of modern literary movement; Important emphases of modern criticism which relate to the consciousness of abstracting.

The article discusses the information processing theory of intellectual development to Jean Piaget's concepts on child development. It proposes an interpretation of Piaget's operational structures in terms of information processing and uses the information-processing theory to look into the concept of stages of development. The hypothesis is that if one succeeds in looking for an objective referent for the operational structures of Piaget, this referent will include some of the general features of the procedures and plans for storing information that children acquire in the performance of intellective functions.

Focuses on various dimensions associated with the term meaning. Relationship between symbols and their concepts in the iconicity/arbitrariness dimension; Characteristic of the concept in conventionality/idiosyncrasy dimension; Correlation between level of abstraction and difficulty of decoding.

The article presents a method for assessing the saliency level of areas in a person's current life situation. The concept of saliency has a long history in psychology, and a variety of definitions of it have appeared over the years. In addition, it appears to be only one of a number of constructs that are now seen as similar abstract equivalents. Because high level abstractions such as motivation, purpose, saliency, etc., are difficult to research, investigators appear to be abandoning them in favor of more specific terminology.

This article focuses on the correlation between the Raven Progressive Matrices Scale and the Shipley Institute of Living Scale. The two tests were compared with respect to mental deterioration, socio-economic status, diagnosis and age. Comparisons were made between the total number of correct answers on the Matrices with the following scores of the Shipley such as total mental age, abstraction age, vocabulary age, and conceptual quotient. In comparing the two scales, attention was drawn to the following variables: mental deterioration, socio-economic status, diagnosis, and age. Results indicated substantial correlation between the two scales, but they were not sufficiently similar to be interchangeable.