Concept development requires discrimination between stimulus classes and generalization between stimulus classes.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Not sure
• D. Some

Answer: (A)

Concept development involves learning to categorize stimuli by a defining feature and then applying that categorization to new items. This requires discrimination between stimulus classes—being able to tell which stimuli belong to the target category and which do not. It also requires generalization to new exemplars within the target class, so the learner responds correctly to novel items that fit the category even if they haven’t seen them before. For example, teaching the concept of “square” means the learner can distinguish squares from circles or triangles (discrimination) and also identify new square shapes that weren’t shown during training (generalization). Because both identifying the correct category and extending that understanding to new examples are essential, the statement is true.