This commentary is derived from the five empirical articles that appeared in the April 2017 special issue on student engagement (Liem & Chong, 2017). Drawing on others' critiques of engagement theory and research, and with full appreciation for theoretical and disciplinary diversity, I provide a high altitude, inclusive perspective of each…

Humans can learn to organize many kinds of domains into categories, including real-world domains such as kinsfolk and synthetic domains such as sets of geometric figures that vary along several dimensions. Psychologists have studied many individual domains in detail, but there have been few attempts to characterize or explore the full space of…

This article responds to an article by A. Gupta, D. Hammer, and E. F. Redish (2010) that asserts that M. T. H. Chi's (1992, 2005) hypothesis of an "ontological commitment" in conceptual development is fundamentally flawed. In this article, I argue that Chi's theoretical perspective is still very much intact and that the critique offered by Gupta…

A functional class refers to a circumstance in which responding is controlled by features of stimuli that are common to all the class members. We argue that behavior with respect to conceptual stimuli entails more than discrimination among classes and generalization within classes. We suggest that an analysis of substitution of stimulus functions…

Comments on an article by Rips et al. L. J. Rips, S. Blok, and G. Newman (2006) proposed that singular concepts, which support the tracing of individual objects across their existence, are governed by a principle of causal continuity. They purported to show that causal continuity is better than existing theories at explaining judgments of the…

Responds to comments made by Rhemtulla and Xu on the current authors' original paper Concepts of individual objects (e.g., a favorite chair or pet) include knowledge that allows people to identify these objects, sometimes after long stretches of time. In an earlier article, the authors set out experimental findings and mathematical modeling to…

Notes that many psychological theories assume things belong in the same category because of their similarity. Recounts several arguments claiming, however, that similarity is an empty notion or is an insufficient quality upon which to base categorization. Concludes that, though these arguments have merit, similarity can be sufficiently constrained…

Discusses problems associated with the disciplinary status of speech communication stemming from the absence of consensus on the appropriate classification of the field, inadequately specified properties of the concepts on which research is conducted, failure to develop a coherent organizational structure for assessing advances in knowledge, and…

Claims that people determine whether something is a member of a given artifact kind by inferring that it was successfully created with the intention that it belong to that kind. Discusses function-based and intentional-historical accounts of artifact concepts. Concludes that a rich set of inferential capacities is needed to constitute a theory of…

Investigates a conception of wilderness as the historical mental and physical boundary between humans and the radical/racial others as a way of opening the question of whether all sorts of wilderness are necessarily good. Discusses differences between the classical and romantic views of wilderness. (LZ)

Addresses Nelson's commentary on Ward, Vela, and Hass' study of children's category learning (both of which are in this issue). Discusses the issue of whether a holistic processing view provides a better account of children's learning than does an analytical view. (PCB)

This paper examines the nature of concepts and conceptual processes and the manner of their formation. It argues that a process of successive abstraction and systematization is central to the evolution of conceptual structures. Classificatory processes are discussed and three levels of abstraction outlined. (Author/SJL)

Discusses concept learning research and theory, and examines the relationship with models of instructional design. Topics discussed include how concepts are learned; how concepts are measured; instructional design for concept learning; inferences; teaching with analogies; use of learning strategies; and new strategies for classification…

Comments on this issue's article by Ward, Vela, and Hass on children's category learning. Suggests that aspects of the authors' methodology may have led them to underestimate holistic processing. (PCB)

Maintains that Madole and Oakes' hypotheses are incorrect. Shows that conceptual development frequently goes from the abstract to the concrete and that extensive literature shows that there is more than one kind of categorization. Discusses ways in which perceptual and conceptual categorization differ. (Author/KB)