Concepts are classified based on how specifically they refer to the actual principle. There is a kind of spectrum of concepts wherein one side of the spectrum includes extremely abstract, broad concepts, such as the universe and the term science, and on the other side of the concept spectrum there would be more specific concepts such as swinging a bat or going for a run. There is a name for both sides of this concept spectrum, as well as the middle.
This idea of some types of concepts being broader than others is known as the hierarchical model of concept classification. The hierarchical model views the different types of concepts as a pyramid with the broader concepts taking up the base, and the more specific, minute concepts at the top of the pyramid. From bottom to top, the concepts are labeled superordinate, basic, and subordinate.
Superordinate Concepts
A superordinate concept refers to something in the most abstract way possible. Take a flower, for example. There are different types and families of flowers, but if someone refers to the flower using the superordinate concept, they would simply refer to it as a plant. The superordinate definition is best seen as the most abstract way to refer to something. One might use the superordinate concept in reference because it is much faster in most cases, given that one doesn't have to go in-depth. The more one has to explain a concept, straying away from abstract reference, the longer the explanation will take. As one moves up the hierarchical model of concept classification, the ease one has in referencing various concepts decreases. This is the reason why the abbreviation U.S.A. is preferred to writing out the United States of America.
Basic Concepts
Moving up the hierarchy, the middle section of the pyramid grows more specific in concept. Concepts in this section are referred to as basic concepts. One example of a basic concept would be referencing the flower as a flower, instead of a plant. This is more specific because it tells you what type of plant it is, but it is still not the most specific concept one can use in reference to the plant.
Basic concepts are useful in their own right, and humans need them in order to get certain points across in an effective manner. If one were forced to refer to the broadest concept all of the time, it would be difficult to reference anything, and if one were forced to use the exact concept, there would be much time wasted. Each concept has a proper circ*mstance when it should be used, and basic concepts are most useful when only minor specification is needed.
Subordinate Concepts
Lastly, at the top of the pyramid are subordinate concepts. Subordinate concepts are the most specific examples of concepts. They are similar to basic concepts in that they both are more specific than superordinate concepts. In the flower example, a subordinate concept of the flower would refer to the type of flower, such as a dandelion. This allows for someone to picture the flower more concretely in their brain, though they still do not know what the specific dandelion looks like. If one were to say a fresh dandelion, the concept grows even more subordinate.
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Examples of concepts can be found throughout everyday life. It can be enlightening to look around at the various ways that concepts are used because they provide insight into how humans think about the world. For example, the concept of philosophy has branched into many astounding and meaningful forms of science that are referred to with more basic concepts like math and biology. Then, one can go further up the hierarchy by exploring the concepts of microbiology and geometry.
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This is perhaps the role of the artist and art as a whole. Various concepts passed along within cultures stand for our most celebrated values. The artist then represents these values through various concepts and degrees of abstraction, and if this is done well it resonates with the audience on a personal level.
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What is a concept? In its most simple form, a concept is an abstract reference or general notion. One might get confused when trying to determine concept vs. theory, but a concept refers to abstract ideas about things, and theory explains how things work.
There are different types of concepts according to the hierarchy model of concept classification, stating simply that some concepts are more specific than others. The most specific type of concept is the subordinate concept. This is similar to the basic concept in that they are both more specific than the other type of concept, the superordinate concept. The superordinate definition states that it is the most abstract form of a concept. One example of these concepts at work is the following, describing a flower: plant (superordinate), flower (basic), dandelion (subordinate).
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Video Transcript
Concept
Imagine that you're walking down the street. You're heading towards your home and eating a piece of fruit. As you walk, a dog comes trotting up to you.
When I said words like 'street,' 'home,' 'fruit,' and 'dog,' what did you imagine? Did you picture a quiet, suburban street with neatly manicured lawns or a busy city street packed with tourists? Were you eating an apple or an olive? Did you picture your home as a mansion, an apartment, a boat? What kind of dog came up to you?
A concept is a way to classify the world in your mind. Terms like 'dog,' 'home,' or 'fruit' can mean many things. But classifying them allows us to save space in our memory and to quickly make assumptions, predictions, and generalizations about the world around us.
Take the word 'dog,' for example. Instead of telling you to imagine a dog coming up to you, I could have said, 'There's a 4-legged thing with a wagging tail and fur that comes up and barks at you.' But that's a lot of words. It's much simpler to fall back on the concept of dog, knowing that when I say 'dog,' you'll imagine all of those things: four legs, a tail, fur, and barking. This is because all of those characteristics are associated with the concept of dog.
Every concept is part of a hierarchical model of concept classification, which basically just means that there are more and less specific ways of classifying things. Let's look at the different levels of classification that are common in a hierarchical model of concepts.
Superordinate
A hierarchical model of concept classification, as we've just said, means that you can be very general or very specific when you are classifying something. Think of the hierarchy as a pyramid. The more general classifications are at the base, and the more specific classifications are at the top. At the base of the pyramid are superordinate concepts, which are the most general way to classify something. It is at the base because there are a lot of things that can fall under a superordinate concept.
Think about the dog from before: a classification like animal or mammal would be a superordinate concept. It gives us a little information, because we know that what we're talking about is an animal and not a tree, but it doesn't really give us much more information than that.
Remember when I said you were walking somewhere? A term like 'home' is a superordinate concept. A home can be an apartment or a house, a boat or a shack. It can be huge or a single room. Home is a general concept that goes at the very bottom of the hierarchy.
Basic
Above the superordinate concepts are basic concepts, which are more specific than superordinate concepts.
What do I mean by more specific? Whenever you think of a concept, think of the features. A basic concept will have more features than a superordinate concept. For example, features that homes have might be a place to sleep and a roof to protect you from the elements. That's a superordinate concept, and there are not really a lot of specifics that all homes have.
But the next concept up might be a single-family house. That's more specific, and there are more features that are common among all single-family homes. For example, not only do they have a place to sleep and a roof, like all homes, but they also are stand-alone and house one family, unlike apartments, where you can have many families in different apartments within the same building.
Or, think about the difference in saying mammal and saying dog. Dogs have tails and bark, but not all mammals do that. So, we're getting more specific by adding more information about the type of mammal we're talking about.
Subordinate
So, superordinate concepts are at the base of our pyramid, and basic concepts are next. At the top of the hierarchy, the most specific concepts are subordinate concepts.
Let's go back to dogs. We have moved from the superordinate concept of mammal to the basic concept of dog. But there's still a lot of variety, and few people will mistake a Chihuahua with a German Shepherd! So, the subordinate concept might be the type of dog, say, a Poodle. Curly hair, long legs... these are features that we can include in the subordinate category of Poodle that aren't true of all dogs. Thus, the subordinate concept is more specific than the basic concept.
Remember that we've moved from home to the more specific single-family home. But there's more! What about mansion? That's a type of single-family house, but it's very different from a bungalow, which is another type of single-family home. If you live in a mansion (lucky you), you have lots of space and many rooms. This isn't true of all single-family homes.
Subordinate means under the control of something else, and that makes sense when you think of subordinate concepts. All mansions are houses, but not all houses are mansions. Therefore, the concept of mansion is under the umbrella of houses. It is subordinate to the more general concept.
So, basically, when you're moving up the hierarchy from superordinate to basic to subordinate, you are getting more and more specific, which means you can describe more and more features of whatever the concept is you're talking about.
Lesson Summary
A concept is a way to classify the world in your mind. The hierarchical model of concept classification includes three levels of concept: the most general is the superordinate concept, followed by the basic concept, and the most specific is the subordinate concept.
Learning Outcomes
After you've reviewed this video lesson, you will be able to:
- Define concept and the hierarchical model of concept classification
- Describe the three levels of concept and provide examples of each
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