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GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT GENERALIZATION: HOW A THEORY OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT EXPLAINS BOTH GENERALITY AND SPECIFICITY *
Author(s) -
Fischer Kurt W.,
Farrar Michael Jeffrey
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207598708246798
Subject(s) - generalization , generality , psychology , cognitive psychology , set (abstract data type) , task (project management) , function (biology) , cognitive science , artificial intelligence , computer science , mathematics , mathematical analysis , management , evolutionary biology , economics , psychotherapist , biology , programming language
Within a skill‐theory framework, the traditional opposition between generalization and specificity is resolved. Neither generalization nor specificity is considered the normal state. Instead, they are both phenomena that can be predicted and explained in terms of skill structures and functional mechanisms of development or learning. A person acquires a skill in a specific context and must work to gradually extend it to other contexts. Within a task domain and across related domains, a set of structural transformations predict the order of generalization of the skill. Range of generalization of a given skill at a point in time varies widely across people and situations as a function of specified functional mechanisms. Generalization is maximized when (a) tasks are similar and familiar, (b) the environment provides opportunities for practice and support, (c) the person has had time to consolidate skills at the relevant developmental level, and (d) he or she is intelligent and in an emotional state facilitative of the particular skill. True generalization must be distinguished from optimal‐level synchrony, where new capacities emerge across domains as a new developmental level emerges.