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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm just curious about how you all might interpret this statement about adolescence (here defined as roughly between 12 and 20 years of age):
"Period of life from puberty to adulthood (roughly ages 12-20) characterized by...a progression from concrete to abstract thought." Britannica
I've omitted information about other indicators of adolescence. Here I'm more interested in what you categorize as strictly concrete and strictly abstract thought, especially as might be evidenced in the developing thought processes of adolescents.
Oh, and even if not applied to adolescents, what would you immediately categorize as concrete thoughts and abstract ones?
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WW, your title sent a chill down my spine! You see, I wrote the exact same sentence in a letter a year back or so to a friend and I was startled when I saw it up on Q&A.  Cyber worlds sometimes unnerve me. Like Jackie once asked in anxious bewilderment, 'where does it all go'? To give you some cotext without delving into protracted details; I was referring in that note, to my worry about imbuing what was in all probability an abstract notion with concrete sentiment. To my mind, anything concrete is tangible and has a core of reality and fact in it. Whilst abstract, has only the shape of possibility; its core is, the burden of proof. It is the germ of an idea or thought that has not been put through the test.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It is tempting for adolescents to be overconfident about the extent of their knowledge. I remember a quotation from Mark Twain to the effect that when he was fifteen, his old man was so stupid, he caould hardly stand him But when he was twenty, he was amazed at how much the old guy had learned in five years.
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I think most of the experts in whatever-field-this-would-be (probably child psychology) would use an age bracket 2-4 years lower. Abstract thought develops parallel to the realisation that the universe is not you-centric. A recent study (in The Lancet maybe - I think we discussed it here somewhere) showed that perception of sarcasm is not complete until well into the teenage years. Concrete versus abstract thought would be tested by use and understanding of sarcasm and metaphor, and the ability to explain proverbs.
That was a whole lot of random information. I can add more (or PM) if anyone wants more info, of which I have quite a bit given that this is my planned specialisation. One day.
And what's with the medical questions today WW?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Back when most people had heard of them we used to use proverbs to assess concrete vs abstract thinking after brain injury. eg "What does it mean when I say 'A rolling stone gathers no moss"? A concrete response would be "the moss gets scraped off when the rock moves. More abstract would be "If you don't stick to one job you'll never get rich." or "New experiences keep you from getting stagnant." The meaning was less important than their ability to move from the concept of the physical object to using it to represent a non-physical concept. It was not unusual for someone familiar with the abstract meaning prior to a brain injury to be unable to make that move after.
We don't use them much now not because people are more concrete (????) but because they aren't haven't heard of proverbs.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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DocC: The question about how readers here distinguish concrete from abstract thoughts is simply one of curiosity. I'm interested in reading how we define that line that separates the two. I expect there to be a gray area. But the question on the other thread about pneumonia came from researching pneumonia on the internet. I thought I might have pneumonia, self-diagnosed it, and then became interested in some of what I was reading about it, particularly nursing home pneumonia. [My doctor is treating me for acute bronchitis, but I still think I have pneumonia. ] Edit: Zed, I just read what you just posted about the use of proverb interpretation to help determine brain injury--very interesting!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Off the top of my head--I would say that concrete thought applies to things that can be seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted. Can be unequivocally demonstrated, one way or another. Abstract is everything else.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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If I write a treatise on the effects of mixing cement, sand and gravel with water, that's concrete. If someone makes a short précis of the treatise, that's an abstract. 
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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.... we used to use proverbs to assess concrete vs abstract thinking ....
That's very interesting, Zed.
I remember that when I was quite young (6 or 8 yrs old, I guess) I used to love Æsop's Fables, and the concrete examples of the stories helped me to develop an understanding of the abstract concepts of the "moral" to each story.
These days, I do find Æsop more than a little tedious - I no longer need the example to comprehend the message of the moral.
And, to me, the difference between the concrete and abstract is well summed up by the story and the moral in those tales.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Not that I'm complaining, but, why is going from concrete to abstract thought considered 'progress'? 
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