Final answer:
Concepts are mental categories that represent things sharing common characteristics, helping us to organize and categorize our thoughts and experiences. They range from abstract to concrete and are central to cognition and communication.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mental categories representing activities, objects, qualities, or situations that share some common characteristics are known as concepts. These cognitive structures allow us to organize our thoughts by creating categories to sort new information. Through concepts, we can connect various elements of our experiences and easily store and retrieve information within our mental "file cabinet." The formation of concepts is a fundamental aspect of human cognition, encompassing both concrete and abstract ideas. They simplify the complex world around us, enabling us to process and understand the multitude of stimuli we encounter daily.
Concepts vary from highly abstract, such as justice or liberty, to very concrete, like the types of birds. We encounter concepts in our daily routines, social interactions, and even in complex systems like government. They are intrinsic to the way our minds operate and are essential for thought and communication.
Our brains also use prototypes to facilitate the categorization process. Prototypes are the best examples of a concept that we form based on life experiences and they aid in quick recognition and categorization of new experiences or information. Concepts can arise from direct experiences, as with natural concepts, or from definitions and structures imposed by society, which are known as artificial concepts.