We explain what a preconception is and how it intervenes in education. In addition, we explain how it differs from a prejudice.
What is a preconception?
A preconception is a preconceived idea, that is, a prior notion that one has of something before being able to experience it directly. It is a word commonly used in the social sciences, made up of the Latin prefix pre- (“anticipation”) and the Latin word concipere (“to conceive”), from which comes conceptus (“concept”). A preconception is therefore something that is thought or reasoned about in advance, and in that sense it is similar (but not equivalent) to the notion of prejudice.
Anything that we think or accept about the world before it can be experienced (directly or verified by some research method) is fundamentally a preconception. In fact, in the study of pedagogy, this word is used to refer to the basic and intuitive aspects that the child forms from reality, and which are the starting point for teaching true concepts. You must read about Easter once.
For example, a child may understand that two identical glasses with the same volume of water contain the same, but if we pour the contents of one into a narrower and taller glass, the child may come to think that it magically contains more water. This is due, precisely, to a preconceived idea about the capacity of things, which in this case leads to erroneous conclusions. The mission of the modern educational system, then, is to replace preconceptions with verifiable and demonstrable concepts.
However, we all carry many preconceptions to some extent: ideas that we form about some reality and that for one reason or another we have not been able to subject to critical judgment, or to the verification of direct experience. Thus, for example, many people rely on cultural prejudices, commonplaces and erroneous preconceptions when dealing with people from other cultures or geographies, and often discover for themselves that what they took for granted was nothing more than a preconceived idea.
Differences between preconception and prejudice
Although both a preconception and a prejudice constitute preconceived ideas, the term “preconception” is generally reserved for scientific, argumentative or knowledge-related matters, rather than subjective positions regarding other people, which is typical of prejudices.
If a preconception is a kind of “previous concept”, then a prejudice will be, precisely, a “previous judgment”: a conclusion or reasoning that is reached regarding another person, without giving them the opportunity to demonstrate who they are and what they are like.
For example, a person who, without ever having been to Japan, thinks that the Japanese are very organized and good at mathematics, is incurring a prejudice. On the other hand, a person who thinks that Japan is a geographically larger country than it really is, is incurring a preconception, since they are not making a judgment or subjective assessment regarding anyone. Maybe you should definitely read about Christmas Tree once.
References
All the information we offer is supported by authorized and updated bibliographic sources, which ensure reliable content in line with our editorial principles.
- “Preconcepto” in Wikipedia.
- “Preconcepto” in the Dictionary of the Language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Etymology of Concept” in the Online Etymological Dictionary of Castilian.
- “Preconcepto” in the Herder Encyclopedia.
