Abstract.—In a task‐oriented concept learning situation with 30 children, 12–13 years of age, as subjects, the concept to be learned was made unfamiliar by using labels which had no bearing on the defining attributes. Under these conditions it was found that the categorization of the stimulus figures became more difficult and that identification of the defining attributes preceded an adequate categorization of the stimulus figures. But forcing the child into identification of the attributes before he started to categorize the stimulus figures did not result in better concept learning s