Intro to Psych

• Learning


  A process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and increases the potential for improved performance and future learning
• Memory


  How the mind stores and recalls information
• Learning and memory


  Incredibly close and intertwined
• It is almost impossible for an individual to truly learn something without also having the memory to retain what they have learned
• Learning and memory maintain a very interdependent relationship
• Learning


  • The change in the learner may happen at the level of knowledge, attitude or behavior
  • As a result of learning, learners come to see concepts, ideas, and/or the world differently
• Classical conditioning


  Learning takes place when an association is formed between a previously neutral stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus
• Classical conditioning


  • Pavlov's experiments with dogs
• Operant conditioning


  Associations are made between a behavior and the consequences of that behavior
• Social learning theory


  Much of learning takes place through observation
• Social learning theory


  • Bandura's Bobo doll experiment
• Cognitive learning theory


  • Mental processes are an important part in understanding how we learn
  • Learners can be influenced by both internal and external elements
• Schema

  The basic unit of knowledge, and schemata build up over a lifetime
• Accommodation


  How we modify what we already know to take new information into account
• Assimilation


  How the new knowledge is arranged in our heads alongside what we already know
• Cognitive theory


  • Internal thoughts and external forces are both an important part of the cognitive process
• Bloom's taxonomy


  Describes six different levels of cognitive learning in the form of a hierarchy

  
• Constructivist theory


  • Learners are active participants in their learning journey
  • Knowledge is constructed based on experiences
• Principles of constructivist theory


  • Knowledge is constructed
  • Learning is a social activity
  • Learning is an active process
  • Learning is contextual
  • People learn to learn, as they learn
  • Learning exists in the mind
  • Knowledge is personal
  • Motivation is key to learning
• Humanism


  Directly focuses on the idea of self-actualization
• Connectivism

  People learn and grow when they form connections
• Transformative learning theory


  Learners can adjust their thinking based on new information
• Transformative learning theory


  • Works well for adult students
  • Students can draw on childhood experiences and transform those beliefs and understandings using critical reflection
• Experiential learning theory


  Focuses on learning by doing
• Experiential learning theory


  • Includes four stages: concrete learning, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation
  • Effective learning is seen as the learner goes through the cycle of experiential learning theory
• Principles of learning


  • Participation: Learning should permit and encourage active participation of the learner
  • Repetition: Provide the learner with the opportunity for practice and repetition
  • Transference: Learning in one setting should transfer to the actual job situation
  • Feedback: Gives learners information on their progress
• Overlearned behaviors


  • Ensure smooth performance
  • Minimum of forgetting at a later date
• Transference


  Transfer of training occurs when trainees can apply the knowledge and skills learned in training course to their jobs
• Transference situations


  • Positive transfer of training
  • Negative transfer of training
  • No observable effect of training
• Feedback


  • Provides learners information on their progress
  • Necessary prerequisite for learning
  • Improves performance by helping learners correct mistakes
  • Provides reinforcement for learning
• Edward Thorndike is famous in psychology for his work on learning theory that led to the development of operant conditioning within behaviorism
• Readiness


  • The basic needs of the learner must be satisfied before they are ready or capable of learning
  • Learner must want to learn the task and possess the requisite knowledge and skill
• Effect


  • Responses to a situation that are followed by satisfaction are strengthened
  • Responses followed by discomfort are weakened
• Exercise


  Connections are strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued
• Primacy


  The first experience should be positive, functional, and lay the foundation for all that is to follow
• Intensity


  Immediate, exciting, or dramatic learning connected to a real situation teaches a learner more than a routine or boring experience
• Recency


  Things most recently learned are best remembered
• Memory


  The ability to understand and then internalize information into the memory stores based on the processes of learning, encoding, retention and then retrieval and reactivation of memory when stimulated
• Sensory Register


  Individuals gather information about their environment through the senses, each sensory modality has its own sensory register that holds information for a very short duration
• Sensory Memory


  Also called working memory, it holds information for a very short duration before passing it to long term memory