I'm not a psych student, but I am going to be entering into a psych class my senior year and I was wondering if there is any helpful info, or maybe even studying tips?
Thank you 💟
A LINE ON LIFE 10/21/91, Revised 11/2/02
Requirements for Learning
David A. Gershaw, Ph.D.
Most of us are concerned about students who fail to learn. To understand why they fail, we need to be aware of the conditions required for learning.
The first is a distinctive stimulus. Whatever has to be learned must be made to stand out for the student. Stimulus factors that increase attention – intensity, contrast, movement, novelty, and repetition – make a stimulus distinctive. This factor is primarily the responsibility of teachers. To make particular points stand out, vocal emphasis can be used or important terms can be written on the board. The concepts can be brought up repeatedly to help them stand out.
In textbooks, mentioning the concepts in titles or subtitles makes them very distinctive. As with my writing, important terms can be written in color, italics, boldface or all of these to make them more distinctive. If they are repeated in a summary, they are more likely to stand out. Repetition in the use of a study guide also increases distinctiveness.
Second, it is the students' responsibility to pay attention to the stimulus. This relates to the students' motivation. In turn, student motivation is related to two other factors – frame of reference and set.
The students' frame of reference is determined by the students' total background experiences – related to their age, race, religion, occupational interests, hobbies and so on. The frame of reference functions like a window frame. It outlines some factors, making them easier to notice. At the same time, it shuts out other factors from our view, so they are ignored. (Our view of the sexual harassment charges concerning Judge Clarence Thomas and Professor Anita Hill are influenced by our frame of reference – whether we are male or female. We may react to the same stimuli differently, depending on our sexual frame of reference.)
In contrast to a life-long frame of reference, the set can change very quickly. In listening to an orchestra, you can quickly change your set to listen specifically to one set of instruments or another – violins, flutes, trumpets, tubas, drums, and etceteras. At a track meet, when the starter says, "Get ready, get set...", no matter what the starter says next, the runners will go. They are set to go.
Often students fail to absorb material, if their set is not on the material they are trying to digest. Suppose a student has had a recent argument. If it has not been settled, the student's set will still be on that argument. It would be the same, if the student is busy attending to the physical attractiveness of another student. No matter how distinctive the teacher's concepts are, the student will not be aware of them.
Students need to "Be Here Now" – they need to be thinking about the task at hand. If they do not have this motivation, the distinctiveness of teachers or textbooks will be ineffective.
However, even when teachers are making the stimulus distinctive, and the student is truly motivated to understand – the student still might not understand what the teacher is trying to convey. What is happening?
If any of the requirements for learning are missing, learning cannot take place.
The student lacks attachments for the stimulus. These attachments – usually called "mediational units" – are bits of previous learning to which new concepts can be related. The best analogy is that the mediational units are "mental hooks" to which new information can be attached. As an example, suppose I draw a "zug" below. How could you define the qualities of "zuggishness"? How could you describe what has been drawn?
To describe it, you would have to use your mediational units. Some might say it looks like "an ice cream cone on its side." Others might say that it's a "semi-circle combined with a triangle." However, a jet pilot may see it as "a drag chute used to slow the landing speed of a jet plane." A lumber mill worker saw it as "a long, long log cut down its center." Personally, since a used to be a security guard, I saw the "zug" as a "flashlight beam in the dark shining only on the corner of a building." The more mediational units linked to the concept, the more likely or the better it will be understood by the learner. If the learner cannot link the concept to any mediational units, it cannot be understood.
For this reason, it helps to give a wide variety of examples for new concepts. If one example does not relate to the mediational units of students, others might relate. Likewise, the greater variety of experiences that can be offered to children, the more mediational units they will develop. In turn, these additional mediational units will aid them in learning new concepts.
Especially at the college level, some students do not do well, because they lack the mediational units for their courses. It would be helpful for them to take "remedial" courses to develop the mediational units that they need. Many students hesitate to take remedial courses, because they believe that taking these courses means that they are "stupid." Taking these remedial courses does not mean that the student is stupid, but it merely indicates that they lack the necessary "mental hooks" to understand new material.
If the stimulus does not stand out, the student is not attending or there are no "mental hooks" to relate to the stimulus – learning cannot take place.
(Sorry, I could not copy and paste the "Zug" but from the mediational units, you should have and idea of what it is.)
I hope this helps.
Here is some more.
A LINE ON LIFE
8/20/90
Hints on Learning *
David A. Gershaw, Ph.D.
With college starting now and high school soon to follow, it seems appropriate to give you some hints to help you learn more and to make you feel better -- more confident -- about yourself. Some of these hints will apply even before you get into class.
Before you go to your first class, read the first chapter. Especially for college, where some classes meet once a week at night for three hours, the teacher may not wait until the second class meeting to start the course. If you have not read any of the material, you may be getting so many new concepts that you feel lost and confused. (I'll bet that has happened more than once.) However, if your have read -- not skimmed, but really read -- the first chapter, you will already be familiar with some of the concepts. Concepts that were vague when you read them are likely to "click" into place when they are also discussed in lecture.
Read assignments when they are assigned. This is just an extension of the previous hint. Typically the material assigned for particular date will be discussed in class on that date. Rather than feeling "out of it" if you don't read the assignment, you feel more confident if you have kept up with the reading. This especially helps if the teacher's explanation makes the concept more confusing, rather than clearer to understand. You can immediately ask the teacher to clear up your confusion between the lecture and the text -- but only if you have already read the material. If you read the text after the lecture, this confusion is likely to come when you are at home. It is not likely that anyone there could clear up your confusion. (Or are you one of the rare students that writes the question down to ask the teacher later?)
Each week, schedule a minimum of two hours of study time for every hour you spend in class. If you have 15 hours of class each week, you need to study at least 30 hours weekly. The usual student reply is, "But I take gym, and it doesn't have any homework at all!" However, if you have any course with no homework, you are also very likely to have other courses that require much more than the minimum time (science, math, English). These will more than make up for that gym class.
Study your most difficult (or boring) subjects first. If any subject puts you to sleep, it is better to do it first -- while you are still fresh. Some of you prefer to avoid the problem, saving the worst until last. However -- all that time -- knowing that you have to do this difficult task is like having an executioner's axe hanging over your head. If you do it first, while you are fresh, this menacing feeling is gone. It might be worth it to get up a few hours early -- if you will be wide awake and nobody else is awake to disturb you -- to get the unpleasant task behind you.
Avoid marathon study sessions. Three 3-hour sessions are usually more productive than one 9-hour session. Studying for such a long time leads to dawdling at the beginning of the period and fatigue near the end. Usually, it is best to give yourself a 10-minute break each hour. (This doesn't mean you need to stop exactly at the end of an hour. If you really get into your studying for 90-minutes, you can reward yourself with a 15-minute break.)
Make good use of waiting time. All of us have situations when we have to wait for doctor's appointments, a bus to arrive, a plane to leave, or in a ticket line. (Boring, isn't it?) Not only can you reduce your boredom, you have time for short study reviews. One of the best ways to do this is to put important definitions, equations, or formulas on 3x5 cards. You can take these cards anywhere. Then you can pull them out when you are bored to review concepts for your classes. (However, this is not recommended if you become bored on a date.)
Set aside a place just for studying. If you have a particular place just for studying, after a while just being in that place will make it easier to study. Try not to use a place where you also eat, socialize, or watch television. This place should be comfortable, but not too much so (like on an easy chair or sofa), otherwise you are likely to fall asleep. However, if it is too uncomfortable, the discomfort will distract you from your work. If you can't set aside a study area in your home, the library can be a good place to study. So you don't get distracted by socializing, most libraries have more isolated study areas that you can use.
Learn to say no. If you need to study, it is okay to refuse a request to engage in another activity. If others want you succeed as a student, they will understand a courteous refusal. (If you "can't say no" to these outside requests, they are not keeping you from studying. You are probably using them as an excuse to avoid your studies.)
Thank you so much this was very helpful!
Of course! Here are some helpful tips for studying psychology:
1. Stay organized: Create a study schedule or a plan that helps you allocate time for each topic. This will help you stay on track and ensure that you cover all the necessary material.
2. Review regularly: Psychology involves a lot of concepts and theories, so it's important to review regularly to reinforce your understanding. Instead of cramming all the information at once, try to review a little bit every day or every week.
3. Understand the key concepts: Focus on understanding the fundamental concepts rather than just memorizing information. Psychology is about analyzing and critically thinking, so try to grasp the underlying principles and theories to apply them in different scenarios.
4. Active learning: Engage in active learning techniques rather than passive reading. This can include summarizing the material in your own words, creating flashcards, teaching the concepts to someone else, or participating in group discussions.
5. Utilize supplementary resources: In addition to your textbook, explore other resources like online lectures, videos, or interactive quizzes. These resources can provide alternative explanations or examples that complement your learning style.
6. Practice with sample questions: Look for practice questions or past exams to test your knowledge. This will help you familiarize yourself with the type of questions you might encounter in exams and give you an opportunity to practice applying the concepts.
7. Seek clarification: If you come across any confusing or unclear concepts, don't hesitate to seek clarification. Reach out to your professor, classmates, or even online communities dedicated to psychology to get a better understanding.
8. Apply psychology in real-life scenarios: To reinforce your learning, try to connect psychology concepts to real-life situations. This can include analyzing human behavior, observing your own thoughts and emotions, or exploring psychological phenomena in popular media.
Remember, everyone's study methods may differ, so it's important to find what works best for you. Good luck with your psychology class!