Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Intelligence

Question 1: LEARNING

According to the behaviorist perspective, there are three major principles of learning. These are Classical Conditioning, which is learning through association, Operant Conditioning, which is learning through consequences and modeling or Observational learning which is learning through observation (Baum, 2005).

1.       Operant conditioning

It was developed by B.F. Skinner in 1937 and is majorly concerned with the modification of voluntary behavior. It operates in the environment that is maintained by its consequences. The core tools of operant conditioning are reinforcement and punishment which may be either positive in that they are delivered following a response or negative that are withdrawing following response (Baum, 2005).

Among the students, the best strategy is to be able to offer reinforcement for students that take action without procrastinating. One would reward the students who take action within the timelines and also introduce harmful tools or the withdrawal of what is appealing to an individual to eliminate procrastination tendencies.

2.       Classical conditioning

 According to this principle, if a neutral stimulus that elicits no response at first is paired with a stimulus that already evokes a particular reflex or response, then the new stimulus will by itself evoke a similar response (Baum, 2005). According to the principle, a conditioned stimulus (CS) when paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) then it strengthens the connection between the Conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response.

To address procrastination among students, one may treat the action as the CR, then the steps of making the decision to take the action as the CS while the promise of success as the UCS. The indicating success that comes with making the right decision on time will eventually be attached to taking an action taken immediately. Therefore, the students can be able to overcome procrastination tendencies.

3.       Observational Learning

Individuals can learn faster and better through watching others act in a similar way. Students and young people can model or rather have a way of mirroring what they see others do. Therefore, one may be exposed to various learning styles from others that have made it in particular areas (Baum, 2005).

To avoid or rather beat procrastination among students one may come up with ways to have the students take role models in society. It can be done by having the students engage and also learn from others in society that they look up to or admire. They can be able to learn the importance of taking actions in a proactive manner instead of postponing to a later date through seeing others do it or share their experience and roadmap to success.

Question 2: Memory

The Three Way Model of memory is composed of:

1.       Sensory memory

It is the earliest stage of memory in an individual. At this stage, the sensory information from the environment is stored very briefly usually for no longer that had half a second for visual information and around 3 or 4 seconds for auditory input. There is only a portion of the information in the sensory memory attended to and advances to the next stage of memory which is the short-term memory (Plotnik, 2005).

2.       Short-term memory

It is the active memory since it contains the information that we are aware of and are thinking about. It is what Freud called the conscious mind of an individual. Individuals pay attention to sensory memories that generate information in the short-term memory (Plotnik, 2005). At this stage, storage of information is for approximately 20 to 30 seconds. The majority of the information at this stage is lost, and the retained memory is attended to and continues to the next stage of long-term memory.

3.       Long-term memory

At this level, the memories are stored. According to Freudian psychology, the long-term memory could be referred to as the unconscious mind of an individual. The information is largely outside the awareness of an individual but can also be called the working memory since it is used when needed (Plotnik, 2005). The memories are retrieved from the long-term memory to the short-term memory and is said to have been recalled. Some information may be easy to remember while others are harder to access.

Students may apply some strategies to ensure that they recall and also learn better the materials in class. Such strategies would include having to chunk or cluster the materials they learn. Grouping information or data as they study makes it easy to be retrieved by the short term memory. For example, when a student has apples, mangoes, and oranges, they can chunk them as simply fruits which offer a linkage to access such information from the long-term memory. The studies may also ensure that they pay attention to the key points and areas as they consider. It is because the human brain may not master all the content they learn but is easier to store what they have paid attention to so that it can advance to the short-term and the long-term memories. More importantly, the students may also rehearse or relearn what they learn in particular areas. It is a way of ensuring that every time they refresh their memory on certain concepts and also ensure that the principles they missed previously reach their memories, and it also makes it easier to recall later.

Question 3: Intelligence

Sternberg introduced the triarchic theory of intelligence that suggested that intelligence is how well an individual deals with the environmental changes throughout their life. The theory consists of three major parts which are experiential, practical and componential. According to Sternberg, they are the “meta-components” which determine how individuals use their intelligence (Sternberg, 1997). Sternberg asserts that the complete explanation of intelligence needs to entail the interaction of the three meta-component sub-theories.The meta-component sub-theories that he proposed were:

·         The componential intelligence that was later called analytical intelligence. It outlines the structures and the mechanisms that underlie a behavior categorized as performance, meta-cognitive or even knowledge acquisition components (Sternberg, 1997).

·         Experiential sub-theory. It proposes that the intelligent behavior interpreted along a continuum of experiences that range from novel to highly familiar situations or tasks (Sternberg, 1997).

·         Contextual sub-theory. It specifies that the socio-cultural context defines intelligent behavior that it takes place and may involve adaptation to the environment, selection of a more conducive environment and also shaping up the existing environment (Sternberg, 1997).

By the use of this model, in an ideal classroom for learning and efficient training to occur, there need for what is taught to be socio-culturally relevant to every student in that it should provide links between the training and the real-world behavior they elicit. The trainers or teachers should also provide very clear instructions on the strategies that the students can use to cope with the situations and the tasks presented. The instructions should also be in executive and non-executive information processing. Moreover, a classroom should actively encourage the individual to manifest their differences in the strategies and styles they adopt. 

References

Baum, W.M. (2005) Understanding behaviorism: Behavior, Culture and Evolution. Oxford:

Blackwell.

Plotnik, Rod. (2005). Introduction to Psychology. Belmont: Thomson-Wadsworth

Sternberg, R. J. (1997). A Triarchic View of Giftedness: Theory and Practice. In N. Coleangelo

& G. A. Davis (Eds.), Handbook of Gifted Education (pp. 43–53). Boston, MA: Allyn

and Bacon.

Also read: The contributions of psychology to the educational learning process.