Psychology of Learning
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Psychology of learning
Introduction
In this paper, I will look at definition of four terms and how they affect life. I will analyze each of the terms with a view to learning. I will look at how each of these directly or indirectly affects my life. The four terms, sleeping disorder, observational learning, long-term memory and language and culture have a bearing on learning.
Sleeping Disorder
American English Dictionary defines sleeping disorder as disturbance in normal sleep patterns. When a person cannot have uninterrupted sleep for a certain specified number of hours, they can be said to be suffering from sleep disorders.
Experts argue that an adult human being should have between six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. However, this is not the case with people with sporadic spells of sleep or use drugs in order to sleep.
A common sleep disorder is insomnia or chronic sleeplessness. People suffering from this disorder cannot go to sleep and have to use drugs in order to get to sleep. These disorders include inability to fall asleep, the inability to go back to sleep and frequent wake up during the night. These disturbances make someone feel tired, irritable and unable to concentrate during the day (Roddick 45).
There are several causes of sleep disturbances, which include, but not limited, to insomnia discussed above. I will not discuss them in this paper though.
I, for instance, find myself suffering from lack of sleep or disturbed sleep. More often, when I am anxious about something I am unable to sleep. During these times, I find myself drop tremendously in performance. I cannot concentrate in anything. I therefore find myself becoming more anxious.
In conclusion, therefore, it is pertinent that we avoid situations that cause us sleep disturbances. Good sleep is important for whatever we do. Our performance improves with better sleep.
Observational Learning
Advanced English Dictionary defines observational learning as Learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and, in the case of imitation learning, replicating novel behavior executed by other people. This type of learning occurs mostly with children whose most of their learning is through observing and imitating what adults do. This, however, does not limit this learning to children alone. Even adults learn through observation.
This type of learning is also referred to as vicarious learning. It is the most common type of learning and occurs in almost every stage of life. It occurs mainly through reinforcement. In this case, positive reinforcement encourages observable behavior to continue while negative reinforcement discourages continuation of the behavior.
Psychologists argue that this type of learning is most notable in ages one and two. At this stage, children are influenced a lot, by whatever goes on around them. Adults play a major role in children's life at this stage and therefore they must be very careful what they do or say.
I have observed, for instance, in my home that my children are highly influenced by television. Much of the action that takes place in television finds its way in my children's lives in various ways. I have therefore realized that I have to limit how much television my children watch and the content as well. In doing this, I have to understand the value of reinforcement in learning. I have made it a point to instill in my children that every behavior, positive or negative, has consequences. Without this, it will be impossible to control my children.
If there is behavior I have to discourage in my children, I have to be tough with negative reinforcement. For example, if my child is rude from a behavior observed from television, grounding them makes them to realize that the behavior is not good. The next time they will avoid it because they realize they did not get the reward they would like. This makes them learn that this behavior should not be repeated.
This means that parents have to be careful while bringing up their children. In this age of media liberalization especially, much of what is being released to the citizens is violent and what many people as immoral can consider. To prevent negative violent behavior among children, it is important to limit how much media children are exposed.
To conclude, observational learning has a tremendous impact in people's lives. We have to be careful especially with children when it comes to this type of learning. The behavior imparted on children in their formative years will greatly determine their personality.
Long Term Memory
Long-term memory is the type of memory that stores information for a long period. Mastin (12) says this type of memory is intended to store information over a long period. It can store infinite information over unlimited period.
This memory is however subject to decay, which causes forgetting. The inability to retrieve what is stored in the long-term memory, as some argue, is what forgetting is. Those who hold this school of thought postulate that the long-term memory does not actually decay.
I am of the opinion that since we get bombarded with lots of information daily, sometimes it becomes difficult to sift through this information to access what we have stored in the long term memory. Sometimes what have been stored fades from our memory. This is because new information displaces old information. This makes some bits of information not as important as others do and therefore not often accessed.
For this reason, I would agree with those who hold the school of thought that we do not really forget. This is because with some effort, we get to remember long 'forgotten' childhood memories. This proves that the long-term memory can store information indefinitely.
I would argue therefore that the information stored in the long-term memory needs to be triggered for it to be accessed. This is what happens when investigators, especially those who do hypnosis, want to get information to establish what triggers certain behavior in individuals. They connect some of these behaviors to childhood experiences. For instance, those who have had experienced rape when they were children will retrieve these memories from their long-term memory. This will make them behave in a certain way.
In conclusion, long-term memory stores almost every information that we access in our day-to-day life. This information can be accessed any time we need it. However, sometimes it becomes difficult to access stored information.
Language and Culture
Advanced English Dictionary defined language as a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. Culture on the other hand is defined as all the knowledge and values shared by a particular society.
Culture can only be expressed through language. People who share a common language can be said to share culture. It is not possible to share knowledge and values if there is no communication. Communication is made possible in one way or another through language. People who cannot understand each other cannot in any way have a common culture. A common language is the only means through which people can have a common culture. This is the reason why globalization has necessitated for there to be a common language. This has led to emergence of the so-called world languages. English for instance holds a very important place internationally.
When people come together, they have to transact business. Without a common language, this becomes difficult. They therefore develop a form of language that enables them to carry out transactions. With time, the group comes to develop a culture of their own. This is what makes language and culture dynamic. Education plays a major role in interaction of cultures. As I progress in my education, I have come to interact with many cultures. As I learn their language, I find myself being inducted in their culture. These interactions of cultures lead to emergence of new cultures.
In conclusion, language and culture cannot be studied in isolation. They are two inseparable terms. Culture gets its expression through language; language gets its vocabulary from culture. Without language, culture would not express itself; without culture, language would not develop.
Works Cited
Roddick, J. Sleep disorders Retrieved June 20th, 2014 http://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/disorders#Causes2