Chapter 8. Learning
Learning Introduction
Dinesh Ramoo
Approximate reading time: 2 minutes
The summer sun shines brightly on a deserted stretch of beach. Suddenly, a tiny grey head emerges from the sand, then another and another. Soon the beach is teeming with loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings (Figure LE.1). Although only minutes old, the hatchlings know exactly what to do. Their flippers are not very efficient for moving across the hot sand, yet they continue onward, instinctively. Some are quickly snapped up by gulls circling overhead and others become lunch for hungry ghost crabs that dart out of their holes. Despite these dangers, the hatchlings are driven to leave the safety of their nest and find the ocean.
Not far down this same beach, Yao and their child, Naomi, paddle out into the ocean on surfboards. A wave approaches. Naomi crouches on their board, then jumps up and rides the wave for a few seconds before losing their balance. Then, Naomi emerges from the water in time to watch Yao ride the face of the wave.
Unlike baby sea turtles that know how to find the ocean and swim with no help from their parents, we are not born knowing how to swim (or surf). Yet we humans pride ourselves on our ability to learn. In fact, over thousands of years and across cultures, we have created institutions devoted entirely to learning. But have you ever asked yourself how exactly it is that we learn? What processes are at work as we come to know what we know? This chapter focuses on the primary ways in which learning occurs.
Image Attributions
Figure LE.1. Figure 5.5 as found in Psychology 2e by OpenStax is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License and contains modifications of the following works: “Turtle” by Nicholas/Intricate Explorer, and “Surfer” by Brian Matangelo.
To calculate this time, we used a reading speed of 150 words per minute and then added extra time to account for images and videos. This is just to give you a rough idea of the length of the chapter section. How long it will take you to engage with this chapter will vary greatly depending on all sorts of things (the complexity of the content, your ability to focus, etc).