Instructional Psychology

Abstract

Much of the work designed to investigate the phenomena of human learning may be thought of as having its ultimate applicability in the de­ sign of effective conditions for instruction. This is true whether these condi­ tions are conceived as being arranged by an instructor, by some form of teaching machine or training device, by a set of materials like a book or film, or by the learner himself. In some general sense, therefore, it would be truly difficult to distinguish the psychology of instruction from the psychology of learning. In this first review bearing such a title, we have attempted to limit attention to studies of those variables and conditions that appear to have a fairly direct applicability to the design of instruction. Remoteness of applicability to instruction, we note with some regret, characterizes many studies of human learning, retention, and transfer, appearing in the most prestigious of psychological journals. The findings of many studies of human learning presently cannot be applied directly to instructional design for two major reasons: (a) the conditions under which the learning is investigated, such as withholding knowledge of learning goals from the subject and the requiring of repetition of responses, are often un­ representative of conditions under which most human learning occurs; and (b) the tasks set for the learner (e.g., the verbatim reproduction of verbal responses, the guessing of stimulus attributes chosen by the experimenter, among many others) appear to cover a range from the merely peculiar to the downright esoteric. This is not to imply that such studies do not further an understanding of the learning process. However, it would seem that extensive theory development centering upon learning tasks and learning conditions will be required before one will be able to apply such knowledge to the de­ sign of instruction for representative human tasks. Within the limitation of the criterion of direct applicability to instruc­ tion, our review of studies of human learning, retention, and transfer has been fairly broad. We have sought relevant reports in psychological journals and books of general orientation, as weII as in those devoted more specificaIIy

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