Spotlight on Terminology and Language – ESL
Pointers
expandable material that could be filed with
air, were sold following the successful
Spiderman movie.
Module 17: Cognitive Approaches to Learning
Page 203 “They don’t just get behind the wheel
and stumble around until they randomly put the
key into the ignition, and later, after many false
starts, accidentally manage to get the car to move
forward, thereby receiving positive
reinforcement.”
The ignition is the part of a car that provides the
spark that allows the car engine to start.
Page 203 “In latent learning, a new behavior is
learned but not demonstrated until some incentive
is provided for displaying it (Tolman & Honzik,
1930).”
Latent is something present but not evident or
active. A fingerprint that is difficult to see but can
be made visible for examination is a latent
fingerprint.
Page 204 “For example, latent learning may
permit you to know the location of a kitchenware
store at a local mall you’ve frequently visited,
even though you’ve never entered the store and
don’t even like to cook.”
A kitchenware store is a place that people go to
buy tools to be used in the preparation of food.
Page 205 “Because of its reliance on observation
of others—a social phenomenon—the perspective
taken by Bandura is often referred to as a social
cognitive approach to learning (Bandura, 1999,
2004).”
When something is reliant on something else it is
dependent on it. Bandura’s social cognitive
approach to learning is dependent, or reliant on
the use of observation of people as its method of
study.
Page 205 “Later the children were given the
opportunity to play with the Bobo doll
themselves, and, sure enough, most displayed
the same kind of behavior, in some cases
mimicking the aggressive behavior almost
identically.”
To mimic someone is to copy, or imitate their
actions.
Page 205 “In one experiment, for example,
children who were afraid of dogs were
exposed to a model – dubbed the Fearless
Peer – playing with a dog (Bandura, Grusec,
& Menlove, 1967).”
The model was dubbed, or named, the
Fearless Peer. The name, the Fearless Peer,
was used as a descriptive nickname for the
model.
Page 207 “In an episode of The Sopranos
television series, fictional mobster Tony
Soprano murdered one of his associates.”
A fictional character is one that is not real, it
is created, or made up by the story writer.
A mobster is a slang term for a person who is
involved in organized crime. Tony Soprano, a
character on a TV program is considered a
fictional mobster because he is an actor on
who is pretending to be the head of an
organized crime family.
Page 207 “To make identification of the
victim’s body difficult, Soprano and one of his
henchmen dismembered the body and
dumped the body parts.”
Page 205 “In the study, young children saw a film
of an adult wildly hitting a five-foot-tall inflatable
punching toy called a Bobo doll (Bandura, Ross,
& Ross, 1963a, 1963b).”
A henchmen is a person who is a lower level
member of a criminal group. Henchmen carry
out the orders of the head of the organized
crime group.
To dismember someone is to cut off or
remove a person’s arms or legs after they have
died.
Something inflatable is able to be blown up.
Many inflatable Spiderman balloons, made of
Page 207 “Like other ‘media copycat’
killings, the brothers’ cold-blooded brutality
raises a critical issue: Does observing violent and
antisocial acts in the media lead viewers to behave
in similar ways?”
Media refers to newspapers, magazines, radio and
television, especially news.
A copycat is someone who imitates someone
else’s actions.
Cold-blooded brutality refers to cruel actions that
are done without feelings or emotions.
Page 208 “For one thing, experiencing violent
media content seems to lower inhibitions against
carrying out aggression—watching television
portrayals of violence or using violence to win a
video game makes aggression seem a legitimate
response to particular situations.”
An inhibition is a feeling or a belief that keeps a
person away from a behavior.
Page 208 “Finally, a continuous diet of aggression
may leave us desensitized to violence, and what
previously would have repelled us now produces
little emotional response.”
When we are desensitized, we become insensitive.
Researchers are concerned that observing too
much violence on television will desensitize us to
physical aggression.
When something repels us, we find it disgusts us.
Something that repels people causes an aversion.
Is there any activity that previously would have
repelled you, but now find you have become
desensitized to?
Page 208 “In the approach to teaching most
characteristic of Western culture, tasks are broken
down into their component parts.”
Components are parts of something larger;
together they make up the whole.
Page 209 “The conclusion that members of
particular ethnic and gender groups have similar
learning styles is controversial.”
When something is controversial it provokes, or
brings out, strong disagreement or disapproval.