Principle: Contrast
For contrast, that which is to be learned must be differentiated from and related to that which has
already been learned, or from that which is similar, but critically different. The law of contrast
dates back to Aristotle and has accordingly appeared across all major learning theories since.
Theory Group
Behavioral
Local Principles
Aristotle:
Law of similarity Law of contrast Organization of ideas
Thorndike:
Assimilation
Attention: unless two differing boxes are attended to, there will be no difference in
the reactions to them
Partial activity or prepotency of elements Belongingness
Stimulus identifiability
Pavlov:
The elements of a stimulus Differentiation of stimulations The limits of discrimination
Watson:
Discrimination: the substituted stimulus can be made [so specific that no] other stimulus of
its class will then call out the reflex
Adjustment
Skinner:
Discrimination and differentiation
Hull:
Relation of time and discrimination
Simple discrimination learning
Patterning of conditioned stimulus compounds Compound discrimination learning
Generalization and stimulus equivalence
Guthrie:
Generalization: requires varied experience
Forgetting: learning to do something else in the circumstances Incompatible response
method for breaking a habit
Estes:
Similarity and discrimination of stimulus sample
Cognitive
Ebbinghaus:
Savings in learning derivative lists by omission of syllables: positive effect of previous
associations
Increased number of repetitions required when learning a list created by permutation of
previous list: interference of previous associations
It is more difficult to remember things that lack clarity
Tolman:
Learning what each response path leads to
Kohler:
When previous behavior was ineffective, new behaviors were developed
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Cognitive
Cognitive Information Processing:
New knowledge must be related to old Analysis and pattern identification Pattern
recognition
Template matching
Prototype model
Exemplars
Feature analysis
Critical and invariant features
Elaborative rehearsal: associating new knowledge with old Defining features
Characteristic features
Use of examples to clarify the boundaries of a concept
Revisit the same material in different contexts and for different purposes
Coding and organization using pre-existing associations already in long-term store
Clustering related items into categories or patterns
Guided questioning: comparing and contrasting
Familiarity facilitates verification of statements
Ausubel:
Hierarchical organization of cognitive structure
Forms of meaningful learning: subordinate, superordinate, combinatorial,
assimilation
Subsumability
Subsumers
Discriminability
Stability and clarity of subsumers Progressive differentiation Anchoring
Rotely learned materials subject to interference of similar material Dissociability
Obliterative stage of subsumption and memorial reduction
Forgetting due to contrast Insufficient discriminability Similarity
Assimilation
Concept formation and assimilation Varied context
Positive and negative instances Irrelevant Information
Integrative reconciliation
Negative transfer
Comparative organizers
Successive contrast
Apparent or actual contradiction
Early review: promotes consolidation and relation of new material to existing to
acquire more subtle potential meanings
Transferability: balance between overlearning of intratask instances and exposure to
intertask diversity on the other
Schema Theory:
Matching new information to schemata Organization of structures and accumulation of facts
Congruence through tuning and restructuring Improving the accuracy
Generalizing the applicability
Specializing the applicability
Determining default values
Adjustment of variable constraints
Degree of discrepancy
Encoding: constants substituted for variables Analogies, metaphors, and models
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Constructive
General:
Synthesizing new experiences into what we have previously come to understand Interpret to
conform versus generate new rules
Deep understanding through contrast
Teaching method: challenge original hypotheses
Linking new information to existing knowledge
Piaget:
Establishing the base substructure for future operations of thought Adaptation to the
universe
Assimilation
Accommodation
Differentiation
Contrast through contact with the environment
Bruner:
Importance of detail
Linking past to present to future – representation and integration Episodic empiricism vs.
constructionism - learning is effective when past
information is connected and related to new information
The act of learning: information that is counter to or is a replacement for what a
person has previously known
Human
Social
n/a
Vygotsky:
Organization through symbolic activity
Internalization
Bandura:
Attention: perceptual sets determine features extracted from observations Retention:
representation in memory in symbolic form must be distinct Motor Reproduction: spatial
and temporal organization must be distinct
Situated learning:
No specific correlating local principles identified
Activity theory:
Disturbances and contradictions Questioning of standard practice
Cognitive apprenticeship:
Understanding what needs to be learned in terms of what is already known Generalization
and transferability through varied context
Sequence of increasing diversity
Learning different conditions of knowledge application
Abstraction of knowledge through multiple contexts
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