Hi everyone, I’ve been getting immersed into this mnemonic technique of memorizing, and especially the method of loci/memory palace technique. I’ve had no problems so far studying lists and chronological things, but I cant seem to get my head around memorizing psychological studies or theory. Could anyone give me some tips? I’ve put an example of a study and theory below that I need to memorize?
Thanks in advance!
Example Theory 1:
Social Learning Theory, formed by Bandura in 1977, argues that learning is not purely behavioral, but it is a cognitive process in a social context. He posits that people can learn through vicarious reinforcement, the observation of a behavior and its consequences, and involves modelling, the observation, extraction of information from those observations, and decision-making about the performance of those behaviors. Thus, learning can occur without an observable change in behavior, and reinforcement is not entirely responsible for learning. The four conditions required for learning are: attention; retention; reproduction; and motivation. These conditions can further be influenced by factors such as the relevance of the behavior and traits of the model.
Example Study 1:
Bandura et al. (1961) conducted a laboratory experiment investigating the principles of observational learning. The independent variable was the model shown (aggressive, non aggressive, or none), and the dependent variable was the aggression scores of the children investigated. The participants, 36 girls and 36 boys aged between 3 to 6 years old, were pre-tested on their aggressive behavior on four 5-point rating scales. They were then distributed evenly according to gender and aggression score into 3 groups: group 1 (aggressive model shown, who attacked a bobo doll); group 2 (non-aggressive model shown, who played with subdued and calm manner with a tinker toy); group 3 (no model shown). The children were individually shown the corresponding model for 10 minutes while playing with some pictures. Then, all children were subject to mild aggression arousal as each child was taken to a room with relatively attractive toys and as soon as the child began to play with them, the experimenter told the child that these were the best toys reserved for other children. Finally, each child was taken into a room with aggressive toys (including a mallet and a bobo doll) and non-aggressive toys (tea set, plastic animals, etc…), and their behavior was observed for 20 minutes. Researchers found that children observing the aggressive model made more aggressive responses than those in other groups. Furthermore, the boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls, while boys imitated more physically aggressive than girls (although verbal aggression varied negligibly). Thus, Bandura et al. concluded that children learn social behavior through observational learning.