12/31/99

                                        BASIC PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

                                                        Frank A. Logan

                                                University of New Mexico


Introduction

     "Basic" principles are those that apply to most animals, including the human 
animal.  Most have been discovered through research with non-human animals
and hence most of this text will refer to such work.  Fully to appreciate these
principles, you must first accept the fact that you are an animal.  Like other
animals, you eat, drink, copulate, sleep, eliminate wastes, and try to avoid pain.
To be sure, as a human animal, you have (or hopefully have) many qualities
that are either not found, or found in very rudimentary form in other animals.
The most important of these is language, but no less vital is some sense of
meaning and purpose to life accompanied by such qualities as love, honesty, 
tolerance, and benevolence.  But always lurking beneath these qualities is the
animal that is in each of us.  The better you understand these basic principles,
the better you can gain control over own behavior and be the person you would
like to be.

     For many years, the domain represented by these basic principles consumed 
about two-thirds of the typical one-semester course in the Psychology of Learning.  
Early textbooks contained narrative descriptions of a few representative experiments,
usually displaying the original data along with a discussion of their implications.  
Students learned specific details of research that the author judged to be of classic
significance.

     During the past fifty years, at least 60,000 publications have appeared as a part
of the post-World-War-II information explosion.  Obviously, there is no way to
present so large a domain with a conventional textbook.  The challenge is all the
greater because other topics in the Psychology of Learning and Memory have
shown a proportionately larger growth so that this domain now commands a much
smaller part of the field.  Accordingly, this text takes an approach more similar to
that of a mature science.

     I have attempted to summarize the bulk of relevant knowledge in a few concise
principles and have forgone the luxury of discussing details of individual studies.
As a result, these materials are relatively "heavy" in content and active participation
by the student reader is even more important than usual.  

     I recommend that you first skim the principle rapidly.  Next, you should look
over the list of terms at the end of the principle and refer to the dictionary for the
meaning of any terms about which you are uncertain.  Then read the text of the
principle carefully, underlining, making marginal notes, and writing study sheets. 
Always summarize the main ideas in your own words and try to think of
original illustrations of each principle.   It is especially important to recognize
the role of these principles in your own behavior.

     "Learning" is the most important topic in the world.  You may think that you
understand it because you have been doing it all of your life without any formal
training in how to do it.  But take a moment to think of all of the social problems
in the world today:  overpopulation, pollution, corruption, violence, etc.  In every
case, the solution involves learning socially-adaptive behaviors.  Understanding
these basic principles is only a beginning, but it is a good beginning toward an
understanding of human behavior in all its facets.