Activity 4.4

Chapter 11 (Attention)

Attention (voluntary or passive) is attained by eliciting interest from within the individual, and this occurs by connecting new information with prior knowledge.

Connections:

For the past five years, I have taught a life skills course at a federal prison for female inmates.   The key objectives are promoting relationship skills, self-esteem, respect, and personal growth.  One of the struggles is that each class will have a wide range of educational levels.  My goal is to identify assignments, readings, and activities that all women will be able to connect with regardless of their educational level.  These connections are essential to spark interest and maintain attention.  I have found that keeping Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in mind is helpful in finding broad ways to elicit the interest of the inmates.  I specifically concentrate on social, esteem, and self-actualization needs in working with the inmates.  Also, by following James’ (1899/2001) philosophy of showing my interest in the topics this helps to generate the interest of the class participants. 

An example of creating attention and interest in a reading course occurs in the first stage of the SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review) strategy for reading.  The first step is to survey the reading material, and one of the components of the survey step is for readers to see what they already know about the topic.  This creates attention, excitement, and purpose for the reader.  It also allows readers to connect with the information they already know or want to know more about related to the topic.  The survey portion of the SQ3R reading strategy supports the idea of connecting what one already knows with what is being taught, and then the attention of the learner is captured.

Chapter 12 (Apperception)

Apperception is the process of taking information into the mind and efficiently processing and integrating it with what one already knows.

Connections:

Prior to beginning a new routine it is important to prepare in multiple ways.  Preparation is essential to ensuring a greater chance of achieving the new behavior.  James (1899/2001) would agree that to begin a new habit one must prepare in all ways possible to ensure success.  For example, when someone decides to engage in a new weight loss behavior part of the preparation is to determine personal readiness.  “Readiness is the possession of behaviors, attitudes, skills, and concomitant resources that make it possible for individuals to incorporate a new health behavior into a permanent lifestyle” (Girdano, Dusek, & Everly, 2009, p. 379).  The first step in the readiness stage is knowledge.  This involves learning about the behavior one is trying to incorporate.  In the weight loss example, the individual may select to learn about nutrition, exercise, and current health history.  This step would involve apperception of this information followed by integrating this new knowledge with what one already knows.  The process of apperception will be experienced differently by each person.  The individual may read, watch videos, consult a professional, and research the internet or a combination of ways may be utilized to take in this new information.   Through these experiences, the mind will efficiently process this new information to incorporate the new knowledge with what one already knows.

I participated in a book club discussion on the book, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World by Margaret Wheatley.  Looking back on the discussion I realize that each person had a slightly different understanding of the book.  The process of taking in information (reading the book) and integrating it with what one already knows was different for each person due to prior knowledge and experiences. 

The following passage was one of the discussion points from the book.  “We live in a universe where relationships are primary.  Nothing happens in the quantum world without something encountering something else.  Nothing exists independent of its relationships” (Wheatley, 2006, p. 69).  The discussion was fascinating due to the diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge of the individuals participating.  Of course, there were some people who had similar views, but the majority brought forth discussion points that varied based on how they had apperceived the passage and then integrated this new knowledge with what they already knew.  

References:

Girdaon, D. A., Dusek, D. E., & Everly, G.S. (2009). Controlling Stress and Tension. San

Francisco, CA: Pearson Education, Inc. 

James, W. (2001). Talks to teachers on psychology and to students on some of life's

ideals. Mineola, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1899).

Wheatley, M. J. (2006). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world.

San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.