That is, distance in transfer denotes the relative degree of similarity between what is being transferred from (often called the base) and what is being transferred to (often called the target). One way that transfer of learning has been historically differentiated is via the distance of transfer. The area of research in cognitive science and educational psychology that tries to understand the ability of students to apply what is learned across contexts is called the transfer of learning-often written in short as just “transfer”. The teacher, listening in on the conversation, jokingly says, “You mean how the crisis was like an explosion?” The student explains that he was actually thinking more about what he was learning in his history class regarding the formation of the Manhattan Project assigned to create the weapon and the subsequent political problems it created after the war. One student turns in an essay explaining how the different styles of two artists, Carravagio and Bernini, made him think more deeply about the strengths and weaknesses of differing management styles he was learning about in a business ethics course.Ī high school economics class is having small group discussions about the 2008 financial crisis and a student starts to explain to his group how the crisis is like the creation of the atom bomb. Two students on the other side of the classroom, previously unengaged in the lesson, say nearly simultaneously out loud, “What is she talking about?”Ī university art history professor assigns to her undergraduate students weekly “reflections” essays on the relevance of various pieces of baroque artwork.
#Similarity psychology definition how to#
The teacher, not really grasping the sincerity of the student, is puzzled about how to respond. Consider three real-life examples observed by the author:Ī middle school earth science teacher is giving a lecture about tornadoes when a student raises her hand and excitedly tries to explain to the teacher and the class how her understanding of tornadoes relates to what she learned in her previous English class about verb formations. Using mathematics in the sciences and the skills of writing and reading are two obvious instances where one discipline affects learning in another discipline, but what about less obvious examples? Can the content in a history class affect learning grammar, or can physics influence learning in the humanities? These kinds of connections seem harder to find amongst students, let alone the general population, but they do occur occasionally. It therefore seems plausible that what a student learns in one course should have the potential to affect what and how she learns in another course. Taking mathematics and science courses side by side with language, history, music, and the arts is a common experience. Students are very familiar with taking subjects that differ widely one hour after the next. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding the empirical testability of these ideas.
Furthermore, transfer is defined as near or far depending on the type of similarity that is involved in the transfer process rather than according to the total amount of similarity between the target and base. Based on the philosophical ideas of Stephen Pepper and Gerald Holton, similarity at the thematic level is distinguished from other previously theorized levels of similarity in that it is prefigurative rather than structural.
This paper addresses these two issues by proposing an additional level of similarity-called thematic similarity-that people may use when engaging in transfer. Second, current theoretical mechanisms of transfer, based on analogical reasoning structure mapping theories, struggle to explain instances of far transfer because of their commitment to structural similarity. First, determining the psychological distance of transfer is a subjective matter depending on how similar the base and target are proposed to be which makes labeling instances of far transfer difficult. One of the most valuable functions of philosophy within the cognitive sciences and education is to help clarify important concepts, and the transfer of learning-particularly far transfer-is one such concept needing extra clarification.
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