Human Intelligence, Perception, and Learning Methods

Intelligence and Learning

Intelligence

Intelligence: A person's capacity to learn, understand, reason, and synthesize knowledge, enabling them to respond and adapt to circumstances.

Theories of Intelligence

One of the most widely accepted theories: Factors of Intelligence.

This theory posits that individual differences in cognitive abilities can be expressed in terms of several distinct, yet not completely independent, mental abilities. These factors include:

• Verbal Ability
• Numerical Ability
• Verbal Fluency
• Reasoning
• Perceptual Ability
• Spatial Ability

Sensory-Perceptual Process

Sensory Process: The process by which humans receive information from our environment through the senses (physiological stage).

Perceptual Process: The organization and interpretation of information received from the senses (psychological phase).

Learning: The process that occurs within an individual, influenced by external factors, leading to the acquisition of new behaviors or the modification of existing ones. This change in behavior or acquisition of new behaviors should be relatively permanent.

Learning Methods

• Symbols (Words): Written or spoken words. This is the conventional system, encoded and transmitted to the subject (passively) through spoken or written language. Learning occurs mechanically, through reading or listening.
• Observation (Icon): The message is transmitted more faithfully, supported by technological means of communication, such as still images and recordings. These means facilitate observation and allow for participation. Sign language can be considered an addition to the image.
• Experience (Active): This method relies on the other two, provided the individual can integrate the context. It allows individuals to be active subjects of learning, opening the horizon of understanding, assimilation, and interaction between knowledge, the person, and their context.

Learning Theories

These are different ways of explaining the learning process:

• Conditioning
• Reinforcement: Skinner used the term 'reinforcement' to describe the process that encourages a behavior, such as a pigeon pecking a button. Reinforcement is the process whereby a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated. All reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior.
• Punishment
• Imitation: Also known as social learning. A major researcher in this field was psychologist Albert Bandura and some of his colleagues.

They proposed that much of learning is based on observation; that is, individuals can learn by watching or following the behavior patterns of others, such as parents, friends, teachers, artists, scholars, and so on.