Peer-reviewed research

Write 5–6 pages in which you discuss practical ways to apply to your life your understanding about individual differences in learning and memory, based on three peer-reviewed research articles that help you understand individual learning differences.

In this assessment, you will be able to apply the knowledge you have gained regarding individual differences and learning and memory, in your personal or professional life.

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By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• Use information technology and tools to identify information in the domain of learning and cognition. Summarize scholarly research articles.
• Assess the important theories, paradigms, research findings, and conclusions in human learning and cognition. Apply research findings to a particular research situation.
• Analyze the research methodology and tools typically associated with the study of human learning and cognition.
Describe the methods and measures used in research that seeks to understand individual learning differences.
• Apply knowledge of theory and research in learning and cognition to inform personal behavior, professional goals, and values, in order to understand social policy. 
Apply knowledge of theory and research in learning and cognition to inform personal and professional behavior.
• Communicate effectively in a variety of formats.
Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA format with correct grammar, usage, and 
mechanics as expected of a psychology professional. 
Context 
African explorer and geographer, meteorologist, psychologist, statistician, and geneticist Sir (knighted in 1909) Francis Galton—cousin to Charles Darwin—lived a life of extraordinary measures, literally. In Galton’s biography, Extreme Measures: The Dark Visions and Bright Idea of Francis Galton , Martin Brookes (2004) writes: 
His measuring mind left its mark all over the scientific landscape. Explorer, inventor, meteorologist, psychologist, anthropologist and statistician, Galton was one of the great Victorian polymaths. 
But it was in the fledgling field of genetics that he made his most indelible impression. Galton kick-started the enduring nature-nurture debate, and took hereditary determinism 
to its darkest extreme. Consumed by his eugenic 1 vision, he dreamed of a future society built on a race of pure-breeding supermen. (p. 3)
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1 According to the Oxford American Dictionary, eugenics is the “science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. Developed largely by Francis Galton as a method of improving the human race, it fell into disfavor only after the perversion of its doctrines by the Nazis.”

 

As you explore this idea, consider how differences in both biology and social environment impact how people learn and remember.

References

Brooks, M. (2004). Extreme measures: The dark visions and bright ideas of Francis Galton . London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Oxford University Press. (2014). Eugenics. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/eugenics

Questions To Consider

To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.

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• What is the nature versus nurture debate in psychology, and how does it apply, specifically, to learning and cognition? • How do age, gender, personality, learning preferences, and cultural differences affect learning and cognition?
• What types of deficits and exceptionalities affect learning and cognition?
• How is knowledge of individual differences applied in real-world settings?

Resources Suggested Resources

The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your courseroom.

Capella Multimedia

 

Click the links provided below to view the following multimedia pieces:

• Learning and Cognition Millionaire Game | Transcript . FMG Video

Click the link provided below to view the following video:

• War of the Sexes: Language .
This is a video from Films on Demand. Any distribution of video content or associated links is prohibited. To view an accessible version of this presentation, click Transcript .

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Library Resources

The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course:

• Kozhevnikov, M. (2007). Cognitive styles in the context of modern psychology: Toward an integrated framework of cognitive style . Psychological Bulletin , 133( 3), 464–481.
• Ackerman, P. L., Bowen, K. R., Beier, M., & Kanfer, R. (2001). Determinants of individual differences and gender differences in knowledge . Journal of Educational Psychology , 93 (4), 797–825.
• Cherry, K. E., & LeCompte, D. C. (1999). Age and individual differences influence prospective memory . Psychology and Aging , 14 (1), 60–76.
• Horowitz, L. M., & Turan, B. (2008). Prototypes and personal templates: Collective wisdom and individual differences . Psychological Review , 115 (4), 1054–1068.
• McLafferty, C. L. (2006). Examining unproven assumptions of Galton’s nature-nurture paradigm . American Psychologist , 61 (2), 177–178.
• Oreg, S. & Bayazit, M. (2009). Prone to bias: Development of a bias taxonomy from an individual differences perspective . Review of General Psychology , 13 (3), 175–193. 
Course Library Guide 
A Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the PSYC-FP3500 – Learning and Cognition Library Guide to help direct your research.

 

TEMPLATE_PSYC-FP3500_00003: 2015-07-10 14:57:00.473035

Bookstore Resources

The resources listed below are relevant to the topics and assessments in this course and are not required. Unless noted otherwise, these materials are available for purchase from the Capella University Bookstore . When searching the bookstore, be sure to look for the Course ID with the specific – FP (FlexPath) course designation.

• Terry, W. S. (2009). Learning and memory: Basic principles, processes, and procedures (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

 You may find Chapter 12 particularly relevant to the topics in this assessment.

Assessment Instructions

Although many effects in memory and psychology in general are presented as universal, applying to everyone at all times and at all places, there are important differences among individuals in how they process and recall information. For instance, demographic differences such as age, gender, and culture of origin may have an impact on how we remember; other dimensions of individual difference may be intelligence, creativity, and motivation. Some of these differences are related to biology, others are related to the social environment, and some are related to both.

As you prepare for this assessment, research how one of these variables will change how people experience a learning situation—for example, learning a foreign language, remembering the names of people at a party, or studying for a biology exam or other academic test. Think how this dimension could explain the differences between your own experiences and those of others you know.

Directions

For this assessment, complete the following:

 

• Describe a learning context of interest—for example, learning a foreign language, studying for an exam, or remembering names at a party. Feel free to use an example from one of the other assessments in the course. Describe the types of memory and learning involved and the memory and learning problems involved (for instance, problems with memory such as forgetting, amnesia, and the tip-of-the-tongue effect). Write up a case study where two people learn and experience a learning situation differently. Note that you can contrast circumstances involving memory deficits and also circumstances of exceptional performance.
• Find at least three peer-reviewed research articles that help you understand individual learning differences. In other words, how could the result change due to individual differences such age, gender, or culture? Summarize these sources. Apply the scholarship you have found to explain how the individuals in your case study learn and remember differently. Describe the methods and measures used in research that seeks to understand individual learning differences.
• How would you apply the knowledge you have gained regarding individual differences and learning and memory in your personal or professional life?

Strive to be as concise as possible and limit the length of your completed assessment to no more than 5–6 pages, excluding the title page and reference page. Support your statements and analyses with references and citations from at least three resources.

Additional Requirements

• Include a title page and a reference page. • Use at least three resources.
• Follow APA format.

 Note : You may use the APA Paper Template linked in the Resources. This resource is not required. • Use 12-point, Times New Roman font.

• Double-space your paper.