From the point of view of traditional psychology, for a long time it was thought that learning was an exclusive affair of growing people and development. It is currently considered that learning has no ageas long as there is no neurological impairment.
Moreover, today it is accepted that adulthood is a period of rapid cognitive growth and not one of stability or regression as thought. It has also been seen that the adult has the potential to develop more advanced trains of thought and who is endowed with greater dialectical ability.
“A thorn of experience is worth more than a forest of warnings” James Russel Lowell, poet.
However, What does it really mean to learn through experience? In this article, psychologist Anna Rodríguez Ximenos gives us the keys.
By Anna Rodriguez Ximenos
The psychological foundations of learning
A priori it seems evident that these words describe a concept that goes beyond conventional and academic learning; we are talking about a type of learning that connects directly with emotions and emotional health.
jean piagetone of the most important theorists on child cognitive development, already explained to us, years ago, the importance of emotional experience in the learning experience.
For a learning to be integrated as suchtwo moments are necessary: an initial one in which is assimilatedthat is, when we are faced with a new situation unknown; and a second moment, called accommodationin which the unknown becomes significant and acquires permanent status.
Learning does not consist in appropriating knowledge, but in adapting the current situation to a new situation proposal.
In this process of assimilation – accommodationnecessary to strengthen learning, emotions play a decisive role.
Keys to learn from experience
Formerly were considered unimportant and more relevance was always given to the rational part of the human being It is now beyond doubt that if we manage to know and connect the emotions that we experience in the center of our being and know what exactly we are feeling, we can see each other more objectively and learn of our own life trajectory.
Want to learn about yourself
In order to learn, it is necessary to start from the assumption that it can be done: learn to see and analyze ourselves, to question ourselves about our own lifeabout our actions and their repercussions.
On the other hand, we are not beings inscribed in nothing, we live in relationship, so there will always be other people and different situations from which we can learnwith which we can measure ourselves.
Know how to observe
Many of us know people who go through life seeing nothing. Everything speaks, but they do not listen. To observe you need open our eyes and look around us so that we can see ourselves.
know how to listen
If we want to learn, we have to listen. This is a task that, although it may seem like it, is not easy at all. Doing it well can take our whole lives.
The psychologist Carl Rogers said: “If a human being listens to you, you are saved as a person.”
ask questions
Only when questions are asked can answers be sought. You have to constantly ask yourself questions, question what we do. It is necessary to question what at first glance seems clear and indisputable. It is always good to question yourself.
make self-criticism
There is no learning without self-criticism. In the West, we tend to make a dangerous abuse of logic: it is often a way of handling facts and their interpretation in order to defend those ideas and behaviors that interest us. However, in order to learn, we must break rational logic and be more open to our emotions.
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” George Bernard Shaw, playwright
Open up to criticism
This is usually an excellent path for learning. Criticism requires the creation of a climate in which opinion can be freely expressed.
Even so, not all of them are accurate and well-intentioned, so you have to know how to value them. To criticize is not to demolish, it is to know how to discern.
Read incessantly. And do it with criteria and a critical attitude. We should have our mind open and receptive to any reading that broadens our vital horizon.
Share the experience
Explaining and sharing one’s own experience and listening to and analyzing the experiences of others is a good path to learning. In life we can come across exceptional people from whom we can learn. And with others that can also teach us. No one is so poor that they have nothing to give and no one is so rich that they have nothing to receive.
If we learn to love ourselves in any circumstance, to be more generous with others, to accept mistakes and failures no matter how painful they arewe will be able to continue learning and improve our attitudes day by day.
Definitely, we will be happier.