HOW TO

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WHA
T IS STUD
Y
WHAT
STUDY
Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.
Francis Bacon

What is study?

ccording to The Concise Oxford Dictionary study means

devotion of time and thought to acquiring information from
books, pursuit of some branch of knowledge. To study means to
take pains to investigate or acquire knowledge of a subject. As Dr
G.G. Neill Wright puts it, to study is to set about learning something
or other in deliberate manner, that is, on a definite plan.
Forms of study
Sir John Adams classifies study into two forms, namely:
(1) acquisitive (assimilative); and
(2) constructive
Acquisitive (assimilative) study depends largely on memory;
constructive study depends more upon reason. The two forms of
study are not mutually exclusive; they necessarily interpenetrate:
Assimilation does not consist entirely in gathering new facts, nor
does construction confine itself to the manipulation and application
of facts already acquired. The two processes, to some extent, overlap. In acquiring new facts we must always use a little reason; while

HOW TO STUDY

in constructive work we cannot always rely upon having all the

necessary matter ready to hand: we have frequently to stop our constructive work temporarily in order to acquire some new facts that
we find to be necessary. In this way we acquire a certain number of
facts while we are reasoning about things; and while we are engaged
in acquiring new matter we must use our reason at least to some
extent. Both forms of study are essential for a real mastery of any
subject.
In examinations, there is now a distinct trend to give greater
prominence to the constructive side of study.
The test of study

he world is interested not in the storms you encountered but in

whether you brought your ship home. The test of study is not
how long or hard you have worked but what you have attained by
your study, says Adams. Your study-work is judged by your success
in mastering your subject(s).
It is not the amount of study that you get through, or the amount
of reading, that makes for success; but the appropriateness of the
study to the purpose for which you pursue it, the concentration of the
mind for the time being, upon the subject concerned; and the habitual
discipline by which you regulate the whole system of mental application. Speaking of the study of medicine, Dr Abernethy said, If a man
has a clear idea of what he desires to do, he will seldom fail in selecting the proper means of accomplishing it. The most beneficial is
that conducted with a definite and specific aimall reading, reflection, observation being directed upon it for the time being.
Active process

tudy is not a passive process of absorption; to be effective it

must be an active process. It is not merely parrotry or just a mat-

HOW TO STUDY

ter of memory; it is also a matter of understanding and thinking. The

ideal mind is not a recording apparatus like a disc but an apparatus
for doing. The nature of study is better indicated by the phrase which
speaks of the student cultivating his mind than by Byrons metaphor of wax and marble in his Beppo:
His heart was one of those which most enamour us;
Wax to receive, and marble to retain.
A matter of technique

Effective study, says Martin Rhodes, is a matter of technique,

of understanding and consistently applying the right methods.
Success in study depends not only on ability and hard work but also
on effective and efficient techniques. Many able and highly intelligent students fail because they did not learn how to study effectively
and efficiently.
There is no gainsaying the need to master and practise such
study techniques. They will enable you to hit the bulls-eye and do
your study-work with less effort and in less time, getting the maximum learning and retention for the least expenditure of energy and
effort.
Like techniques for any other activity, study techniques can be
mastered and applied by anyone who earnestly tries.
Basic factors of study
The basic factors of study are:
Interest: interest means concern, curiosity or quality exciting
them. The term is employed in two senses, functional and structural:
1. designating a type of feeling which might be called worthwhileness,
associated with attention to an object, or course of action; 2. an
element or item in an individuals make-up, inborn, or acquired,
because of which he tends to have this feeling of worthwhileness in
HOW TO STUDY

connection with certain objects or matters relating to a particular subject or a particular field of knowledge, as, for instance, psychology.
Interest is a positive attitude towards something from which an individual derives a measure of pleasure that he thinks about, and that he
pursues actively. Queen Victoria wrote to A.J. Balfour (Dec 1899),
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.
Interest is the primary condition of effective study. It provides
the motive power in study. It grows on what it feeds on. The more
one knows about a subject, the more one wants to know about it.
Montaignes motto was What do I know? (Que sais-je?)
Concentration, a key element in study itself results from
interest.
Interest is so vital to study-work, as in any other work, that lack
of it is doom. I would far sooner lose a leg or two or three ribs, says
Herbert Casson, than lose my interest in my work.
Every fact or theory which you may have to master in your
study was once at least an object of some ones curiosity. It is, therefore, potentially interesting. As Wright puts it, There are, in fact, no
dull subjects of study, though there may be dull studentsor dull
teachers or writers. If a subject appears dull to a student, it is because he is not approaching it with the right interest or with the knowledge which is necessary in order to grasp what he is reading.
Given the interest, the application of study techniques becomes
easy. Without it, none works.
As interest is vital to success in study, you must build up genuine and glowing interest in your study-work, the sort described by
Andre Maurois:
The pleasure of working may become so complete that it
often succeeds in replacing all others. In my efforts to imagine
paradise, there enters my mind no vision of a place where winged
4

HOW TO STUDY

souls do little else than sing and play their harps, but rather one of a
study where I work everlastingly at some marvellous novel of infinite length with the keen power and precision that I could so rarely
command upon earth. The paradise of the gardener is a garden; a
carpenters is a bench. (We may add that the paradise of the student
is his study.)
Jerome K. Jerome in his famous book Three Men in a Boat
says:
I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my
heart.
Motivation: A motive is what induces a person to act, e.g. desire, fear and other positive or negative wants or needs. It is defined
as an affective-conative factor which operates, in determining the
individuals behaviour towards an end or goal. To motivate is to
provide an incentive. Motivation is a term employed generally for
the phenomena involved in the operation of incentives, drives and
motives. Motivation is the driving dynamic of purpose. It has to do
with the direction and persistence of action.
Interest, the foundation of effective study, depends in turn on
motivation. Lack of adequate motivation is an important cause of
failure.
Goals: For the satisfaction of his wants (needs) man selects a
goal, as becoming an executive, an engineer, a bank officer, a doctor
or an administrator.
A goal is the object of effort or ambition, the end result, immediate or remote, which the individual seeks, and towards which he
directs action.
Since a goal is the life-blood of successful study, select it judiciously. The characteristics of an appropriate goal are:
HOW TO STUDY

(i) It should be realistic, that is achievable, at least most of the

time.
(ii) It must be such as to exert a pressure on you, a pressure that
keeps you working.
(iii) It should be one that puts screws on you.
It is futile and dangerous to select an unattainable goal. Failure
can sap self-confidence and destroy energy. Repeated failure often
causes the individual to give up trying altogether. Psychologists, as a
rule, think that those who set their aspirations at absurdly high levels
would do better to be more realistic. The goals that you set yourself, advises Maddox, should be goals that you can, with effort,
reasonably expect to attain. A fools paradise is no paradise.
Limitations: The possibilities of human beings are not unlimited. There are inescapable physical and intellectual limitations. By
denying them we blind ourselves to reality and come to grief. The
fable goes that once upon a time, a frog saw an ox in a meadow and
was envious of its huge bulk. So she swelled out her body till all the
wrinkles disappeared and then asked her children if she was now
fatter than the ox. No, they said. With a still greater effort she
stretched her skin tight and asked which was the bigger now. The
ox, they replied. At last she got cross, and making frantic efforts to
blow herself out still more, she burst herself and died. Be conscious
of your limits while selecting your goal. As Rollo May observes,
Confronting limits for the human personality actually turns to be
expansive. Struggle with limits is actually the source of creative
productions.
Believe in the possibility of success: If a goal has been well
chosen, your powers will enable you, barring accidents, to achieve it.
Men, says H.D. Thoreau, were born to succeed, not to fail.
Alfred Adler said, Life (and all psychological expressions as part of
6

HOW TO STUDY

life) moves ever toward perfection, toward superiority, toward

success. You cannot train or condition a living being for defeat.
Stick to your goal: Once chosen stick to your goal. Dont make
any radical changes in it lightly. A rolling stone gathers no moss. If
you persevere and follow up doggedly, you will almost always emerge
not only having reached your goals but often having far exceeded
your initial expectations.
Remember, the grass always appears greener on the other side
of the fenceuntil you get there.
Intermediate goals: You may set up intermediate goals which
you must reach en route to your final goal. The successive achieving
of these intermediate goals sustains a long-range action because the
reaching of them indicates signs of progress towards the ultimate
goal. Research studies have revealed that even small steps towards
the ultimate remote goal can thus reinforce and sustain action. As
Krech and Crutchfield observe, Whenever an individual can see or
believes he can see evidence of advance toward the goal, motivation
is likely to be strengthened. The converse is also true. Just as, Nothing succeeds like success, so, Nothing fails like failure.
Right attitude: The third basic factor of successful study is the
adoption of the right mental attitude toward your study-work. Success or failure in study, as in any other activity, is caused more by
mental attitudes than by mental capacities. No condition or posture
of circumstances is itself a calamity to be feared. It is your reaction to
it that makes a field of triumph or a Waterloo.
An attitude is defined as a relatively stable, learned, emotionalized predisposition to respond in some consistent way toward one
or a group of objects, persons or situations.
Research studies show that attitudes can be changed according
to principles of conditioning. For instance in one study nonsense sylHOW TO STUDY

lables were regarded positively or negatively depending on whether

they have been associated with the names of historys heroes or
villains. Personality factors such as the individuals goals and his
self-concept also influence attitudes.
Your attitude towards your study work should have the following characteristics:
(a) It should be balanced.
(b) It should be action-oriented.
(c) In art, said Goethe the best is good enough. This applies to the art of study also. The most favourable state of mind for
study appears to be one in which you try your best, are rewarded with
success and feel as a result adequate confidence to try again.
(d) It should be based on the recognition that study is a positive
processthe attitude of men who possess single-track minds; their
tenacity and obsession may be sometimes boring, but they succeed,
by repeated attacks, in demolishing obstacles that hinder their progress.
(e) It should not be over-anxious. Trying overly hard defeats
its own purpose. A more carefree attitude pays off. Anxiety leads to
immobilization:
This Centipede was happy quite,
Until the Toad in fern
Said, Pray which leg goes after which?
And worked her mind to such a pitch,
She lay distracted in the ditch
Considering how to run.
(Mrs Edmund Craster)
(f) Finally it should be an attitude of tough-minded optimism
the winning, overcoming attitude of an indomitable, dogged, determined, resolute, courageous kind of personality. One of the sim8

HOW TO STUDY

plest things about all facts of life, says Norman Vincent Peale, is
that to get where you want to go, you must just keep on keeping on.
Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus and Sartre have proclaimed that courage is not the absence of despair; it is rather the capacity to move
ahead inspite of despair.

HOW TO STUDY

Planning
A man who does not think and plan ahead will find trouble at
his door.
Confucius

What is Planning?

To plan means to scheme, arrange beforehand, the way of proceeding to achieve an object, as planning a compaign or economy,
or a journey through space, or
But I was, thinking of a plan,
To dye ones whiskers green
in Lewis Carrolls Through the Looking-Glass.
The Importance of planning

lanned or unplanned activity makes a difference. Carrying out an

activity by fits and starts, spasmodic and desultory dabbling never
produces the same result as work carried on with a definite purpose
and clear-cut lines.
If G.B. Shaw had not made it a strict rule to do first things first,
he would probably have failed as a writer and might have remained a
bank cashier all his life.
His plan called for writing five pages each day. That plan and
10

HOW TO STUDY

his dogged determination to carry it through saved him.

That plan inspired him to go right on writing five pages a day
for nine heart-breaking years, even though he made a total of only ...
about a penny a day.
He snapped his fingers at circumstances and said, People are
always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I dont believe
in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people
who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they
cant find them, make them.
No magician ever pulled a rabbit out of a hat without carefully
putting one there in the first place. No man can hope to arrive if he
does not know whither he is going. He will be like a ship without a
rudder, adrift at the mercy of wind and tide or of circumstances.
The difference between planned activity and unplanned activity is brought out crisply by Victor Hugo:
He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and
follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of his time is like
a ray of light which darts itself through all his occupations. But where
no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to
the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled together in one chaos,
which admits of neither distribution nor review.
Worthwhile accomplishments are seldom, if ever, accidental.
They are the end-result of planned efforts towards specific objects or
concrete goals. This is what Edison meant when he said, I never did
anything worth doing by accident; nor did any of my inventions come
by accident; they came by work.
The secret of success in any field of endeavour, including study
lies in six magic words:
PLAN YOUR WORK; WORK YOUR PLAN
HOW TO STUDY

11

How to plan your study-work?

n coping with any course of study make yourself (1) a long-term

plan embracing the total time you have at your disposal; and
(2) short-term plans, monthly, fortnightly, or weekly as may be
convenient.
For making the long-term plan find out all about the syllabuses
you have to cover, the text books and other material you must read
and learn, the practical work you have to cover and other requirements which you have to satisfy. This long-term plan may have to be
revised from time to time, but you should have an over-all picture of
your study-work and the time-range of your plan.
The long-term plan may be split up into periodical short-term
plans in which you can set yourself targets for important pieces of
work.
Keep a record of the progress of your plans-in-action.
How to work your plans?

our plans will work only if you work them. Give top priority to
their implementation. Put your whole heart into them. Strive
with both your body and mind towards hitting your targets.
Give each stage in your plans your undivided attention. Dont
look farther than each stage, thereby following the example of the
mountaineer who cuts steps in the ice, refusing to look up at the heights
or down into the depths because the sight of either would terrify him.
A French sage remarks pertinently, The fool thinks every thing
is easy and comes in for many rude awakenings; the sluggard
believes that all is impossible, and undertakes nothing; the good
workman knows that great things are possible, and prudently, little
by little, he accomplishes them.
The homely saying Little by little and bit by bit teaches
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HOW TO STUDY

patience and perseverance. Dont be discouraged by the size of the

task you have to do. Stick to it and you will achieve success. The
well-known fable of the hare and the tortoise teaches us that slow but
sure, wins the race. The race was won by the slow tortoise, which
plodded steadily on while the hare, over-confident of victory, took
things too easily.
To persist you need the ability to turn a deaf ear to the remarks
of other people. Some will tell you that you cannot succeed because
you lack brains, brawn, skill, time and so on. Others will tempt you to
leave work for more pleasurable occupations. Do what you have
planned inspite of discouragement and temptations of others. Then
the day will come quickly when you will have the satisfaction of
reaching your goals and free time for pleasure while others are still
dabbling, wobbling and struggling.
There is marvellous thrill in finishing. Drake was proudest when
he said, And all that we said we would do, we have done. Casson
has well said, If you have started something, get on with it. Reach
the satisfaction of finishing.
You never hear of quitters. They never attain success or happiness. They go through life leaving a trail of unfinished jobswhat
can they possibly lead to but frustration and failure?
A winner never quits; a quitter never wins. In reply to an invitation from Lady Astor to visit Cliveden at the time of preparation of
African landing during the World War II, General D.D. Eisenhower
said, Thell with it. Ive work to do!
Frame a time-table: Indispensable need

or successful study a time-table is an indispensable need. As the

old saying has it, what may be done at any time is done at no
time. When you dont work to a time-table but work only when the fit
is on you, your study will become spasmodic.
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13

Advantages of a time-table
The advantages of a time-table are many:
(i) The first advantage is the saving in time and effort. Without
it you are likely to spend much time in decisionin making up your
mind when and what to study. A lot of energy is uselessly consumed
in trying to choose between alternatives and in screwing up your
resolution to work. As William James has it, There is no more
miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but
indecision.
(ii) The second advantage is the proper use of time. It is
fatally easy to fritter time away. If you do not impose set hours on
yourself, you are more likely to spend the time when you should be
studying, in watching T.V., reading a magazine, conversing idly over
cups of tea or in doing any of those hundred and one things which
weak and irresolute persons are ready to do rather than buckle to
work. If you have a time-table and mean to stick to it, it has all the
force of a law which must be obeyed, and in time adherence to it
becomes effortless, and you begin to regard it as a natural part of
your life.
(iii) The third advantage lies in the saving that comes from
intelligent dovetailing of your various activities; in ensuring that you
do each work at the best possible time; and eventually in the selfconfidence and sense of competence which comes from regular daily
work. As Anthony Trollope puts it, A small daily task, if it be done
really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.
(iv) The fourth advantage is that a time-table is an antidote
against procrastination. Procrastinationdeferring things from day
to daywastes a lot of time and usually ends in nothing being done
at all. Edward Young who coined the famous proverb Procrastination is the thief of time, also exhorts, Be wise today; tis madness to
14

HOW TO STUDY

defer.
(v) A time-table makes for efficiency. A sense of the value of
time, says Arnold Bennett, that is, of the best way to divide ones
time into ones various activitiesis an essential preliminary to efficient work; it is the only method of avoiding hurry.
(vi) Finally, a carefully worked out time-table will help you to
keep up to date, to form good study habits and to persevere.
How to frame a time-table?

n the light of psychological research, the following guidelines are

suggested for making a time-table:

(1) A time-table is a guide. It is an aid, not a task-master. It

must be flexible. It can be changed from time to time to meet present
needs and exigencies.
(2) As much as possible use your day time hours for study.
During the day our attitude towards work is more positive, and as a
rule, we have more energy and are less fatigued.
(3) Do not be too heroic: In order that you may live up to your
time-table base it on a careful estimate of your capacity for work. A
time-table that falls through has its disastrous aftermath. Fix a number
of hours that you know to be within your powers.
(4) Having estimated the total amount of time to be given to
study, settle in what order these subjects should occur in your timetable bearing the following principles in mind:
(a) The more difficult subjects should come first and the
easiest last.
(b) While the hardest subjects should generally come first and
the easiest last, there is room for a certain alteration of the easy and
the difficult. After a very hard subject a very easy one may be used as
a kind of rest after the strain. But the alteration should be according
HOW TO STUDY

15

to the different kinds of subject. For example, international law should

be followed by sociology and mathematics by history.
(5) Introduce a variety of different kinds of tasks: spend some
time reading, some writing, some on revision and so on. Follow a
period of sociology with a period of geography. As Martin Rhodes
observes, Your mind responds to variety which prevents it from
becoming stale and helps to keep it alert and lively.
(6) Have a target for each period of study, a fixed quota of
work to get through, such as a chapter to read, an essay to write.
(7) Dont be overly rigid in the use of your time-table. If you
cannot finish your target work at the exact moment when a new
subject is due, dont stop when a few more moments might produce
all the difference between complete and incomplete task.
(8) The length of the study periods to be devoted to each
subject will depend upon the nature of the subject and your stage of
advancement. Experts have suggested various periods (i) 40 minutes; (ii) 45 to 90 minutes and more. As a general rule 60 minutes
forms a suitable average period of study for a subject.
(9) It is necessary to give equal time to your subjects. If you
find a particular subject difficult allot more time to it than to others.
Rest Periods

est means abstinence of exertion or activity. There are optimum

periods of work and rest for every task and for every individual.
The art of resting, says Andre Maurois, is a part of the art of working. An individual who is tired and greatly in need of rest cannot do
any good work. The human organism cannot survive without alternating work and rest. Work produces fatigue; rest or recreation removes fatigue. Goethe said, Repose is works greatest achievement.
In the course of study, rest periods or breaks are essential and

16

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invaluable. Boredom, distractability, and dissatisfaction with work

tend to set in after about two hours without a break.
The following guidelines on rest periods given by an eminent
psychologist are commended:
During a session of continuous work on the same task, rest
periods should be short in relation to the work periodof the order
of 5 minutes or so. If longer breaks are taken momentum will be lost
and considerable effort needed before you become warmed up to the
task again. A rest should be taken whenever you feel that you are
slowing down and making errors.
A change in activity or posture during the rest are desirable,
such as walking around the room, stretching your arms, etc.
Rest intervals between different tasks may well be longer
about 10 or 15 minutes. Then a short, brisk walk outside or some
light refreshment, often serves to restore energies to their former level.
In general, it is sensible to take 15-minute breaks between tasks
and smaller breaks in the course of a task.
Adhere to your time-table

aving drawn up your time-table, adhere to it. You must be ruthless and self-disciplined and permit only special circumstances
to interfere with it:
See first that the design is wise and just,
That ascertained, pursue it resolutely,
Do not for one repulse forego the purpose
That you resolved to effect.
George Stephenson, when addressing young men, was accustomed to sum up his best advice to them in the words, Do as I have
donepersevere.
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17

If you want to reach your goal, you will have to give up your
giving up and replace it with dogged perseverance. Sir Thomas Fowell
Buxton once wrote:
I hold to a doctrine, to which I owe not much, but all the little I
ever had, namely, that with ordinary talent, and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.
Planning your work and working your plan will ensure your
success. Make it a habit to work to your time-table. Habit is a
second nature! Habit is ten times nature, the Duke of Wellington is
said to have exclaimed. Keep to this habit till you reach your goal.
And dont ever be discouraged if every shot is not a bulls-eye.

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CONCENTRA
TION
CONCENTRATION
The one prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is
dissipation....
Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in
trade, in short, in all management of human affairs.
R.W. Emerson

What is concentration?

oncentration means the fixing of attention or a high degree of

intensity of attention. To concentrate on an object is to employ
all attention on it. In his Heartbreak House, G.B. Shaw asked, Has
he attained the seventh degree of concentration? Concentration means
sustained attention.
Concentration is not a faculty of the mind, but depends upon
control of attention. Attention itself is defined as the process of psychological selectivity by which we select from a vast number of
potential stimuli, only those which are related to present needs and
interests. For example, when we are deeply involved in an interesting
conversation, we usually are not much aware of the temperature and
furnishing of the room or the noises of traffic outside. To quote William
James, It (attention) is the taking possession by the mind, in clear
and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of conHOW TO STUDY

19

sciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things

in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has
a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatter-brained state which in
French is called distraction and Zerstreutheit in German. In English
the opposite of attention is inattention, that is, scattered attention;
educationally, attention to something other than the lesson.
Involuntary and voluntary attention

ttention may be involuntary or passive, and voluntary or active.

Involuntary attention is given without or even against will.
Voluntary attention results from a direct act of the will. If the subject
attended to is not a barren one, voluntary attention passes into interested attention. As Wright points out, in study voluntary attention
and interested attention are both indispensable: Interest is the driving power, the engine; voluntary attention is the streering wheel. He
adds aptly: Thus concentration, in the sense of absorption in the
subject one is studying to the point of blindness and deafness to all
else is not the result of the strength of will, but of strength of interest,
the strength of some desire for a particular piece of knowledge.
Depend upon it, Sir said Dr Johnson, when a man knows he is to
be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
(Boswell : Life of Johnson.)
Importance of concentration

n any area of success concentration is essential. Geniuses are commonly believed to excel other men in their power of sustained attention. Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninetynine per cent
perspiration, said Edison. Genius, said Helvetius, is nothing but
a continued attention. Genius, said Buffon, is only protracted
patience. In the exact sciences at least, said Cuvier, it is the patience of a sound intellect when invincible, which truly constitutes
genius. And Chesterfield also observed that the power of applying
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HOW TO STUDY

an attention, steady and undissipated, to a single object, is the sure

mark of a superior genius.
The common denominator in the spectacular success stories of
great men is their remarkable power of concentration. For example,
in his biography of Bertrand Russell, The Passionate Sceptic, Alan
Wood, referring to Russells extraordinary gift for concentration says:
He would sit writing page after page, turning page after page neatly
face downwards as he finished them; he never minded children playing around him while he worked; and, once a guest in Cornwall, watching fascinated, saw that Russell did not even notice a wasp circling
his head.
Concentration was the motto of Andrew Carnegie: Concentration is my mottofirst honesty, then industry, then concentration.
Concentration an essential technique for study

oncentration is an invaluable and indispensable technique of successful study. To study something you must concentrate upon it,
give your voluntary attention to it. Without sustained attention, you
gain very little from your study-work. As Martin Rhodes has it, Ability to concentrate is a vital study skill. Without concentration you
will never succeed in learning effectively; with it, almost nothing is
beyond your grasp and understanding.
According to William James, Each of us literally chooses by
his way of attending to things, what sort of a universe, he shall appear
to himself to inhabit. The immediate effects of attention are, he says,
to make us:
(a) perceive (b) conceive (c) distinguish (d) remember better
than we otherwise wouldboth successive things and each thing more
clearly. It also (e) shortens reaction time. (The interval elapsing
between the presentation of a stimulus and the action that follows it
is the individuals reaction time.)
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21

Concentration as an aid to memory is of vital importance in

study. The human mind has been likened to a camera. You can get a
good sharp detailed picture if the camera is properly focussed and
held still. But if it is not, the picture will be blurred and no amount of
skill in developing and printing it can overcome these defects. In the
same way, however much you may strain your memory, it cannot
recall items that your mind failed to register clearly and faithfully at
the time of studying them.
Concentration also leads naturally to persistence. However quickly
you learn, the extensive knowledge needed for the achievement of your
goal can be acquired only by hard work over a long period.
Aids of concentration

oncentration is an act of will, not an inborn gift. It can be

acquired by intense will-power and sustained and reinforced
by the following aids:
Enthusiasm

nthusiasm moves mountains. Nothing worthwhile can ever be

achieved without it. Once you have made yourself enthusiastic
about learning, once you have filled your mind with the benefits of
acquiring knowledge, you will have no difficulty in concentration.
The material will take charge of your mind. As Peale has it, Enthusiasm releases the drive to carry you over obstacles which you could
otherwise never hurdle. It tones up your physical vitality and keeps
you going even when the going is hard. It invests the ups and downs
of daily life with come-back strength and adds significance to all that
you do.
Make a beginning

oncentration initially depends almost entirely on will-power. The

crux of the problem lies in making a beginning. You learn to

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HOW TO STUDY

concentrate by just sheer obstinate refusal to give in: Force yourself

to pay full attention right from the first moment and soon concentration will become habitual. Begin at the beginning, the king (in
Alice in Wonderland) said gravely, and go on till you come to the
end; then stop. Concentration is in fact a matter of habit which can
be perfected by persistent practice. There is no such thing as voluntary attention sustained for more than a few seconds at a time, says
William James. What is called sustained voluntary attention is a
repetition of successive efforts which bring back the topic to the mind.
Cultivate the habit of concentration by bringing your mind back every
time it wanders to other things.
Variety
William Cowper wrote in his long poem, The Task:
Variety is the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour.
Any sort of work, including study-work, becomes very monotonous without an element of variety. The human mind craves variety, which is why concentration on anything for any length of time
is difficult. Make use of this desire for variety to help you concentrate better on your study work. Try to introduce change into your
studies. The more you are able to introduce variety into your study
pattern, the more easily you will be able to keep your mind focussed.
Divide your study-work time by spending so much time reading, so
much time on written work, so much time on revision and so on.
Systematic Study

oncentration is helped by systematic study. As far as feasible

study the same subjects at the same time and in the same place
daily. Tackle the topics you are learning about in a systematic manner. First assemble the facts. Then marshal them in the logical order.
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23

Finally seek their significance. It is easier to rivet attention on rightly

organized material than on a higgledy-piggledy one.
Resist distractions

ou can concentrate more effectively by resisting internal as well

as external distractions. Nothing can be accomplished by anybody who cannot resist them. You must have a sense of priorities and
iron determination to adhere to them. By continually reminding yourself of the ultimate goal you are seeking to reach in your studies, you
can keep before you the urgent feeling for what is really significant
for you. As far as your study is concerned, any thing that does not
contribute towards that goal is a side-issue. Ruthlessly eliminate such
matters from your time-schedule. Dont draw a red herring across the
track.
You can cope with distractions by disciplining yourself to do
one assignment at a time. Do whatever you have planned to do at a
particular time without thought for any other task awaiting your attention. Focalize all your attention on the one task in hand. The farmer
cutting hay does not look towards the far end of the field. The housewife who undertakes a thorough cleaning attacks her cupboards shelf
by shelf.
It is advisable to concentrate on performing a certain unit of
work, and then, relaxing before buckling to again. The relaxation
may be no more than looking out of the window or walking up and
down the room for a few moments.
You can also eschew distractions by taking breathers without leaving your work environment. Stop for a cup of tea, by all
means, but if it is feasible have it at your desk with books and
papers around you: By staying on the scene you will often find
yourself getting back to work in a minute or two without almost
realizing it.
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HOW TO STUDY

Eliminate emotional worries

motional worries result in irritability, lack of objectivity,

narrowing of consciousness and distraction. Damocles, you may
be sure, could give little attention to the food and wine before him or
to his hosts conversation while the sword hung by a single hair over
his head.
To achieve intense concentration take steps to resolve any emotional worries occupying your mind. Chronic emotional problems
can play havoc with your study. If need be take professional advice
to end them. This Quiet, said Browning, all it hath a mind to do,
doth. A mind at peace is the best guarantee of concentration.
Self-confidence

elf-confidence helps sustain and enhance concentration. The feeling that you can attain your goal prods you to focalize on it. To
keep self-confidence at a high pitch, realise the psychological pay-offs
of failure to concentrate effectively. You will lose self-esteem. You
will come to feel that other persons are superior to you when in fact
they have no greater brain power, power of concentration or ability.
Never under-estimate your physical and mental capabilities.
Almost every man thinks too poorly of himself, says H.N. Casson.
He has no idea of what he can doif he dare.
Positive and optimistic attitude

positive and optimistic attitude towards your study and goal

boosts your capacity for concentration. There is magic in the
words: Certainly it can be doneand I can do it. Each day as you
approach your study tell yourself what you propose to accomplish.
Think of the glittering prizes that will come your way when you reach
your goal. Tune yourself to the right mood and attitude. They will
bolster up your morale and key up your concentration.
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25

Be patient

e satisfied to work energetically with a purpose, and await the

results with patience. Buffon has said that patience consists
mainly in continuous working and waiting.
Impatience results from under-estimation of the amount of time
the task will take. Very few tasks get done as quickly as planned.
impatience is the first reaction against a set-back and can soon turn
into anger if you are not careful. Impatience is best handled by allowing adequate time for the task.
Important tasks call for a lot of hard work and take a long time
to complete.
Care and excellence

are tremendously for what you are doing. Care is a feeling of

identification with what you are doing. When you have this feeling you also see the inverse side of caringquality meaning worth,
excellence. Tie care to quality. Care and quality are the external and
internal aspects of the same thing.
Robert M. Pirsig in his well-known Zen and the Art of Motor
Cycle Maintenance (1974) says, You have to have some feeling
for the quality of the work. You have to have a sense of what is good.
That is what carries you forward. This sense isnt just something
youre born with, although you are born with it. Its also something
you can develop. Its not just intuition, not just unexplainable skill
or talent. Its direct result of contact with reality. There is a beautiful way of doing things and an ugly way of doing things.
Care married to quality sustains and tones up concentration.
Keep Boredom at bay

oredom destroys concentration. It is debilitating and psychologically unhealthy. It means you are off the quality track. It

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HOW TO STUDY

means your gumption supply is low and must be replenished before

anything else is done. Turn on the T.V. Call it a day. Some peoples
cure for bredom is sleep, others a cat-nap, still others, coffee or tea.
Use paper and pencil

se paper and pencil in the course of your study. It will foster

better concentration. Dont just sit biting your pencil and waiting for inspiration when you have writing to do. Plunge into it right
away. Waiting for inspiration is a great strategy for doing nothing. It
is a sort of Santa Claus fantasy.
Strengthen your interest by auto-suggestion

nterest is the pivot of concentration. Develop and build a deep

interest in your subject. When interest is lacking altogether or when
it flags, stimulate or reinforce it by auto-suggestion by repeating such
affirmations as This work is interesting me more and more, or This
subject is useful to me for passing my exam and I like it more and
more each day. (Remember Coves formula of his health cures,
Every day, in every way, Im getting better and better.)
Muscular tension

or optimum concentration a slight amount of muscular tension is

essential. Too much of it diminishes concentration by leading to
jitters, jumpiness and fierce determination to concentrate which is
fatiguing. Try to put your mind into a state where it is eager and set
for action but not too rigidly determined or strung up to do the deed.
Avoid over-fatigue

ver-fatigue saps concentration. As Adams points out, the

difference between normal fatigue and over-fatigue is that overfatigue demands special effort: If after a piece of work you are tired...
you go to bed and have a good sleep and waken up refreshed, you

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27

have been merely fatigued. But if when you go to bed you are....too
tired to sleep, or if when you do sleep you waken still tired, and the
tiredness hangs about you all the next day and interferes with your
effectiveness in work then you have been over-fatigued. To combat
over-fatigue take a real rest away from your studies. Two leisurely
days holiday can work wonders. To prevent its occurrence distribute
your time over as many different study periods as can be conveniently arranged and have rest periods of 10 or 15 minutes each at
intervals.

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HOW TO STUDY

THE PHYSICAL
ENVIRONMENT
A place for everything, and everything in its place.
Samuel Smiles

Importance of the physical environment

he physical conditions of work, such as lighting, heating, ventilation influence your study-work output as well as efficiency.
Maude in the Life of Tolstoy, quotes him as saying, One thing I
cannot do without: I must have a quiet room to work.
It will be a great help if you can have a room where you can
study in reasonable comfort and without distraction. If necessary turn
a corner of your bed room into a study.
Psychologists have underscored the advantages of study room
or corner of ones own. A regular work place excites a disposition to
work in a very useful way. There you are free from distractions which
compete for your attention elsewhere. Says Wright, To enter the
work room, or sit at ones desk, is then to induce the appropriate
mental set, and to be relatively free from wandering thoughts and
contrary impulses, till the job in hand is completed. George J.
Dudycha, writes in the same vein: The place in which we study puts
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29

us into the mood for studying. Each time you sit down to your study
table, the attitude producing nature of the work place, will release in
you studying activities and nothing else.
A quiet study room is also invaluable for concentration. For
creative work it is indispensable.
A separate study room will save you from interruptions which
result in desultoriness. As Andre Maurois says, The effectiveness of
work increases according to geometrical progression if there are no
interruptions. In short the familiar study room provides the right
attitude, mood, atmosphere and stimulus for work. It is, therefore, a
desideratum.
Study furniture, Desk-table and chair

tudy is best done while sitting at a desk or table and maintaining

an erect posture. Tension of musculature facilitates mental activity. You can study better sitting upright on a hard chair than slumped
in an easy chair or lying on a bed. The desk/table should be of a
suitable height. It should permit an easy posture of the body, in which
both arms are free to manipulate or reach for books or papers and
neither breathing nor circulation is interfered with. It should be so
arranged that it is properly lighted, both during the day time and after
dusk.
The most desirable placement of a study desk is against a wall
so that you face the wall yet close enough to a window so that you
can take advantage of the day light without being distracted by that
which is going on outside.
Keep a business-like desk. A cluttered desk is not conducive to
study. Habits of orderliness save time and diminish tension.
Like a good workman you should have your tools within reach.
The books etc. that you are likely to want should be so placed that
you put your hand upon them without leaving your seat.
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HOW TO STUDY

Importance of posture

he posture you assume while studying needs added emphasis.

You must assume a posture that is conducive to attending well.
This means that you sit reasonably erect rather than slouch or assume
a body posture suggestive of rest or relaxation. Surely lying on your
bed to read an assignment is the poorest thing you can do. As Dudycha
puts it, You will learn best in such a position that indicates your readiness and willingness to work. Avoid trying to combine rest and relaxation with study for when you do you are most apt to end up resting.
Lighting

he general level of illumination in your room must be adequate,

the light should be well-distributed, and there should not be glare
or sharp contrasts of light and shade. You can obtain this level with
an ordinary 100 watt electric lamp.
There are four main types of shades and light-fittings: (1) direct, (2) semi-direct, (3) indirect and (4) semi-indirect. The direct
type, such as a low-hanging ceiling fixture which exposes the eye to
direct glare from the lamp, is the worst. An instance of the semidirect is the white glass globe, enclosing the lamp, which diffuses the
light, much of it being reflected from the ceiling. In indirect lighting
all the light goes to the ceiling and upper walls, where it is diffused
about the room. A hanging fitting with an opaque circular reflector
below the lamp is an example. In the semi-indirect type the reflector
is translucent and allows some of the light to reach the working
surface direct. Indirect lighting is to be preferred to the other types of
lighting. Uniform distribution and avoidance of glare are best
obtained by indirect lighting, says an authority.
As it is not usually practicable to obtain adequate local
illumination by this means, some combination of local and general
illumination is needed. You should have an indirect light for general
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31

illumination and a table lamp directly over your study work. The
table lamp should not have an opaque shade, because this produces a
bright area of light surrounded by shadows. An ordinary table lamp
with a semi-transparent shade is better, but the bottom of the shade
should be about 20 inches above the table top so that the lamp shade
itself is outside the field of vision.
Avoid tubular fluorescent lighting which, though it provides a
high level of illumination at a low cost, can be fatiguing.
Research reveals that there is no substitute for daylight. As
Dudycha observes, Because daylight is white light and because of
its intensity, one is able to read with greater speed and efficiency and
with less fatigue under daylight than with any other type of light.
Ventilation and heating

rom the efficiency view-point the main requirements are (1) pure
air to breathe and (2) suitable air temperature and air movement
so that body temperature can be maintained without discomfort. Sleep
with the window open. In waking hours a close and stuffy atmosphere should be guarded against because it results in the deficiency
of oxygen (anoxia) thus preventing the brain from operating at top
efficiency.
Working under conditions of extreme heat or cold involves more
effort and more discomfort. To ensure maximum mental performance your study should have an electric fan and an electric heater in
hot and cold weather respectively.
Noise and study

oise is a menace to study. It pollutes environment; affects efficiency, plays havoc with concentration, and sets our nerves on
edge. At times students are distracted or even maddened by noise.
Unfortunately noise is on the increase: bull-dozers, aeroplanes, auto32

HOW TO STUDY

mobiles, motor scooters, loudspeakers plague those who require quiet

for study.
Intermittent noises are the worst. They distract attention from
work thus adversely affecting accuracy as well as out-put.
Fortunately we become inured to lower levels of noise and are
able to shut them out from our consciousness.
Impact of noise on different persons

oise affects some people more than others doing the same work.
Extroverts are most influenced; introverts are least affected, and
some of them not at all by ordinary amounts of noise.
Attitude to noise

lot depends on your attitude to noise. To illustrate, Dr Maddox

states, I work a few hundred yards from a drop-forge and whose
loud discontinuous clanging appals most visitors. But it is possible to
get used to it, and even to regard it with affection by regarding it as a
symbol of industry and national prosperity.
Impact of different kinds of noise on efficiency

odern efficiency boffins have found that a little noise may

actually help efficiency because it keeps us from becoming
lonesome. At the other extreme noises of 90 decibels or louder are
almost always detrimental. In between these extremes personal efficiency begins to be lowered after the noise reaches a loudness of
above 60 decibels.
A distinction is made between meaningless noise and more
meaningful sounds such as conversation and music. Meaningful
sounds, though of less intensity, are much more distracting than meaningless noise.
High-pitched noises are worse than those of medium pitch. The
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33

squeal of a poorly tuned radio, the squeak of a hinge, the screech of

skidding or a cats mewing are annoying out of proportion to their
loudness since they are high-pitched.
Intermittent, periodical warbling noises are detrimental out of
proportion to their loudness. They have more power to distract than
steady whir or hum would. Thus occasional hammering of a steam
radiator is worse than the steady grinding of a lathe.
The noise that other people make is more distracting or annoying than the noise you yourself make.
Noises that are irrelevant to work in hand are harder on personal efficiency. You expect certain noises from the equipment you
are using so that they do not catch you unawares and so forcefully
distract your attention. The unexpected noises: something dropped, a
slammed doorcatch you by surprise and distract your attention from
what you are doing.
The noises made by neighbours tend to be more upsetting
because they often appear to arise from lack of consideration and
ignorance on their part.
Methods of reducing or controlling noise

ome concrete methods for the reduction or control of noise are

outlined below:

(1) Muffle the nosie at the source. For example use door checks
to prevent the noise of slamming doors; work on a linoleum instead
of metal or glass table top.
(2) Isolate the noise by shutting it out, moving it away, and
moving away from it.
(3) Absorb the noise to lower its loudness. Thick-pile fabrics
absorb 50 per cent of the sound that strikes them. Thick rugs absorb
more noise than thin ones.
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HOW TO STUDY

(4) Mask the noise: In bad cases you may insulate from distracting noise by closing the windows and generating some sounds
yourself in order to mask the unwelcome noises from outside. For
example, a radiogram enables you to play music which you think is
pleasant at intensities great enough to mask unwanted noises.
Background music softly played is sometimes used to mask
the irregular ringing of telephone bells and other noises.
(5) Change your attitude to noise: There are people who become so absorbed that they do not hear noises realizing that this is a
noisy world and is likely to continue to be so; it may even become
noisier as cities grow, traffic multiplies, and jet planes fill the sky.
Experiments reveal that people who had a passive attitude towards
the noise, who accepted it as just one of those things, to put up with,
tended to ignore the noise and consequently their work was not
affected. Become stoical about noise and put up unflinchingly with
what noise is unavoidable. It is futile running out to fight the man
with the sledge hammer. Buckle down to work to get your mind off
the noise that cannot be eliminated.
Also make it a habit to do your work more quietly; maybe the
noisy guy will imitate you!
The present state of the world and the whole life, said
Kierkegaard, is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my
advice, I should reply: Create silence.
Music while you work

esearch demonstrates that the effects of music depend upon

attitudes to music. It can enhance or lower performance depending upon whether you believe it to be an aid or hindrance to your
work. In industry its effect is greatest on boring and monotonous
work. As study is not, as a rule, boring or repetitive, it is not likely to
be aided by music. It is in fact crystal clear that difficult mental work

HOW TO STUDY

35

is best performed under quiet conditions.

You cannot watch a TV programme and study at the same time.
Attention is divided with most of it on the TV programme. This can
hardly be called studying.
Background music is objectionable particularly when what you
are studying requires considerable reasoning, comprehension and
memorization of details.
Visual distractions

part from auditory distractions (noises), there are visual distractions that influence effective study. There may be photographs of friends, athletic events, idols of the movies, beloveds and
other exciting experiences to gaze upon. Eliminate such visual distractions. Place your table or desk against a blank wall. Keep photos
out of sight. Allow nothing in your field of vision when you are at
your study desk except those things that suggest study.
Shun time-wasters

o not let time-wasters intrude upon you while you are at work.
They are pitiless and unscrupulous. If you do not resist them
they will waste your valuable time. Kindness and patience towards
them are serious faults. Treat them ruthlessly; it would be suicidal to
make friends with them.
When despite contrary orders, a bore forced his way into
Goethes house, he was quickly discouraged by the great mans glacial manner. Goethe put both hands behind his back and refused to
speak. If a visitor was someone of importance Goethe cleared his
throat and uttered a few monosyllables which soon brought the conversation to an end! Many people complained of Goethe for this inhuman quality, but it was this quality that enabled him to produce
such masterpieces as Faust and Wilhelm Meister.
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Working in libraries

nly those individuals who are strongly motivated are able to

work in libraries. American research in fact reveals that students who work habitually in libraries do better than those who do
not. The sight of others working makes it easier to buckle to work,
behaviour is more disciplined; there are rules enjoining silence etc.
So if you are a person who is strongly affected by external stimulation you may find it easier to work in a library, where others are
working.

HOW TO STUDY

37

WHA
T IS LEARNING?
WHAT
He who adds not to his learning diminishes it.
The Talmud

What is learning?

o learn means to get knowledge of a subject or skill in art etc. by

study; learning is (possession of) knowledge got by study. F.L.
Ruch defines it as a process which brings about changes in the individuals way of responding as a result of contact with aspects of the
environment. According to G.J. Dudycha, learning is the retention
of behaviour that has been modified through experience.
Learning curves

learning curve is a graphic device for showing the amount or

quality of a subjects performance after successive units of practice. As learning can only be inferred from observable changes in
behaviour, a number of criteria of learning are used. These include:
accuracy of response, speed of response, strength of response, probability of response, effort in response, and resistance to extinction or
interference. Learning curves are employed to give a clear picture of
the course of learning.
Most laboratory studies of learning performance yield curves
of decreasing returns. Such a curve indicates that the greatest amount

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HOW TO STUDY

of improvement occurs during the early trials. This diminishing of

returns on subsequent trials continues until a point is reached beyond
which practice brings no further improvement. The curve then levels
off, indicating that the subjects top level of performance has been
reached. There are also curves of equal returns and curves of increasing returns. Few experiments show the entire learning process. It is
the S-shaped curve that represents the complete process of learning,
incorporating all these curves. It indicates a period of increasing returns from practice during early trials, a period during which the rate
of improvement remains constant, and finally a period of decreasing
improvement.
The important point to note in learning curves is that learning
takes time, and that there are often periods of little obvious progress.
The moral is not to become discouraged when you seem to be stuck
on a plateau or flat places or periods of no apparent learning. As
you accumulate experience, difficulties often appear to fade away:
In all learning advances tend to come irregularly, as you gain fresh
insights into the subject.
Factors in learning
A variety of factors are involved in learning:
Motivational factors: It has been observed that learning, as
measured by both quantity and quality, usually improves as the strength
of motivation increases. As Dudycha observes learning seldom
occurs unless there is a need for learning. By need he means that it is
desirable and necessary to learn certain things, that there is some
compulsion to motivate learning. He adds, If we hope to learn more
with less effort we must be purposeful, goal-oriented, and motivated
by candid recognition of the presence of a need for learning.
The most important motivational factors are:
(1) Intent to learn: the presence of conscious intent to learn.
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39

(2) Reward and punishment: Punishment is usually most

effective when used in conjunction with reward.
(3) Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation: Learning may be sought
for its own sake or as a means to some other goal. In everyday learning situation both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are often involved. Intrinsic motivation, whether concerned with immediate goals
or long-term goals, usually leads to better learning than extrinsic
motivation such as grades.
Effect of stress: When an individual is motivated to achieve a
certain level of proficiency in performing a task, failure or threat of
failure produces stress. Working under the pressure of time or under
distracting conditions also induces stress in the learner.
The effect of stress on learning varies with individuals, acting
as a strong motivating force for some but producing damaging mental blocks or severe anxiety reactions in others. Anxiety can interfere
with effective learning. Frustration results in stereotyped behaviour
and increases the length of time for learning.
Characteristics of material to be learned: Learning is greatly
affected by the characteristics of the material to be learned, especially its amount and meaningfulness. Memory spanthe amount of
verbal learning an individual can master in a single presentationis
higher for digits than for single words or letters. With amounts of
material greater than the memory span, there is an increase not only
in the total length of time required for learning but also in the average
amount of time required for learning each unit of material. For example, an individual who can learn a list of 7 nonsense syllables in a
single presentation might require three or four repetitions to learn a
9-syllable list and nine or ten trials to learn ten syllables. It has been
shown that the increased learning time per unit with increased length
of material is considerably less striking with meaningful material
though there is an increase in the number of ideas presented. It has
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HOW TO STUDY

also been shown that where the learner has only to master the essential ideas of a passage rather than learn the material verbatim, increased length has a comparatively small effect on learning time.
Meaningfulness: Many studies have demonstrated clearly that
the rate of verbal learning depends greatly upon the meaningfulness
of the material. Thus meaningful prose and poetry can be learned
more readily than can meaningless material: Even where there is no
intent to learn, meaningful relationships facilitate learning. The heart
of academic learning, says Dudycha, is discovering new relationships. Learning is the process of discovering relationships.
Influence of prior learning: deja vu (already seen): Prior learning has an important influence on later learning. The more ready learning of a new task because of a prior learning task is called proactive
facilitation or positive transfer. Interference of a prior learning task
with the learning (and recall) of a new task is called proactive inhibition or negative transfer. Positive transfer results when the prior task
and the present task have similar stimulus-response combinations,
whereas negative transfer may result when the stimuli used in the
prior activity must be related to different responses, when conflicting
associations must be learned or when the items to be learned are not
clearly differentiated from each other. When the two learning situations have nothing in common, there is no transfer at all.
Almost everybody has had the experience when in a new place,
of a feeling that the place is familiar. The French term it deja vu
which means already seen. Psychologists view this phenomenon
as a case of transfer of a common element. Many complex situations
have some detail in common. This common detail, having been experienced before, is recognized in the new situation. Deja vu, says
Freud, is that strange feeling we perceive in certain moments and
situations when it seems as if we had already had exactly the same
experience or had previously found ourselves in the same situation.
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41

It is important for you to avoid the conditions that produce

negative transfer and to establish the ones that bring about positive
transfer. The baseball coach is trying to prevent negative transfer
when he forbids his players to play golf during the baseball season;
he knows that the curved swing used in golf would interfere with the
horizontal swing required in baseball.
Psychological feedback (Knowledge of results): Research
shows that a person who has knowledge of his progress will learn
more rapidly than an equally motivated subject of comparable ability
who works in the dark. The term knowledge of results has been
replaced with the expression psychological feedback defined as the
process whereby the individual gains information concerning the
correctness of his previous responses in order to correct error. It is
an important factor in facilitating learning.
Rote learning v. Meaningful (insightful) learning: Rote learning means verbatim learning without regard for meaning. It is mere
parrot-like repetition designed to commit a form of words to the brute
memory without any thought of their meaning (Adams). Although
rote learning has value at times as a means of learning factual material, do not allow it to replace the more conscious, insightful and
meaningful learning that is so essential for college students.
Effect of emotions: Emotion not only hampers recall of that
which has been learned, but it also interferes with the learning of new
knowledge. Emotions and especially unpleasant emotions must be
kept off if learning is to be facilitated. Try not to neglect those aspects of your subjects which you dislike. If you have to cover a syllabus for an exam, you can hardly afford to neglect any part of it
because you think it is unimportant or because you dislike it.
Understanding: To obtain insights into academic learning you
must thoroughly understand what you are studying. G.A. Dudley
speaks of the The Law of Comprehension. It is: to remember
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HOW TO STUDY

understand. Clearly comprehend what you want to learn and remember, if the meaning is not clear it is difficult to remember it. The very
effort to find a meaning will stimulate attention and fix the material
more firmly in the memory. The more you know about a thing, says
Dr H.K. Miller, the easier it is to remember. Always try to understand.
To understand thoroughly what you are studying and to attain
insight into it, you must think and reflect and relate new knowledge
to the old. As William James put it: In mental terms, the more
other facts a fact is associated with in the mind, the better possession
of it our memory retains. Each of its associates becomes a hook to
which it hangs, a means to fish it up by when sunk beneath the surface. Together they form a network of attachments by which it is
woven into the entire tissue of our thought. The secret of a good
memory is thus the secret of forming diverse and multiple associations with every fact we care to retain. But this is forming of associations with a fact, what is but thinking about the fact as much as
possible? Briefly, then, of the two men with the same outward experiences and the same amount of mere native tenacity the one who
THINKS over his experiences most, and weaves them into systematic relations with each other, will be the one with the best memory.
We see examples of this on every hand. Most men have a good memory
for facts connected with their own pursuits. The college athlete who
remains a dunce at his books will astonish you by his knowledge of
mens records in various feats and games and will be a walking
dictionary of sporting statistics. The reason is that he is constantly
going over these things in his mind, and comparing and making
series of them. They form for him not so many odd facts, but a
concept-systemso they stick.
Use of imagination: Use of imagination is an important factor
in learning. In the intellectual process of learning you must use imHOW TO STUDY

43

agination to help you visualize the reality of the material you are
studying. As Rhodes observes, without imagination you can learn a
book by heart and still remain ignorant because what you have learned
remains words which you repeat without true understanding. Make
imagination your active ally in learning.
Psychological quiz: For successful management of learning it
is important to know answer to some questions about your ability to
learn, in the light of psychological research:
Question: Is there an all-round ability?
Anwer: A single all-round ability to learn and remember has
not been found, but there may be ability factors common to different
kinds of learning tasks.
Question: Do slow learners remember better?
Answer: Fast learners appear to remember better than slow
learners.
Question: Can ability be increased through learning?
Answer: Learning set formation, is an important factor in the
rate of learning. (Learning set means a readiness to respond in a
certain way to a learning situation; learning how to learn). The more
learning sets an individual has in his repertoire, the greater his ability
to tackle complex learning material.
Question: How does learning ability change with age?
Answer: In general the quality of learning performance
increases during childhood and upto maturity, but then declines in
both speed and accuracy. Part of the age difference ability is due to
differences in motivation, decreased visual acuity with age and interference with previously learned material. There is no reason why
older people should give up trying to gain new knowledge and learn
new skills.
The adage, You cannot teach an old dog new tricks is false.
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No one is ever too old to learn. No matter how old you are, you are
not handicapped by age. Kelvin made his first scientific discovery
when he was 18 and he improved his marine compass when he was
83!
Learninga life-long process: Learning is a life-long process.
As psychologist puts it, No matter how long one lives, there is need
for learning. We continue to learn even when we rival Methuselah in
longevity. Solon, the Athenian law giver (d. 558 B.C.) said But I
grow old always learning many new things.
Aun aprendo, I am still learning, was one of the famous
mottoes of Aldous Huxley, and his way of life. The motto is the caption for a drawing Goya did in his old age, representing a man, bent
by the weight of years and infermities haltingly walking with the aid
of a staff.
Aun aprendo was the message Huxley would give to young
students who after twenty years of classroom learning were starting
out in life; it was the compliment he paid to his great friend Igor
Stravinsky on his seventy-eighth birthday. In one commencement
address he said, Age is no limit on the process of learning; not only
for masters such as Goya and Stravinsky, but for us all... The process
goes on, from the cradle to the grave and doubtless, beyond.
When you cease to learn, you cease to grow. Remember what
Merlin said about learning:
The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That is the
only thing that never fails...That is the only thing which the mind can
never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you.

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WHA
T MAKES US
WHAT
FORGET?
Life cannot go on without much forgetting.
Balzac

Meaning of forgetting

o forget is to lose remembrance of or about. Drever defines

forgetting thus: Failure at any time to recall an experience,
when attempting to do so, or to perform an action previously learned...
The term forgetfulness is employed of the tendency to forget.
Importance of forgetting

orgetting is essential to learning. Without forgetting, the learning

of new things would be greatly hampered, if not altogether
impossible.
In the practical use of our intellect, says William James, forgetting is an important a function as recollecting. He points out that
the peculiar mixture of forgetting with our remembering is an instance of our minds selective activity: Selection is the very keel on
which our mental ship is built... If we remembered everything, we
should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing.
It would take as long for us to recall a space of time as it took the
original time to elapse, and we should never get ahead with our think46

HOW TO STUDY

ing. All recollected times undergo accordingly, what M. Ribot calls

fore-shortening; and this fore-shortening is due to the omission of an
enormous number of facts which filled them.
As M. Ribot has it, we reach the paradoxical result that one
condition of remembering is that we should forget. Without totally forgetting a prodigious number of states of consciousness,
and momentarily forgetting a large number we could not remember at all. He adds significantly, Oblivion, except in certain cases,
is thus no malady of memory, but a condition of its health and its
life.
The course of forgetting

orgetting does not proceed at a steady rate. It is most rapid

immediately after the learning period. As time goes on, the
remaining knowledge becomes more and more stable.
Most of what we forget is forgotten soon after it has been
learned. This fact was first discovered by the German psychologist
H. Ebbinghaus. He constructed a curve of retention on the basis of
his data. This curve, known as the Ebbinghaus Curve is a classic in
psychology. It shows initial rapid forgetting followed by more gradual
loss.
In other words forgetting is characteristic. You forget more in
the beginning than you do later; you forget more immediately after
learning than you do after a lapse of time.
Generally speaking you forget about half of all your experiences within 24 hours and about three-quarters within 48 hours.
That is to say, in two days time you will have forgotten all but a
quarter of a days experiences. Thereafter memory fades more
slowly. (This vital truth shows how necessary it is to take steps
to fix material in your memory quickly after you have learned
it.)
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Quiz: Do we ever forget completely?

illiam James considered it an extravagant opinion that

nothing we experience can be absolutely forgotten: In real
life, inspite of occasional surprises, most of what happens actually is
forgotten. The only reasons for supposing that if the conditions were
forthcoming everything would revive, are of a transcendental sort.
Prof F.L. Ruch observes that there is a slowly growing body of evidence that anything once learned is never completely forgotten, though
he admits that the evidence is fragmentary.
Causes of forgetting
The causes of forgetting are:
Inadequacy of original learning: Often material is forgotten
because it was only partially learned. If you study something only
long enough to get a vague, general impression about it, you cannot
expect to remember it as well as if you have a clear understanding of
it. Such understanding includes both grasping the parts individually
and, equally important, seeing their relationship to each other.
Disuse: Letting the memory trace fall into disuse or not repeating the experience to keep it fresh in the mind. In order to maintain a
high level of mastery, after learning, it is important to review as soon
as possible after learning than to review again from time to time.
Failure to do so results in forgetting.
Retroactive inhibition: Another cause of forgetting is retroactive inhibition which means that later experiences have an
inhibitory effect on the retention of earlier experiences. You forget yesterdays events, not just because they occurred yesterday but
because you have experienced many events since then.
The thoroughness of learning of original material is also a
factor. Less well-learned material is more vulnerable to interference
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from subsequent activity.

Forgetting after sleep is substantially less than forgetting that
occurs during waking life which is filled with experience. Engaging
in an activity closely similar to the original learning causes the most
interference.
Meaningful organized material tends to resist retroactive
inhibition and is not forgotten as readily as nonsense material.
Tasks interrupted before completion are more likely to be
remembered than completed tasksthe Zeigarnik effect, after the
Russian psychologist Blum Zeigarnik who first demonstrated it
experimentallyexcept under stress when the reverse is true.
Repression: Repression is a defence mechanism in which painful or guilt-producing thoughts, feelings or memories are excluded
from conscious awareness. It occurs when two forces in the mind are
opposed to each other, the desire to recall being countered by a strong
resistance or wish not to recall.
Memories which threaten the individuals self-esteem often meet
unconscious resistancea form of repression.
Illustratively: Two girls about 12 years old had been placed by
their parents in a house of prostitution under circumstances that were
almost unbelievably degrading. When this situation became known
and the girls were encouraged by the authorities to tell their story,
they gave highly detailed information which was quite adequate to
incriminate their parents and the other people responsible.
But when the girls were questioned again several months later,
they omitted many of the factual detailseven those concerning some
of the more drastic parts of their experience. When their earlier testimony was summarized for them, they denied with apparent sincerity,
that such things had ever happened and said indignantly that the
stories must have been made up to discredit them (Erickson).
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49

In a case like this where the original experience had been so

vivid and so emotionally significant, one would expect retention of
the facts to be easy. But repression often acts as a self-protective
device, tending to make the person forget such painful experiences.
However, that repressed material usually stays active at an unconscious level and may produce emotional conflicts.
Other conditions influencing retention and forgetting

ome other factors, influencing retention and forgetting

are:

(1) In general, pleasant memories indicate a stronger tendency

to persist than unpleasant ones and both are better retained than
neutral ones.
(2) With controversial material, the degree of retention is related to the individuals attitudes toward the subject. People have a
tendency to learn material faster and remember it better when it agrees
with their own attitudes than when it contradicts them.
Maddox observes that It has often been shown that controversial material is more readily learnt if it fits in with existing beliefs and
attitudes. For instance, pro-communist students learnt more readily
than anti-communist students, a list of statements favourable to the
U.S.S.R. The recall of controversial material may also be selective:
for example, theistic students remembered better than atheistic students statements favourable to religion and vice versa. This suggests
some resistance to learning and retaining material which is not acceptable to us. Conversely we are very ready to learn from certain
sources to which we are favourably inclined, such as a political weekly
or a particular author. Even in factual subjects, in which there may
not appear to be much room for controversy, there may be some parts
of the subject which you consider old fashioned or dead wood.
(3) Factors in social environment also influence how much is
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remembered. Group recall has been found to be superior to individual

recall. Its superiority has been found to be greater in cooperative
groups than in competitive ones.
(4) As James has pointed out, as a rule a mans memory is good
in the departments in which his interest is strong; but those departments are those in which his discriminative sensibility is high. A
man with a bad ear is not likely to have practically a good musical
memory, or a purblind man to remember visual appearances well.
(5) According to Galton there are individual variations in the
type of memory where it is strong. Some have it verbal. Others have
it good for facts and figures, others for form. Most say that what is to
be remembered must first be rationally conceived and assimilated.
(6) James also refers to an interesting fact connected with
remembering and forgetting, which R. Verdon was the first writer
expressly to call attention to: We can set our memory as it were to
retain things for a certain time, and then let them depart. Verdon
illustrates this fact:
Individuals often remember clearly and well upto the point
when they have to use their knowledge, and then, when it is no longer
required, there follows a rapid and extensive decay of the traces. Many
school boys forget their lessons after they have said them, many barristers forget details got up for a particular case. Thus a boy learns
thirty lines of Homer, says them perfectly and then forgets them so
that he could not say five consecutive lines the next morning, and a
barrister may be one week learned in the mysteries of making cogwheels, but in the next he may be well acquainted with the anatomy
of the ribs instead.
Forgettery: Memory has its important and proportionate place
in the scale of mental life, says Dr H.K. Miller. So has forgettery.
We need to learn the fine art of relegating into the mental discard
lifes sordidness, griefs, errors, failures and disappointments... The
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capacity to forget is an essential prerequisite for happiness. You cannot be happy while constantly pursued by haunting memories of past
transgressions, errors and failures. By the same token, you cannot
study effectively if you are constantly plagued by past unhappy
experiences.
As Christina Rossetti said:
Better by far you should forget and smile,
Than that you should remember and be sad.
(Remember)
A Japanese proverb has it:
My skirt with tears is always wet
I have forgotten to forget.
This is what Francis Durivage wrote in this regard:
They teach us to remember; why dont they teach us to forget? There is not a man living who has not, some time in his life,
admitted that memory was as much of a curse as a blessing.
Here are some tips to forget futile, unhappy past experiences
that rob us of happiness and tend to immobilize us:
(i) Heed to Shakespeares admonition: What is gone and past
help, should be past grief. And things without remedy, should be
without regard; what is done is done.
(ii) It is no use crying over spilt milk. But if you do condense it.
(iii) All those dreadful memories you have stored in your brain
are hardly ever worth recalling. As a master of what stays in your
brain, you dont have to choose to keep them. Rid yourself of those
self-crippling memories, and, most importantly, give up the blame
and hatred you harbour for people who were only doing what they
knew how to do.
(iv) Rely upon the healing power of time: Time is the great
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healer, says the adage. However great your grief or disappointment

may be, in the course of time it will lessen. In this sense your wounds
heal with time. Says Dr Miller, As we look back over the years, the
friendly hand of time tends to place in proper perspective those experiences which when we were passing through them, seemed unbearable. Now they add just a touch of colour to the picture life paints
and are needed to give the proper and complete background.
(v) Prevent the unpleasant memory from consolidating. You
can only recall an impression, remarks Dr Miller, when you are
attending to it. If you refuse to attend to it as it knocks at the door of
consciousness and demands attention, it will be relegated into the
realm of forgetfulness.
(vi) Dont be bowled over by memory of past failures. They
have important personality pay-offs. They strip away false value and
make you realize what you really want. They stop you from chasing
butterflies and put you to work digging gold. Henry Ford said, Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.
(vii) Meet in another way the need which the unpleasant memory
has frustrated.
(viii) Seek new interests or a change of environment. A smarter
and more stimulating environment will help you forget old unhappy
memories.
(ix) To quote William James, The picture drawn in our minds
are laid in fading colours; and, if not sometimes refreshed, vanish
and disappear. Dont ever refresh old hurtful memories and they
vanish.
(x) Learn to accept defeats. The great Polish writer, M. Malinski
says, Human life consists, in large part of defeats, only to a small
extent of successes. And there would be no success if the defeats
didnt exist. That is why it is important to learn to accept defeats.
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53

In sum our minds are capable of storing an incredible amount

of data. While this is a blessing, it can also be a curse when we find
ourselves carrying memories which can do nothing but hurt us. Your
mind is your own, you possess that terrific capacity to push victimizing memories out of it.
And, as Dr W.W. Dyer puts it, The art of forgetting can be
essential to the art of living.

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WHA
T IS MEMORY
WHAT
Every one complains of his memory, but no one complains of
his judgement.
Rochefoucauld

What is memory?

ccording to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, memory is the

faculty of remembering. Drever defines it thus: In the abstract and most general sense that characteristic of living organisms,
in virtue of which what they experience leaves behind effects which
modify future experience and behaviour, in virtue of which they have
a history, and that history is recorded in themselves; that characteristic which underlies all learning, the essential feature of which is
retention; in a narrow sense it covers recall and recognitionwhat
we call rememberingbut there may be recognition without
remembering.
As defined by William James, Memory is the association of a
present image with others known to belong to the past.
Memorya function, not a faculty

odern psychologists hold that memory is a function, not a

faculty. As Dr A.A. Roback puts it, The chief argument
against faculty psychology was that it explained nothing; that it was,
therefore, a sterile attempt to give information that was of no value.

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(What was known as the faculty psychology, sought to explain

mental phenomena by referring them to the activity of certain agencies or faculties, such as memory, imagination, will, and the like, as if
these were entities, in place of merely general terms for various groups
of mental phenomena.)
Importance of memory

emory is one of the most important capacities possessed by

man. Almost everything we do requires memory. No progress
in civilization or culture, says Dr Bruno Furst, would be possible
without memory, since every invention rests on some kind of
knowledge previously gained.
Memory is the basis of our self-identity. Without it our individual
existence would become meaningless. As an authority observes: We
know that we are the same person that we were last year, because we
remember the experience we then had. Memory bridges over the gulf
of time and convinces us of the continuity of our own personality.
But while this is true for people in general, for the student
memory has a special significance. It has to do with the retention of
knowledge, which is his special business. Among factors in successful study, the contribution of memory cannot be exaggerated. It is a
key factor in effective study. You can at any given time attain a mastery over certain facts, but if you are unable to retain that mastery,
your labour in attaining it is wasted.
As Dr John Dintenfass has it, the prayer of many a student is: Oh,
that brain were composed of such stuff as putty to record impressions
and that it could be transformed into marble in order to retain them.
Mechanisms of memory storage and retrieval

here is a two-stage memory process. The first process, the formation of the engram or memory trace is formed in the brain;

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however, its formation does not ensure long-lasting memory storage

or consolidation which is the second process. A two-stage memory
process also helps to explain retrograde amnesia in which recent but
not long-term memories are impaired.
There are in fact two current theories of how the mental image
is stored in the brain. One is that if lays down an actual physical
impression in the brain structure called memory trace. The second,
and more recent, is that memory is stored in the form of patterns of
electrical impulses which have no fixed location in any specific area
of the brain. There is evidence in support of both these views and
presently it is not possible to decide between them.
Consider yourself as a recording machine. First you receive
information (learning). Second, you store the information away
(memory) and finally you retrieve and reproduce it (recall). Recall is
not a mechanical process but often a reconstruction.
In the above three-fold process errors can occur at any of the
three stages: (1) There may be errors of observation such as overlooking, misunderstanding, over-estimating; (2) errors of memory,
such as forgetting, confusion of items and assimilation to existing
ideas; (3) errors in the recall stage, such as filling in gaps, amplification or elaboration of the facts, blending of imagined experiences
into the one reported, and using a form of words that is inadequate.
Make sure that your initial intake of information is precise and accurate. The best method of avoiding errors in recall is to make sure that
you thoroughly understand in the first-place, and have a sound framework in which to re-construct your memories.
Not memory but memories

We have, as M. Ribot says, not memory so much as memories.

Observes William James: The visual, the tactile, the muscular,
the auditory memory may all vary independently of each other in the
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57

same individual; and different individuals may have them developed

in different degrees. As a rule a mans memory is strong in the departments in which his discriminative sensibility is high. Some individuals have a good memory for facts and figures; others for forms.
Those who have a good memory for figures, says A. Maury, are in
general those who know best how to handle them, that is those who
are most familiar with their relations to each other and to things.
Indeed, it is sometimes said that we all have excellent memory
for some thing or the other. The boy who cannot anchor the battle of
Waterloo to any fixed date, has no difficulty in reeling off an interminable list of football fixtures for the coming season, while the girl
who can never be sure whether Bombay is on the east or west coast
of India, will remember in the minutest detail the position of a ribbon
on a hat that she saw weeks ago in a shop window.
This does not mean that we have different kinds of memories
a football memory, a history memory, a millinery memory and a
geography memorybut merely that we remember different kinds
of things with different degrees of ease and accuracy. Generally the
deciding factor is interest; we remember what interests us more easily
than what does not. Memory improvement nearly always means improvement in dealing with a particular class of facts.
Classification of memory
Memory has been classified on a variety of basis as follows:
(1) Habit memory and pure memory: Habit memory is acquired
by repetition, like playing a musical composition. Pure memory is
the activity of attending to a particular experience, as, for example,
when you remember how you celebrated your last birthday.
(2) Immediate memory and remote memory: When you
attempt to reproduce what you have learned, you can do so immediately, in which case you are testing immediate memory. Remote
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memory is tested after a lapse of time.

(3) Rote memory, logical memory: When you memorize by
repetition alone, you are using rote memory. When you try to fit the
parts into a meaningful whole, you employ logical memory. As Adams
says, Rote learning is mere parrot-like repetition designed to
commit a form of words without any thought of their meaning. It is
pure parrotry; while logical learning means conscious, rational and
meaningful learning.
Sense preferences for learning

any people have a preferred sense for learning: Some prefer to

learn through the eye, others through the ear, still others through
the sense of touch. The first type are called visuals, the second
audibles, the third tactiles. This does not imply that the visuals learn
only by the eye, or the audibles only the ear, but that each prefers to
have information conveyed through his favourite sense. Most people
belong to a mixed type.
Memorys causes or how you remember
Memory depends upon:
(1) the formation of the object of memory;
(2) the retention of the remembered fact; and
(3) its recall.
There are thus three ways in which you remember: you memorize, you retain and you recall. As William James observes the cause
of retention and recall is the law of habit in the nervous system, working as it does in the association of ideas. The root of all memory is
the association of ideas. You remember something because you are
able to relate it or associate it with something you already know. As
you study, working consciously to associate the new knowledge to
your previous studies, each new item fits into place in the scheme of
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59

things and your memory of it later becomes easier.

Natural quality of memory unchangeable

sychologists are not yet quite agreed whether the natural quality
of memory can be changed, but the balance of opinion is entirely
against the possibility of improving the original or brute memory.
Adams observes that the natural quality must be taken as something
given, something that cannot be changed. We are born into the
world with a memory of a certain degree of retentiveness and power
of recall, and with that memory we must go through life, making the
best use of it that we can. We may use it wisely or foolishlyand for
this we are responsiblebut we have only that one memory to use,
we cannot improve its intrinsic quality. So far as is known, says
R.H. Rovere, a mans memory like his intelligence, remains just
about constant most of his life. Dr Furst cannot increase the power of
anyones memory but he can enable a person with a poor memory to
make the best use of it.
William James, a great authority on the subject, holds that all
improvement of the memory lies in the line of ELABORATING THE
ASSOCIATES of each of the several things to be remembered. No
amount of culture would seem capable of modifying a mans GENERAL retentiveness. He explodes the popular belief that certain
memory exercises will strengthen, not only a mans remembrance of
particular facts used in the exercises, but his faculty of remembering
facts at large. To see whether a certain amount of daily training in
learning poetry by heart would shorten the time it took to learn an
entirely different kind of poetry, James, during eight successive days
learned 158 lines of Victor Hugos Satyr. The total number of minutes required for this was 131-5/6. He then, working for twenty-odd
minutes daily, learned the entire first book of Miltons Paradise Lost,
occupying 38 days in the process. After this training he went back to
Hugos poem, and found that 158 additional lines (divided exactly as
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on the previous occasion) took him 151-1/2 minutes. In other words

he committed his Victor Hugo to memory before the training at the
rate of a line in 50 seconds, after the training at the rate of a line in 57
seconds, just the opposite result from that which the popular view
would lead me to expect.
His further research led him to the conclusion that All improvement of memory consists, then, in the improvement of ones
habitual methods of recording facts. These he classifies as follows:
The mechanical methods consist in the intesification, prolongation and repetition of the impression to be remembered.
Judicious methods of remembering are logical ways of conceiving them and working them into rational systems.
Ingenious methods are methods invented under the name of
technical memories. The best known of these methods is the figurealphabet. To remember numbers, e.g., a figure-alphabet is first formed,
in which each numerical digit is represented by one or more letters.
The number is then translated into such letters as will best make a
word, if possible a word suggestive of the object to which the number
belongs. The word will then be remembered when the numbers alone
might be forgotten.
Characteristics of a good memory
The outstanding characteristics of a good memory are:
(1) A good memory is a selective onemaking an accurate
and conscious selection of the items you want to remember.
(2) It retains well; and
(3) It reproduces easily.
According to James, memory being altogether conditioned on
brain paths, its excellence in a given individual depends partly on the
number and partly on the persistence of these paths. The persistence
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or permanence of the paths is a physiological property of the braintissue of the individual while their number is altogether due to the
facts of his mental experience. The former he terms native tenacity or
physiological retentiveness, which differs enormously from infancy
to old age and from one person to another. As regards the number of
brain paths, the more other facts a fact is associated with in the mind,
the better possession of it our memory retains. The secret of a good
memoryand its hall-markis the secret of forming diverse and
multiple associations with every fact you care to retain. As James
puts it, Of two men with the same outward experiences and the same
amount of mere native tenacity, the one who THINKS over his experiences most and weaves them into systematic relations with each
other, will be the one with the best memory.
Sundry facts about your memory

r R.S. Woodworth, after testing the memories of countless subjects came to a significant conclusion that every one has greater
power of memory than he imagines.
The storage capacity of your grape-fruit-sized brain is staggeringconservatively estimated at ten billion units of information. Says
Dr W.W. Dyer, Your built-in memory potential alone is phenomenal. You could train your mind, without much exercise, to remember all the phone numbers you use in a given year, to remember
100 names of strangers introduced at a party and recall them for
months afterwards, to describe in detail everything that happened to
you in the past week, to catalog all the objects in a room after a fiveminute visit, and to memorize any lengthy list of random facts. Dont
underestimate your powers of memory; avoid the game of one-downmanship in this area of your mental capabilities. Dont trade statements like I never could remember names, numbers, languages or
whatever. Have confidence and belief that you can learn and
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remember anything you choose to.

Training is everything, said Mark Twain. Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. We read of poor memory
like the story of a man who said: As I grow older I find three things
I have trouble remembering: (1) faces; (2) names; (3) I cant remember what the third is. But genuine poor memories are rare. The real
distinction is between trained and untrained memory.

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THE LA
WS OF
LAWS
ASSOCA
TION
ASSOCATION
Nothing is simpler, apparently than to notice that this law of
association is the truly fundamental, irreducible phenomenon of our
mental life...
M. Ribot

Importance of laws of association

he laws of association play an indispensable part in learning and

remembering. You learn and remember everything that is new to
you only by connecting it with something you already know. This is
the only way of acquiring knowledge. As Dr Bruno Furst, illustrates
just as the mason puts one stone upon another connecting both by
mortar when erecting a building, so must you connect every new idea
with a familiar one if you want the new thought to stick in your mind.
Prof Brenan observes that any part of our experience which we
had at a previous time has a tendency to recall other parts of the same
experience whenever the first part comes into our consciousness.
In short memory works through the laws of association. You
can remember a new idea only by connecting it with something you
already know.
For several nights a six-year old girl threw one shoe under her
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bed before going to sleep. Her mother asked her why she did that.
The Sisters say, was the reply, that if we have to kneel by our beds
to look for our shoes, well remember to keep kneeling and say our
morning prayers.
Definition and classification

Association is used generally of the principle in accordance with

which ideas, feelings and movements are connected in such a way
as to determine their succession in the mind or in the actions of
an individual, or of the process of establishing such connections.
The laws in accordance with which connections are established
are known as laws of association.
Classification

he laws of association are classified into two categories,

namely:
(i) Primary laws of association; and
(ii) secondary laws of association

the former being the laws of

(i) contiguity,
(ii) similarity,
(iii) contrast, and
(iv) assimilation;
the later of
(i) primacy,
(ii) recency,
(iii) frequency, and
(iv) vividness.
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Primary laws of association

(i) The law of association by contiguity: William James states
the law of association by contiguity thus: Objects once experienced
together tend to become associated in the imagination, so that when
any one of them is thought of, the others are likely to be thought of
also, in the same order or sequence or coexistence as before.
According to this law, when two experiences have occurred
together in time or place, the subsequent occurrence in perception or
ideation, of one of them tends to bring the other to mind.
Thomas Hood wrote:
I remember, I remember,
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn.
A well-known song has the line: Moonlight and roses bring
memories of you. Moonlight and roses were associated by contiguity with the poets sweet-heart because they had probably all been
present on the same occasion.
(ii) Association by similarity: The law of association by similarity states that two ideas may be associated if they resemble each other.
The colour pale-blue is said to have feminine and blood-red
masculine affinities.
The name Pott which a man was trying to recall was associated
by similarity with Stephen Potter. The name flashed across his mind
when in the evening in his library he came across a book, titled
Gamesmanship or The Art of Winning Games without actually Cheating by Stephen Potter.
(iii) Association by contrast: This law states that two ideas may
be associated if they contrast with each other.
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When some one mentions the word day, we at once think of

the word night. The idea of luck contrasts with that of ill luck.
We need greater virtues to bear good fortune than bad.
(Rochefoucauld).
(iv) Association by assimilation: This law states that a person
may react to a new situation with a response normally given to a
familiar situation, to which the new situation presents some points of
resemblance (Thorndike). If one has an unpleasant experience, one
is very anxious to avoid a repetition.
Mr Jackson, said the school headmistress, we are taking another party of children up to see the sights of Chandigarh next Saturday. Would you be so good to help us as you so kindly did last time?
I am sorry, Mrs Greensleeves, but, Id much rather not, he
replied. Those infernal kids nearly drove me mad. Once bitten, twice
shy is my motto from now on.
Secondary laws of association
(i) The law of primacy is to the effect that, other things being
equal, first impressions are from that fact favourably placed for
retention and recall.
As the adage goes, first impressions are the most lasting.
(ii) The law of recency: According to this law, recent impressions or recently formed associations have, other things being equal,
an advantage for recall. As James has it, recency in experience is a
prime factor in determining revival in thought.
If Shakespeares plays are mentioned and you were last night
reading Romeo and Juliet, vestiges of that play rather than of
Macbeth or Othello float through your mind.
(iii) The law of frequency (or repetition): This law states that
two things are more likely to be associated the more frequently they
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have occurred together. Frequency is one of the most potent determinants of revival.
If I abruptly utter the word swallow, the reader if by habit an
ornithologist, will think of a bird; if a physiologist or a medical specialist in throat, he will think of deglutition.
If I say date, he will, if a fruit merchant think of the produce
of the palm; if an habitual student of history, figures with A.D. or
B.C. before them will rise in his mind.
(iv) The law of vividness (or intensity): This law is to the effect that two things are more likely to be associated the more vividly
they have occurred together: The more vivid an impression, the better it is retained.
If you have once witnessed an execution, any subsequent
conversation or reading about capital punishment will almost surely
suggest images of that scene.
If a man in his boyhood once talked with Napoleon any mention
of great men or historical events, battles or the whirligig of time will be
apt to draw to his lips the incidents of that one memorable interview.
Basis of the laws of association

he laws of association are based on logic, on reasoning as contrasted with imagination. Every man is gifted with reason and in
making use of the laws of association, he should be governed solely
by reason.
Which laws of association you prefer depends upon your way
of thinking: the more rational your thought, the more important
becomes cause and effect.
Magic of the laws of association

ow is it possible that very often the boy who is a dunce at

school and failing in classwork can recall the cricket scores of

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all the leading teams in the country and that he does not make a single
mistake about runs and bowling even when the match in question
took place several years ago?
William James gives a perfect answer to the question. He points
to the fact that the boys interest makes him think of the game at
frequent intervals. Each thought makes a repetition of the first impression. Whenever he reads or hears of the most recent match, his
thoughts go back to similar matches played in the past, and every
such thought means forming a new association, thus strengthening
the memory of each match. As a result, every score, every player,
every match is anchored in his mind by different associations and
strengthened by so many repetitions that he is able to answer any
question instantly, regardless of his ability or want of it in other fields.
The college athlete who is a dunce at his books astonishes you
by his knowledge of mens and womens records in various feats and
games and is a walking cyclopaedia of sports statistics.
Similarly, the trader remembers prices, the politician other
politicians speeches and votes, with a copiousness that astounds
outsiders but which the amount of thinking they bestow on these
subjects easily explains.
How to use laws of association

se the law of association by discovering the relations between

various parts of what you are studying and by linking up what
you learn with what you know already.
The most valuable associations are those that are logical and,
therefore, objectively real. Avoid irrational absurd associations. A
rational memorizer hates things to hang about loosely. Avoid ingenious
and artificial associations between otherwise disconnected facts
advertised in many memory systemssuch as the use of figurealphabet for remembering dates and numbers, absurd positional
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associations established by the initial letters of words and so on. An

investigator observes that learning and recall are about 25 per cent
better when sensible logical connexions between items are developed
than when artificial connexions are made according to memory
systems.
Use of mnemonics

he term, mnemonics is employed usually of artificial systems

for aiding memory and recall, particularly with regard to specific types of material. This kind of positioned association is established by the initial letters of words. In English history you learn the
names of the famous Cabal under Charles II by reading them off by
their initials Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale.
The best known example is probably the little rhyme by which most
people remember how many days there are in each month.
Thirty days hath September
April, June and November,
All the rest have thirty one,
Excepting February alone
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap-year.
Spelling of certain words in English can be made simply by
recalling the rhyme: I before E except C.
Mnemonics are the last resort for something which must be
retained and which you have failed to learn in a rational way. In making mnemonics, look for connections as rational or near rational as
possible. A mnemonic may be used as a temporary devicea crutch
to make use of until the process of learning is complete. As Martin
Rhodes points out, a mnemonic must be simple for it is useless in
itself unless it is certain to be remembered. Then its connection with
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the facts to be memorized must be obvious. Here is an example of a

flagrantly absurd mnemonic from Dr Mackays Rhyming Geography:
The Southern halfs a triangle
Of greater elevation,
With several peaks that reach
The line of congelation.
What is wrong with this mnemonic is the intolerable amount of
scaffolding to the very small amount of fact. Any student who knows
about the line of congelation does not need the help of a stanza to
remember that the Deccan is triangular and has snowy mountains. The
help given by such verse is illegitimate, because it tends to throw us back
upon mere rote learning: We depend upon words not upon thoughts.
Here is an instance of a simple mnemonic:
Please to remember the Fifth of November
Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
(Reference is to the gun powder plot, 5th November, 1605 to
blow up British Parliament.)
The following rule given by Sir John Adams for the use of
mnemonics is sound:
The practical rule that should guide the use of mnemonics is
this: Make the mnemonic as real as possible, i.e., let the scaffolding
be as closely related to the fact to be remembered and as true to
reality in itself as is possible. Another way of expressing the same
thing is: Never depend on a mnemonic when you can reason out the
facts from the data supplied.
Illustratively
(1) Time in New York is different from time in London, and
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many people cannot remember whether the American clocks are fast
or slow compared with the English. In this case no mnemonic is required. Every body knows that the sun moves from east to west. When
it is overhead in London, London had midday, while America must
wait till the sun reaches her before it can be midday there. An English
watch must, therefore, be fast when compared with an American
watch.
(2) In the scale of colours, the wave lengths increase towards
the red end of the spectrum and diminish towards the violet. For the
student of elementary physics it is comforting to remember that red is
the smallest name for a colour and yet has the highest wave length.
Violet has a big name and yet has the smallest wave length. This
mnemonic is typical of the sort of thing that is most useful to you in
your ordinary work. It is simple, natural, free from scaffolding and
all manner of fuss; and these are just the qualities you should insist
upon in the mnemonics you use, concludes Sir John.

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TECHNIQUES OF
LEARNING AND
REMEMBERING
There is no royal road to learning.
English proverb
For effective learning and remembering, the adoption of psychologically sound techniques is essential. In this chapter we outline
such techniques.
Cut out rituals

ritual is a preliminary to something else. There are many rituals indulged in as preliminaries to studying. There are personal
rituals. Some students must go through the ritual of dressing for the
ordeal of study. Some pre-study rituals take the form of special eating. These are gastronomical rituals. Then there are social rituals like
talking to some one, making telephone calls.
Such ritualistic activities are apparently legitimate reason for
postponing studying that is anticipated as both being difficult and
disagreeable. Indulgence in them means frittering away of time and
energy. They are attempts to put off what you are not at all eager to
do. Cut out the rituals. Get on with the work.
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Spaced v. Continuous method of study

n the spaced method of learning, learning periods are distributed

in time separated by periods of rest or the periods of very different
activity. It is also called the distributed or the studyreststudy
rest method. It is contrasted with the method of continuous study.
Psychological research has repeatedly shown that the spaced
method is superior to the continuous method. The spaced method
encourages you to spend more time on studying. You experience less
fatigue. The rest pause following a period of learning gives you an
opportunity to integrate what is learned. The rest pause not only makes
integration possible, it also makes the forgetting of wrong things possible, thus making retention of the right things possible. Adopt the
spaced method.
The SQ3R system of study

he SQ3R system of study has proved of undoubted value in

American colleges and universities for effective study. The SQ3R
stands for:
Survey Question Read Recite Revise

(1) Survey: Briefly this means that instead of picking up a textbook and reading one of its chapters over and over, you should first
survey: i.e., find out all you can about the aims and purposes of the
book, read the authors preface, study the table of contents and the
index, read the chapter summaries (if there are summaries) and skim
rapidly through the book. Keep in mind your own object in study, the
syllabus you are trying to cover, and the relevance of the book to
your own areas of interest. If the book does not suit your purpose, if
it is not well-written, and at the right level of standard, look for a
better one that makes the grade. In brief make a reconnaissance
before you start your main work, and get an over-all perspective of
what lies before you. It is akin to military, naval, etc reconnaissance
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and its importance can hardly be over-stressed.

(2) Question: This step involves asking questions. It entails
going rapidly through the chapters of the book which you are tackling and jotting down such questions as occur to you. This is useful
as it motivates you and gives you a purpose. It compels you to think
and to marshal such knowledge as you already possess. By maintaining a questioning attitude you will, in due course, come to study books
critically: No intelligent person merely reads a book. He cannot help
dwelling on particular points as he reads, and contrasting or uniting
them with other points that he has just grasped. Bacon wrote, Read
not to contradict and confute, not to believe and take for granted, nor
to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.
(3) Reading: The next stepreading properis of vital importance. The first reading of a textbook chapter should be slow and
thorough. Most good textbook chapters have a pattern of headings
and subheadings which you should keep at the back of your mind as
you read. If the subject is illustrated by graphs or diagrams take the
trouble to master them. They are much more easily remembered than
long verbal statements.
This type of reading is analytical reading, the aim of which is
to discover the details, the specific results, the facts out of which the
general ideas and broader view of the subject developed. It requires
you to read more slowly, to re-read sentences and paragraphs that are
not clearly understood. It is the reading in which your major study
work is done.
Avoid
(1) Automatic reading, which fails to command conscious attention. Avoid it, for establishing the habit of reading ideas rather
than words.
(2) Reading as a ritual like reading an assignment three times
with the blind faith that somehow three readings of an assignment
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will lead to success.

(4) Recitation: Recitation is defined as an attempt to reproduce
in any way that which is being (or has been) learned.
Recitation is a very potent and effective factor in remembering
(memorizing) for the following reasons:
(a) It keeps motivation strong.
(b) It facilitates the use of immediate goals.
(c) It tells you how well you are progressing in learning.
(d) It gives rise to reward when you are successful or punish
ment when you are less successful in what you are learning.
(e) Finally recitation gives you patience in doing what you
ultimately want to do.
Bacon wrote, If you read anything over twenty times, you will
not learn it by heart so easily as if you were to read it only ten times
trying to read it between lines and when memory failed looking at the
book.
How to recite
Following are ways in which you can recite a given material.
(1) Write it.
(2) Draw things which lend themselves to drawing, e.g., data
represented graphically.
(3) Picture it, e.g., visualize the characteristics of each of the
several types of architecture you are studying.
(4) Hear ithear that musical selection you are trying to master.
Use other senses also.
(5) Tell it to someone.
(6) Explain it to someonee.g., a complex theory you are trying to learn.
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(7) Talk it overdiscussion in a group of two or three.

(8) Outline the substance.
(9) After reading each major section of a chapter, lay the book
on one side and try to recall what you have been reading. Periodic
recall is an undoubted aid to learning.
(10) Write out abstracts. Studies have shown that time spent in
active recitation leads to more effective learning. Its value is further
enhanced when there is some device by which you are kept informed
as to whether the ideas you are recalling are correct or incorrect.
(5) Revision: The final step of SQ3R system is Revision. Revision should not be considered something to be undertaken just before exams. Memory experiments show that material that has to be
retained over long periods should be studied and restudied. Memories become stronger and stronger with each re-learning and forgetting proceeds more slowly.
The first revision should take place as soon as possible after
the original learning. Further revisions are often necessary before the
final revision which precedes exams. Underlining the importance of
review Prof W.W. Ruch says that it is important to review as soon as
possible after learning and then to review again and again from time
to time. Review should be selective, with the most emphasis given
to those parts which are most important or most difficult.
In revision before exams, pay particular attention to the earlier
material you have learnt, as more of it will have been forgotten. Leave
yourself time to go over all the material you have covered. Research
studies have shown that subjective estimates of strengths and
weaknesses are often faulty. Active revision, and a few attempts at
answering old exam questions should give you a better idea of where
your true strengths and weaknesses lie.
It needs emphasis that revision should be an active rather than
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a passive process. Revise by writing down from memory what you

know about each topic, then check with your books and notes, is
sound advice.
Technique of over-learning

ver-learning is an important technique in learning and remembering. Over-learning is learning in which repetition or practice
has proceeded beyond the point necessary for the retention or recall
required. Such over-learning may, however, be necessary in view of
the factors likely to affect recall, which are bound to enter subsequently from the circumstances of the case.
It is that added time and effort beyond what is required now
that you have put into learning what you intend to recall at sometime
in the future. It also means that you spend added time and energy
learning something which you already know.
As Maddox observes, material is underlearned when it has
not been studied long enough for you to be able to recall it 100 per
cent correctly. It is over-learned when you continue to practise it
after you can recall it 100 per cent correctly. For example, it might
take you 10 minutes to learn a vocabulary of 20 foreign words. If
you then carry on learning and reciting with the same close attention as before, you are over-learning the material. Another 5 minutes would represent 50 per cent over-learning, another 10 minutes
100 per cent.
It pays to over-learn because of the distinct gain in retention: it
increases the strength of your memory traces. If you want to remember something for a long time, you should over-learn it.
Over-learning to be effective, must be active learning. Your
attention must be riveted upon what is being learnt. Therefore, overlearn actively and with conscious attention by using various methods
of recitation. As Dudley puts it, Do not repeat what you wish to
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remember until you barely know it, but until you know it really well.
Whole v. part technique of learning

n the whole method of learning, that which is learned is always

dealt with as a whole. When you memorize a poem by reading the
entire poem through again and again you are using the whole method.
The part method is a case of breaking the whole up into
parts and learning the parts part by part. Learning a poem by the
part method means that you learn it line by line or stanza by stanza,
not going on to the next line or stanza until the previous one has
been learned. As each part is learned in turn, the whole poem is
finally mastered.
There is a third method called the progressive part method.
By this method the poem is learned line by line or stanza by stanza,
as in the part method, but after the first and second parts are
learned, the two are repeated together thus making them into a
unit. Then the third part is learned and subsequently added to the
first two and now the three are repeated. This process is continued until the whole poem is mastered. This is a combination of
the whole and part learning.
Evaluation

ach of the two methods, the part learning and the whole learning
has its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of part learning

n rote learning short tasks are proportionately easier to learn than

long tasks. Therefore it is easier and quicker to do rote learning in
a series of short sections than to try to learn a long task all at once.
In part method the learner gets knowledge of progress sooner
and is thus encouraged. Another advantage is that each part is learned
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to mastery and then dropped for the moment. This eliminates spending more time than is needed in going over easy parts.
Advantages of the whole method

ince meaningful material is easier to learn than non-meaningful

material, anything that enhances meaning helps learning. Here
the whole method has the advantage. When the whole task is broken
up into parts the parts frequently become less meaningful because
the continuity or relationship between them are lost.
When material is learned by the part method, the parts must
eventually be put together. This makes necessary the additional task
of learning the transition between parts. The whole method has the
advantage of eliminating this step.
Logic favours the whole method. Says Martin Rhodes, It is
better to learn in wholes than in parts. Thus you tackle the whole
poem every time, not a verse every time. Another expert holds
that it is better to repeat the material as a whole than to break it up
into parts and repeat each part separately. Sir John Adams also
recommends that every unit in learning should be learnt as a whole.
When you learn a poem by stanzas, he points out, each is inclined
to stand out as a unity by itself, and there is a difficulty at the end
of each in getting switched on to the proper one to follow.
Flexibility of method

s the above considerations make clear, there is no general rule

concerning the relative effectiveness of the two methods. Experimental methods do not favour any of these methodsthe whole
method, the part method and the progressive methodover the
others. In fact in the light of the experimental results, use whichever
method you prefer. By preference the progressive method is favoured
by most learners. Prof W.W. Ruch recommends a combination of

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part learning and whole learning: In practical learning situations the

best results will probably be attained when part and whole methods
are combined. Go over the whole task a few times to get the advantage of meaning and continuity and to detect the difficult parts.
Give these parts extra effort, and then practise the whole task
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