The psychology of learning is a field of psychology that studies the learning process, in our case, how we can develop new knowledge and abilities in skiing as well as new attitudes towards previous learning.
It is integrated by behavioral psychology, or behaviorism, based on observable behaviors; the psychology of form or Gestalt, based on association, trial and error, and self-learning; and cognitive psychology which deals with intellectual information in terms of perception, memory, representation of what we experience, and the resolution of situations.
In addition, it takes into account factors such as motivation, context, and social factors in which learning takes place. It also includes the study of those processes that generate transitory or permanent changes in our behavior.
The psychology of learning is fundamental in ski teaching. Instructors and coaches are trained by studying the basic learning aspects of learners and athletes such as motivation, needs, expectations, affectivity, and moods. Educational psychology, on the other hand, deals with the study of teaching processes’ improvement, seeking teaching effectiveness in terms of detecting those aspects that hinder it and those that facilitate it. An important aspect studied by this branch of psychology is the will observed in learners as well as their interest in learning.
Cognitive psychology studies three ways in which knowledge is stored in long-term memory:
- Declarative knowledge is that in which information is reduced to known concepts that the technique for skiing is performed in a certain way (what is done).
- Procedural knowledge refers to the knowledge of how movements and technical actions are performed or executed (how it is done).
- Conditional knowledge represents the usefulness of its application (why, what for, and when it is done).
The popular belief is that we learn to ski with our body when in fact we first need to develop our mind to adapt to the circumstances. Motor performance is dependent on mental action in that the psychological function dominates the motor function.
Generally, there is a tendency to confuse a given technical resource with the ultimate goal of ski learning, that is, one that allows to go beyond the technical, beyond the body, i.e., the replenishment of mental power. Our mind generally declares itself against learning just as learning, sometimes, reveals itself against our mind which makes us resist, initially, to all learning.
According to psychologist and writer Ariel Bianchi, learning is the process or activity of acquisition that determines a modification of our behavior. This process presupposes a certain effort and a sense of adaptive efficiency. Learning is what we experience for ourselves; it is the modification of our skiing behavior after a concrete experience through an effective response to solve a tactical or a technical-motor problem.
If these behavioral modifications are transformed into stable executions over time, we can deduce that what has been recently learned has passed into our long-term memory. At the beginning it may seem for us that learning a new activity is a waste of time but this is not so since all learning becomes personal improvement. The difficulty of learning lies in overcoming the initial stage of questioning ourselves as to whether what we are doing is useful and worth the effort.
Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst José Bleger proposes that learning is the more or less stable or permanent modification of our behavior as a result of certain experiences. When repeated, these form associations that, each time the same situation is reproduced, helps us to reduce previous deliberations when making decisions. As we learn from experiences, this is how we have our own repertoire of associations, and this is why learning is slow at the beginning since we are constantly associating.
Learning to ski is generally not a process of permanent acquisition since it generates periods of evolution, stability, and regression. It may happen that we have a predisposition for a certain type of technical gesture reaching a high level of execution but we do not advance in the same way in other areas.
Learning is about restructuring and reorganizing in which there can be unlearning, and this is the difficult part. When we learn, we generally feel that it is not the reconciliation with the ‘new’ that disturbs us but rather the reorganization of our skiing behavior based on what we have learned. Learning then means changing. We can change the way of thinking, of incorporating concepts, or of organizing them. When learning, we tend to show curiosity and enthusiasm, pursue self-realization and, generally, know why we chose this path of change.
Learning, according to pedagogue Maria Davini, consists of acquiring new forms of behavior or modifying existing ones due to the influence of the environment. It is to associate new situations to known and solved situations in the past. Learning is key in our own skiing development. When comparing the behavior of a beginner skier with that of an expert in terms of motor behavior, thinking, and affectivity, it is precisely the learning of these aspects that differentiates one from the other.
Estanislao Bachrach, doctor in Molecular Biology and professor of leadership and innovation, suggests that when learning, new concepts are generally incorporated to the old ones but it is not having two different concepts but only one expanded and improved. It would be like if a snowflake falls on top of another one: they do not form two flakes but the fusion of both forms the snow.
Proceeding in the subject, we can say that:
- During learning, we experience two tendencies opposed to each other: one is our dependence on the instructor to teach and guide us; the other is independence, that is, the need to assert and master the environment by ourselves.
- Imitation is the basis of human learning. It is carried out first by sight and then by reproduction. A good visual example is very useful for learning to ski, this is why the instructor goes ahead and the learner follows. To incorporate a new motor ability, it is necessary to observe it from different perspectives: from efficiency, from adaptation to the conditions of the terrain, from the speed of displacement, or from rhythm.
- The purpose of all learning is to convert deficient actions into efficient ones. The beginning of all learning is the identification of an incompetence that hinders the desired intention. This identification of what we wish to learn or improve becomes a reality when the “I don’t know” is expressed. Identifying the detrimental aspects of our own skiing is essential to distinguish the opportunities for learning.
To walk the path of learning, we should comply with the following dispositions:
- Assume our incompetence.
- Determine what we wish to achieve through a vision.
- Be aware of the divergence between our own current reality and our vision.
- Hire a professional and accept his authority.
- Accept ourselves as a beginners and allow to make mistakes.
- Declare commitment to our own learning and practice.
