"I had played golf with unsatisfactory results for a year and a half and had succeeded in getting good control of the various irons, but I had acquired no certainty in driving. In order to overcome this difficulty I had taken lessons and had learned the theory so that it was at my command, but in practice the results were more often disastrous than good. I could not see any positive improvement from month to month in the certainty of my drive. One day I took my usual position for driving. Before making the attempt I thought over the directions for successful driving, and went through the act once, trying to just graze the ground, and following through with my club. Again I took my position. This time the movements were enlivened with the thought that I was going to hit the ball and see how far I could drive it. There was neither pull nor slice, and the ball went almost as straight as one could draw a line in the direction in which I had intended. The distance was about 160 yards. Again I took my place and added 20 yards to the drive. As many as fifteen consecutive drives were made, only one of which was defective, and the distance increased until it reached about 200 yards. For several weeks I drove with equal success, in one case on links on which I had never played before. My longest drive was over 240 yards. After a number of weeks of successful driving I was playing one day, and for no apparent reason I topped the ball. Again and again, both that day and on subsequent days, I endeavored to recover the skill which I had lost in a way I could not explain. Several months have passed, and I have not yet regained the successful drive which I acquired so suddenly and carried on so successfully for several weeks and then as suddenly lost. It seems to be a case of persistent retardation, but what I have done I can do again, some time." The writer has obtained the golf scores of an enthusiastic player. They are his record for three consecutive years. The scores are given at the left of the curves. It will be observed that there is general progress from year to year, but the plays are irregular and plateaus are evident. 110 JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. 1915 GOLF SCORES The discussion of plateaus seems at times to reduce itself to a definition of the term. According to some, only those delays which can be measured by weeks are plateaus. Yet an arrest of visible progress during a number of days demands an explanation quite as much as retardation extending through a month. If the cause cannot be found in the physical condition of the beginner, it must be sought in the complexity of the activity, in the aptness of the learner for the work, or in both. Now, periods of retardation of longer or shorter duration are usually observable in most learning processes. They do not occur when the act of skill is so simple as to be at once mastered, and their location depends in large measure upon the nature of the work in which the learner is engaged. In beginning the study of psychology, for example, a long plateau quite commonly occurs about the end of the third or fourth week. In embryology, on the other hand, it is usually observed at the beginning of the course. The difference between these two subjects of study suggests a possible 1 These two curves may be seen in the author's Learning by Doing, pp. 106, 108. explanation of these plateaus. In introductory psychology the first week or two is generally devoted to discussing a few fundamental facts. The new terms are not numerous. The effort of the teacher is devoted rather to laying the foundation by establishing the simpler principles. Consequently, there is little chance for confusion. In beginning embryology, however, a large number of new words and terms must be mastered at once. This naturally perplexes the student. His progress is therefore slower at the outset than in psychology. He drops almost immediately to a low level of efficiency which reveals itself in his curve of learning as a plateau. What, then, is the cause of this retardation? The present writer, from his study of the learning process in typewriting and in beginning the Russian language,1 concluded that these periods of arrest in progress are caused by the need of time for making associations automatic. In typewriting, for example, these associations consist in connections between the letters of words and the location of the corresponding keys of the typewriter. The learner, starting at the zero stage, advances rapidly at first. This initial rapid advance has been found true of all acts of skill and of subjects of study, in which a large mass of new material is not crowded upon the learner at the outset. The writer's investigation of the early stages in learning the Russian language, the curve of which is given below, shows the same characteristic. This curve of learning also indicates the effect of uninstructed learning. It is much more irregular than would have been the case had the learner been aided by a teacher.2 Returning to typewriting, it is clear that after a certain very moderate degree of proficiency has been attained 1 Psychological Bulletin, vol. 1, p. 295, vol. 7, p. 149; Studies in Philosophy and Psychology (Garman Commemorative Volume), p. 297. 2 Those who wish more detailed information of the psychology of beginning a language may consult the author's Mind in the Making, p. 199. |