It’s tough to get good grades when so many bright students are in competition. While high school might have been a breeze, the development of bad studying habits has affected many GPAs. Upper-years probably know this by experience, but for all the first-years out there, remember that all night cram-a-thons are not the way to succeed.
Keeping this in mind, I asked two U of T psychology professors, Dr. Taverna and Dr. Goldstein, the best study strategies.
First, a little background. The way we learn stems from changes in behaviour in our experiences or environment. Such habits (what you do and how you respond) are determined by nature (genes) and nurture (current stimulation and past experiences, also called learning).
Some people may be able to change their ways more easily than others, but that does not mean others can’t reach for the top.
Many of our good and bad habits, such as procrastination, are learned. In order to overcome this, Taverna says we should understand how to modify our behaviour for the better.
“Experts are not born experts. It takes about four hours of practice every day for ten years for someone to become an expert,” said Goldstein.
Mozart may have had good genes, but it was also the work of his father, a musician, who provided a stimulating environment. Mozart went through intense training from an early age.
There are two major principles of learning: classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning accounts for many reflexive behaviours. A famous example is Pavlov’s dogs. Conditioning his animals by ringing a bell everytime he fed them, eventually, the dogs salivated when there was no food. The sound of the bell, a neutral stimulus, elicited a salivation response.
Humans do not only respond to enforced stimuli. Our actions have purposes that are based on past experiences. They are based on goal-directed learning and operant conditioning: we learn between behaviours and consequences and apply it to our environment.
There are two main types of consequences. Punishment leads to a lower frequency of negative behaviour in the future, while reinforcement leads to an increased frequency. They can be divided into positive reinforcement (adding a stimulus) and negative (removing a stimulus), regardless of their desirability. Also, behaviour is affected by something called discriminative stimuli, which indicate whether reinforcment or punishment will occur.
“The main reasons why it is so hard to study are delayed reinforcement and the fact that often, you are studying topics that are required,” said Taverna. Studying is often perceived as joyless, necessary work decreasing its efficiency. We are less focused when the rewards we receive for our actions are not immediate.
“You should change your way of thinking. In Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, Tom was obliged to paint a fence and he made his friends do it, and even got paid. He set up a table outside fence, saying ‘I will allow you to paint if you pay me a dollar.’ Tom convinced his friends that painting the fence is something fun, and they were glad to do it,” said Taverna.
Still, we shouldn’t pay others to crack the books. Instead, try to turn studying into something fun and rewarding in itself—take satisfaction in acquiring knowledge.
“Immediate reinforcement is much stronger because contingency is established and correct behaviour is reinforced,” said Taverna. “Perceived value of a reinforcer decreases exponentially when the reinforcer is delayed. At a certain point, the value of short-term reward is higher.”
The main reward for studying is obviously good grades. However, our marks appear a few weeks after school starts, whereas we need to start studying ahead of time. Without the stimulus of grades at the beginning of the year, it’s easy to succumb to the temptation of a night out with friends. But, there are a few solutions to help you build study habits against the problem of delayed reinforcement.
First, devise a system with short-term rewards for studying.
“Quizzes are fairly immediate,” said Taverna. “They test on recently learned materials and provide grades quickly.” If you get a good grade, it acts as a reinforcer. You’ll feel good about it and you’d be more likely to keep on studying. If you do badly, it acts as a punishment, perhaps encouraging you to work harder.
“Raise the perceived value of long term reward, have a goal in mind. Visualizing what it will be like can help. When I was student, I had a picture of a Porsche on the wall and associated it with good grades. Motivational signs, pictures of luxuries, and pretend MD degrees can help you bridge the gap between reinforcement,” said Taverna.
One last strategy is to provide a nurturing environment to reduce distracting stimulus. The famous behaviourist B. F. Skinner had few ways to do it.
“One of B. F. Skinner’s methods is physical restraint,” said Taverna. “Throw out the TV. Set rules for yourself: have the TV in a certain room, and study in a different room without distractions.”
Dr. Taverna is a lecturer in the psychology department and a specialist in the areas of perception, cognition, and cognitive neuroscience. He researches in John Roder’s Lab at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Dr. Goldstein is also a lecturer in the psychology department and teaches several courses including developmental psychology. He is a research associate at the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. He won U of T’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2006.
