#169: Dr Fox Effect, Four Ways of Knowing & the Effort Paradox of Learning
3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Thinking About Learning
I. Dr Fox Effect
In a 1970s experiment, graduate psychology and psychiatry students were given meaningless lectures filled with nonsensical jargon. They had two different instructors, an actual scientist and an actor who went by the peculiar name of Dr Myron L. Fox. Both presented the pointless material in an engaging and charismatic manner.
The actor fooled not just one, but three separate audiences of professional and graduate students. Despite the emptiness of his lecture, fifty-five psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, graduate students, and other professionals produced evaluations of Dr. Fox that were overwhelmingly positive.
—Deborah J. Merritt, Bias, the Brain, and Student Evaluations of Teaching
Known, as the Dr Fox Effect, the experiments demonstrated that all too often it’s not the content of a lecture that matters, but how it is presented. Unfortunately, the phenomenon also raised questions about the usefulness of student evaluations of teachers.
II. Four Ways of Knowing
How do we know anything? According to cognitive scientist John Vervaeke, there are Four Ways of Knowing.
Procedural: Knowing how to perform a task, such as driving a car. This is knowledge tied to action. It can be an implicit expression of unconscious competence.
Perspective: Understanding from a particular point of view, such as empathy. This way of knowing involves seeing things from different angles or considering multiple viewpoints.
Propositional: Knowing that something is true or false, such as Sydney not being the capital of Australia. This explicit knowledge can be expressed in propositions or statements.
Participatory: Knowing through direct experience or participation, such as taking jiu-jitsu classes to learn BJJ. It involves a deep engagement with a subject through immersive learning rather than studying it by mere observation.
Obviously, all four ways of knowing are interconnected and can help us understand how we engage with the world.
III. Effort Paradox of Learning
Working harder doesn’t necessarily lead to better outcomes. This Effort Paradox of Learning is beautifully illustrated by the following Zen story:
A martial arts student went to his teacher and said earnestly, "I am devoted to studying your martial system. How long will it take me to master it?"
The teacher's reply was casual, "Ten years."
Impatiently, the student answered, "But I want to master it faster than that. I will work very hard. I will practice everyday, ten or more hours a day if I have to. How long will it take then?"
The teacher thought for a moment, "20 years."
—Unknown
👉 This story is taken from my article 5 Zen Stories Worth Contemplating for Years (Or Not at All). 🐘
Have a great week,
Chris
themindcollection.com