RECONSTRUCTING THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOSOCIAL BARRIERS FOR BENEFICIAL LEARNING

With the world becoming a smaller place and people coming close to each other, learning has taken on a different connotation. It is now based on high order thinking skills and more focused on the ability of an individual to adapt, evolve and consequently excel. However, deep rooted beliefs and notions still play a phenomenal role in limiting our ability to learn. Cognitive research reveals how one’s progression in learning is based on an individual’s ability to construct meaning by connecting new information with previous knowledge. The basic premise of any learning is Experience. This is the first level of knowledge that commences with either the direct flow of the senses or the store of sensations in memory. This paper is an attempt to project those deeply manifested psychosocial factors- embedded in our subconscious that define one’s condition to respond or learn. With the primary focus on beliefs that control our decisions and reactions during the course of acquiring knowledge, this study highlights how defensive personality traits can be detrimental to effective learning. Psychosocial barriers are shielding layers that individuals build around themselves to develop a sense of security but on the other hand this pseudo protection makes them more vulnerable in varying circumstances. Learning eludes individuals who lack the ability to rise above these limitations resulting in lowering of self esteem, frustration and alienation. On the other hand, acknowledgement of these obstacles and their subsequent remediation can actually revitalize the learning process. The objective of this paper is to project the understanding of human responses vis-à-vis the important role played by the psychosocial influence of ethnicity or culture in the process of learning and education. Culture defines the personality of an individual and culture variables are directly linked with achievement. Therefore, an analysis is made on the beneficial impact that culture can create on an individual and an effort is made to highlight the immense value of our legacy of psychosocial experiences and how they can be reconstructed from being barriers to becoming stepping stones for our advantage.