Scientists have found that our brain is “programmed” to learn effectively from those people whom we like in one way or another.
Memory is a very important function that allows us to learn: learn from new experiences and update existing knowledge. At the same time, there are things that we do not know about, but we can draw fairly accurate conclusions about them simply by comparing certain facts.
For example, if we see an unusual dog in the park walking with a man, and the next day we see the same animal on a leash with a woman, we can conclude that these two people are somehow related to each other (for example, they have a romantic relationship) . This conclusion may be quite reliable, although we do not know exactly what connection exists between these people.
The ability to make such conclusions is called memory integration. The speed and flexibility of the learning process is also based on it.
To further understand what influences our ability to learn and draw conclusions, scientists from the universities of Münster (Germany) and Lund (Sweden) conducted a series of experiments where participants (a total of 189 people) were asked to teach each other. The subjects were asked to remember and associate various objects. Among them were, for example, the following: a ball, a bowl, a spoon, scissors and other everyday items.
Participants were also surveyed on how much they liked the person who would teach them to perform tasks based on various indicators (appearance, political views, profession, eating habits, favorite sports, hobbies, music). Based on these preferences, some subjects were formed into teams, while others were not.
It turned out that participants performed better on tasks if they liked the people who taught them, if they were from the same “team” as them.
“We tend to be most effective at making new connections and updating our knowledge based on information received from groups we like. This is understandable, since such people usually provide information that is consistent with our pre-existing beliefs and ideas. Particularly surprising is the fact that we perceive even neutral information differently depending on who is telling it to us,” said Mikael Johansson, professor of psychology at Lund University.
According to scientists, understanding the basics of how our brain resists receiving knowledge from certain people will help us more effectively influence learning processes. The researchers' findings were published in the journal Communications Psychology.