FAA Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI)The Learning ProcessHard
A flight instructor raises their voice and sharply criticizes a student immediately after a mistake during landing practice. According to principles of perception, this approach is likely to hinder learning primarily because it:
- AIncreases the student's self-concept
- BEnhances positive transfer of learning
- CStrengthens the law of exercise
- DNarrows the student's perceptual field due to the element of threat
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Narrows the student's perceptual field due to the element of threat
Perception is influenced by the element of threat; when a student feels threatened, their perceptual field narrows and they focus only on the threatening stimulus (the instructor's anger), reducing their ability to process and learn from the actual flying task.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Harsh criticism typically damages, not enhances, a student's self-concept.
- B. Positive transfer relates to applying prior learning to new tasks, unrelated to this scenario.
- C. The law of exercise concerns repetition, not emotional reactions to criticism.
Element of Threat (Perception)
A factor affecting perception in which a perceived threat causes the learner's perceptual field to narrow, focusing attention on the threat rather than the learning task.
- One of five factors affecting perception in the Aviation Instructor's Handbook
- Instructors should avoid creating unnecessary threat
- Learning is most effective in a nonthreatening environment
Memory trick: Physical, Goals, Self-concept, Time, Threat — PGSTT shapes what we perceive