Advancing training and transfer research through the application of nonlinear dynamics

ABSTRACT

The study of training transfer as something that occurs over time with its own underlying process has been very limited in the training literature to date. This paper argues that we can better understand how transfer unfolds over time, and why it unfolds in any particular way, by considering important theoretical and mathematical concepts from nonlinear dynamics. We draw on nonlinear concepts, such as attractors, to describe how and when training interventions are likely to succeed and how subsequent transfer may unfold in relation to those concepts. We then explicate how taking a dynamic view of transfer forces us to change how our field currently studies transfer methodologically, and then give an extended example of how such an advancement may provide for richer theories regarding the process of transfer by focusing on the effects of supervisor support over time. We close with some practical recommendations informed by our view.     

When All Is Revealed: A Dissociation between Evaluative Learning and Contingency Awareness

Three experiments are reported that address the issue of awareness in evaluative learning in two different sensory modalities: visual and haptic. Attempts were made to manipulate the degree of awareness through a reduction technique (by use of a distractor task in Experiments 1 and 2 and by subliminally presenting affective stimuli in Experiment 3) and an induction technique (by unveiling the evaluative learning effect and requiring participants to try to discount the influence of the affective stimuli). The results indicate overall that evaluative learning was successful in the awareness-reduction groups but not in the awareness-induction groups. Moreover, an effect in the opposite direction to that normally observed in evaluative learning emerged in participants aware of the stimulus contingencies. In addition, individual differences in psychological reactance were found to be implicated in the strength and direction of the effect. It is argued that these results pose serious problems for the contention that awareness is necessary for evaluative learning.