Many years ago, when I taught a child psychology class, one of the lessons was about different learning styles. In particular, I described visual learning style and auditory learning style, and how they manifest in real life. I also discussed how to handle the challenges associated with these learning styles. One student, an older woman, approached me at the end of the course and told me that I have saved her marriage. She told me that in all the years of their marriage, she and her husband constantly argued and they couldn’t understand each other. After learning about different learning styles, she finally understood her husband. Knowledge is powerful!
We are all born with strengths and weaknesses in how we learn… how we take in information and how we process them. Unfortunately, we often think others process information just like we do. Then, we get frustrated when the other person did not get the point that we thought was simple and clear! This happens in all of our relationships, between spouses, parents and children, between coworkers, and even with strangers.
Types of learning styles: Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
Most people can be divided generally into visual learners and auditory learners. Examples of characteristics are described below:
Visual: Good with reading maps (prefers to look at the map rather than follow audible GPS direction), neat (hates mess), notices details, prefers texting (rather than talking on the phone), enjoys nice view.
Auditory: Good with learning new language and songs (learns by listening rather than reading music), good verbal skills (can be witty), sensitive to noise (hard to concentrate when the background is noisy), prefers talking on the phone (rather than writing emails), enjoys nice music.
So what is your learning style? What is the learning style of your spouse or your child? Once you know what they are, you can reduce the frustration level greatly by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and others. I will share more in days to come.