Abilities, interests, and styles as aptitudes for learning: A person-situation interaction perspective

This chapter reviews some major theoretical perspectives on human abilities, interests, and styles, which we believe are critical concepts for understanding human diversity in their approaches to learning tasks, within or outside of school settings. There are many versions of theoretical accounts of the nature and origins of human abilities. Three traditions stand out as responsible for the current thinking. In the first, Piaget and neo-Piagetian views provide a developmental perspective of how human abilities are developed in a sequential fashion, as a result of both maturation and interaction with the environment in terms of direct experience and social transmission. In the second tradition, the psychometric approach explains human abilities in terms of individual differences. Finally, cognitive psychology attempts to elucidate elementary process and components involved in learning and performance. Naturally, individual learners' characteristic approaches to learning tasks, that is, cognitive and learning styles, rather than their general ability, become a central issue in education.