Microlearning is a training method based on short, targeted, and easy-to-consume content. Unlike traditional learning courses, which often require several hours of study, microlearning focuses on a single concept at a time and relies on repetition. For example, a sales representative can take small quizzes on their phone between client meetings to strengthen their knowledge of products or services. Or a student may receive two daily questions with explanations on topics covered in previous classes until exam day.
This phenomenon is referred to as selective attention, and a famous study designed by Simons and Chabris (1999) demonstrated it quite well. For their research, these scientists showed a video to student volunteers featuring players passing basketballs back and forth, one team in white t-shirts, and the other team in black t-shirts. The viewers were instructed to count the passes between players wearing the white t-shirts.
The major insights about human nature are that humans are biologically and socially shaped, meaning-makers, motivated by needs and goals, capable of growth, inherently social, limited by cognitive biases, and contextually dynamic.
Essentialism is the belief that members of a category share an inherent and immutable essence or core that distinguishes them from non-members (Gelman, 2003). Most people, for example, believe that living things are fundamentally different from non-living things.
