Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 Listen for the key ideas.
Not every sentence in a lecture is equally 
important. One of the most useful skills you can develop is separating 
the key ideas from supporting information. Good lecturers strive to make 
just a few main points. The rest of what they say consists of explanation, 
examples, and other supportive material that expand upon the key ideas. 
To distinguish the key ideas from their support, you need to be alert and 
always searching for the
meta-message
of your instructor’s words—that is, 
the underlying main ideas that a speaker is seeking to convey.
How can you discern the meta-message? One way is to
listen for key 
words.
Phrases like “you need to know . . . ,” “the most important thing that 
must be considered . . . ,” “there are four problems with this approach …,” 
and—a big one—“this will be on the test . . .” should cause you to sit up 
and take notice. Also, if an instructor says the same thing in several ways, 
it’s a clear sign that the material being discussed is important.
•
Use short, abbreviated phrases—not full sentences when taking notes.
Forget everything you’ve ever heard about always writing in full sen-
tences. In fact, it’s often useful to take notes in the form of an outline. An 
outline summarizes ideas in short phrases and indicates the relationship 
among concepts through the use of indentations.
• Pay attention to what is written on the board or projected from over-
heads and PowerPoint slides. Remember these tips:
•
 Listening is more important than seeing. 
The information that your 
instructor projects on screen, while important, ultimately is less critical 
than what he or she is saying. Pay primary attention to the spoken 
word and secondary attention to the screen.
•