What is association?

Association is the process of forming mental connections between sensations, ideas, or memories.

According to Robert Gagné (1985), an association is a one-to-one correspondence of two ideas which commonly are thought of together.

Associations are the basic building blocks of Gagné's knowledge hierarchy.

Here are some examples of associations:

• All concrete objects and the name that represents them
• Rose and fragrance
• Doctor and hospital
• England and London

• Information processing theory of learning

• Concept module: association
• In overview module: Glossary (Literacy): A
• In modular book: Glossary of literacy terms
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 28 June 1999

© 1999 SIL International