ABSTRACT
Most literature of learning deals with what happens when one learns something. One of the few learning theorists who have dealt more closely with the matters is the British educator, Peter Jarvis. Everybody has the results of mislearning embedded in heir “knowledge”, “perception”, or “memory”, and as long as this has no serious consequences, it does not matter very much. In an educational perspective, mislearning is thus easiest to understand in relation to content areas where right and wrong can be clearly established. Clearly established mislearning can be corrected relatively easily – that is, if it is discovered. Mislearning must, naturally, be avoided as far as possible in education programmes, but a clear distinction between mistakes and non-mistakes can only be drawn in limited areas. In many cases – probably mostly where adults are concerned – when non-learning and mislearning occur, the background is one form or another of mental defence.
