Knowledge gained from others through reading are said to be

• A. Direct experience
• B. Literacy
• C. Vicarious
• D. Phonics

Answer: (C)

Learning from others’ experiences without doing them yourself is described as vicarious learning. When you read, you access someone else’s actions, decisions, and outcomes through the author’s descriptions, which lets you gain knowledge, strategies, and insights you can apply later. This contrasts with direct experience, where learning comes from your own hands-on involvement. Literacy is simply the ability to read and write, and phonics is a method for decoding sounds in reading—not the type of knowledge gained. So reading about others’ experiences fits vicarious learning because it delivers secondhand knowledge derived from someone else’s experiences.