Examine the relevance of psychology to Adult Education

In this discourse, the relevance of psychology to the field of adult education practice
will be examined. The discourse shall be premised on the psychological perspectives
where implications thereof will be used to analyse the relevance of psychology to the
field of practice. The terms psychology, adult and adult education will be defined
and then a discussion of the various psychological perspectives like the Functionalist,
Behaviourism, Humanism, Cognitive and Gestalt will be examined showing their
relevance to adult education practice. A conclusion summing up the relevance of
psychology to adult education will wrap up the discussion.

Definition of terms
According to Spielman et al (2014, psychology is a social science which is concerned
with the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Crider et al (1983) define
psychology as the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. The definitions
contain three key concepts which are scientific, behaviour and mental processes. The
scientific aspect entails that psychology as a science is a body of systematised knowledge
obtained by observation and verified by experimentation (Mwamwenda 1998). This means
that psychology is based on information or data collected through a set of systematic
procedures. These procedures verify or validate the data collected.

The information obtained is then formulated into theories or systematised body of

knowledge which is used for both descriptive and predictive purposes. Clark and
Caffarella (1999) contend that these theories serve as a lens through which we view
the life course and that they illuminate certain elements and tell a particular story
about adult life.

According to the European Commission (2000), an adult is a person aged over 16

years. This concept seems to maintain a strong influence of the 1976 UNESCO
definition according to which adults are people whom their society considers mature
enough to start performing adult roles, such as full time employee, spouse, parent
etc. Rogers (1996) argues that the term adult encompasses a wide range of
concept, for example it can refer to a stage in the life cycle of the individual, it can
refer to a status accepted by the society, it can refer to a social sub-set to

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distinguish from children or it can include a set of ideas and values. Thus, adulthood
may be considered as a state of being, which accords status and rights to individuals
and simultaneously confers duties or responsibilities upon them (Tight 1996). It
would therefore suffice to say that the concept adult is not directly connected with
age, or does it conforms to the legal definition of the age of majority (Knowles et al
1973).

Adult education is a complex concept and its functions are diverse and
complementary. It can be seen as a tool for personal enhancement as well as
economic and social development. Adult learning theories make a distinction
between education of adults and adult education. Rogers (1986) argues that the
former applies to all forms of education planned for those over 16 years, regardless
of the relevant experience they may have, the ability to control their own learning
and their possibility to contribute to the learning process. By contrast, the latter,
consists of all those forms of education that treat the learner participants as adults
capable, experienced, responsible, mature and balanced people (Rogers 1996).

Having defined psychology, adult and adult education, the discourse shall now
examine the five lenses through which adult education is seen. These are
functionalist, behaviourism, humanistic, cognitive and the gestalt perspective and
their relevance to adult education will be highlighted.

Functionalism Perspective
The major proponents of the Functionalism perspective are William James and John
Jewey. Gary and Vandem (2006) defines functionalism as a psychological
perspective that considers mental life and behaviour in terms of active adaptation to
the person’s environment. Stangor (2011) contends that functionalism perspective
attempts to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular
psychological aspects that they currently possess. Functionalism perspective explains
mental phenomenon in terms of the external input and the observable output. It
explains the mind as a machine and takes the mental state as the internal cause of
behaviour.

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To this explanation, the mind is viewed as a machine with specific operational
conditions which waits to be activated by the external world, (Spielman2014). If
someone is called verbally or by means of a sign, he or she needs to understand the
language or sign for him or her to respond to the calling. The calling is viewed as an
input, the understanding as the processing done in the mind and the reaction as the
output which is observable.

According to Spielman (2014) the functionalist holds that the mind is not something
that exists apart from the physical. Against materialism, the functionalist denies that
mental states are identical with physical states. For functionalism, it is not the
physical substance itself that is important, but rather the way in which the mind
interprets how the physical substance is organized. This explains why the mind acts
as a central processing unit and not the environment directly shaping the mind.
Spielman (ibid) reiterates that the mind has the potential to adapt to the physical
and that the physical environment can be interpreted differently by different
individuals.

Functionalists contend that engagement with activity is very important to the

explanation of what goes inside the mental processes, (Stangor 2011). The process
of engaging the students in practicals is viewed by the functionalists as the
conditioning of the mind as the ‘software’ so that it will have the capacity to solve
the practical problem if encountered in life. Thus functionalism perspective is viewed
as an approach that looks at thinking as a process that take place when a
problematic situation prevails.

Relevance of functionalism perspective to adult education

The perspective acknowledges that a conducive environment is needed for any
meaningful adaptation or adjustment to take place. The success of adult education is
dependent to a considerable extent upon the facilities and environment provided for
the learner (Knowles 1980). However, adult learning activities often take place in
spaces designed for other activities and age groups (Vosko and Hiemstra). Adults
are often physically uncomfortable in child size furniture for example, what used to

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happen with Midlands State University block release students who did their lessons
at Senga Primary school where the facilities were not of adult taste. Adult learners
are also psychologically uncomfortable in traditional classroom settings which
emphasises the distance and inequality between adult educator and the learner.

This stresses the need for adult educators to be conversant with the basic four areas
of sitting arrangements which are anthropometry, ergonomics, proxemics and
synaesthitics dimensions, (Hall (1988). The same authority went on to define
proxemics as interrelated observations and theories of people’s use of space as a
specialised elaboration of culture for example, seeking or avoiding touch when
greeting a lady or eye behaviour during conversation between a man and woman. A
lady is expected to maintain a considerable distance as well as not maintaining a
direct eye contact whilst talking to a man.

Synaesthetics can have impact on a person’s mood, for example, a room that is too
warm will deleteriously affect attention span or the ability to focus, (Vosko and
Hiemstra 1988). The field of synaesthetics helps us to understand how the physical
environment is perceived in a polysensory manner and how such perceptions affect
learning process. Thus understanding the environment and knowing how to affect it
in positive ways can help learners to understand and appreciate its importance.
Comfort, excellent illuminations without glare, absence from disturbing sounds or
environments among others, provide a setting in which the chances for effective
learning are increased (Kidd 1973).

As observed by Asante and Asante (1990) that Africa is one cultural river with
numerous tributaries characterised by their specific response to history and
environment, facilitation of learning programmes for adults must always take into
account the fact that adult learners are highly diversified with regard to age,
experience, intelligence, aptitude, personality, socio-economic status and including
interests. Thus adult educators should be alive to these differences and be
accommodative to both fast and slow learners since adult learners form a

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heterogeneous group of people with different educational biographies and diversified
educational needs.

Behavioural Perspective

This perspective is also referred to as the mechanistic approach where people are
likened to machines, whose response to external forces results in development
(Miller 1993). The theory was propounded by Thorndike, Ian Pavlov, B.F Skinner and
J.B Watson among others. From this psychological perspective, behaviour entails any
activity that can be observed, recorded and measured. This includes the behaviour
of human beings or animals.

The perspective assumes that past behaviour predicts future behaviour and that
people's machine-like minds do not construct knowledge but instead absorb existing
knowledge (Miller, 1993). According to Watson, (1930), behaviourism is a science
interested in predicting and controlling human behaviour. People learn behaviours by
responding to stimuli and by receiving positive or negative reinforcement or
punishment. Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that the immediately
preceding behaviour will be repeated (Shaffer, 1994). For example, if a learner
receives praise (an example of positive reinforcement) for doing well in his or her
assignment, he or she is likely to repeat the good work.

Thus from this perspective, learning is manifested by a change in behaviour. The

environment shapes behaviour, what the learner learns is determined by the
elements in the environment, not by the individual learner. The principle of
contiguity (how close in time two events must be for a bond to be formed) and
reinforcement are central to explaining the learning process, (Grippin and Peters
1984). Learning is thus seen as acceptance, maintenance, association and
remembrance of single details of knowledge, skill and behavioural models.

Relevance to adult education practice

Watson (1930) contends that adult educators, who favour the behavioural or
mechanistic perspective, should provide learners with plenty of opportunity for drills

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and practice. Using praise, grades, or some small prizes for their efforts positively
reinforces learners. Thus, learners learn the appropriate response through
reinforcement.

Adult educators may employ programmed learning as a method of instruction to

champion the behavioural perspective to development. Programmed learning
involves assessing a student's prior knowledge about a topic, then basing individual
programs of instruction on the student's level of expertise, and leading a student
through a program of instruction via a book, slides, or a computer program. The
material is divided into manageable portions called frames (Taber et al., 1965). After
each frame, a question is asked and the student responds and receives immediate
feedback. An adult educator who embraces this paradigm sees development as
correct behavioural responses.

Behavioural psychology helps the adult educator to understand that learning is

additive in nature and learners’ personalities are a series of habits, (Munson &
Crosbie, 1998). Thus, the adult educator’s job is to get the learner to develop good
habits. This implies that each set of facts taught should build on previous knowledge
and this addition of knowledge can be accomplished with various types of
reinforcement. Meaningful feedback, praises and incentives may be used to entice
learners to accomplish the desired learning outcomes while negative reinforcement
in the form of punishment or withdrawal of certain incentives may be used to put to
extinction undesirable behaviour.

Humanistic Perspective

The proponents of this psychological perspective are Abraham Maslow, Malcolm

Knowles and Allan Rogers among others. According to this perspective, learners are
viewed as human being who can control their own destiny. The perspective assumes
that people are inherently good and will strive for a better world. It further
postulates that people are free to act and behaviour is the consequence of human
choices.

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Relevance to adult education

Thus, an appreciation of the humanistic psychological perspective helps adult

educators to appreciate that adult learners are active agents in their own learning
and lives, not helpless respondents to forces that act upon them as Rogers (1983)
asserts that people possess unlimited potential for growth and development. Life’s
experiences are the central arena for learning. Prior knowledge makes it easier for
adults to learn as Hartley (1998) asserts that prior knowledge is important because
things must fit with what people already know if they are to learn meaningfully. To
facilitate meaningful adult learning, knowledge, skills, and values should relate to
and be integrated with previous learning.

It helps adult educators to understand that motivation and orientation are the
necessary tools that propel adults to start learning in order to achieve their goals. If
there is proper motivation and orientation to learning, adult learners take
responsibility of their learning and even for disseminating information, knowledge
and skills to young people in their communities. Adults will not need authority
figures to give them explicit directives on what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Adults’ readiness to learning also depends on the state of their physical health. This
may prevent adults from learning in spite of a strong motivation for learning,
(Gunawardena 1998). Thus facilitators should always examine the level of readiness
of learners to learn before embarking on any programme.

The perspective also acknowledges that knowledge is personal, experiential,

developing and deepening through socialisation. This view is in tandem with Gaduka
(2000) who contends that the indigenous populations understood how to work
together through interrelatedness and interdependence among themselves. As a
result they come to the understanding that nothing exists in isolation because every
being relates to every other being or thing. This was also supported by Omolewa et
al (1998) when they contend that Africans tend to live in symbiosis in order to derive
mutual benefits from one another. Thus adult educators should employ group
discussion as an instructional technique to allow learners to share knowledge and
experiences.

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Cognitive Perspective

According to Clark & Caffarella (1999), the cognitive perspective focuses on an

individual's internal developmental processes in interacting with the environment.
This psychological perspective was founded by Ausubel, Bruner, Gagne, Piaget and
Kohlberg among others. The perspective is premised on the understanding that the
human mind is not simply a passive exchange or a terminal system where the
stimulus gets in and the appropriate response gets out. According to Grippin and
Peters (1984), the thinking person interprets sensations and gives meaning to the
events that impinge upon his or her consciousness. The cognitive approach to
development asserts that people reach more complex, integrated levels of
development through active participation with their environment.

Furthermore, individuals construct knowledge as opposed to responding to existing

knowledge as what is postulated by the behaviourism perspective. In essence, adult
development is a continuous journey toward increasingly complex levels of
development.

Relevance to adult education practice

Adult educators taking this perspective favour ideas found in the transformational

learning literature, such as critical reflection and discussion, (Daloz, 1999). Mezirow
(1990) asserts that through reflection, individuals often arrive at a more
inclusive, differentiated, and permeable and integrated perspective.  To
encourage critical reflection, thus adult educators should ensure that learners
engage in role plays. Role reversal activities help learners to explore and express
views other than their own, which could encourage them to broaden their
perspectives (Cranton, 1994).

Understanding of this perspective also helps adult educators realise that learning is
seen as an active use of knowledge hence learners’ goals and reflection becomes
important. Thus, Mezirow (1991) maintains that discussion with others becomes
integral to adult learning and development. Hence, adult educators should provide

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discussion guidelines that ensure an atmosphere of trust, safety, and respect in
which learners feel comfortable to express their ideas, (Cranton, 1994).

Adult educators should also recognize that learners' receptiveness to information

may be based on their life stage or time of transition. Learners often return to adult
education programmes during a time of transition (Daloz, 1999). Thus adult
educators should watch for what Havinghurst (1972) has termed teachable
moments, in which learners are ready to learn and apply a concept because of their
life situation, for example, a learner will enrol in the adult education programme
simply because he or she has been placed in the training department of the
organisation where he or she is expected to facilitates in training programmes.

This is in agreement with the assertion by Merriam and Mohamad (2000) that it
makes sense for those adults who sacrifice leisure or working time for learning as
they have pragmatic reasons for doing so. Thus, adult education programmes should
be relevant to adult learners as they could be responding to a life event like coping
with a change in roles or responsibilities as postulated by Knowles (1975).

The perspective also helps adult educators to understand that adult learners need
inner motivation because there is no external pressure to learn as the case with
young children (Knowles 1975). Adults want to learn in order to maintain or
establish social relationships, to serve others, to satisfy a personal interest, to
advance their careers, to earn more money or to meet external expectations,
(Fasokun 1984). Thus facilitator should determine target audience’s interest,
attitudes, perceptions, self concepts and beliefs. He or she should understand why
adults enrol in educational programmes. Dialogue can be used to establish the needs
of adult learners and the life events that prompted the needs.

Cognitive theories ascertain that environmental cues and instructional components

alone cannot account for all the learning that results from an instructional situation,
(Bolser1973). Psychology has it that learning efficiency depends primarily on the
intellectual abilities of the learners, (Tight 1996). Perceptual characteristics are those
abilities which decline with age and also make individuals underestimate their

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learning abilities for example, sense organ, deterioration in sight, hearing and
general body condition which can influence endurance in regard to intellectual work.
Intellectual or cognitive characteristic refers to learning abilities like speed and
accuracy, intelligence and mental stamina, thought process and memory while
emotional characteristics like emotional stability provide individuals with long term
commitments for achieving the set goals, (Vosko & Hiemstra 1988).

Thus, adult educators are reminded that learning does not largely take place as a
result of the environmental cues or instructional components. It is a product of a
number of variables that take place in the cognitive domain like perceptual
processes and perceptual mapping as postulated by the Gestalt perspective.

Gestalt perspective

The Gestalt perspective is a holistic approach which rejected the mechanistic

perspectives of the stimulus - response models. Its main proponents are
Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka were all Germans. The Gestalt theory proposes that
learning consists of the grasping of a structural whole and not just a mechanistic
response to a stimulus. A ‘Gestalt’ is an integral whole system with its parts
enmeshed hence the saying ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’.
According to Woodward (2013), gestalt perspective attempts to describe how people
tend to organise visual elements into groups or unified elements when certain
principles are applied. It explores the dynamic relationships that connect the various
elements of reality. It is premised on seeking simple and natural explanations that
could be adapted to our natural way of perceiving reality. It does not conceive
separating processes such as learning from memory.

The perspective’s main study area is perception. Through perception, humans are
able to acquire knowledge of the world, interact with it and connect with others,
(Vosko & Hiemstra 1988). Our senses and mental processes allow us to perform
tasks, for instance, removing the hand from a burning surface or notice that the
person speaking to us is upset by their frowning. According to this perspective,
learning is a process of constructing meaning, (Jarvis 1987). It is how people make

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sense of their experience. Thus, learning is an active process in which learners
construct new ideas or concepts based on their current and past knowledge.

Relevance to adult education

The adult educator should try and encourage learners to discover principles by
themselves. Blosser (1973) asserts that problem solving usually involves formulation
of possible solutions by students, logical deductions as to what practical
consequences the various proposed solutions imply and testing the various
proposals. These problem solving activities can be useful in developing critical
thinking skills. Gestalt psychology insists on using productive thinking, which will
help learners to reach insight or the ‘eureka moment’, which takes place when
learners suddenly realise what the answer to their difficulties is. Thus, adult
educators should employ learning methodologies like case studies, in- basket,
surveys or researches, and problem posing among others to stimulate critical
thinking.

The factor of similarity proposes that like parts tend to be grouped together in
cognition. This has implications for instruction, suggesting that learning is facilitated
if similar ideas are treated and linked together and then contrasted with opposing or
complementary sets of ideas. Adult educators should therefore group or teach
similar or related ideas or concept together, (Woodward (2013). This should
influence content development and sequencing, for example, one unit of instruction
building on to the other unit. Diagrams or aids should be used by adult educators to
help learners quickly understand or comprehend the concept being taught, for
example when teaching about how the human heart functions, a diagrammatical
representation of the heart would go a long way to enhance comprehension of the
concept being taught.

Adult educators should endeavour to ensure that learners comprehend or master a

concept in its entirety as opposed to grasping parts of the movement or process that
leads to the complete action, for example, a complete drill movement in military

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training as opposed to grasping movements of the action in parts. This is so because
learning is influenced by past experiences and knowledge and that acquiring new
knowledge depends on the ability to build on past knowledge ,(Rogers 1996).

Conclusion
Each of the five lenses on adult psychological perspectives makes different
assumptions. Recognizing these different perspectives on adult education practice
broadens our understanding of the adult learners and how best the learning
activities for them can be structured to realise their diverse interests and goals.
Knowledge of different psychological theories gives the adult educator a possibility
to make choices in the learning process, to understand, to analyse, to interpret and
to become conscious about one’s own work and learning. This awareness can lead
to appropriate instruction for the learners, which in turn, will promote the learners’
development whatever it may be believed to be. Thus, psychology is a very crucial
discipline to those in the field of adult education practice.

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