Basic Concepts in Psychology

Teachers are directly involved in the implementation of the curriculum and educational programmes
in schools. The teacher's role in a school is very important, especially in achieving the aspirations
and goals of the school. Coopes (1988), stated that an effective teacher is one who possesses
knowledge, especially in the skills of teaching such as:
 Knowledge of the theory of human learning and psychology
 A sincere attitude that encourages learning as well as positive interactions in multiple directions
 Complete knowledge in the subjects that are taught
 Teaching methods and techniques that allow students to carry outtheir learning activities by
using appropriate methods and techniques

As educators of the new generation, teachers must know the aspects of psychology, especially
that of human development. With this knowledge, teachers can plan, deliver and assess their
teaching in an effective way. In addition, they can carry out their responsibilities as parent
substitutes which include giving their views, advice, and guidance in aspects regarding student
behaviour and their personal matters.
The Definition of Psychology
What do you understand about psychology?
The word 'psychology' came from the words 'psyche' and 'logos' which originated from ancient Greek
civilisation. 'Psyche' means 'soul' and 'logos' means the 'study of something'. Therefore, psychology
means the study of something that affects the soul. According to the Oxford Dictionary, psychology
is defined as:
"The scientific study of the mind and how it influences behaviour."
From the definition above, it can be concluded that 'the study of something' that is meant by the
word "logos" is the study of thinking that influences the character and behaviour of organisms.
Other definitions of psychology that support the definition above are:
• "The scientific study of the way the human mind works and how it influences behaviour, or the
influence of the particular person's character on their behaviour." (Cambridge International
Dictionary of English).
• "Psychology may be defined as the systematic study of behaviour and mental life." (Henry L.
Roediger and colleagues, 1984).
• Kalat (1984) defines psychology as the scientific study of human behaviour and experience
whereas Williams (1960) defines it as a branch of scientific study that examines behaviour and
activities.
• Wittaker (1970) in his book 'Introduction to Psychology' stated that psychology is the science of
behaviour. Therefore, psychology is the scientific study of the human soul and spirit.

The Historical Development of Psychology

The origins of the word 'psychology' indicate that the field of psychology has a long history that
dates back to ancient Greek civilisation.
The study of psychology was developed between the year 384 BC to 322 BC by Greek scholars such
as Socrates, Pluto and Aristotle. During that time, psychology was part of the study of philosophy
rather than a scientific study of its own.
After the period of early Greek civilisation, the history of psychology can be grouped according to
the understanding and perspectives of several prominent psychologists.
The History of the Development of Psychology
 Period Description of historical events
384 - 322 BC The study of psychology started in ancient Greek.
1595 - 1690 The concepts of interactionism and dualism were developed.
1685 - 1753 The development of empiricism.
1832 - 1920 The development of structuralism in Germany.
1867 - 1927 The study of structuralism began in North America.
1859 - 1952 The development of functionalism in North America.
1878 - 1958 The development of behaviourism in North America.
1880 - 1843 The development of the concept of gestalt in Germany.
1908 - 1987 Maslow and Rogers founded the humanistic school of thought.
Cognitivism was introduced by Piaget, Vygotsky and others.
Constructivism was founded by Glaserfeld, Piaget, Vygotsky and others.

Psychological Approaches
Psychologists have used several approaches in describing the concepts and ideas that they proposed
about human behaviour. These include the behaviourism, psychoanalytic, humanistic and biological
approaches.

The Behaviourism Approach

The behaviourism approach stated that
psychologists do not have to consider mental
events (conscious and unconscious) and that
they should instead focus on behaviour that is
overt and non-overt. Watson, a behaviourist,
stated that all aspects relating to a person's
behaviour are influenced by the environment
rather than by internal factors. Watson's ideas
have contributed to the behaviourism approach
that stresses on the idea that behaviour and
mental processes are consequences of learning (Berstein et al., 1994). According to this approach,
behaviour is a series of responses that happens when there are stimuli. This approach is also known
as stimulus-response psychology.
In addition to Watson, other behaviourism psychologists were Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner and E. L
Thorndike. Pavlov (1949-1936) was credited for the concept of classic conditioning where he did an
experiment on a dog to show the relationship between stimulus (food) and response (saliva).
Thorndike (1874-1949) introduced the theory of trial and error conditioning. In this theory, the basic
principle of learning is the influence of reward and punishment. An organism will do something that
will bring them pleasure. On the other hand, the organism will avoid doing something that will bring
about pain or danger to them.
According to Thorndike, reward drives the organism to repeat a response whereas punishment will
prevent the organism from responding. In other words, an organism relates a particular response to
a particular stimulus. Thorndike labelled this type of learning as 'instrumental or operant learning'
which was later further developed by Skinner.
Skinner (1904-1990) is well-known for operant conditioning that measures the influence of reward
and punishment. He did his experiments on mice and pigeons. In his controlled experiments, he
succeeded in measuring the process of learning by changing the frequency of rewards and
punishments.
The Psychoanalytic Approach
The psychoanalytic approach was based on the belief that human behaviour is influenced by
unconscious psychological processes which we are not aware of. In other words, our behaviour is
based on internal conflicts, impulses, desires and motives which we are not aware of. This approach
assumes that all behaviour, normal and abnormal, is the result of the interaction between genetic
and environmental factors. Both factors affect behaviour by influencing the conscious and
unconscious psychological processes. Psychoanalytic theorists stress on the importance of an
individual's early stages of development and they believe that events happening during childhood
have a lasting effect on the psychology of the individual. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), is the most
well-known psychoanalytic theorist. His ideas have continued to influence other psychoanalytic
theorists. His theory of personality structure divided the psychic structure into three categories: id,
ego and superego. Freud believed that each of these entities were responsible for each set of
psychological operation.
(a) Id
The id is the source of motivation and desire that are inherited, primitive, self-centred, and
does not have the influence of the real world. The id is dominant at the early months of a
baby's life, when motivation and wants strongly influence a baby's behaviour. It is seen as the
first psychic element that influences behaviour.
(b) Ego
The ego is responsible for and controls motivation and primitive urges so that they follow
more closely the situational requirements. The ego slowly takes the responsibility to turn the
primitive motivation of the id to follow the moral requirements and ethical standards of the
community. The ego's operation is guided by the principles of reality and not by the principles
of pleasure that influences the id. The principles of reality acknowledge the realistic
requirements of the community.
(c) Superego
As children grow, the role of the ego expands. It has to deal with the superego which is the
early source of conscience and which is our ability to differentiate between the right and
wrong. The superego appears slowly when children learn the rules that are used by their
parents to interpret the expectations of the community. Parents have an important role in the
development of conscience in children until they can construct their own set of internal
standards.
Children who were brought up by their parents in an abusive way will become critical, punishing and
penalising. This behaviour can become excessive. In such cases, the superego might become so
inflexible and strict that it limits or prevents itself from enjoying normal pleasures that are
supposed to be experienced during childhood. Children with punitive superegos during adolescence
might face problems in fulfilling the superego's requirements. As an example, when they reach
puberty, they will have problems controlling their increasing sexual needs. Freud believes that
anxiety and depression are usually associated with an excessive demand from the superego.
In the psychoanalytic approach, the id, the ego and the superego usually have different goals and
methods. If the id and superego become strong enough to empower the ego, this will result in an
internal conflict within the individual. According to Freud's theory, if this conflict is unresolved, it
can lead to mental confusion.
Psychoanalysis uses the developmental approach in understanding abnormalities. It claims that
events during childhood have an impact on an individual's adult life. Freud believes that children go
through different levels of psychosexuality at different stages. At each stage, there is a part of the
body that provides satisfaction to the sexual needs. Children going through the anal, oral, latency
and genital stages in a satisfactory way will become a normal adult. If there is disappointment or
excesses at any level, a fixation will exist at the particular level that will influence the individual's
characteristics in his adult life. For instance, a person who eats excessively at the oral level might
experience fixation at that level and might become obese or addicted to drugs as a grown-up.
This approach has contributed significantly in helping to understand human personality
development. The views about the influence of the id, ego and superego from childhood on an
individual's personality development have initiated a great deal of research in this area. These
views have also influenced other disciplines such as English literature and history.

The Cognitivism Approach

This approach was pioneered by gestalt psychologists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Gagne, Bruner and
Ausubel.
The cognitive approach focuses on the process of human thinking such as perception and
assumption, cognition, metacognition, critical and creative thinking, learning skills, and
motivation. Cognitive psychologists try to understand the processes involved and how they operate.
These psychologists believe that the internal events that happen within an individual must be
studied if his behaviour in total were to be understood. This approach differs from the
psychoanalysis approach that focuses on unconscious thought and the behaviourist approach that
focuses on environmental factors and behaviour.

The Humanistic Approach

This approach stated that the humans are free and good
individuals with the potential to develop and with targets to
achieve. Humans are motivated to act because they have
desires and needs. According to this approach, humans are
always active and do not wait to be acted upon. The study of
psychology is to help humans to maximise their potential for
their psychological development.

A few prominent psychologists within this approach are

Abraham Maslow, Rolio May, Carl Rogers and Gordon Allport.

Abraham Maslow (1970) introduced the theory of the hierarchy

of needs. The assumptions underlying this theory are based on
the belief that humans are never satisfied with what they have
achieved. According to Maslow, human needs can be grouped into five levels of hierarchy which
range from the low level needs (basic needs) to the high level needs (psychological needs). Humans
will actively move upwards from one level to the other after the needs of each level are met.

Rogers (1956), stated that humans are always working to understand themselves and to influence
and control their own behaviour and those of others. He believes that basically all humans are good
and that they are all born with the tendency to seek perfection which forms the motive that drives
them to develop as mature and healthy human beings.
In conclusion, the humanistic approach focuses on the desires of an individual and the uniqueness of
humans as well as their freedom to choose their own goals in life. Psychology has the role of helping
humans to develop their potential to the maximum.
Look at the Figure Based on your own life experience, give an example for each level of
hierarchy. Which level are you at now?

The Biological Approach

This approach is also known as the biomedical approach and the Disease Model or Medical Model.
This approach is based on the assumption that humans are physical systems and must be understood
from a physical angle. Among the things that have to be understood are the physiological condition
and nervous system of the individual. According to this point of view, the problems that we
experienced are a result of physical disability, injury or diseases that affect the brain.
 Two German physiologists, Edward Hitzig (1893-1927) and Gustav Fritsch (1839-1907) carried out an
experiment on a dog which involved inserting two strands of wire in the cortical surface of the dog's
brain. Through this experiment, they found that the structure of the brain where the spinal cords
originate is closely related to the individual's behaviour. In other words, the brain will respond to
an electrical stimulus that is directly given and this affects the behaviour of an individual.
Therefore, an area of focus within the biological approach is the role of the central nervous
system that is responsible for controlling the thoughts and movements of humans.

Every approach has its strengths and weaknesses. However, each of these approaches has
contributed toward many areas of research such as research on drug abuse, computer and human
interaction, genius and problematic children and many more.

DEFINING EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

What do you understand about educational psychology?
The fields of psychology and education are closely related. The field of educational psychology
combines the field of psychology with that of education. As you have learned, psychology is the
scientific study of the thought and behaviour of an individual or group of individuals whereas education
is the process of developing the potential and skills of an individual in a specific area.
According to Banks and Thomson (1995), psychology is the study of human behaviour. Education is a
profession that studies and constructs methodologies and approaches for teaching and learning that can
be used in schools.
Educational psychology is the study of human action and behaviour in the process of teaching and learning in the classroom.
The study of educational psychology includes the study of human development, learning, memory,
motivation, classroom management, and testing and assessment of learning. Borich and Tombari (1997),
stated that educational psychology is a discipline that focuses on the theoretical and empirical
knowledge about teaching and learning in the classroom.
Clifford (1984 in Henson & Eller, 1999), defines educational psychology as "applying the methods of
psychology to studying the process of education" whereas Grinder (1981) defines it as the application of
psychological knowledge to classroom situations.

The job of educational psychologists is to apply the principles of psychology to education, and throughout their career, to examine the
learner, the process of learning, and the strategies of learning in order to improve learning.
In conclusion, educational psychology is very useful for teachers in order to understand student
behaviour and to ease the process of teaching and learning.

PURPOSES OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The goal of educational psychology is to understand (describe and explain) learner behaviour in the
process of teaching and learning as well as to predict the possible replacement behaviour and how to
control such behaviour. As an example, by referring to the different ways of solving student problems as
described in the following paragraph, behaviour can be controlled where negative behaviour can be
replaced with positive behaviour by encouraging the student to do activities which are beneficial to
them.
The aim of psychology focuses on four goals
to describe,
to explain,
to control and
to predict an action.
When a negative behaviour is found, for instance, smoking among teenagers, psychologists will try
to describe this behaviour. Usually these will include actions such as sneaking off somewhere to
smoke. They will smoke in the toilet, shopping complexes or abandoned houses. Following this
description, the psychologists will attempt to explain the causes that led to the teenagers' actions.
After explaining the reasons for these actions, they will suggest ways to control these actions and
predict replacement actions to replace the negative ones. For example, healthy activities such as
playing badminton or jogging in the evenings are predicted as having the ability to stop the smoking
habit among the teenagers.
THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY TO TEACHERS
What is the importance of psychology to teachers and students?
There are several reasons why it is important for teachers to understand and practice educational
psychology, such as:
(a) It enables teachers to understand why a student behaves in one way or another, to help
students to understand themselves, to help teachers plan appropriate learning objectives and
goals for their students, and to plan the appropriate steps toward the achievement of these
learning objectives and goals.
(b) Teachers can predict the students' behaviour and their likes and dislikes at different age levels.
This knowledge can help teachers plan appropriate reinforcement for the students in their
effort to control the students' behaviour and to motivate them to study.
(c) Through the examination of human growth and development, teachers will be able to know
about the students' stages of physical, cognitive, social and emotional development.
Therefore, teachers will be able to plan teaching and learning according to the students'
stages of development.
(d) Teachers can design a simple investigation to identify their students' stages of development,
especially for problematic students. Once the stages of development have been identified, the
teacher can prepare appropriate programmes or activities for these students in order to
improve their learning.
(e) Teachers can also carry out research on educational issues such as problems of discipline in the
classroom, truancy, smoking and so forth. Data and information gained from the research can
help the teacher to help the students to solve their problems and to improve the quality of
education and learning.
(f) Educational psychology will be able to assist teachers in understanding the students'
personalities and concept of self. This will enable the teacher to help the students toward
developing a positive concept of self.
To conclude, teachers should be equipped with knowledge of educational psychology because their
responsibilities do not include only the delivery of knowledge but the creation of an individual who
is complete with good characteristics and who is responsible toward family, nationality and religion.
SUMMARY
• This chapter provided an introduction to the field of psychology.
• Psychology is defined as a branch of scientific study that focuses on the mental life and
behaviour of humans and animals.
• There are nine historical development of psychology; They are Interactionism, Empiricism,
Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviourism, Gestalt psychology, Humanistic, Cognitivism, and
Constuctivism.
• Five important approaches in psychology are behaviourism, psychoanalytic, cognitivism,
humanistic and biological.
• The importance of psychology to educationist was also discussed.