Educational Psychology

E 202
Psychology /72 hours

 Introduction to psychology/10 hours

 Psychology of learning/30 hours
 Developmental psychology/20 hours
 Guidance and counselling/12 hours
Introduction to psychology

 - The word, ‘Psychology’ is derived from two Greek words, ‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’. Psyche
means ‘soul’ and ‘Logos’ means ‘science’.
 psychology was first defined as the ‘science of soul”.

- According to earlier psychologists, the function of psychology was to study the nature,
origin and destiny of the human soul.
 But soul is something metaphysical.
 It cannot be seen, observed and touched and we cannot make scientific experiments on
soul.
Cont’

 - In the 18th century, psychology was understood as the ‘Science of Mind’. William James
(1892) defined psychology as the science of mental processes. But the word ‘mind ‘ is also
quite ambiguous as there was confusion regarding the nature and functions of mind.

- Modern psychologists defined psychology as the “Science of Consciousness”. James
Sully (1884) defined psychology as the “Science of the Inner World”. Wilhelm Wundt
(1892) defined psychology as the science which studies the “internal experiences’. But
there are three levels of consciousness – conscious, subconscious and the unconscious and
so this definition also was not accepted some.
Cont’

 - In the 18th century, psychology was understood as the ‘Science of Mind’. William James
(1892) defined psychology as the science of mental processes. But the word ‘mind ‘ is also
quite ambiguous as there was confusion regarding the nature and functions of mind.

- Modern psychologists defined psychology as the “Science of Consciousness”. James
Sully (1884) defined psychology as the “Science of the Inner World”. Wilhelm Wundt
(1892) defined psychology as the science which studies the “internal experiences’. But
there are three levels of consciousness – conscious, subconscious and the unconscious and
so this definition also was not accepted some.
Cont.

 Psychology should, therefore, be defined as a “science of behaviour and experiences on

human beings” (B.F. Skinner)
 - According to Crow , “Psychology is the study of human behaviour and human
relationship’”.
Modern definition of psychology

 Psychology is scientific study of human behavior and mental processes

 Key terms are: science, behavior and mental process
 Psychology is considered as science because it is concerned understanding of people’s
behavior through carefully control, observations and use of scientific methods and
techniques.
 The term behavior refers to all observable and unobservable experiences and mental
processes.
 Mental processes refers to perceptions, thoughts, emotions imaginations ,feeling and
sensations
Definition of psychology

 Generally psychology may be defined as the systematic scientific study of behavior of

organisms and mental processes in relation to their environments
Educational psychology

 Educational Psychology concerned primarily with understanding the processes of teaching

and learning that take place within formal environments and developing ways of
improving those methods.
 It covers important topics like learning theories; teaching methods; motivation; cognitive,
emotional, and moral development; and parent-child relationships etc.
Educational psychology is an applied
science.
 It is the application of psychological principles in the field of education.
 By applying the principles and techniques of psychology,
 it tries to study the behavior and experience of pupils.
GOALS OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

There are various goals of modern psychology, some of the most important ones are as
follows:
To orient individuals with psychological concepts to enable them to understand the nature.
To provide knowledge about mental health.
The mental health of psychologists, teachers, students, and other professionals is very
important for efficient functioning.
 From the study of psychology, teachers and psychologists can also know the various factors
that are responsible for mental ill health and maladjustment of students.
Cont.

 To understand general principles and teachers to understand mental, emotional reactions of

individuals e.g. anger, pain, affection, among others.
 To assist psychologists, teachers, parents to understand the nature of classroom learning
and learning in general.
 To assist psychologists and teachers to understand the learners in a classroom situation,
why they would behave in certain ways and how they may be helped if needed be.
SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY

 Structuralism
 Functionalism
 Behavioral
 Psychoanalytical
Structuralism-

 Utilized analytic introspection “looking within” a procedure aimed at analyzing the mental
experience into three basic mental elements: images, feelings, and sensations.
Behavioral-

 John Watson. Focused on observable behavior, overt behavior which can be recorded and
subjected to verification. Stimulus- response.
Psychoanalytical

 - Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) emphasized the importance of the unconscious/cause of behavior.

 ID- in Freud's s theory, the part of the personality that contains inborn bioligical drives and that
seeks immediate gratification. The Id obeys the pleasure prinicple most notably for sex and
aggression.
 EGO - in Freud's theory, the part of personality that helps an individual adapt to external reality
by making compromises between the id, the superego, and the environment. The ego obeys the
reality principle, directing us to express sexual and aggressive impulses in socially acceptable
ways.
 Superego - in Freud's theory, the part of the personality that acts as a moral guide, telling us
what we should do and not do. To Freud, your personality is the outcome of the continual battle
for dominance among the id, the ego, and the superego.
Different Branches of Psychology

 Abnormal Psychology
 Biopsychology
 Clinical Psychology
 Cognitive Psychology
 Comparative Psychology
 Counseling Psychology
 Developmental Psychology
 Educational Psychology
 Social Psychology etc
Abnormal Psychology

 This explores psychopathology and abnormal behavior.

 Examples of disorders covered in this field include depression, sexual deviation and
dissociative disorder.
Clinical Psychology:

 The focus here is the assessment and appropriate treatment of mental illness and abnormal
behaviours.
Cognitive Psychology

 This branch of psychology focuses attention on perception and mental processes.

 For example, it looks at how people think about and process experiences and events –
their automatic thoughts and core beliefs. Also, how they learn, remember and retrieve
information.
Comparative Psychology:

 This field of psychology studies animal behavior. Comparative psychologists work closely
with biologists, ecologists, anthropologists, and geneticists.
Counseling Psychology:

the focus is on providing therapeutic interventions for clients who are struggling with some
mental, social, emotional or behavioral issue.
It also looks at living well, so people reach their maximum potential in life.
Developmental Psychology:

 This looks at lifespan human development, from the cradle to the grave. It looks at what
changes, and what stays the same, or even deteriorates over time. Also, whether growth
and change is continuous, or is associated with certain ages and stages. Another area of
interest is the interaction of genes and the environment.
Educational Psychology:

 This focuses attention on learning, remembering, performing and achieving. It includes the
effects of individual differences, gifted learners and learning disabilities.
Experimental Psychology:

 all of psychology emphasizes the central importance of the scientific method, designing
and applying experimental techniques, then analyzing and interpreting the results is the
main job of experimental psychologists.
Forensic Psychology

 It is where psychologists (clinical psychologists, neurologists, counselling psychologists

etc) share their professional expertise in legal or criminal cases.
Health Psychology:

 This branch of psychology promotes physical, mental and emotional health – including
preventative and restorative strategies.
 It looks at how people deal with stress, and cope with and recover from, illnesses.
Human Factors Psychology:

 This is an umbrella category that looks at such areas as ergonomics, workplace safety,
human error, product design, and the interaction of humans and machines.
Industrial-Organizational Psychology:

 This applies findings from theoretical psychology to the workplace.

 Its goal is increasing employee satisfaction, performance, productivity – and matching
positions to employees’ strengths.
 Other areas of interest are group dynamics, and the development of leadership skills.
Social Psychology:

 It includes the study of group behaviour, social norms, conformity, prejudice, nonverbal
behaviour/ body language, and aggression.
Sports Psychology:

 This area investigates how to increase and maintain motivation, the factors that contribute
to peak performance, and how being active can enhance our lives.
BRANCHES OF APPLIED
PSYCHOLOGY
 Applied psychology is the use of psychological principles and theories to overcome
problems in real life situations.
 Mental health, organizational psychology, business management, education, health,
product design, , and law are just a few of the areas that have been influenced by the
application of psychological principles and findings.
 Some of the areas of applied psychology include clinical psychology, counseling
psychology, evolutionary psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, legal
psychology, neuropsychology, occupational health psychology, human factors, forensic
psychology, engineering psychology, school psychology, sports psychology traffic
psychology, community psychology, medical psychology.
BRANCHES OF APPLIED
PSYCHOLOGY
 Educational psychology
 Clinical psychology
 Environmental psychology
 Health psychology
 School psychology
 Sport psychology
 Traffic psychology
FEATURES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

 Human behavior is characterized by three domains

 ie psychomotor domain, affective, and cognitive .
 to a teacher ,these three domains are crucial. When a teacher constructs goals and
objectives, emphasis should be put on the development of muscular skills and coordination
(psychomotor ),the growth of attitudes or values (affective)or transmission of knowledge
and intellectual skills (cognitive).
The affective domain

 This domain is primarily concerned with the development of attitudes and values ,and
deals with feelings ,likes and dislikes. Attitudes are feelings of like and dislike towards
objects people in our environment. Like most aspects of human behavior, attitudes are
learned and result from experience. for example students may develop some types of
attitudes towards school.
 If their experiences with school have been pleasurable, then their attitudes will be
positive .on the other hand, if they constantly encounter boredom and frustration in
school ,their attitudes about school will tend to be negative.
 Teachers therefore, have the responsibility of ensuring that students develop positive
attitudes towards their subjects, themselves, others and the school.
Psychomotor domain

 This is concerned with the development of muscular skills and coordination. it deals with
the development of skills that require efficient coordination between our brains and
muscles .
 it emphasizes the development of manipulative skills and abilities as well as coordination .
 psychomotor skills are emphasized mostly in vocational technical schools where
individuals develop skills of how to type ,operate a machine ,print ,drive ,etc. in secondary
schools ,psychomotor skills are least considered ,teachers concentrate mainly on cognitive
domain , teachers should help students to develop these skills.
Cognitive domain

 This involves rational and analytical thinking processes.

 it is important in problem solving ,developing new ideas and evaluation .
 it focuses on intellectual development that is :knowledge acquisition thus learning and
remembering of facts ,concepts ,theories etc or applying the knowledge in problem
solving.
Importance of psychology

 Education
 Cure of abnormal diseases
 Industrial and trade
 Assists in the solutions of personal problems
 Help in understanding of others
 Recruitment in service
Education

Education has made radical reforms in the field of education and has thrown lights to the
contemporary syllabi and methods of education. Education process from techniques of
instruction to learning abilities has been revolutionized.
Corporal punishment as a form of correcting misconduct has been replaced by psychological
techniques of behavior modification such as taken economy, extinction ,isolation in block
room, persuasion, etc. it has provided educationalists with knowledge of how to solve
classroom problems, how to teach learners of a given development.
Cure of abnormal diseases

 Knowledge of psychology has become very valuable in the field of medicine.

 Every somatic disease is psychological and not only requires modern medication but also
psychological checkup.
 Various environmental factors, stresses, pressure may create physiological imbalances in
people resulting in mental disequilibria.
 It may be said without exaggeration that almost everybody needs the guidance of clinical
psychologists sometime to keep his mental health.
Industrial and trade

 Psychology assists industrialists to know the interests and reactions of people so that the
goods manufactured are made according to tastes.
 The widest application of general psychology has enabled industrialists to consider what to
manufacture, how to manufacture the products, who to sell the products to and how to sell
the product.
 Knowledge of psychology has helped in finding solutions to industrial disputes, how to
motivate employees, the problem of strikes, lockouts and generally problems between
employers and employees.
Assists in the solutions of personal problems

 Psychology does not only help in the solution of the social problems but also in finding
solutions of problems affecting an individual.
 Man is able to understand himself due to knowledge of psychology and self-understanding
is the way to self-control that leads one to future success in life.
 Psychology has changed man’s attitudes towards folk beliefs i.e superstitions regarding the
nature of dreams, various abnormalities etc.
 it has helped the people change their character to control their conduct and to apply
principle of adjustment to novel situations.
Help in understanding of others

 Psychology does not only help one in understanding oneself but also in understanding
others.
 It encourages interpersonal relations among people
 it eliminates if not reduces group biases and hatred between/ among people from different
races, ethnic groups, nationalities and socio-cultural backgrounds.
 It is also helpful in all sorts of primary and secondary relations such as in family setting,
clubs, schools, colleges and universities and in the playing field.
 It assists in understanding between parents and children, teachers and students, in
maintaining harmony between couples, lovers, friends etc.
Recruitment in service

 Psychology has helped employers in finding suitable employees for different kinds of
work.
 Employees can secure work suited to their capacities and talents.
 It has also helped in improving working conditions and to minimize fatigue and using
human talents and capacity to the utmost efficiency.
 The knowledge of psychology has assisted in creating labour welfare unions in the
modern world.
Relationship between psychology and other
disciplines
 Psychology is related to many disciplines, particularly those that fall within the category of
social sciences.
 .
Psychology with philosophy

 Psychology and philosophy are closely related in the sense that before 1879 the former was
part of the latter.
 While psychology is the systematic study of behavior and mental processes of an
individual, philosophy on the other hand is the study of knowledge and understanding of
the nature and meaning of the world and human life.
Psychology and sociology

 Psychology studies behavior and experiences of an individual. Behavior includes all overt
and cognitive activities.
 Sociology on the other hand studies the social relationships, institutions, groups, etc.
 while psychologists focus on an individual’s behavior, sociologists study group behavior
as well as the behavior of an individual in a group.
Psychology and anthropology

 General psychology studies behavior such as learning, motivation and perception and
intelligence.
 Anthropology on the other hand is concerned with the culture of a group, its technology,
beliefs, etc.
 for instance, cultural anthropology studies individual’s behavior in social circumstances,
while psychology lays emphasize on individual’s behavior.
Psychology with political science

 Psychology studies an individual’s behavior and activities in relation to its environment.

 Political science on the other hand deals with behavior of man but specifically in the
context of political institutions.
 Political science deals with laws that guide governments of various nations. The
formulated laws are applicable to the mass of humanity that is within the jurisdiction of the
concerned state.
Psychology and economics

 While psychology studies behavior of man in relation to his environment, economics on

the other hand studies man’s activities to obtaining the material means for the satisfaction
of his wants or needs.
 economics studies some of the activities of human being in ordinary business life.
 The two are related despite the difference between the two in the sense that economics
function of man while psychology basically deals with behavior of man.
Determinants of human behavior

 Human behavior and heredity are basically determined by nature and nurture.
 Nature stands for biological inheritance or heredity while nurture stands for the
experiences and environment that shape a person’s body, mind and personality
Heredity (nature)

 This refers to the analysis of similarity between offspring and parents, in other words it
refers to the biological mechanism or process that is responsible for transmission of certain
characteristics or traits from generation to generation.
 Heredity plays its role at the time of conception when the female ovum (egg) comes into
contact with the male sperm in the fallopian tube.
 It is during this time that certain characteristics or traits are transferred from parents to
offspring.
 The parents contribute the genes that determine many of the physical, mental and
emotional characteristics.
 In other world heredity is mainly concerned with reflex and instinctive behavior or traits.
Environment (nurture)

 This refers to social that act on an individual. These factors influence an individual’s
behavior. The social factors includes a person’s family, the school, television shows that
one watches, the books he or she reads and the friends he or she interacts with.
 These factors are accountable for the interests, attitudes, aptitudes, habits, temperament,
etiquette and cultural norms.
 Well-adjusted children can be found in any environment but they are mostly likely to be
found where families, schools and community combine to inculcate good morals in
children.
 
 Implications of Educational Psychology
to Classroom Situations

Educational Psychology allows the teacher to know the tone of his/her classroom.
 It assists the teacher to understand the behaviour of every member of his/her
classroom.
It affords the teacher the opportunity to know the factors that can enhance or impede
teaching-learning activities.
It helps the teacher to appreciate the importance of motivation, and how and when to
motive the students in the classroom.
 It equips the teacher to know or be able to predict what might likely happen to a
learner in terms of his/her personality, developmental stages and psychological
problem.
 It gives the teacher the opportunity of varying his/her instructional strategies
based on the behavior of the students in the classroom.
 It is a known fact that no particular instructional method is regarded as the best.
 Educational Psychology enables the teacher to understand the interest of the
learners and how to follow this in planning the curriculum or learning contents.
Cont’

 It aids/guides the teacher in grading or placing the learners into a particular class.
 Feedback is an important aspect in the learning situation, a constant evaluation of
students’ performance will serve as a yardstick of measuring or assessing
whether the students are responding positively to learning situation or there is a need
for the teacher to adjust his/her teaching style.
 It also assists the teacher to assess his/her effectiveness.