Concept of Educational Psychology

• Educational Psychology is an important branch of

Psychology. This is made of two words-‘Education’
and ‘Psychology’. It means the Education related
to Psychology i.e. it is scientific study of human
behavior in the process of Education and it uses
Psychological principles in solving the Educational
problems.
• In the words of Skinner-“Educational Psychology
takes its meaning from Education, a social process
and from Psychology, a behavioral science.”
• Peel- “Educational Psychology is the science of
Education.”
• Judd – “Educational Psychology is the Science which
explains the changes that take place in the individuals as
they pass through the various stages of development.”
• Stephen – “Educational Psychology is the systematic
study of the educational growth and development of a
child.”
• Skinner defines Educational Psychology as “that branch
of Psychology which deals with teaching and learning”
• Crow and Crow ‘Educational Psychology describes and
explains the learning experiences of an individual from
birth through old age’.
• Educational Psychology utilizes procedures of
General Psychology for the study of its subject.

• It deals with the qualities of children, nature

and their behavior in educational situation
and represents the solution, analysis and
explanation of education related problems.
 NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

• An applied branch of psychology.

• It is a behavioural science.
• It is scientific in nature because:
i. Organized and systematic body of information.
ii. Developing and growing science.
iii. Scientific methods of investigation.
iv. Concerned with what and why
• A positive science.
• A predictive science.
 SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
1. Learner: Infants/ child/ adolescence/ adult
 Growth and development:
 Physical development
 Emotional development
 Social development
 Intellectual development
 Moral/ religious development
 Personality development
 Interest
 Need
 Aptitudes
 Motivation
 Perception of self and others
 Career aspirations and development
2. Learning experiences/ what to teach:
Content/ curriculum and co-curricular
experiences to be provided according to the
developmental stages of the students.
3. Learning process:

 How students learn- Nature, laws,

principles, theories of learning.
 Remembering and forgetting.
 Transfer of learning.
 Styles of learning.
 Concept formation.
 Thinking, reasoning and problem solving.
 Ways and means of effective learning.
4. Learning environment: (Formally the
classroom) Physical and psychological
 Physical environment: Structure, size,
ventilation, lighting, furniture, storage facilities
etc
 Psychological environment:
a. Intellectual environment: Mental preparation of
the students for the acceptance of new content.
Proper and appropriate resources in the form of
teaching aids and audio visual aids should also be
available in the classroom.
b. Emotional environment: non- threatening but
cooperative for which democratic leadership should
be followed by the teacher. Sufficient scope be
provided for interaction and expression of ideas to
foster and develop interest, motives, social skills etc.
For creating and modifying the learning
environment the following should be considered:
– Classroom climate
– Institutional/ organizational climate
– Individual/self/supervised group study.
– Factors affecting attention.
– Role of rewards and punishment.
– Group behaviour and group dynamism.
5. Measurement and evaluation:
– learning outcomes
– Students readiness
– Collecting feedback
– Area of weakness for remedial teaching
6. Teacher: Pivotal to navigating the entire TLP.
– Personality traits and characteristics of a good
teacher.
– Duties and responsibilities of a teacher
– Measures of knowing and doing away with one’s
own conflicts, anxiety and tension.
– Teacher’s motivation, level of aspiration,
adjustment and mental health.
 functions of educational psychology

 Understanding the term EDUCATION

“In its broad sense, education refers to any act or
experience that has a formative effect on the
mind, character, or physical ability of an
individual…In its technical sense education is the
process by which society, through schools,
colleges, universities, and other institutions,
deliberately transmits its cultural heritage–its
accumulated knowledge, values, and skills–from
one generation to another.”
GEORGE F.KNELLER
• "Education is the creation of a sound mind in a
sound body. It develops man's faculty,
especially his mind so that he may be able to
enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth,
goodness and beauty of which perfect
happiness essentially consists”.
Aristotle

• “Education is the process of living through a

continuous reconstruction of experiences.”
John Dewey
• ETYMOLOGY OF THE TERM EDUCATION
LATIN TERMS:
 EDUCATUM: TEACHING OR TRAINING
 EDUCARE: TO BRING OUT OR TO RAISE
 EDUCERE: TO LEAD FORTH OR TO COME OUT

• ETYMOLOGY OF THE TERM PSYCHOLOGY

1. Psychology and aims of education:
The aims of education can be fixed by taking the
help of psychological changes of the child. So the
needs, interest, aptitude and attitude are the
indicators for planning any activity for education.

2. Psychology and curriculum:

At the time of curriculum planning and
construction, proper care should be taken of the
developmental rate of the child. So they are
complementary in the process of education.
3. Psychology and methods:
A teacher has to give instructions through different
methods, which should be linked with psychological
problems, needs and development, rate of learning,
learning styles, personality, individual differences etc.
of the child.

4. Psychology and evaluation:

The total process of evaluation and examination should
be linked with psychological principles. Questions
should be prepared taking the normal development of
the children. The results can also be used as a feedback
to ones own teaching in the light of which further
changes in the teaching strategies can be done.
5. Psychology and discipline:
The problems of discipline is checked scientifically
by identifying its root cause. Discipline is more
self-discipline rather than imposed.

6. Psychology and administration (Democratic):

The process of administration should be based on
the psychological techniques. In administration,
proper care should be given on the basis of
individual differences. Problems are solved by
mutual discussion among the various agents of
the school.
7. Psychology and teacher:
Teacher should be a master of psychology to deal with
a complex educational situation. Teaching is a science
as well as an art and so he should know different
techniques of psychology in order to solve different
problems of the children in the classroom and
outside.
8. Psychology and timetable:
On the basis of psychological principles the curriculum
workers, teachers, administrators prepare suitable
timetable according to their difficulty level and fatigue
index. No two difficult subjects are taught in
successive periods.
9. Psychology and textbook preparation:
While preparing textbooks one must consider
the value of psychological needs, capacities
and intellectual development of the learners
at different age levels.
10.Psychology and the education of exceptional
children:
Psychology helps the teacher in organizing
the education of exceptional children. The
concept, nature, types, identification,
intervention etc. of exceptionality is been
made known to the teachers only through
psychology.