THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The nature and scope of psychology has been variously defined as the study of mental life, an attempt to understand human nature, the science of behaviour and the like but these definitions are largely identical. 

They all stress that the chief concern of psychology is an understanding of human behaviour. Its main subject-matter is how people behave and what makes them behave as they do. It should be noted, however, that the term “behaviour’' is used in a very broad seme. It includes the entire lange of human activity, thoughts, feelings and actions. 

Our ideas and memories, our joys and sorrows, our hopes and fears, our dreams and frustrations, our endeavours and performances, are all included in the broad term of behaviour. 

Our mental responses as well as our bodily ones, our reactions to things as well as persons, our normal activity in which we all engage every day and our odd, unusual or abnormal acts are all included in our behaviour. 

Thus psychology is concerned with such topics as learning, feelings and emotions, nature and development of personality, intelligence, heredity and environment, individual differences, how we influence our fellowmen and are in turn influenced by them, and how our body affects, and is related to, our behaviour.

Human behaviour is not the only concern of psycholog). Psychologists also study the behaviour of lower animals but this study is undertaken largely for the light it throws upon human behaviour. From studies of lower animals we leant a great deal about unlearned behaviour and the learning process and this helps us in understanding behaviour better.

The approach and method of psychology in studying and understanding behaviour is scientific. Psychology gets its facts by observations and experiments as do all the other natural sciences and tries to be objective and definite, and decides questions on the basis of facts as they are presented and not on the basis of wishes or desires. 

Many people object that it is impossible to build a science of behaviour but they seem to overlook that it is not the subject-matter that determines whether or not a particular study is a science but the method of working and studying that subject-matter. 

There is nothing intrinsic in living organisms which makes it impossible to build a science of behaviour. The science of psychology has come into being because it is possible to use the basic methods of science in examining behaviour. 

The scientific approach is characterized by objectivity and openmindedness, and conclusions are tested without any bias or prejudice. Observations and experiments are made a number of times before reaching a definite conclusion because if a conclusion is correct it will come out the same on repeated tests. 

Such conclusions agree with those arrived at by other scientists. Thus scientific knowledge is definite, universal, objective and accurate, and psychology strives to obtain such knowledge about human behaviour.

The study of science is pursued and cultivated because we are strongly motivated by the desire to know for the sake of knowing. Curiosity and love for its own sake lias largely been responsible for building the grand edifice of modern science. But this knowledge has yielded immense power and control over natural forces and human environment.

Psychology too has been studied to obtain understanding and insight into the complexities of human behavioui and this insight and understanding has not only helped to explain how we behave and why we behave in just the way we do but also to control and predict behaviour. 

Today modern psychology is applied in a number of situations and the vast reservoir ol scientific knowledge available is helping the trained psychologists to make predictions about behaviour. 

This is what the psychologists had in mind when they developed the battery of tests to predict the success or failure of army ollicers, when they devised reaction-lime tests for car drivers, when they advise parents how to cure and avoid temper tantrums in their children, when they lay clown work procedures to ward off fatigue, when they indicate that learning in one situation will be better than in another, that bright colours and loud sounds will attract attention, that strong interest is a guarantee of optimum effort, that strong-minded parents have weak-minded children and the like. 

It may be objected that the predictions which the psychologists make are not always completely accurate, but failures to predict with complete accuracy are helping to spur psychologists to greater efforts and progress in the coming years.

To sum up: (psychology is a systematic and consistent description and interpretation of behaviour with a view to control and predict it.

Facts of experience and behaviour are collected, classified and described, and an attempt is made to interpret and explain them. All kinds of processes, activities, experiences, adjustments, responses to all kinds of life situations like thinking, feeling, remembering, perceiving, imagining, striving and acting are included in the study of psychology. 

Psychology deals with the whole field of living activity, with all types of responses made by the living organism J

The Meaning and Purpose of Education

Education is a very ancient human enterprise. For a very long time man has been making conscious and planned efforts to educate both children and adults. The needs and problems of the individual, family and society have determined the goals and purposes of educational efforts, and the means, tools and opportunities available in society and life have determined the programmes and procedures of education. 

In modem times the pattern and problems of life and society have grown more complex and complicated and the value and importance of education has increased accordingly so much so that in many countries attendance at school has become compulsory. Education is considered indispensable Cor all kinds of social progress.

This added emphasis on the value and importance of education is based on several facts some of which were already known but some of which have been brought into prominence by the recent advances in the growth of our knowledge of psychology. 

In the first place the human child, compared with the young ones of other animals, is more helpless and dependent on his parents, and nature has provided him with a long period of immaturity and consequent dependence on his parents. 

While a colt, calf or cub may be ready to cope with the serious business of life within a couple of years, the human child has to be protected, taken care of and educated for two decades or thereabout not only to attain self-reliance and independence but also for his survival and welfare. 

Thus a long and elaborate process of education and training for human children seems to have been enjoined by nature herself. This fact is further complicated by two considerations. In the first place, the human nervous system is a very complex structure and its co-ordinated growth and development has to be long and elaborate. 

Further this complex human organism has to meet the varied and complex demands of an environment rapidly changing and extremely varied. The adjustments between the two will be achieved only through a long, slow and varied process of education and training.

Secondly, this long period of immaturity is marked by a rapidly growing capacity for learning. The child grows and learns at a rate much faster than that of the adult and begins to learn immediately after birth. This growth and learning, though rapid, follows a "graded pattern so that one pattern of behaviour is acquired on the basis of another. There are levels of growth and learning, and education and training has also to be similarly graded.

Thirdly, the learning of early years is crucial and determines the behaviour patterns of later years. Psychoanalysts and others emphasize the supreme importance of the first years as determinants of future character. Even if we do not accept the views of Freud and Adler it is advantageous to plan the education of young children very carefully.

Fourthly, recent psychological studies have revealed that the range and complexity of individual differences among children is very large. Individuals not only differ greatly from each other, but each individual differs greatly in his ability in the several areas of learning. 

Mohan may be much more capable in music or language than Prakash but Prakash may be much better than Mohan in arithmetic or on the playground. Modern education, as we shall see later, tries to provide for varying needs and abilities and seeks to develop all that is best in individual boys and girls.

[ The goals and purposes, the aims and objectives of education have been differently conceived by different people. 

Some seek to develop a sound mind in a sound body, others stress knowledge and information, some would like to make education completely academic and devoted to the culture of the intellect, while others insist on giving it a practical bias by equipping young people with vocational skills and ability. 

For some, education is a preparation for life, for others it is life itself. Character-building, integration and harmonious all-round development of personality, good taste, ability to make the right use of leisure, healthy adjustment to environment, ability to think out things for oneself, reorganization of experience good citizenship and the like are some of the meanings and objectives given to education.

They are ideals indicating the direction in which we would like educational effort and programmes to be guided and grow out of our philosophy of life. 

They are the values and purposes we cherish in life, and if all those who are engaged in the task of education have such goals and ideals it will help them to assess their work better and give proper emphasis to really worthwhile things in their programmes.

These objectives differ only in emphasis and not in fundamentals. There is nothing contradictory between characterbuilding and personality development. 

Good taste may go with good citizenship and the development of personality may lead to self-control, social efficiency, respect for the rights of others and living a good life. Some of these goals are valuable in themselves, for their own sake, while others are valuable because they lead to or promote the realization of other useful goals. 

The former are called intrinsic values and the latter extrinsic or instrumental values. Again, some goals are primarily individual, others are mainly social. Since service of self and society is interlinked, and through co-operative effort it is possible to benefit both, this distinction becomes superficial.

Nor are these purposes and objectives fixed and unchangeable. 

In the past they have been changing with the changing times and in our own times when the entire fabric of life is undergoing rapid changes, and the needs of the individual and society are changing, educational objectives are being constantly modified and reconstructed. 

And this is as it should be considering that education is one of the important social services.

I Life is a process of adjustment, of interaction between the individual and his environment, and education may be defined as the changes brought about in the individual as a result of that interaction. 

In a very broad sense all life is education and the individual continues to learn throughout his life but education is usually identified with changes and influences which are deliberately planned and directed through such agencies as the school. 

Education is growth and development. “It is a process in which, and by which, the knowledge, character and behaviour of the young are shaped and moulded.

Education is both a process and a product. It means the process of doing, acting, behaving, changing and it means the effects and results ol such activity and changes.

Life is continuous activity, growth and development. World and society are in a state of constant flux. /Education is that phase of social change by which the young people are initiated into adult ways of living and thinking and are gradually prepared for life in the group. 

Education is a process of transmitting the social heredity of culture. Insofar as it stimulates deliberation and creative thinking and brings young minds under the influence of new ideas and ideals of living it helps not only to conserve the past but also to enrich the present and the future, that is, to reconstruct and refine that culture. Education, therefore, is a very useful social agency conserving and reconstructing its culture and values. 

Secondly, as a result of this process of education, the individual acquires new modes of thinking, feeling and acting, new habits, sentiments and attitudes, new knowledge, abilities, purposes and ideals, and these help him to solve the problems of life more successfully, to achieve superior adjustments to his environment and to manipulate and exploit better the forces of nature and society to greater individual and social advantage. 

Thus education is both a process and a product. It is growth and development and improved conduct and adjustment as a result of that growth and development. Seeking and realizing goals and purposes the individual acquires intelligent self-direction and helps to promote social welfare and progress.

It is obvious that education is a continuing process and its practices and programmes have to be constantly reconstructed in the light of our growing knowledge of the learner and of the social environment. 

That is why procedures like cramming, memory drills, uniform curricula, harsh disciplinary measures and too much emphasis on subject-matter are becoming rarer today and there is a greater stress on freedom, self-activity, experience projects, interests and the like. 

Many recent studies strongly suggest that goals of education have the best opportunity for achievement in a democratic climate in which teachers and pupils engage in co-operative activities under the stress of social or group purposes and interests. Thus methods and procedures in education are being constantly revised and reconstructed.

Nor are they all equally and always effective. That is why products of education have to be frequently measured and appraised. Evaluation is an integral part of education and serves to check the performance of both teachers and children.

General Nature of Educational Psychology

Educational psychology is an applied branch of psychology. It is psychology dealing with human behaviour in educational situations and is concerned with such facts and principles of human behaviour as fall within the scope of the social process of education. 

Since education seeks to change and modify human behaviour, to give a new pattern of personality to the individual, topics like growth, development and learning and the intellectual, emotional and social influences that bear on it are of supreme importance in the study of educational psychology. The content and purpose of education has often varied and accordingly the emphasis on main topics in educational psychology has also shifted. 

If education is mainly concerned with imparting knowledge and information, with acquisition of facts and principles from text books educational psychology may concern itself primarily with the processes of learning, memorizing, perceiving, recalling, reasoning and intelligence. If its aim is building character it will study in greater detail such topics as instincts and drives, habits and attitudes, will and sentiment, temperament and personality. 

If its purpose is to promote all round harmonious development and integration of personality its primary concern becomes the dose study of the processes of learning, grow T th and development and of the situations and influences which favour them. In a way all growth and development of the individual is education but that is taking education in its broadest sense, to include all that goes on in life in and outside the school. 

But education in the specific sense means learning and development that is directed and designed in the school, and this should be and is the principal concern of educational psychology. In fact learning and development are basic (and common) to all definitions of education and educational psychology treats of all relevant factors bearing on learning and development.

The problems of educational psychology though often considered as co-extensive with life arise primarily out of the applications of psychology to situations of teaching and learning, to more or less formally directed activities of the child during infancy, childhood and adolescence. 

How children learn to read and write, how they acquire skill in games, how they mix and co-operate w r ith their fellows in the class and the craft room, how they must overcome fear and anger and the like are topics of primary study in educational psychology. 

How such numerous problems and topics are organized and classified in the field of educational psychology varies from one author to another but this is very largely a matter of emphasis. Broadly speaking the subject-matter of educational psychology turns round the following main heads:

1. The nature and characteristics of the learner.

2. Human growth and development.

3. The nature of the learning process.

4 . The manner in which these processes may be facilitated by the teacher through teaching and guidance.

5. Scientific principles for the programmes and method employed in lormal education.

6. Personality and adjustment.

7. Measurement and evaluation.

An expansion of these topics will reveal clearly the scope of educational psychology. The nature of the learner will be revealed in the study of individual differences in intelligence, attitudes, temperament, rate of learning and growth and in dispersion of mental qualities. 

Growth is progressive development and is a lifelong process. All aspects of life and personality are involved in growth — physical, emotional, intellectual and social. Educational psychology studies the several phases of growth and seeks to formulate generalizations about this fundamental process. But its central problem is learning. Habits, attitudes, preferences, interests, social adjustments, skills of many types, and ideals are parts of the learning experience of every individual. 

In fact human capacity to modify behaviour to meet the changing needs of an ever changing environment is a basic factor in education and must form the central topic of educational psychology. 

But there are some factors which facilitate learning such as interest, motivation, drill, experience, meaning, and establishment of goals. 

Various teaching procedures will have to be scientifically discussed and estimated. All education aims at personality integration so that various aspects of personality work in a harmonious and effective manner and one’s aspirations and emotions are in accord with one’s mental capacities. 

The problem of adjustment, outer and inner, has to be studied in its numerous aspects. Finally, the efforts and results of teaching and learning must be evaluated. Measurement and evaluation is an essential part of the study of educational psychology.

In dealing with these problems the approach of edu cational psychology is essentially scientific. It seeks to predict and control human behaviour in educational situations. 

It assumes that all human behaviour is the result of certain causes and influences and since these are very complex and largely unanalysed, human behaviour is not as predictable as some of the natural phenomena. 

But the study is nevertheless inspired by the same scientific spirit and the body of knowledge called educational psychology is carefully organized and systematized and is based on results of observations and experiments in the laboratory, classroom and clinic.

Since education is as large as life, its study is closely aligned to, and draws heavily upon, all systems of knowledge which deal with human living. 

While facts of general and applied psychology, physiology, abnormal psychology, social psychology, sociology and anthropology have a special relevance for educational psychology, it has to draw on such studies as neurology, endocrinology, genetics, psychiatry, medicine and the like to understand and explain some of the hidden and unanalysed factors and influences in human behaviour.

Wtfat does educational psychology really seek to achieve? What are its aims and purposes? The study of educational psychology should help to make teaching, learning and living more effective. (Through a better understanding of the learner and the learning process, it should make available to the teacher new techniques and procedures which are fundamentally better than the old techniques and procedures. 

The transition from timehonoured mechanical methods of drill and grind to progressive methods of purposive activity, living interest, direct experience and learning by doing is the result largely of the growing interest of teachers in the facts and principles of educational psychology. It is now much more widely believed that improvement in educational practice can be readily achieved if the teacher makes up his mind to apply to his daily work the large body of systematized knowledge that is educational psychology. 

Understanding the abilities, aptitudes and interests of children he can suitably adjust the content and procedures of instruction and thus make them more worthwhile and effective. A knowledge of the foundations of human nature^and behaviour will make teaching and guidance more effective. 

The study of educational psychology can, and should, make a difference in learning as well. In a way, effective teaching ensures effective learning but when the learner understands and appreciates the value of goals or objectives, reviews his performance and achievements in their light, takes to building an abiding interest in his study and work and acquiring efficient reading habits, and recognizes the importance and value of good mental and bodily health, the task of the teacher becomes easier and his efforts bear fruit. 

A study of educational psychology should help the teacher to put across to his pupils effective learning principles.

The study of educational psychology should make a difference to the personal life and professional work of the teacher. With ra better understanding of the springs of human behaviour and Sthe important influences on human life, and teaching what he (really is and what he says, his opportunites for influencing the jlife, character and personality of young people in his charge increase manifold. 

Pupils readily adopt the personality characteristics of their teachers, their approach, their methods of work and their thoughts, and therefore it is imperative that the teacher should be in the best possible mental and bodily health to inspire and stimulate his pupils to be, and do their bests/rhus educational psychology is a great help in teaching, learning and living. 

It makes teaching mor e eff ect ive a nd stimulating, learning more purposeful, lasting and econo mica l ahirjjyi mrmor e efficient' more meaning ful and happierX These are some of the general aims and objectives/educational psychology. It may be helpful to illustrate how educational psychology actually functions. 

A seventh class boy who had been at the top of his class and was very good in studies and games and took keen interest in the general activities of the school like debates, recitations and dramatics, was found losing all interest and zest in work. He was indifferent and listless and his position in class began to decline. 

Teachers began coaxing and reprimanding him and at the end of the year he barely made the grade. His parents too began to worry about him and made inquiries from his teachers as to what was the trouble with him. 

The case was handed over to the school psychologist who began to study his environment, interests, companions, home conditions. He was given many, tests too. It was revealed that during the year another son was born in the family. 

Before this new addition to the family Mohan was the darling of his father, mother and sisters, but now he was ignored. The mother spent most of her lime in looking after the new-born and in the evening when the father returned home he made most of the youngest son. 

Mohan was starved for want of affection. If nobody was interested in him what reason had he to be interested in his work, activities or environment? Indifference, listlessness, lethargy, a feeling of inadequacy, even inferiority, vitiated his outlook and he failed to pull his full weight. 

Parents and teachers understood his difficulty and tried to help him to get over it. Interest and attention, care and affection on their part helped the child improve his learning and life, and the teacher’s work became more effective. 

Thus knowledge and application of educational psychology made teaching and learning more effective and made life more enjoyable and efficient.

From these general functions of educational psychology follow specific aims and objectives which are detailed here. A clear understanding of these will help the teacher to assess the outcome and results of his efforts and programmes in the school.

^ 1. Educational psychology should help the teacher to acquire a comprehensive approach to educational problems, to discriminate between remote and immediate goals of education, between impossible and practicable objectives and between suitable and unsuitable methods.

2. It will help him to realize that growth and development of young people can be suitably guided and directed, their social adjustments improved and their learning made more useful and effective.

3. He will develop an objective and impartial attitude towards his pupils, understand ’with sympathy the limits of their learning and achievement, how far they can adjust to their environment and what incentives and opportunities should be provided in the school. He will select only those which suit the individual pupils and serve the chosen objectives.

4. It will assist him to acquire deeper understanding and insight into human nature so that he can enrich his own life as well as that of his pupils, and make education a joyful and interesting task for both himself and his pupils.

5. He will realize what implications individual differences among pupils have for teaching and the danger of teaching pupils en masse.

6. He will realize that conditions outside the school influence learning, that some of them are favourable and desirable and others hostile and undesirable. He must change the school environment suitably so that pupils are encouraged to do their best.

7. He will come to understand that he himself is an important and valuable part of the environment of his pupils and that his own conduct, approach and way of thinking, feeling and living will influence his pupils. He will awaken to a new consciousness of his responsibilities and opportunities for service to the cause of education.

8. Acquiring a knowledge of the several methods of investigation and study he will develop a background, scientific and critical, but helpful in solving problems and difficulties of his vocation. He will be led to think in psychological terms about the problems of education and life.

9. Educational psychology will help the teacher to realize that education is a social process, that social development of pupils is as important as intellectual and academic learning and that, therefore, the school should provide rich and varied opportunities for social experiences and group activities of many kinds.

10. Educational psychology should help the teacher to realize that emotions and feelings are prime movers of behaviour and life and the teacher’s attitude towards children’s feelings and emotions should be positive, that is, he should piovide for their healthy outlet and expression.

11. Educational psychology makes us realize that children do not develop piecemeal but their total personality is affected by the total and many-sided environment in which they live and work. The teacher and curricula are a part of that environment but equally important are other influences outside the school.

12. Educational psychology has provided tools of evaluation and assessment not only of intelligence, ability and. aptitude but also of attainment in several curricular subjects. )

It is easy to multiply this list of specific aims and objectives and they all follow from the general aims and objectives indicated above.

Methods of Educational Psychology

Educational psychology depends for its progress on scientific methods of study and research. They alone yield precise, definite, objective and universal knowledge and educational psychology obtains its data from these methods. 

Its facts and principles are based on systematic applications of the scientific methods to human behaviour in the educational situation. What specific form scientific investigations and study will take depends on the problem to be investigated and studied, and as the scope of study becomes larger and more varied, new methods and techniques are devised. Some of the important methods are described below.

Observation and Experiment . These are two of the principal ways of getting information — observation by experts of children engaged in normal activities in the school, home, the playground, etc., and controlled and planned observation of some selected aspect of their behaviour, development and experience. The second type of observation is called experiment. 

Since the problems of educational psychology are many and varied, the experimental or controlled laboratory studies have to be supplemented by varied techniques like the control-group method, the practice method. In an ideal experimental investigation two essential conditions must be fulfilled, the phenomenon to be studied must be observed under varying conditions and it should be possible to repeat these observations so as to correct any possible error. 

Only then will such studies yield accurate, definite, objective information which can be verified and which is free from the prejudices and opinions of the investigator. The investigator will have to create, or arrange for, or make sure of such varying conditions before starting his study.

Subjective Methods . These include the autobiography which sometimes gives an excellent account of personal experience, the case history which provides large background-data if it is prepared carefully and in detail, the interview which seeks personal exploration by direct questioning though it must be conducted by experienced and trained people to obtain accurate and meaningful information and the inventory. The data which these methods gather are not as objective and precise as those obtained through observation and experiment.

Clinical Methods. These involve a close and deep study of the individual who has a problem or a difficulty. Personal data are collected from all sources, family, friends, fellow-workers and teachers; tests are administered, the cause of his problem or difficulty is diagnosed and suitable course of treatment is suggested. In this context case history proves very helpful. These clinical methods enable us to study problems of adjustment, behaviour and personality.

Subsidiary to these techniques and methods are the questionnaire, standard tests , rating scales. Cumulative records are expanding records on significant aspects of a child's progress throughout his school years, including data on physical growth and health, abilities, interest, emotional and social adjustment and achievement Check list is an appraisal device in which a list of traits or behaviour patterns is given and a rater check to indicate those characteristics of an individual. 

Sociometric technique relates to the measurement of interpersonal relations such as the pattern of friendships or relationships within a group of school children. The longitudinal approach studies either the life development of particular aspects of personality, e.g. abilities, social adjustment, speech, etc. or the total personality with respect to each of the number of life stages. We may follow a group of children through from an early age and test the same person as he grows older. 

This method requires a lot of time and patience and implies that the person is willing to be tested again and again. In the cross-sectional approach we test a number of children or people at each age level. This method has its difficulties, the nine-year olds may be drawn from a different group than the six-year olds, the former may belong to a rural group and the latter to an urban group.