UNIT TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Meaning and Relevance of Educational Psychology
Introduction
Dear Learner, this is an introduction lesson of the module Educational Psychology. This lesson
has several sections:
Definition of Educational Psychology
The concerns of Educational Psychology
Areas of Educational Psychology
Benefits of the scientific approach.
Focus areas of Educational Psychology
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
2 Define Educational Psychology.
3 Outline the areas of Educational Psychology.
4 Discuss the relevance of educational Psychology.
5 Benefits of the scientific approach.
6 Focus areas of educational Psychology.
Definition of Educational Psychology.
What is Educational Psychology?
We cannot define Educational Psychology without knowing what psychology is.
Psychology is defined as the scientific discipline that studies animal and human behavior
and mental process. As a science psychology is used in the understanding of behaviour,
prediction of
,behavior and control of behaviour. Behavior can be defined as anything we do, such as thinking,
talking, sneezing, sleeping, loving, and so on.
How to Learn Psychology
We all use the principles of psychology everyday and probably don‟t even realize it. When we
spank our child for doing something wrong, we are utilizing the learning principle of
punishment. when we get nervous right before we have to give that big speech, we are
activating our autonomic nervous system. When we talk to ourselves in our heads, telling
ourselves to "calm down," "work harder," or "give up," we are utilizing cognitive approaches to
change our behaviors and emotions.
This text is designed to give you a general idea of what psychology is, how information is
developed, what we have learned about ourselves, and how psychology is applied to help
improve people‟s lives. The chapters are organized so that you can get a better idea of
how psychology works; from basic theories and principles, through research,
understanding and explaining results, to the actual application of psychological techniques.
You will learn a lot, however, and hopefully you will increase not only your knowledge base,
but also your interest in the principles of psychology. This unit provides a great deal of
information about the applications of psychology in a self-help format.
Read on…learn…and improve your understanding of your greatest asset…the human mind.
What is Psychology
Psychology is the study of cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Psychologists are involved in
a variety of tasks. Many spend their careers designing and performing research to better
understand how people behave in specific situations, how and why we think the way we do, and
how emotions develop and what impact they have on our interactions with others. These are the
research psychologists who often work in research organizations or universities. Industrial-
organizational psychologists work with businesses and organizations to help them become more
productive, effective, and efficient, and to assist them in working with their employees and their
customers. Practitioners, typically counseling and clinical psychologists, work with individuals,
couples, families, and small groups to help them feel less depressed, less anxious, become more
,productive or motivated, and overcome issues which prevent them from living up to their
potential.
The study of psychology has five basic goals:
, 1. Describe – The first goal is to observe behavior and describe, often in minute
detail, what was observed as objectively as possible
2. Explain – While descriptions come from observable data, psychologists must go
beyond what is obvious and explain their observations. In other words, why did the
subject do what he or she did?
3. Predict – Once we know what happens, and why it happens, we can begin to speculate
what will happen in the future. There‟s an old saying, which very often holds true: "the best
predictor of future behavior is past behavior."
4. Control – Once we know what happens, why it happens and what is likely to happen in the
future, we can exert control over it. In other words, if we know you choose abusive partners
because your father was abusive, we can assume you will choose another abusive partner,
and can therefore intervene to change this negative behavior.
5. Improve – Not only do psychologists attempt to control behavior, they want to do so in a
positive manner, they want to improve a person‟s life, not make it worse. This is not always the
case, but it should always be the intention.
As a science of behaviour psychology has many branches and approaches. The following are
some of the branches of psychology.
Industrial Psychology
Experimental Psychology
Developmental psychology
Counseling psychology
Social psychology
Educational psychology
Looking at these branches of psychology we can deduce that Educational psychology is one of
the branches of psychology. It is one of the newer branches of psychology which is slightly over
a century old today, (Woolfolk, 1998).
Meaning and Relevance of Educational Psychology
Introduction
Dear Learner, this is an introduction lesson of the module Educational Psychology. This lesson
has several sections:
Definition of Educational Psychology
The concerns of Educational Psychology
Areas of Educational Psychology
Benefits of the scientific approach.
Focus areas of Educational Psychology
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
2 Define Educational Psychology.
3 Outline the areas of Educational Psychology.
4 Discuss the relevance of educational Psychology.
5 Benefits of the scientific approach.
6 Focus areas of educational Psychology.
Definition of Educational Psychology.
What is Educational Psychology?
We cannot define Educational Psychology without knowing what psychology is.
Psychology is defined as the scientific discipline that studies animal and human behavior
and mental process. As a science psychology is used in the understanding of behaviour,
prediction of
,behavior and control of behaviour. Behavior can be defined as anything we do, such as thinking,
talking, sneezing, sleeping, loving, and so on.
How to Learn Psychology
We all use the principles of psychology everyday and probably don‟t even realize it. When we
spank our child for doing something wrong, we are utilizing the learning principle of
punishment. when we get nervous right before we have to give that big speech, we are
activating our autonomic nervous system. When we talk to ourselves in our heads, telling
ourselves to "calm down," "work harder," or "give up," we are utilizing cognitive approaches to
change our behaviors and emotions.
This text is designed to give you a general idea of what psychology is, how information is
developed, what we have learned about ourselves, and how psychology is applied to help
improve people‟s lives. The chapters are organized so that you can get a better idea of
how psychology works; from basic theories and principles, through research,
understanding and explaining results, to the actual application of psychological techniques.
You will learn a lot, however, and hopefully you will increase not only your knowledge base,
but also your interest in the principles of psychology. This unit provides a great deal of
information about the applications of psychology in a self-help format.
Read on…learn…and improve your understanding of your greatest asset…the human mind.
What is Psychology
Psychology is the study of cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Psychologists are involved in
a variety of tasks. Many spend their careers designing and performing research to better
understand how people behave in specific situations, how and why we think the way we do, and
how emotions develop and what impact they have on our interactions with others. These are the
research psychologists who often work in research organizations or universities. Industrial-
organizational psychologists work with businesses and organizations to help them become more
productive, effective, and efficient, and to assist them in working with their employees and their
customers. Practitioners, typically counseling and clinical psychologists, work with individuals,
couples, families, and small groups to help them feel less depressed, less anxious, become more
,productive or motivated, and overcome issues which prevent them from living up to their
potential.
The study of psychology has five basic goals:
, 1. Describe – The first goal is to observe behavior and describe, often in minute
detail, what was observed as objectively as possible
2. Explain – While descriptions come from observable data, psychologists must go
beyond what is obvious and explain their observations. In other words, why did the
subject do what he or she did?
3. Predict – Once we know what happens, and why it happens, we can begin to speculate
what will happen in the future. There‟s an old saying, which very often holds true: "the best
predictor of future behavior is past behavior."
4. Control – Once we know what happens, why it happens and what is likely to happen in the
future, we can exert control over it. In other words, if we know you choose abusive partners
because your father was abusive, we can assume you will choose another abusive partner,
and can therefore intervene to change this negative behavior.
5. Improve – Not only do psychologists attempt to control behavior, they want to do so in a
positive manner, they want to improve a person‟s life, not make it worse. This is not always the
case, but it should always be the intention.
As a science of behaviour psychology has many branches and approaches. The following are
some of the branches of psychology.
Industrial Psychology
Experimental Psychology
Developmental psychology
Counseling psychology
Social psychology
Educational psychology
Looking at these branches of psychology we can deduce that Educational psychology is one of
the branches of psychology. It is one of the newer branches of psychology which is slightly over
a century old today, (Woolfolk, 1998).
