Can a teacher teach effectively without knowing how students learn? In this lesson, we examine why education needs the findings of psychology, the thinkers who contributed to the development of education as a science, how educational psychology emerged once psychology became an independent science, and how this field is defined from different perspectives.
What will you learn in this episode?
- Explain the relationship between education and psychology and the reason for it
- Identify the main thinkers who contributed to the development of education as a science and their views
- Explain the role of psychology's separation from philosophy in the emergence of educational psychology
- List the scientists who pioneered the development of educational psychology and their contributions
- Explain the concepts of the law of exercise and the law of effect
- Compare definitions of educational psychology from different perspectives
Summary of this episode
Why does education need psychology?
Education is the process of intentionally bringing about desired changes in an individual's behavior through the individual's own experience. Psychology, in turn, is the science that studies human behavior. Since education aims to develop desired behaviors in individuals, it must identify the most effective instructional strategies and methods to achieve this aim. The causes of behavior and how it forms lie in the findings of psychology. Questions such as “How does learning happen? Under what conditions do individuals learn more effectively? What factors make learning easier or harder?” are the questions that the branch of psychology known as the psychology of learning seeks to answer. The answers to these questions form the psychological foundations of education.
Desired behavior means positive behavior, endorsed by society, that education aims to develop in the individual. Because the changes brought about by education must be consistent with society's values, education must develop as a discipline that seeks the laws, principles and techniques for changing behavior in a planned way. Whether education fulfills its functions effectively also depends on scientific research in this field.
The development of education as a science
The history of education is as old as human history, but its development as a science is recent. In ancient Greece, Socrates argued that people can reach knowledge on their own through questioning. Plato and Aristotle held that the mind, emotions and body should be developed together and in harmony. These views are consistent with today's understanding of education. Even before psychology separated from philosophy, thinkers began to link education and psychology and emphasized that education should develop the individual as a whole, in affective, social, physical and mental terms.
Turkish thinkers also made important contributions to this development. Al-Farabi drew attention to the relationship between education and personality development by emphasizing that education should develop moral behavior beyond the transmission of verbal knowledge. Avicenna (Ibn Sina) advocated that education be given to every child regardless of class or status, that it prepare children for a profession, that children be educated together with their peers, that teachers teach by recognizing children's abilities and interests, that experiments, observation, research and teaching materials be used in instruction, and that education not be based on coercion.
Scientific developments in Europe after the Renaissance also influenced education. In the 16th century, Erasmus opposed punishment in education, and in the 17th century, Ratke stood out for his views on modern teaching methods. Also in the 17th century, the Czech educator Comenius stressed the importance of observation and experience in education and of individual differences in instruction, and stated that curricula should be organized according to children's developmental characteristics. In the same century, Locke likened the child's mind to a blank slate, opposed rote learning and advocated giving children knowledge useful in their lives through a variety of experiences.
With the Enlightenment in the 18th century, Rousseau advocated organizing education according to children's developmental stages and individual characteristics, while Pestalozzi championed learning by doing and experiencing. Herbart focused on effective methods of instruction and put forward the first ideas leading to the emergence of educational psychology, the field where education and psychology intersect.
How did education and psychology come together?
When psychology separated from philosophy and became an independent behavioral science, closer cooperation between education and psychology began. Education, as a process of behavioral change, started to draw on behavioral sciences such as psychology, sociology and social psychology, and among them psychology became the science that most influenced education. Psychology's interest in the development of human behavior and in human learning brought the two fields together, and a new discipline called educational psychology was born from this interaction. Initially regarded as an applied field of psychology, educational psychology, while maintaining its close ties with developmental psychology and the psychology of learning, is increasingly moving toward becoming a separate science with its own problem areas, research methods, theories and principles.
Pioneers of educational psychology
Many scientists contributed to the development of educational psychology, which has a history of more than a century. The German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt pioneered the development of psychology as a science by launching the first experimental studies in psychology in his own laboratory. William James argued that educational research should be conducted in natural settings and became known for work applying the findings of psychology to education. The first testing center established by Galton in 1882 and Stanley Hall's view that students' mental, emotional, physical and social aspects should be studied together are among the first efforts to examine educational problems more objectively by measuring individual differences.
Edward L. Thorndike, regarded as the founder of educational psychology, argued that the findings of his laboratory research on animals also applied to humans. Thorndike is known particularly for two principles. The law of exercise states that a behavior that is repeated becomes stronger. The law of effect states that if an organism is satisfied with a behavior it has performed, the likelihood of repeating that behavior in the future increases. Thorndike also paved the way for later learning theorists through his work on topics such as intelligence, motivation and interest, and on measuring learning outcomes.
How is educational psychology defined?
Because education, whether formal or informal, concerns human behavior, it is closely related to psychology, a behavioral science. Educational psychology, still developing, is defined in different ways. For some psychologists, educational psychology is one of the subfields of psychology. For others, it is not a separate discipline but simply the application of psychological findings to teaching-learning activities in the classroom. Some see it as the sum of developmental psychology and the psychology of learning; indeed, most books written under this title approach the subject in this way. Others argue that educational psychology is a separate discipline with its own theories, problem areas, research methods and techniques.
From this last perspective, educational psychology is an applied discipline that studies people's developmental characteristics and the principles of learning in order to organize educational settings effectively and to make learning through teaching productive. Recent developments in the field also show that educational psychology is moving toward becoming an independent discipline with its own theories, principles, methods and problem areas. Nevertheless, there is not yet full agreement on the boundaries of the field, and educational psychology continues to draw extensively on developmental psychology and the psychology of learning.
In short
Because education aims to bring about desired behavioral change, it needs psychology, the science that studies behavior. Thinkers from Socrates to Herbart laid the scientific foundations of education, and educational psychology emerged when psychology became an independent science. Having developed since Thorndike, regarded as its founder, the field is today defined as an applied discipline that aims to make teaching and learning productive.
Key concepts
- Psychology: The science that studies human behavior.
- Desired behavior: Positive behavior, endorsed by society, that education aims to develop in the individual.
- Teaching-learning process: The process of acquiring cognitive, affective and psychomotor characteristics and organizing activities that facilitate learning.
- Educational psychology: An applied discipline that studies developmental characteristics and principles of learning to make learning through teaching productive.
- Law of exercise: The principle that a behavior that is repeated becomes stronger.
- Law of effect: The principle that an organism is more likely to repeat a behavior it found satisfying.
- Herbart: The thinker who put forward the first ideas leading to the emergence of educational psychology.
- Thorndike: The scientist regarded as the founder of educational psychology.
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Sources used:
Can, G. (2008). Eğitimin psikolojik temelleri [Psychological foundations of education]. In M. Gültekin (Ed.), Eğitim Bilimine Giriş [Introduction to Educational Science] (Unit 3). Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları.
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