Educational Psychology

Educational Psychology

One of the issues faced by the society today is the way the children are being taught . Many of the same arguments that are made regarding what is taught can also be made regarding how it is taught . Theories of educational psychology are attempts to describe how people behave in satisfying their physical and psychological needs . The various aspects of these have a base in child development and encompass physical growth emotional and psychological changes , and social adjustments . This essay will discuss some of the different theories psychologists have given

to learning and education and illustrate what I believe to be the most useful approaches to teaching theory . There are four main theoretical approaches to educational psychology , Behaviorist , Humanist , Social Cognitive Theory , and Cognitive , each have their own viable systems for creating learning environments . However discrepancies lay between the different theories about the means and methods of what should be incorporated into learning practices including the modes by which the `best ' learning should occur

The basis for evaluating educational psychology needs to be related to a theory of child and adolescent development and should reflect an attempt to relate behavioral to chronological age that is the diverse behavioral characteristics should be related to specific stages of growth . The rules governing the transitions between these growth states also must be identified . The Behaviorists have emphasized environment they almost development . Their basic assumptions are that the mind of a newborn child is a blank slate all behaviors are determined by environmental events and differences among children are the result of those environmental variables . Their basis for enthusiasm and motivation is on a reinforced reaction . Behaviorists encourage experimental studies and were responsible for moving child psychology into the mainstream of educational psychology

`Although they contributed much to the study of children , their concepts eventually are viewed as being overly narrow (The Volume Library 1990 Volume 2 . The dominant developmental theories are Freud 's theory of personality development (later being adapted by Carl Rogers , and Piaget 's theory of perception and cognition (later to be refined by Vygotsky .Both explain human development in terms of interactions of biological determinants and environmental events (The Volume Library 1990 : Volume 1 . Freud 's theory is based on the concept that a healthy personality and enthusiasm requires the satisfaction of instinctual needs . In Freudian theory enthusiasm is related to personality which is composed of the id , ego , and the superego . The id is the source of instinctual drives . The role of the ego is to cope with the demands of the id while remaining within the rules of society , which in turn are represented by the superego . The physical focus of instinctual needs changes with age and the periods of different focus are called stages Children progress through four stages , ending with adult sexuality `Freud clearly integrated biological and environmental variables in his theories (The Volume Library 1990 : Volume 2

Another significant person in the history of development of educational psychology is Ivan Pavlov , who was...