INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

 PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Behaviour: The way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus.

‒        Overt Behaviour: Observable, quantifiable, measurable  eg crying, smiling, laughing etc

‒        Covert: Not directly observable (mental processes)

Scientific: evidence based/conclusions based on data which are obtained from systematic procedures (research)

Mental processes: What happens in the mind but affects what an animal does (eg thinking, cognition, perception, feeling, memory etc)

‒        Beliefs, attitudes and behaviours

GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY

‒        Describe a Behaviour: The nature of behaviour (heredity or environment; focus on what is seen or unseen; conscious or unconscious; differences or similarities)

‒        Understand and Explain a Behaviour: Why does the behaviour occur…the motivation behind the behaviour eg why do people laugh, cry, become happy or sad?

‒        Predict a Behaviour: When and under what situation will it occur (motivation to cooperate…when does the interest arise etc)

‒        Control the behaviour: Factors that influence a behaviour (how do you change the behaviour?)

BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY

Branches are caused by differences of:

‒        Methods

‒        Aspects of behavior to be studied

‒        Objectives of the field

‒        Interest, training and background of psychologist.

Some of the important branches of psychology for our course are:

•      Developmental psychology

•      Personality psychology

•      Social psychology

•      Industrial /organizational psychology

•      Clinical and counseling psychology

•      Forensic psychology

•      Educational psychology

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Studies how human being grows and changes through the life span. Domains of development; physical and motor, intellectual, personal, emotional, moral and social. Sequences and rate of maturation, size and ability in relation to age.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Studies how the behavior of a person or a group influences the behavior of another person or group, how people learn attitude and emotions, skills, actions, new perceptions, new ways of speaking and of living with others.  These behaviors are learnt through interaction, communication and interpersonal relationships.

ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Behavior of workers at working places; industries, companies, institutions or at any working situation. Various aspects of behavior in relation to work interest, efficiency, satisfaction, diligence and commitment leading to maximum production and profit. Causes of low production as related to human behavior.

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Deals with behavior problems, emotional disorders and behavior that indicate that the person is abnormal. Specialists in this area are medical doctors but they use psychotherapy/counseling in treating abnormal behavior.

Psychotherapy: a procedure of treating abnormal behavior using interview techniques.

COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY

It deals with helping people to make decision about life; work, education or marriage. This is applied in institutions, schools or in society.

Clinical and counseling psychologies are interrelated. They tackled almost the same problems and use the same methods but differ in degree of severity.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Considers the study of higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging, and decision making.

The relationship between mental processes and behaviour

PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

Attempts to explain both consistency and change in a person’s behavior over time. Seeks to find out how similar/different our behaviors are. Identifies traits that differentiate the behavior of one person from another when they confront the same situation.

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

Looks at how behavior changes with time. Uses principles of natural selection to explain the change of behavior. Assumes that behavioral traits are adaptations for survival in the everyday environment of our ancestors.

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY 

Studies behaviour in relation to criminal investigation and the law (eg how criminals behave)

Involves the ability to testify in court, to present psychological findings in legal language to the courtroom, and to provide data to legal professionals in a clear way. 

OCCUPATIONAL/WORK PSYCHOLOGY 

Relates behavior (interests/abilities) with world of work. Studies the performance of people at work and in training. Develops an understanding of how organizations function and how people and groups behave at work. The occupational psychologist aims to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction at work. 

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

Applies knowledge of general psychology in teaching and learning (how students learn easily).Every branch of psychology contributes something in Educational psychology. Understanding the scope of other branches of psychology is important for the teacher.

PSYCHOLOGY AS SCIENCE.

Psychology applies scientific procedures and to understand human behaviour. Human behavior is used as data for testing hypothesis (confirm/disprove expectations)

Science can be defined as objective conclusion/knowledge based on evidence.Therefore, psychology is a science (makes conclusion based on data)

Why scientific procedures in studying the behaviour?

Observations we make about behaviours, attitudes and beliefs may look true but yet be inaccurate or misleading (stereotypes caused by cognition and perception)

Conclusions should be based on evidence. Conclusions = psychological facts which become theories with increasing evidence

THEORY IS:

•       “Generalized knowledge which describes the behaviour and predicts the future occurrence of the behaviour” (Ettinger & Olivares, 2010)

•       “A statement/ a collection of statements whose main function is to summarize, simplify, organize and explain observations to permit predictions about events relating to this set of observations” (Lefrancois, 2005).

A Good Theory is:

‒        Reflects observations accurately

‒        Explained clearly, understandably, consistently and is non contradictory

‒        Explains and predicts a behaviour

‒        Practical and applicable

‒        Not based on assumptions/unproven beliefs

RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY.

Research process – summary              

Statement of the problem               

Design of research study

                

Measurement of variables

Analysis of data

Conclusions from research

Statement of the problem

Theory

- Inductive method

- Deductive method

Hypothesis

Design of research study

‒        Plan of Study

Measurement of variables

Analysis of data

Conclusions from research

PLAN OF STUDY: RESEARCH SETTING

Laboratory

- "artificiality"

-           contrived and artificial

-           controlled

-          Field

-          "naturalness"

-           typically employs a real–life setting

EXPERIMENTATION.

Investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether changes occur in a second variable. Used to detect cause-and-effect relationships

Dependent variable is the change which results from the manipulation of the other variable (eg performance of the student)

Independent Variable   à       Dependent Variable

    (Manipulated)                                 (Changes)

Independent variable = is manipulated to cause change that is observed in another variable (dependent variable). Example: reward/external motivation provided to a student

How do you know that what causes the change?

Control group = not manipulated (not changed)

 Experimental group = is manipulated (subjected to change)

LOGIC:

If the 2 groups are identical except for the variation created by the manipulation of IV, then any differences between groups must be due to manipulation of the IV

 Conditions that make a true experiment

•          Manipulation of independent variables

•          Random assignment into experimental conditions (experimental conditions & control) 

+    permit cause-and-effect conclusions

  -   lab experiments tend to be artificial

  -   cannot be used to explore some research questions

FIELD EXPERIMENTS: QUASI-EXPERIMENTS

•      Participants must be and are selected for different conditions from pre–existing groups

•      Levels of the IV are/may be selected from pre–existing values and not created through manipulation by the researcher

•      Unlike true experimental designs where participants are randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, with quasi–experimental designs they are NOT

•      Quasi–experiments DO NOT permit the researcher to control the assignment of participants to conditions or groups

NON EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS.

•         When we can not manipulate/control the variable to test for causality (ethical consideration)

•         We observe the occurrence of phenomenon without manipulation  (we don’t seek causality)

CORRELATIONAL DESIGNS.

•      Permit investigators to see whether there is a link or association between the variables of interest

•      Does not permit cause-and-effect conclusions

•      A correlation exists when two variables are related to one another.

•      Two aspects of a correlation coefficient:

            Direction: Positive or negative

            Strength: Range of coefficients is from -                  1.00 to +1.00

SURVEY DESIGN.

Measurement and assessment of opinions, attitudes, and other descriptive phenomenon usually by means of questionnaires and sampling methods

•      Advantage: Information obtained from many people within a short time.

•      Challenge: Dependence on questionnaires and interview (subjectivity)

•      Cross sectional survey study

 Intends to measure a specific characteristic of different subjects at the same time.

It does take into account that individuals are unique and have different ways of growth and development.

LONGITUDINAL SURVEY STUDY

•        The same subjects are surveyed/followed over a period of time to look at stability or instability of the certain characteristics over time.

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION.

•      The researcher carefully recognizes and notes behaviours as they occur in their natural settings.

•      The observer may be participatory (part of the social setting)

Strength: studies the behaviour in the real situation without relying on the subjects reports (survey design) or artificial behaviour in the controlled environment (experimental design).

Challenge:

•      The observed behaviour cannot be repeated at the same condition and context.

•      The observer effect (subject changing behaviour as a result of being observed) could threaten the validity of the observed behaviour.

CASE STUDY DESIGN.

•      Focuses and studies the unique individual or community which is regarded as an independent unit or entity

Assumption: some behaviours are not generalizable and therefore requiring intensive unique examination.

The selected individual or group is studied in details to provide comprehensive account of the behaviour.

Data Collection: in depth interviews, observations, clinical examination etc.

Advantage: provides rich information regarding a specified behaviour of the person or group. Findings can be used to establish common trends in the population of the subjects faced with the same problem or experience.

Challenge: No control of variables and therefore may be threatened by subjectivity (biases of the researcher in the interpretation of the results)

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

•      Protect the welfare of the subjects (participants).

•      Informed participation (eg potential dangers etc)

•      Where deception is important, the subject has to be informed as soon as the data are found.

•      The subjects have the right to decline their participation before, during and after the study is undertaken.    

•       Subject has the right to stay anonymous (confidentiality)