Educational Psychology PDF

# PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY - MEANING, SCOPE, AND IMPORTANCE **Father of Psychology** is Sigmund Freud. Psychology has its origin from two Greek words **psyche** (soul) and **logos** means science (a rational course or a study). Thus, literally, it means **study or science of soul**....

# PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY - MEANING, SCOPE, AND IMPORTANCE **Father of Psychology** is Sigmund Freud. Psychology has its origin from two Greek words **psyche** (soul) and **logos** means science (a rational course or a study). Thus, literally, it means **study or science of soul**. or Science of behavior and adjustment. ### Definitions of Psychology: - Psychology is the scientific study of the behavior of an individual - Daniel - Psychology is the science of mental activity of an organism - Guilford - Psychology is the science of human behavior. Psychology is the science that studies the responses which living individuals make to their environment - Murthy - Psychology is the science of behavior and adjustment. ### Definitions of Educational Psychology: - Educational Psychology is the branch of psychology that describes and explains the learning experiences of an individual and the progress in his educational development from birth to old age - Crow and Crow - Educational psychology is the study of the psychological aspects of educational situations - Trow - Educational psychology is that branch of psychology, which deals with teaching and learning. It takes its meaning from education, social process and from psychology, a behavioral science (Skinner). - Educational Psychology is the discipline concerned with teaching and learning processes; applies the methods and theories of psychology and has its own as well (Woolfolk, 1995). **DEF - Educational Psychology** is the systematic study of the development of the individual within educational setting. **Definition of Psychological trait:** It is a mode of behavior or a collection of certain related modes of behavior e.g. intelligence **Aim of Educational psychology:** The goal of educational psychology is to understand, predict, and control human behavior. Therefore, educational psychology has the following aim: 1. To furnish students with the knowledge and understanding. This will help them to improve the quality of instruction. 2. To enhance and enrich the lives of the learner. 3. To study group behavior, environmental adjustments improvement of the environment. ### Scope of Educational Psychology in Agricultural Extension The application of psychology has a very wider area in the study of human behavior as follows: 1. To identify the nature and characteristics of the learner. 2. The nature of the learning process. 3. The principles of teaching and learning process. 4. The human growth and development. 5. The techniques employed in teaching. 6. Identification of personality traits. 7. Development and adjustment of psychological traits. 8. Scientific measurement and evaluation of psychological traits. 9. To value the scientific attitude towards education. 10. The educational significance of individual differences in rate and limit of learning. 11. The inner change that occurs during learning. 12. The relation of teaching procedures to learning outcomes. 13. The most effective techniques for evaluating progress in learning. 14. The relative effect upon an individual of formal learning as compared with incidental or informal learning experiences. 15. The psychological impact upon learner's attitude of sociological conditions. Agricultural extension is education and its main purpose is to change the behavior of farmers. Therefore, knowledge of educational psychology is useful to the extension agent for understanding the factors affecting the teaching and learning process. ### Importance of Educational Psychology in Agricultural Extension The importance of educational psychology in agricultural extension is immense as both disciplines deal with human behaviour in educational environment. Following are some of the reasons which explain the importance of educational psychology in agricultural extension. 1. It helps the teacher to understand the developmental characteristics of children. 2. To understand the nature of classroom learning. 3. Help to understand individual differences. 4. Help to understand effective teaching methods. 5. Problem of children. 6. Provide knowledge of mental health. 7. Help in curriculum construction. 8. Help to measure learning outcome. ### Role of Educational Psychology in Agricultural Extension 1. Educational psychology helps the extension agent to know the learner, his interest, attitudes, aptitude, level of aspiration, intelligence, interests, individual behaviour in group, etc. which plays a major role in one's learning. 2. Its main concern is on teaching and learning. This helps in formulating training programmes for improving the knowledge and skill of extension agent and farmers. It also helps in selection of teaching methods and aids for organising effective learning situations and suggests technique of learning as well as teaching. 3. It helps in imparting better education by organising the subject matter of learning experience, preparation of different text books, development of assessment patterns, etc for heterogeneous learners. 4. Educational psychology helps in acquainting learner with the mechanism of heredity and environment. 5. It also deals with the problem-solving which is very important for extension agent to develop problem-solving skills amongst farmers. 6. It helps extension agent to find causes of prejudices, the habit of sticking to old practices of farming and ways of doing things, the doubts and lack of confidence and factors affecting motivation. 7. It also helps them to know the emotions and feelings of farmers, how farmers learn new practices.