Unit No. 01 Nature of Educational Psychology Course code 0840 Educational psychology from ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD. prepared by Ms. SAMAN BIBI & Mariam Rafique

1. COURSE CODE:840
Educational Psychology
UNIT-1
The Nature of Educational
Psychology

2. Meaning and Nature of
Psychology
Literal meaning:
Derived from two Greek words:
 psyche (soul)
 logos (study)
 Literary means: Study of a soul
Etymological meaning:
 science of the soul.
 science of mind:
 Relationship between brain, mind and
behaviour

3. Meaning and Nature of Psychology
 Psychology as a science of soul:
 oldest definition of Psychology
 doesn’t deserve the respect due to its
age
 unsatisfactory term
 Psychology as a science of mind:
 the study of mental process
 Psychology as a science of
consciousness:
 Scientific study of cognition and emotion
 Besides our consciousness there are

4. Cont,,,,
 Psychology as a science of behavior:
 Exponent: Dr. Watson
 Means response, reactions or adjustments of
an organism to various of stimuli.
 Modern & accepted definition
 Study the modification & change of behavior
 Studies the social aspects, social dynamics
while incorporating psychological and
neurological processes into its conceptions of
mental functioning

5. Meaning and nature of educational
psychology
 Applied science
 Application of psychological principles in Edu
 Tries to study behavior and experiences of the
pupils
 Embraces all aspects of human experiences
from the functions of brain to the actions of
nations
 From child development to care for the aged

6. Importance of Educational
Psychology to class room teacher
 To understand the problems of children
 To understand the learning process
 To understand the characteristics in different developmental stages
 To select methods of teaching
 To maintain discipline
 To enable teachers for curriculum development
 To render guidance service. (for exceptional children, vocational &
educational etc)
 To know the teacher himself
 To understand the Individual Differences
 Help in the measurement of Learning outcome
 To teach & practice Democratic principles in a class
 Helps in setting school time-table
 Helps in conducting co-curricular activities for overall development of
students.
 Helps the teacher in his/her own mental development.
 To conduct the research

7. Utility of The Study of Educational
Psychology
 To know how people learn and retain knowledge
 To improve learning process
 Promote educational success
 Better understanding regarding students’
abilities and calibers
 Keeping eye on growth vs needs
 Helps educators create instructional methods
and materials best aimed for certain aged
groups

8. Methods of Educational Psychology
 Experimental Method:
 The experimental method is one of the most important
and objective methods of psychology.
 Through this method attempts are made to establish
cause and effect relationships through carefully planned
and controlled observation of the subject's behavior.
 It is the experimental method which has made
psychology a science and put it on scientific
 Experimental method is :
o most reliable,
o most valid,
o most systematic,
o most precise and
o most objective method of psychology.

9. Methods of Educational Psychology
 Co-relational Method:
 Co-relational studies are often used in
educational psychology.
 Researchers use correlations to see if a
relationship between two or more variables
exists, but the variables themselves are not
under the control of the researchers.

10. Methods of Educational Psychology
 Scientific Method
 Scientific Problem is a systematic approach for
solving problems. It is a fair & unbiased method
of acquiring knowledge.
 Has six basic steps.
i. To Identify a problem
ii. Forming a Hypothesis
iv)Conducting the Experiment / Testing the
Hypothesis
v) Analyzing the Results
vi) Drawing Conclusions

11. Psychoanalytical Method