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Explain The Nature and Meaning of Educational Psychology
Meaning of Educational Psychology
The area of psychology known as educational psychology is the application of psychological research to the study of education. It is the scientific investigation of human behaviour in a learning environment.
According to Charles. E. Skinner, “Educational psychology deals with the behaviour of human beings in educational situations”
In the words of E.A. Peel, “Educational Psychology is the science of Education”.
Educational psychology is primarily concerned with understanding the processes of teaching and learning that occur in formal settings and devising approaches for enhancing such processes. It includes themes such as learning theories, teaching methods, motivation, cognitive, emotional, and moral development, and parent-child interactions, among others.
Nature of Educational Psychology
Its nature is scientific because it is recognised as a Science of Education. The nature of Educational Psychology can be summarised as follows:
- Educational Psychology is a science: (Science is a field of study concerned with the observation of facts and the formulation of verifiable general laws.) For the collection of data, science employs objective methods. Its aims are to understand, explain, forecast, and regulate facts.) Educational psychology, like any other field, has established objective data gathering methodologies. It also seeks to comprehend, anticipate, and govern human behaviour.
- Educational Psychology is a natural science: An educational psychologist conducts his research, collects data, and draws conclusions in the same way that a physicist or a biologist would.
- Educational psychology is a social science: The educational psychologist, like the sociologist, anthropologist, economist, or political scientist, analyses people and their sociability.
- Educational psychology is a positive science: Normative science like Logic or Ethics deals with facts as they ought to be. A positive science deals with facts as they are or as they operate. Educational psychology studies the child’s behaviour as it is, not, as it ought to be. So it is a positive science.
- Educational psychology is a developing or growing science: It is concerned with new and ever new researches. As research findings accumulate, educational psychologists get better insight into the child’s nature and behaviour.
