Psychological Foundation of Education

Submitted by: Attaullah Khan

Submitted to: Dr. Muhabbat Khan

Submission date: 13th September 2021

Subject: Foundations of Education

Program: B.Ed 1.5 ( 3rd semester)

University of Loralai

Psychology
The word Psychology is the combination of Two words "Psyche" and "Logus" . The word
"Psyche" means soul or mind, and "Logus" means knowledge or to know. So Psychology means
" The knowledge/study of soul/mind".

According to Silverman, Psychology is the science of mind and behavior.

Psychology has Four evolutionary stages;

1st Stage: In this stage, Psychology was defined as "The Study Of Soul".

2nd Stage: In second stage, Psychology was modified and was named as "The Study Of Mind".

3rd Stage: In this stage, Psychology was further modified and was named as "The Study Of
Conscious".

4th Stage: In the last stage, Psychology was defined as "The Study Of Total Behavior".

In this stage, the Psychologists agreed that Psychology should cover the process of mind,
behavior, conscious, subconscious and unconscious minds of a human.

Education
The word Education has been derived from a Latin word "Educare", which means " To Bring
up". Education is a systematic process of giving and receiving of information or knowledge at a
school, college or university.

Education in the broader sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind,
character or physical ability of an individual.

According to Imam Ghazali;

Education is the ability of an individual to differentiate between good and bad or right and
wrong.

Relationship between Psychology and Education:

As Education is defined as the change in the behavior of an individual, and behavior belongs to
the Psyche of human, that is why we can say that education and psychology both are
inseparable from one another as Two sides of a coin. Without understanding Psychology of a
child, teacher can not teach or educate him in the true sense of the word.

Psychology is the most important of the foundations of education. It plays pivotal role in the
process of teaching and learning. The psychology used specifically in education is called
Educational Psychology. Both Psychology and Education are interrelated. Education is the
shaping of behavior, whereas Psychology is the study of how, when and why to shape this
behavior.

Psychological Foundation of Education

The learning process of students depends upon individual differences found in humans,
structure of human mind (Id, Ego and Superego).

Id, Ego and Superego are the elements of personality structure defined by Sigmund Freud (an
Austrian neurologist who became known as the father of psychoanalysis) in his Psychoanalytical
Theory of Personality. Freud stated that personality is composed of three elements known as
the id, the ego, and the superego.

Id: Id is the insatiable instincts which people are born with. For instance, a hungry boy coming
in a street saw a man having bread in his hand. Now his Id provokes him to snatch the bread
from the man.

Superego: The superego is our morals, principles and ethics which guide us on what is right and
wrong. The superego begins to develop between 3 and 5 years of age. For instance, using the
example from above, when hungry boy saw the man having bread in his hand, his superego
tells him that the bread belongs to man and that is not acceptable to trespass on someone's
property and take his bread.

Ego: Ego operates on the reality principles, and balances the demands of Id and Superego. For
instance, from the same example given above, boy's ego would tell him that he should have
control over his hunger and should not snatch the bread from man, but instead he can buy
some bread right up the street at the local bakery.

Individual Differences
Individual Differences has been explained in Differential Psychology which is a branch of
Psychology and deals with individual and group differences in behaviour. Individual differences
stand for those differences which in their totality, distinguish one individual from others.

According to Robert Sessions Woodworth ( an American psychologist):

"Individual differences are found in all psychological characteristics, physical and mental
abilities, knowledge, habit, personality and character traits".

Individual differences have two major types, for example, Inherited and Acquired.

Inherited: One of the most significant and chief causes of individual differences is heredity. A
characteristic passed down from parents to offspring is called inherited. For example, physical,
mental and temperamental.

Acquired: A characteristic or behavior that is learnt from society and is not passed down from
parents is called acquired. For example, social, cultural, educational and emotional.

Sub Types of Individual Differences

1) Physical Differences: Individuals are physically different from each other, i.e., short, tall, dark,
fair, fat and thin.

2) Mental Differences: Every individual has different mental abilities from others, i.e., super,
normal and idiot.

3) Differences in Attitudes: Individuals have different attitudes towards people, institutes,

authorities and objects.
4) Differences in Motor ability: People have difference in motor ability, for example a person
that can perform a task easily, while others, even they are at the same levels, will feel much
difficulty in performing that particular task.

5) Differences in Interests: Differences in Interests are based on the factors, like sex, family
backgrounds, differences in race and nationality.

6) Emotional Differences: Individuals are different emotionally from each other, some of them
are aggressive and they get angry very soon. And others are of peaceful nature, and do not get
angry easily.

7) Differences in Personality: Differences in Personality has been defined by a Swiss psychiatrist

Carl Gustav Jung, and the personality types are Introverts, Extroverts and Ambiverts.

Causes of Individual Differences

There are some causes that differs individuals from each other.

1) Economical situation.

2) Heredity.

3) Environment.

4) Influence of cast, race and nation.

5) Sex difference.

6) Age and intelligence.

7) Education.

8) Parental environment.