Course

Overview

i. i
 COURSE OVERVIEW

You can have all the technical expertise in the world, but
if you can’t sell your ideas, get along well with others, or
turn your work in on time, you’ll be going nowhere fast.
- Peggy Klaus

Regardless of what the future holds, pursuing continu-

ous learning is not optional, it is mandatory.
- Harry E. Chambers

Purpose Of This Course

The primary purpose of Make Yourself Employable is to assist the learner to enhance his or her
soft skills which are crucial for maintaining employability in the dynamic and highly competi-
tive workplace of the twenty-first century. The new career management paradigm is remaining
employable and not so much about getting employed. This course is specially targeted at
undergraduates and meant to be used as a text for a Personal Development Course aimed at
producing well-rounded graduates who possess both discipline-specific knowledge and soft
skills sought by Malaysian employers.

Soft skills are currently regarded worldwide as being crucial for successful workplace
performance and as being complementary to hard skills (technical skills). Today, even positions in
task-oriented fields such as accounting and information systems require soft skills as well as tech-
nical skills. In short, technical skills often have little value if one has poor soft skills. Indeed, a
recent questionnaire survey conducted jointly by the author and

A. Wahab Bakar involving 326 human resource managers and hiring managers in the
Malaysian private sector revealed that the single most important criterion in hiring fresh
university graduates is competence in soft skills which is valued more highly than academic
background. However, Malaysian employers find the level of soft skills possessed by graduates
entering the workforce less than satisfactory.

Approach and Nature of This Course

This course utilizes two primary approaches in enhancing the soft skills of readers. First, basic
concepts pertaining to each chapter are introduced to enhance theoretical understanding. Second,
relevant skill-building suggestions, proven techniques, and various exercises (personal and group) are
presented with practical applications to the twenty-first century workplace.

The text is highly readable and is presented in a straightforward and systematic manner. It is primarily
a practical “how-to” course based upon local groundbreaking research, extensive and up-to-date
literature review, and personal advice from senior human resource professionals of well-established
companies.

ii
COURSE OVERVIEW

Course Format
The course has thirteen stand-alone chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of graduate
employability and soft skills. Chapters 2-5 focus on personal competence – self-esteem,
achievement orientation, resilience, successful self-management and personal presentation.
Chapters 6-8 focus on interpersonal competence – effective human relations, communication,
leadership and teamwork. Chapter 9 deals with critical thinking and creativity whilst
Chapter 10 discusses decision making and problem solving. Chapters 11-12 focus on
job-hunting skills – writing winning résumés, crafting impressive cover letters, and
excelling at job interviews. Chapter 13, the final chapter, provides research-proven
and practical strategies for thriving in your job and career.

Special Pedagogical Features

The course utilizes various pedagogical features to optimize student learning and to promote
critical thinking:

• Opening quotes serve to attract the learner’s attention and to provide a thought-provoking
preview of chapter material.
• Learning Outcomes at the beginning of each chapter help to focus the learner’s attention
on key concepts.
• Expert Advice provides practical guidelines by leading experts for the learner to apply
chapter material towards self-improvement and adapting successfully to the world of work.
• Self-Assessment exercises promote self-awareness (helps the learner to assess his or her
strengths and weaknesses) and experiential learning which are crucial for personal
development.
• Personal Action Plan assists the learner to identify various action steps necessary for
navigating and succeeding in the workplace.
• Group Activity promotes cooperative learning and team working besides applying concepts
and strategies presented in each chapter to the workplace.
• Thinking Critically promotes higher-order thinking skills and application of chapter
material to the learner’s life and the world of work.
• Summary help to refresh the learner’s memory of important material.
• Key Terms and Concepts help to remind the learner about main terms and concepts that
should be clearly understood.
• Review and Discussion Questions test the learner’s mastery of key concepts covered in
the chapter.
• Glossary serves as a handy reference for the meaning of key terms and concepts used in
the course

How to Optimize This Course

To get the maximum benefit out of this course, treat it as a handbook or manual. Before reading
each chapter, review the learning outcomes to know exactly what you should focus on learning.
Read each chapter at least twice to understand it clearly. Consider how you can integrate the
information acquired to improve your soft skills and attain success at work. Most importantly,

iii
 COURSE OVERVIEW

prepare an action plan to execute the necessary measures towards remaining employable and
carving out a successful and meaningful career.
Please refer to the Glossary at the end of the course which serves as a handy reference for the
meaning of key terms and concepts used in the course. The course also has Endnotes at the end
of each chapter which provide the sources for quotations and information cited from various
authors.

Companion Website
The online companion website (www.softskills.com.my) comprises the following: test-prep quizzes
for each chapter, case studies, latest research findings pertaining to soft skills, and online resource
links to additional websites.

Instructor’s Manual
The Instructor’s Manual is available online (www.softskills.com.my) under instructor resources.
It contains, inter alia, chapter test questions with answers, case studies with comments, chapter
PowerPoint slides, and suggested answers to critical thinking and discussion questions.

Concluding Remarks
A degree is no guarantee of a job in the twenty-first century workplace. Employers are looking
for various soft skills in graduates, besides technical competence and work experience. The
twenty-first century workplace does not require individuals who are “walking encyclopaedias” but
rather self-reliant and resilient individuals who are achievement-oriented with high self-esteem;
persuasive and effective communicators; emotionally intelligent; good problem solvers and
decision makers with analytical and creative minds; fast and lifelong learners; good team players;
and ethical with a high standard of integrity (morally intelligent).

We hope this course will assist you in enhancing your soft skills which will empower you
to maintain your employability over the long haul in the twenty-first century workplace. Remem-
ber that you are the principal architect of your career and no source will be of any help unless
you are willing to change for the better and are prepared to take the necessary action to create the
desired results. Equally important, you must strive towards becoming a fast and lifelong learner
(continually upgrading your knowledge and learning appropriate skills fast) which is crucial for
maintaining your competitive edge. We wish you great success in the workplace of the new
millennium.

iv
 CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

What Is
CHAPTER
1 Educational
Psychology?
LE ARNI NG OUTCOMES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to: i. 1

1. Define psychology;

2. Identify the 4 goals of psychology ;

3. Explain the history of psychology;

4. Describe educational psychology and other subfields in psychology; and

5. Relate the use of educational psychology in teacher decision-making.

1
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the wonderful world of

Psychology
Learning psychology, or educational psychol-
ogy to be exact, is not only full of fun and
surprises, but also valuable to you. This course
is important particularly in your journey to
understand yourself and your future students.

In this introductory chapter, we begin with

the definition of psychology and the goals of
psychology. Next, we explore the things
psychologists study and how they study them.
In addition, we summarize the history of
psychology. Finally, we look at the meaning
of learning and the issues of teachers’ decision
making in educational psychology.

1.1 What is Psychology?

Psychology is a broad field. It covers so many areas. Quite a number of its terms are
ambiguous and it is open to different interpretations.

The word psychology comes from Aristotle’s word

psyche, which means mind and the word logos,
which means the study of.

psyche + logos = psychology

mind + the study of = the study of mind

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher

2
CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Today, as a modern discipline, psychology is defined as:

“Psychology is the science of behavior and

mental processes.“

(Feldman, 2005; Lahey, 2004; Santrock,

2008).

The meaning of behaviour and mental processes according to Feldman, Lahey and Santrock
are describes in figure 1.1.

Includes all of a person’s overt actions and reactions,

Behavior which can be observed by others such as eating, talking,
smiling, and working.

i. 3
Refer to all the covert activities that other people
Mental cannot directly observe. Activities such as thinking,
processes dreaming, feeling, and remembering are examples of
mental processes.

Figure 1.1: Terms of behaviour and mental processes according to Feldman, Lahey and Santrock

As a scientific field, psychologists try to understand both humans’ and animals’

behaviour through careful and controlled observations. Psychologists use the scientific
method to study psychology because they want to avoid faulty observations and conclusions.

1.1.1 Goals of Psychology

There are 4 goals of psychology. The goals of the science of psychology are to describe,
understand, predict, and control behaviour and mental processes as illustrated in figure 1.2.

Describe Understand Predict Control behavior and

mental processes
DUPC

Figure 1.2: Main goals in psychology studies

3
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

The descriptions for the goals of the science of psychology are explained in figure 1.3.

To describe
The first step is to describe an observed behavior. To describe, a psychologist
would ask ‘what is happening?’, ‘when it happens?’ and ‘to whom it happens?’

To Understand
The second goal is to find out ‘why is it happening?’ In other words, the psychologist
is looking for an explanation for the observed behavior or mental processes.

To Predict
Once the cause of the observed behavior and mental processes is identified,
psychologists could predict what is likely to happen if the situation remains the
same. Prediction of the future behavior could be done based on previous
scientific research of similar situations.

Control behavior and mental processes

Psychologists go beyond describing, explaining and predicting changes in
behavior and mental processes. They try to control the behavior and mental
processes by manipulating factors that affect them. This goal is to change an
undesirable behavior to a desirable one.

Figure 1.3: Descriptions for 4 goals of the science of psychology

To illustrate all the 4 goals, consider the following example.

A group of psychologists observe a number of students in order

to describe how large their vocabulary typically is at a certain age.
Then, they would attempt to explain how students expand the vocabulary
and why some students have limited number of vocabulary. Psychologists
would predict that students with limited number of vocabulary will probably
continue to do poorly in academic. Finally, the psychologists would propose
certain language learning strategies that can be used to increase the size
of vocabulary of the students.

Why is psychology said to be a very broad science?

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CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

1.2 History of Psychology

Psychology’s root can be traced back to the ancient Greek

and Romans. However, the formal beginning of psychology
as a science is generally set at 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt (1832 –
1920) set up the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
It was the experimental laboratory devoted to psychological
phenomena. Wundt developed a perspective known as structural-
ism. Structuralism focused on the basic elements that constitute SW
Wilhelm Wundt the foundation of mental states and activities such as perception,
(1832 – 1920), consciousness,thinking, and emotion.
psychologist
Using a method called introspection, Wundt and his student,
Edward Titchener (1867 - 1927), examined the elements of consciousness. In introspec-
tion procedure, people were asked to describe what they were experiencing when presented
with a stimulus such as a fresh star fruit. They were asked to use their own words and
describe the star fruit as much detail as they could.

Another early approach to psychology, known as functionalism, concentrated on what

FWJ
the mind does and how behaviours function. This school of thought emerged from the work
of William James (1842 - 1910). The functionalists were interested in how mental
i. 5
processes adapt to help people survive in the natural world. John Dewey (1859 - 1952)
drew on functionalism to develop the field of school psychology.

Gestalt is a perspective focuses on the belief that human consciousness cannot be broken
down into its elements. This approach to psychology was founded on the concept of the
gestalt, or whole. Gestalt psychologists led by Max Wertheimer (1880 - 1943) have made
substantial contributions to our understanding of perception. Gestaltists pointed out that
perception has meaning only when it is seen as a whole.

Figure 1.4 summarise some early approach on psychology study introduced by the
psychologist.
Structuralism
IF GS
(Wilhelm Wundt

Introspection method
Gestalt Early approach on
(Wilhelm Wundt and
(Max Wertheimer) psychology
Edward Titchener)

Functionalism
(William James)

Figure 1.4: Among of an early approach on psychology studies

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 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

Today, there are 5 main perspectives of psychology. The perspectives are neuroscience,
psychodynamic, behavioural, cognitive and humanistic. The prominent figures and key ideas
of the 5 major perspectives of psychology are shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Key Ideas and Prominent Figures of the 5 Perspectives of Psychology

Perspective Key idea

• Views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and
other biological functions.
Neuroscience • Study how heredity, brain, and nervous system affect behavior.
• Among major contributions:
- Developing cures for certain types of deafness
- Identifying medications to treat people with severe mental disorders

• Believes that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which

an individual has little control.
• The contemporary psychodynamic perspective has provided a means to
Psychodynamic
understand and treat some kinds of psychological disorder, prejudice and
aggression.
• Prominent figure: Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)

• Emphasizes the process of learning and the measurement of overt behavior.

• Focuses on how a specific stimulus (such as an object, a person or an event)
lead to a specific responses (that is the behavior in reaction to the stimulus).
• Among main principles are reinforcement and punishment.
Behavioral • Prominent figures:
- John B. Watson (1878 - 1956)
- Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936)
- Floy Washburn (1871 - 1939)

• Focuses on how people think, understand, and know about the world.
• Emphasizes on learning how people comprehend and represent the
outside world within themselves and how our ways of thinking about the
Cognitive world influence our behavior.
• Prominent figures:
- Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980)
- Lev Vygotsky (1896 - 1934)

• Assumes that people have positive values, free will, and deep inner creativity.
Humanism • Combination of these leads people to choose life-fulfilling paths to personal
growth.
Cognitive • People have an urge to self-actualize that is to develop to their fullest.
• Prominent figures:
- Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987)
- Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970

Each perspective of psychology focused on a different view of

behaviour and mental processes. Which of the perspectives makes the
most sense to you? Explain.

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CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

1.3 What is Educational Psychology?

Psychology is a broad field that includes many diverse topics of study and various applications
of its findings and theories. Before we discuss the content of educational psychology, let us
look at other subfields of psychology briefly.

The subfields of psychology can be divided into 2 major areas as shown in Figure 1.5:

Area of psychology

Basic Applied

Most psychologists in this basic areas Psychologists in this applied area do

work in higher learning institutions. teach and conduct research too but
most of them work in mental health
There they teach and conduct research. centers, hospitals, industries and i. 7
schools.

They use basic psychological knowledge

to solve human problem.

Figure 1.5: 2 major subfields of psychology

There are many interests for each of the major subfield of psychology. The interests of the
basic psychology subfield can be described in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2: Interests in the Basic Psychology

The interest of the basic psychology

Subfield Description

• Examines the biological basis of behavior.

Biological psychology • Study how nervous system and other organs influence behavior.
• Study animal behavior and compare it with human behavior.

• Concerned with how the sense organ work and how human
Sensation and perception perceive incoming sensory information.

7
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

• Studies the ways in which we learn and remember new information,

Learning and memory skills, habits, and ways of interactions.

Cognitive psychology • Focuses on the study of higher mental processes.

Developmental psychology • Examines how people grow and change from conception to death.

• Study the needs and states that activate and guide behavior.
Motivation and emotion • Opics in this subfield include hunger, thirst, sex, the need for
achievement, the need to have relationship with others, and the
nature of feeling.

• Focuses on the relatively consistent ways of behaving that

Personality characterized our personality and the traits that differentiate
one person from another.

• Studies how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected

by others.
Social psychology • Social psychologists are interested in investigating behavior of
people in groups, interpersonal attraction, intimate relationship,
attitude, and prejudice.

• States that it is necessary to understand one’s culture, ethic identity,

Sosiocultural psychology
and gender identity to fully understand a person.

Table 1.3 shows the interests of the psychology in applied subfield.

Table 1.3: Interests in the Applied Psychology

The interest of the applied psychology

Subfield Description

• Tries to understand and treat emotional problems and correct

Clinical psychology
abnormal behavior.

• Helps people with personal or school problems and with career

Counselling
choices.

Industrial and • Concerned with the psychology of the workplace.

Organizational psychology

• Applies psychology to improve athletic performance, activity, and

Sport psychology
exercise.

8
CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Educational psychology can be defined in various ways. Let’s look at the 2 definitions of
educational psychology according to Fetsco & McClure and Santrock.

According to Fetsco & McClure:

Educational psychology is a branch of applied psychology, which

concerned with the study of behavior and mental processes
associated with human learning and instruction.

Fetsco & McClure, 2005.

While, according to Santrock

Educational psychology is a branch of psychology that specializes in
understanding teaching ad learning in educational setting.

Santrock, 2008

Educational psychologists focus on the critical intersection between the mind and action of i. 9
the learner, teacher, and educational community. The main issues studied and discussed by
educational psychologists can be shown in the figure 1.6.

Main issues studied and discussed by educational psychologists

· Nature of learner and learning.
· Nature of classrooms that affect learning.
· Characteristics of effective teaching.
· Factors that motivate students learning.
· Strategies students use to learn.
· The most effective and supportive ways to interact with students.
· Techniques to manage a child with a special needs.
· Students’ physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and moral development assessment and
evaluation of learning.

Figure 1.6: List of the main issues studied and disscussed by educational psychologist

1. Psychologists can be found working in the

a. ___________
b. ___________
c. ___________
d. ___________
2. What are the principal issues common to educational psychology?

9
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

1.4 What is Learning?

The central focus of educational psychology is learning.
Learning means change in behaviour. However, not all changes in
behaviour are the result of learning. Temporary changes result-
ing from illness, fatigue, or hunger and changes that caused by
maturation do not qualify as learning.

According to Lahey;

“…to qualify as learning, change in behavior must be brought about by

the interaction of a person with his or her environment. Thus,
learning can be defined as any relatively permanent change in
behavior, knowledge, and thinking skills, which comes about through
experiences.”

(Lahey, 2004).

In psychology, learning can be viewed from 3 major perspectives as shown in Figure 1.7.
The perspectives are behavioral, cognitive learning and social cognitive learning.

BSC

Figure 1.7: 3 major learning perspectives in psychology.

10
CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

The descriptions for the 3 major perspectives in psychology are explained below.

(a) Behavioural perspective

Form the behavioural perspective, learning is defined in terms of observable events, called
stimuli and responses.

Observable environmental event that has a potential to exert control over a

Stimulus
behavioral responses.

Response An overt behavior by a learner.

Consider the following examples of stimulus and response.

Stimulus Response

Suria desires good grade Suria does every homework

in class. given by teacher.

i. 11
Classmates laugh when Samy Samy stops participating in class.
gives the wrong answer.

(b) Cognitive learning perspective

From a cognitive learning perspective, learning involves the transformation of information
in the environment into knowledge that is stored in the mind.
• Learning occurs when new knowledge is acquired or existing knowledge is modified by
experience.
• Cognitive learning theories are used to explain simple task such as remembering the name
of a new friend as well as the complex ones such as interpreting an abstract drawing.
• This approach of learning focuses on how children process information through attention,
memory, thinking, and other cognitive processes.

(c) Social cognitive learning.

The third main approach to learning is the social cognitive learning. This perspective
examines the process involved as people learn from observing others and gradually acquires
control over their own behaviour. In other words, social cognitivists believe that people learn
a new behaviour simply by watching what other people do.

11
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

For examples, students are better reader when

their parents read often at home and children
become more aggressive when they observe
aggressivemodels on television. The watching
process is popularly known as modeling.

For detail explanations regarding to the 3 learning perspective, refer to

the related topic:
• Behavioral learning perspective in chapter 4.
• Cognitive learning perspective in chapter 5.
• Social cognitive perspective in chapter 4.

Look at the examples below. Which are instances of learning? Which are
not?
a. A 7-year-old boy sings “Ba Ba Black Sheep”
b. Smith behaves oddly after he met with an accident.
c. You feel disgust for fried chicken because you got sick after eating one.
d. Children become better badminton player as they grow older.
e. Zurin finds herself playing computer games more and more
f. Babies crawl at 7 months old.
g. Students use the computer in as new way.

1.5 Measurement in Educational Psychology

Teachers learn a great deal of knowledge from their personal experience in the teaching
and learning process. They also learn from the experiences shared by other teachers,
administrators, and experts.

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CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Apart from experience, research is also a valuable source

of information. Generally, research is a systematic process
for collecting information when you are in doubt about
a particular issue. Teachers use this method to clarify
the problems by looking closely at research on that topic.

In this section, we will look into 2 types of scientific methods used to gather information
in educational psychology as shown in Figure 1.8.

i. 13

Figure 1.8: 2 types of scientific methods used to gather information in educational psychology

1.5.1 Descriptive Studies

The simplest methods of scientific inquiry are the descriptive studies. Descriptive studies
are used to describe predictable behaviour and mental processes. The most widely used
descriptive methods are survey, observation, and correlational research.

Survey

• Survey is done simply by asking people questions through

questionnaires and interviews.
• Educational psychologists may use survey to find out students’
and teachers’ feeling, belief, experience, problem, needs, and
interest.
• Questionnaires can be distributed to the targeted population
by hand or by mail while interviews are normally held via face-
to-face interactions. Alternatives to these are the interviews over
the phone or the internet.

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 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

Observation

• Observation is a research method based on watching, recording,

and describing behavior as it occurs.
• Educational psychologists conduct naturalistic observations of
children in classrooms, on field, in homes, and in other settings
interactions.
• Alternatives to these are the interviews over the phone or the
Internet.

Correlational research

• In correlational research, the strength of the relation between

two or more variables is studied.
• For example, an educational psychologist may ask “does a
relationship exist between the number of question teachers
ask and their students’ grade or academic performance?”
• Correlations range from +1.00 to – 1.00. The closer it is to
either +1.00 or -1.00, the stronger the relationship.
• Lack of a relationship would be indicated by a correlation close
to 0.

The positive or negative sign of the correlation shows the direction of the relationship.
These relationships are graphically shown in Figure 1.9.

Positive correlation

14
CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Negative correlation

Zero correlation

i. 15

Figure 1.9: Illustration of positive, negative and zero correlation

It is important to note that correlations do not prove cause and effect. The research method
that demonstrates cause-and-effect relationship is the experiment.

15
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

1.5.2 Experimental Studies

Formal experiments are helpful in achieving the goals of understanding and influencing
behaviour and mental processes. In a formal experiment, participant must be assigned to
treatment conditions randomly so that participants’ characteristics are distributed evenly
across the different conditions. The simplest kind of experiment involves several elements
as shown in figure 1.10.

Experimental
The group, which receive the active condition of the independent variable.
group

Control The group that receive none of the independent variable.

group

Independent Variable in an experiment, which is manipulated and being tested for

variable group its impact on other variable.

Dependent
Variable in an experiment, which changes as a result of the independent
variable
variable.
variable group

Figure 1.10: 4 Elements involved in experiment

16
CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Differences between the groups on the dependent variable can be said to be caused by the
independent variable. In a study of cause and effect, independent variable is the cause while
dependent variable is the effect. Figure 1.11 shows the steps in conducting a formal
experiment.

Step 1
Randomly select a group of potential participants
from the population.

Step 2
Randomly assign the participants to the
experimental and the control group.

Experimental group Control group

Step 3
Expose the two groups to different conditions of
the independent variable. i. 17

Independent Experimental group Control group

variable (drinks contained caffeine). (drinks without caffeine).

Step 4
Measure the dependent variable to
see if the group differ.

Dependent Experimental group Control group

variable (Participants’ alertness). (participants’ alertness).

Figure 1.8: Steps in conducting a formal experiment of the effects of caffeine intake on students’ alertness

1. A research method which allows psychologists to study behaviour as it

occurs in real-life settings is known as __________.
2. What are some of the advantages survey research?
3. Give an example of correlational research?

17
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

1.6 Teachers’ Decision Making and Educational

Psychology
Teachers have various roles. The main role is the content expert. However, this role alone is
not sufficient to describe the work of teachers. Teachers are also consultants, managers,
motivators, and counsellors. On top of those roles, teachers are also decision makers. Each
teacher has to engage in an ongoing series of decision-making. Generally, the types of
decisions teachers make can be divided into 3 areas as shown in figure 1.12. The areas are
planning decisions, teaching and managing decisions, and assessment decisions as shown
in figure 1.12.

Teacher’s decisions area

PTA

Planning decisions Assessment decisions

Teaching and managing
decisions

Figure 1.9: 3 types of teacher’s decision maker.

The explaination for the 3 types of teacher’s decision area can be describe below.

(a) Planning decisions

Planning decisions include decisions that are made before a specific interaction with the
learners occurs.

For example:
Teachers must plan the curriculum and learning activities before the school
session begins. Teachers must also decide what they want to teach and when
they wish to teach it in advanced.

(b) Teaching and managing decisions

Teaching and managing decisions include those decisions made while interacting with the
students.

For example:
Teachers must decide how to respond to students’ behavior or questions in the
classrooms and how they will go about the teaching process.

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 CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

(c) Assessment decisions

The assessment decisions are decisions made to assess the effectiveness of an interaction
with the students. These include the topics to be assessed and the format of the assessment.

Teaching includes a great deal of uncertainty and ambiguity. Therefore, careful and professional
judgments and personal decision-making are essential for effective teaching. Unfortunately,
teachers may sometimes use common sense in making these decisions. Indeed, it is impor-
tant for teachers to base their decision-making on knowledge of current theories and research,
as these will lead them to make good decisions. Research and theories can help teachers
understand the patterns of students learning and effective teaching.

Teachers’ decision making can sometimes

Teachers need to think
critically, practically and be complicated by research results that
artistically about the appear contradictory. Since research does
research results.
not provide a precise answer, teachers
must use their professional judgments and
decide. In other words, they need to think
critically (teacher analyze own situations
and compare them with the setting report-
ed in the research), practically (research
must be applied efficiently with minimal i. 19
disruption to the class or extra work for
the teacher) and artistically (apply the
research results in creative ways and
meaningful lessons) about the research
results.

Discuss the importance of research and theories in teachers’ decision

making.

19
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

SUMMARY
• Psychology is defined as the science of behaviour and mental processes.
• The goals of the science of psychology are to describe, understand, predict and
control behaviour and mental processes.
• Structuralism, functionalism, and Gestalt psychology are among the earliest
perspectives of psychology.
• Modern perspectives of psychology include neuroscience, psychodynamic, behavioural,
cognitive, and humanistic.
• Educational psychology is a branch of applied psychology which concerned with the
study of behaviour and mental processes associated with human learning and
instruction.
• Learning is defined as any relatively permanent change in behavior, knowledge, and
thinking skills, which comes about through experiences.
• Learning can be viewed from behavioural, cognitive learning, and social cognitive
learning approach.
• The most widely used research methods are survey, observation, correlational
research and formal experiment.
• Research and theories can help teachers understand the patterns of students learning
and effective teaching.

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Terms Definitions
A person’s overt actions and reactions which can
Behaviour be observed and measured directly.

An approach that emphasizes on the process

Behavioural of learning and the measurement of overt
behaviors.
An approach that focuses on how people think,
Cognitive
understand, and know about the world.

A perspective that views learning as the

Cognitive learning transformation of information in the
environment into knowledge that is stored in the
mind.

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CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

The group which receives none of the conditions

Control group of the independent variable.

Research method in which the strength of

Correlational research the relation between two or more variables is
studied.
The variable in an experiment which changes as
Dependent variable a result of the independent variable.

A branch of applied psychology which concerned

Educational psychology with the study of behavior and mental processes
associated with human learning and instruction.
The group which receives the active condition of
Experimental group the independent variable.

A research method that allows the researcher to

manipulate the independent variable in order to
Formal experiment study its effect on the dependent variable. It is
helpful in achieving the goals of understanding
and influencing behavior and mental processes. i. 21
An approach that concentrated on what the
Functionalism mind does and how behaviors function.

A perspective that focuses on the belief that

Gestalt psychology human consciousness cannot be broken down
into its elements.
A perspective that views people as having an
Humanistic innate tendency to improve and determine their
lives by the decisions they make.
The variable in an experiment which is
Independent variable manipulated and being tested for its impact on
other variables.
A relatively permanent change in behavior
Learning brought about through experience.

Covert activities such as thoughts, feelings and

Mental processes motives that cannot be observed directly by
others.

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 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

An approach that views behavior from the

Neuroscience perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and
other biological functions.
A research method based on watching,
Observation
recording, and describing behavior as it occurs.

The scientific study of behavior and mental

Psychology
processes.

An approach that believes that behavior is

Psychodynamic motivated by unconscious inner forces over
which an individual has little control.

Response An overt behavior by a learner.

A perspective that suggests that people learn a

Social cognitive new behavior simply by watching what other
people do.
An observable environmental event that has
Stimulus a potential to exert control over a behavioral
responses.
An approach that focused on the basic elements
Structuralism that constitute the foundation of mental states
and activities such as perception, consciousness,
thinking, and emotion.

A kind of research method in which data is

Survey
collected through questionnaires and interviews.

ENDNOTES
1. Eggen, P & Kauchak, D. 2007. Educational psychology windows on classrooms. 7th ed.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

2. Feldman, R. S. 2005. Understanding psychology. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill.

3. Jordan, E. A. & Porath, M. J. 2006. Educational psychology a problem-based approach.

Boston: Pearson.

4. Hinrichs, B. H. 2004. Psychology: the essence of a science. Boston: Pearson.

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CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

5. Kosslyn, S. M. & Rosenberg, R. S. 2004. Psychology the brain, the person, the world.
2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

6. Lahey, B. B. 2004. Psychology: an introduction. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill.

7. Morris, C. G. & Maisto, A. 2001. Understanding psychology. 5th ed. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.

8. Ormrod, J. E. 2006. Educational psychology developing learners. 5th ed. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.

9. Santrock, J. W. 2008. Educational psychology. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

10. Tan O. S., Parsons, R. D., Hinson, S. L. & Sardo-Brown, D. 2003. Educational
psychology a practitioner-researcher approach. Australia: Thomson.

11. Woolfolk, A. 2007. Educational psychology. 10th ed. Boston: Pearson.

Review and Discussion Questions

i. 23
1. The ancient Greek philosopher who wrote about psyche was __________.

A. Plato
B. Aristotle
C. Hippocrates
D. Epicurus

2. When she took an introductory psychology course, Jamilah learned that psychology
is the study of _________.

A. conscious experience
B. unconscious experience
C. human behavior
D. behavior and mental processes

3. Which of the following is more scientific?

A. Systematic observation
B. Personal experience
C. A person’s opinion
D. A book written by a journalist

23
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

4. The early American psychologist who founded the school of functionalism

was __________.

A. Sigmund Freud
B. William James
C. Alfred Binet
D. Wilhelm Wundt

5. The physician who founded psychoanalysis and studied the unconscious mind
and abnormal behavior was __________.

A. Sigmund Freud
B. William James
C. Alfred Binet
D. Max Wertheimer

6. “It is behavior that can be observed that should be studied, not the suspected
inner workings of the mind.”
This statement was most likely made by someone with __________ perspective.

A. cognitive
B. neuroscience
C. humanistic
D. behavioral

7. Self-actualization is a key idea in the school of psychology known as __________.

A. functionalism
B. humanism
C. behaviorism
D. psychodynamic

8. Which of these topics would be most interesting to a behaviorist?

A. Memory strategies
B. Interpretation of dreams
C. Thinking process of preschool children
D. Situation that make people talk faster

24
CHAPTER 1 l WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY?

10. The basic area of psychology that studies intimate relationship and prejudice is
__________.

A. neuroscience
B. health psychology
C. counseling
D. social psychology

11. Which of the following represents an applied area of modern psychology?

A. Developmental psychology
B. Educational and psychology
C. Cognitive psychology
D. Social psychology

12. Which of the following is the best thought of as a state?

A. Intelligence
B. Personality
C. Friendship
D. Emotion i. 25

13. The things that are measured and studied in psychology are called __________.

A. factors
B. variables
C. constructs
D. behavior and mental processes

14. Which of the following techniques is used in descriptive research?

A. Random assignment of participants

B. Manipulation of a variable
C. Observation in a natural setting
D. Defining the dependent variable

15. A research method that uses interviews and questionnaires is known as the __________.

A. descriptive method
B. replication method
C. survey method
D. correlational method

25
 WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? l CHAPTER 1

16. A correlation coefficient of zero has been found in determining the relationship
between two variables. What is the relationship between these two variables?

A. No relationship
B. Strong relationship
C. Positive relationship
D. Negative relationship

17. A high negative correlation between anxiety and intelligence means that anxious
students usually have __________.

A. lower intelligence
B. higher intelligence
C. medium intelligence
D. It is impossible to say from this information.\

18. A hypothesis in the form “X causes Y” is appropriate for a __________.

A. correlational study
B. survey
C. controlled experiment
D. double blind research

19. An educational psychologist exposed participants to four types of films. Then, he

measured the degree of aggressiveness showed by the participants. In this study,
aggressiveness is the __________ variable.

A. experimental
B. control
C. dependent
D. independent

20. The scientific method that allows the researcher to reach the strongest conclusion
about cause-and-effect is __________.

A. naturalistic observation
B. clinical intervention
C. correlational study
D. formal experiment

26