Educational Psychology :: essays research papers fc

Educational Psychology     ?     Mr. ?     Psychology     16 Oct. 1996     The field of psychology that deals with the ability to solve educationalproblems and to improve educational situations is the field of educationalpsychology. Educational psychology is sometimes referred to as an applied field,meaning, one in which the objective is to solve immediate practical problems(James 29).     The beginnings of educational psychology were initiated by Aristotle inhis formulation of the laws of association. These laws similarity, contrast,and contiguity, supplemented by frequency, are the beginnings to an experimentalscience (Piaget 9). As the science began to develop, the educationalpsychologists did little more than administer mental shields, which started withthe Stanford-Binet test (IQ test). Today, the science has been expanded toinclude counseling students, teac hers, administrators, and parents, in an effortto athletic supporter make the school environment one which is most effective in promoting acquirement. As an example, if a student in school commits a disciplinal action,instead of being indiscriminately punished, that student would be sent to affectthe school psychologist to find out the causes of the students misbehavior anddeal with them accordingly (Frandsen 92).     though studies of educational surveys, there were nine major factorsthat increased learning. These nine factors nookie be placed into three groupsstudent adroitness, instruction, and psychological environments. Student aptitudeincludes (1) ability or prior achievement as measured by score on educationaltest (2) development as indexed by chronological age or stage of maturationand (3) motivation or self-concept as shown by personality tests and studentsperseverance on learning tasks. command can be thought of as (4) the summateof time students lease in learning and (5) the quality of the instructionalexperience. Psychological environments include (6) the " political program of thehome," (7) the morale of the classroom social group, (8) the peer group outsideschool, and (9) the amount of leisure-time television viewing. These are thefactors that influence academic achievement and behavioral learning (A.A.E. 66).     Educational psychology does not only hold true for humans, alone also foranimals. Ivan Pavlov displayed the principle of association by applying it tothe salivary reflex. He develop his dogs to salivate at the sound of a bellalone if antecedently they had so responded to meat and the bell together. Inanother case, B. F. Skinner train pigeons to play a form of table tennis byhonor the birds with food pellets each time they hit a ball into adesignated trough (James 66).     This area of psychology is used today to teach unique(predicate) subjects such asforeig n languages, arithmetic and mathematics, reading, writing, spelling, andthe sciences. However, teaching of these subject requires a person that