Psychology initially was regarded as the science of the soul. The Greek words "psyche" and "logos"meaning soul and knowledge of respectively were initiated by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to mark the initiation of psychology in teaching and learning.
During the medieval period, psychology was regarded as the science of the mind and later as the science of consciousness. In the modern times, it is regarded as the scientific study of human and animal behaviour as well as mental processes.
Psychology emphasizes observing, describing, explaining and predicting Behaviour. Psychology is very useful as a guide to human living, observation and control within the environment. It has relevance in almost all spheres of life. There are branches like clinical psychology, law psychology, management psychology, marketing psychology and Educational psychology among others.
Psychology is generally regarded as the scientific and artistic system of studying human and animal behaviour and mental process. Emphasis is on observing, describing, explaining and predicting Behaviour. Mental processes encompasses thoughts, feelings and motives that each of us experience privately but that cannot be observed directly.
Although we cannot directly observe and describe thoughts and feelings but we can describe quarrelling, memories and drawing inferences. People do not act or react in a vacuum, what we do or say is influenced by where we come from, whom we spend time with and what happens to us. All human behaviours occur in a cultural context.
Psychological Principles On Education
There are different psychological Principles on education,these are:
(1) Psychology as one of the Behavioural sciences helps the teacher in shaping the Behaviour of the learners depending on the objectives of the instruction. It is concerned with Behavioural modification of both the Teacher and the learners. It sets the pace for teaching and learning to take place. It provides the guiding Principles and the maxiams of Teaching and learning. It dictates on the engagement of the sense organs as the gateway of knowledge through the employment of many sense organs as possible.
(2) Psychology is the foundation for the development of the theories o teaching and learning to highlights concepts, ideas, reinforcement, feedback, Behavioural objectives and practice of instructional design for quality education. It also explains the chronological variables of learners' socio-cultural factors and the learning environment in instructional development. With psychology, diverse perspectives are introduced that act as the underlying factors to prosecute effective Teaching and learning.
(3) Education psychology considers the theories of Teaching and learning, growth, development and testing of educational progress etc. great thinkers and learners developed concepts, ideas,laws, systems and techniques of child care, Teaching and training as well as personality, emotional development, self-concept, interest, attitude, temperature among others.
(4) Lastly, Psychology therefore is the science that helps in directing the process of Teaching and learning and intercepts of Associations with other elements seen and unseen that guide the classroom communication. The essence of psychology is to promote learning. Learning equally is he Crux of Educational transaction hence instructional designers and teachers should have a reasonable knowledge of he subject to enable him/her perform in developing the Behavioural patterns in learning situation.
