The Psychological

Foundations of
Education
• Emphasizes the various kinds of
behavior which have particular
reference to education. It
discusses the nature of the child
of different ages and the
processes of growth and
development:
• Learning and reasoning,
particularly in relation to school,
mental health, difficulties in social
adjustments, the interaction of
individuals in classes, the school
of psychology, motivation and the
personality theory
• Educational psychology is studied by
teachers, prospective teachers,
administrators, and others engaged in
educational work, on the premise that
a knowledge of the nature of the
learner and how he learns will
improve the ways in which the adult
deals with the children and
adolescents in school
• Jean Jacques Rosseau – wrote
the educational novel Emile in
1762, he believed in the natural
goodness of man. The child’s
own gifts and interest should be
the guiding principles. Adults
should not force their opinions
and behavior on children
• Herman Ebbinghaus – made his
experiments on memory, he is considered
“Father of Learning Psychology” , his
works led him to draw two major
conclusions:
• Once something is learned, it is not forgotten at an
even rate. Most of what is forgotten is lost very
quickly, and the rest is lost at a slow and fairly
stable rate.
• In order to learn new material, it is more efficient to
space practice than to mass it.
• Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist,
formulated the theory of cognitive
development. When children ask
“Why” it is because they think that
each thing has a specific purpose.
He concluded that reality does not
reach the individual from the outside
world but from within, from his own
logic, with his dependence on the
structure of his mind.
 Biological and
Psychological Stages
of Development
• Prenatal period – this period is
from conception to birth. During
this period all parts of the human
body such as the internal organs,
skeletal, flesh, etc., are formed.
The inherited characteristics from
the parents are also imparted to
the child during this period.
• Period of Infancy or babyhood –
from birth to two years. Basic
physical and physiological
behavior patterns begin to
develop such as rolling, crawling,
sitting,etc. The baby begins to
learn the concept of right and
wrong.
• Early childhood – from two to six
years. This is exploratory and
inquisitive period. The child wants
to explore and ask many
questions
• Late childhood – from six to
twelve years old. This is the
elementary period. The child
learns some manual skills taught
at home and in school. The child
learns concepts in reading,
writing, arithmetic , language,
science, and social studies.
• Puberty stage – thirteen to fifteen
years old. The stage when the
urge of sex begins to assert itself.
Physical and physiological
changes in both sexes take place
very fast
• Early adolescence – period from
puberty to seventeen years old.
Sex maturation occurs. Voice,
feelings, and thinking continue
changing.
• Late adolescence – from 18 to 21
years old. In The process of
development continues. The
youth is preparing for his
professional career in preparation
for an independent life.
Development of intellectual and
social skills continue.
• Early adulthood – 21 to 40 years
old. New life adjustments occur
such as courtship and marriage,
parenthood and employment,
recreational, hobby, religious
affiliation. This is the start of
productive years.
• Middle age – from 40 to 65 years
old. This is the time for the
preparation for retirement. Some
physical and physiological
functions begin to deteriorate.
• Old age – starts at 65. period of
retirement. Physical,
physiological and mental
functions continue to decline.
THEORIES OF
LEARNING
THORNDIKE’S CONNECTIONISM

• Edward Lee Thorndike – the

greater the intellect, the
greater number of connections
the mind is capable to make.
• Law of readiness – individuals learn more
effectively if they are ready

• Law of exercise – as a result of continuous

practice, strength is gained, but as a result
of disuse, weakness ensues.

• Law of effect – maintains that an individual

will be more likely to repeat, satisfying
experiences than those that are annoying
 Pavlov’s classical conditioning
• Pavlov’ s experiment with dogs that
demonstrated the principle of conditioned
response, the dog was conditioned to
salivate to the sound of a tone. Salivating
at the sight of food is reflex or
unconditioned response. Salivating at the
sound of the tone is the result of learning
and is termed as conditioned response.
 Skinner’s operant conditioning
• Operant learning results from an
organism’s operating in its environment.
• For example, a pigeon is placed in a box,
• In its desire to find food, it happens to
depress a lever, a pallet of food falls in the
dish. Gradually the bird learns to press
the lever to get food. Instrumental
conditioning is developed.
Mental health – is the ability to
adapt oneself satisfactorily to
the changes and problems met
within life.
 Disturbed children need help
before they can be expected to
do their regular school work
• Schools should not only provide
an environment that promotes the
mental health of the children, but
should teach appropriate social
responses as part of its curricular
responsibility.
 SCHOOLS OF
PSYCHOLOGY AND
MOTIVATION
 STRUCTURALISM
• Psychologist believed that the chief
purpose of psychology was to describe,
analyze, and explain conscious
experience, particularly feelings and
sensations. A method of research called
introspection- a subject is trained to
observe and report as accurately as he
could mental processes, feelings, and
experiences.
 BEHAVIORISM
• Believed that observable, not inner
experience , was the only reliable
source of information. The
behaviorist stress the importance of
the environment in shaping an
individual’s behavior, example, is
Pavlov’s experiment on the dog’s
salivation upon hearing the bell.
 GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
• Believed that human beings and
other animals perceived the
external world as an organized
pattern, not as individual
sensations.
 Psychoanalysis
• Sigmund Freud developed
psychoanalysis
• That behavior is determined by
powerful inner focus, most of
which are buried in the
unconscious mind.
 MOTIVATION
• Is the center of psychology, with
its roots reaching into learning,
memory, emotion, personality,
and other related areas. It is the
basic factor of effective learning.
 MOTIVE
• Refers to a condition within the
individual that initiates activity
directed toward a goal, needs,
and drives for the basic
framework for motivation
 PERSONALITY THEORY
• Personality is the sum total of all
the factors of physique and
constitution and all the enduring,
underlying tendencies that
determine the characteristic
behavior of a person.
Humanistic theory of Personality
• Maslow developed a self-actualization
theory of personality in which maturity
comes from actualizing potentialities.
He distinguished two levels of
motivation, based on two orders of
needs: deficiency needs and growth
needs. Higher needs emerge a lower
needs are fulfilled.
 Maslow’s Hierarchy
• Physiological needs – food, drink, sex,
shelter
• Safety needs – security, order, protection,
and family stability
• Love needs – affection, group affiliation
and personal acceptance
• Esteem needs – self-respect, prestige,
reputation, social status
• Self-actualization – self-fulfilment and
achievement of personal goals, ambition,
and talents.
 TEACHER’S PERSONALITY
• Cooperative, democratic attitude
• Kindness and consideration
• Patience
• Wide interests
• Pleasing manners and appearance
• Fairness and impartiality
• Sense of humor
 TEACHER’S PERSONALITY
• Even temperament and firmness
• Interest in pupil’s problem
• Flexibility
• Willingness to encourage and praise
• Unusual proficiency in teaching a
particular subject
 The teacher: Key factor in
classroom learning situation
• 1. give attention to what the students are
saying
• 2. provide each student with sense of
personal worth
• 3. develop each student’s self-confidence
• and respect his ability to learn
• 4. assume a posture of moral or
intellectual superiority
• 5. minimize conflict with students
• 6. minimize lecturing
• 7. provide an open and relax atmosphere
• 8. generate activity among students
• 9. be on guard against boredom
• 10. show concern for the well-being of
each student in the class
• 11. try not to let students fall behind
• 12. diversify teaching
• 13. ask your students about your teaching
• 14. teach the best you can
• 15. interact with colleagues
• 16. tone down grading systems
• 17. be a model
 ELEMENTS OF TEACHING
EFFECTIVESS
• 1. Academic learning time - it is difficult to
measure what is going on in a student’s
mind at a specific moment
• 2. Use of reinforcement – praise has to be
used carefully in order to produce desired
effect.
• 3. Cues and feedbacks – constructive
feedback provides students with
information on which to build learning
• 4. Cooperative Learning – encourages
student participation and also results in
improved academic performance
• 5. Classroom learning – Feeling of
cohesiveness, satisfaction, goal direction,
and student perception of a friendly
atmosphere make a positive difference in
learning.
• 6. High-order questions – “teaching of
thinking” involves analysis
• 7. Advanced Organizers – teacher’s
personality, philosophy, and teaching style
will directly affect his managerial and
disciplinary approach.
 ANTHROPOLOGY – is the
science of people and culture
 BRANCHES OF
ANTHROPOLOGY
 Physical anthropology- which
studies people as biological
organisms. Concentrates on
human genetics, the study of
inherited characteristics, the
measurement of human body, and
the analysis of body’s physical
characteristics.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
- is devoted to the behavior of
people and the products of such
behavior, also called social
anthropology
 The Study of Early Culture
• 1 Language /speech – language is
a distinctly human system of
behavior based on oral symbols.
The human being learned his
language just as he learned his
culture
• 2.Technology – man made
elements in culture that have a
physical existence of their own
• 3. Art – is a universal feature of
human culture. The primary
function of art, especially primitive
art, is to communicate the value
scheme of the culture.
• 4. Mythology - are ways in which
the institutions and expectations
of the society are made dramatic
and persuasive in narrative form.
• 5. Religion – there is no evidence
or any theory of an origin of
religion in time or place, and most
anthropologist have ceased to
take their bearings in the study of
religion from any religion practice
in their own society.
• 6. Supernatural beliefs and practices,
religion is manifested not only through
symbolism and tribal ceremonies. It
also permeates the thought and
feelings of individuals; it expresses
itself through spells /incantations; it
blends into magic and sorcery; it is
managed by specialist – the shaman
and the priest; and maybe organized
cults
• 7. Medicine – disease is
understood as being caused by
the violation of some taboo, or
any attack by a ghost or a witch.
The process of curing must be
prefaced by a ceremony of
divination. This is the means of
finding the cause of difficulty
• 8. Family – the universal function of the
family are:
• A. The institutionalization of mating and
the establishment of legal parents for a
woman’s children
• B. Nurture and enculturation of the young
• C. Organization of a complementary
division of labor between spouses
• D. establishment of relationships of
descent and affinity
• 9. Property system – operates to
keep, use, enjoy, and dispose in
expected channels . Property is
thought of most immediately in
connections with such tangible
goods such as tools, automobiles,
houses, land.
• 10. Political system – political
institutions clearly appear,
however, in may tribal societies;
there is a chief who has the
power to decide issues or to lead
in making decisions; there may be
a council ; there maybe group to
police the people.
• 11. Warfare - of many forms of
organized violence, warfare is
that one which has political
consequences
CULTURE AND
PERSONALITY
• An individual may be considered
“cultured” when:
• 1. He has good manners and right
conduct, dignified in his ways and in his
speech
• 2. Has come from a family belonging to a
nobility
• 3. has a high intellectual ability/education
• 4. has appreciation for the arts and
humanities
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
CULTURE

is learned – not
• 1. Culture
transmitted by the genes. The
classroom is an important venue
for transmission of culture from
generation to generation
• 2. People have varied culture –
the ways of the people are results
of their relationship with their
environment.
• 3.Culture is a group product -
students come from different
ethnic groups with different
cultural values.
• 4. Culture is transmitted from
generation to generation – it may
be transmitted by suggestion, by
formal communications, by mass
communication, and by system of
reward and punishment
• 5. Culture is adaptive –
institutions are the creation of
man’s efforts of adaptation.
Institutions do not relate to each
other except through mediation of
the human needs, knowledge,
wishes, and aspirations
 THE PHILIPPINE CULTURAL
VALUES
• Strengths of the Filipino Character
• 1. Pakikipagkapwa – demonstrated in the
ability to empathize with others
• 2. Family orientation – manifested in the
honor and respect for elders
• 3. Joy and humor – manifested in the love
for social celebrations
• 4. Flexibility, adaptability,
creativity
• 5. Handwork and industry
• 6. Faith and religiosity
• 7. Ability to survive
 Weaknesses of the Filipino
Character
• 1. Extreme personalism-
manifested in the tendency to
give personal interpretations to
actions such as pakiusap, lagay
and areglo, palakasan, nepotism
and favoritism
• 2. Extreme family centeredness
• 3. Lack of discipline
• 4. Passivity and lack of initiative
• 5. Colonial mentality
• 6. Kanya-kanya syndrome - crab
mentality
• 7. lack of self analysis and self
reflection
 SOCIOLOGICAL
FOUNDATIONS OF
EDUCTION
 SOCIOLOGY – is the study of
interaction on human behavior
• Characteristics of a fully functioning
person
• 1. Increasing openness to experience
• 2. living fully in each moment
• 3. trusting ones own judgement
 Origin of Sociology
• The word sociology is derived
from the Latin word , socius,
meaning associate, and the
Greek word logus or science.
Hence, sociology is the study on
human behavior
 Auguste Comte – Father of
sociology
• Comte, a Frenchman, coined
the word sociology to apply to
the proposed general social
science of human behavior
 The nature of educational
sociology
• Sociology is concerned with the
study of people or groups of
persons, and human activities in
terms of the groups in society. It
is concerned with the origin of
society. It is a science interested
in institutions of society such as
• Religion, family, government,
education and recreation. It is a
science involved in developing a
better social order characterized
by good, happiness, tolerance,
and racial equality.
The nature of educational sociology
according to its functions
• 1. Educational sociology is
primarily concerned with the
influence of education on social
institutions and group life on
individual, such as how the school
affects the personality or behavior
of an individual
• 2. The human relations that
operate in the school involving
pupils, parents, and teachers, and
how they influence the personality
and behavior of an individual
• 3. The relation of the school to
other institutions and elements of
society,
 Relations of Sociology to Other
Social Science
• Psychology (science of individual
behavior) – since sociology is
concerned with relation between
individuals it starts with certain
psychological facts and overlaps
with the part of psychology which
is interactive with the social
science of individual behavior
 History (records of man’s
past)
• It is important to know the data of
men’s past relationship with one
another
• Anthropology (comparative
description of science and
culture)
• Sociology can learn much about
human relationships under
different cultures in anthropology
• Geography (study of man’s
adaptation to his physical
environment)
• Man’s relationship with his fellow
men are conditioned by the
physical environment
• Economics/Political Science
(specialized investigation process
involved in the creation and
distribution of material goods and
services (economics) and the power
and inferences (political science)
• Some of the concrete facts of human
relationships that sociology must build
upon are turned up by the economics
and political science
 The Educational Sociologists
• 1. George Simmel/Leopold Von
Wiese – examined what they
called the forms of social
processes and did study of
money, cultural contact, and
small communities
• 2. Max Webber – compared the
great civilization of mankind to
determine the basic among their
differences. He saw class
exploitation as the prime moving
force in the history of men.
• 3. Ferdinand Tonnies – made
more detailed studies on such
topics as crimes, urbanism, and
public opinion
• 4. Charles Horton Cooley –
studies transportation, race
relations and the social growth of
his own children
• 5. Edward Ross, Albion Small,
and Franklin Giddings – began
the systematic study of social
control and social psychology
• 6. George Herbert Mead –
concentrated on how important
symbolic communication is to
personalities and social systems
• 7. Talcott Parson (1937) and Robert
Merton (1957) – prominent temporary
sociologists, maintained that every
institution fulfils certain functions and
persists because it is functional.
Thus, the school educates and
prepares them to be productive
citizens in their respective
communities