The Origins Of Educational Psychology

Educational psychology developed over the years as a combination of pedagogy and psychology. The urge to give education a psychological basis arose a few years ago. Without this scientific basis, it would be impossible to apply psychological principles to education.

The Origins of Educational Psychology

We are not sure whether educational psychology existed centuries ago. However , it was Greek thinkers such as Aristotle and Plato who laid the foundations for a cognitivistic approach to help determine human behavior.

Aristotle even believed that education was the government’s responsibility to its citizens. Plato also emphasized the importance of virtue and ethics. These are the first ideas that ultimately led to the origin of educational psychology.

Several centuries later, Thomas Aquinas extended this further with theories of human learning. He saw it as a process of gradually acquiring intellect and knowledge.

The Renaissance and Humanism

During the Renaissance , the idea of ​​experiential learning emerged. New authors also emerged, such as Juan Luis Vives who is considered the father of modern psychology. He applied ideas such as motivation, learning and pace of learning.

Later, authors like Juan Huarte de San Juan came up with theories of differential psychology for people who exhibit different abilities. His studies on educational guidance confirmed the existence of different abilities and varied temperaments.

This is where metaphysics and psychology went their separate ways. It was another important point in the history of educational psychology.

A new science

Another historic moment in educational psychology was when rationalism developed its logic thanks to authors like Descartes and his strict methodology.

Other authors such as Comenius have established that education has four fundamental characteristics. These are based on the laws of nature, educational cyclical order, inductive method and the active and pragmatic learning methods.

Then came Locke and Hume, who tried to show that experience was more important than logic and reasoning. In this case it is necessary that all knowledge comes from experience. Thus, education should focus on disciplines that develop the mind.

Others like Rousseau introduced a naturalistic approach that aimed to help people reach their purest states with an education that guided them naturally.

scientific psychology

And now we come to the modern age, where we are introduced to authors like Herbart. He believed that teachers need to know the goals of education in order to be good teachers.

Then came Pestalozzi, who took naturalism to the next level, noting that students need societies in order to develop. This marked an important moment in educational psychology.

Then we come to Dewey, who considered active education necessary to renovate education through three key aspects. These aspects are the attitude towards the child, ensuring that the students become the main axis of active education and the importance of the content.

Modern Educational Psychology

Now we can talk about more modern authors who have evolved modern psychology in the last century. It all started in the late 1800s and early 1900s with authors like Galton, Hall, Binet James, and Cattell.

Later on, other specialists, such as Thorndike, who talked about learning and the transfer of knowledge, joined.

Then came Watson’s behaviorism, Gestalt therapy, and psychoanalysis. These approaches suggested that our behavior is influenced by elements beyond our conscience.

Next we have Skinner or Becker and the reinforcement of behavior. Later came Piaget, Goodnow, Bruner and humanists like Maslow, Rogers and Allport.

This concludes our story about the origins of educational psychology. We’ve given you an idea of ​​some of the key figures in this science and shared with you certain principles that try to explain why we learn the way we do.