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Key Points Educational psychology extremely influences the principles of education. It applies to the psychological principles and techniques for human behavior in educational situations.

Main methods of Education Psychology:

• Introspection
• Observation
• Experimental Method
• Clinical Method
• Developmental Method
• Testing Method

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Introspection Method:

• Introspection means observing one's own behavior through self-analysis. This method is the most subjective in nature. The data of introspection method may not be  reliable and valid since the investigator may become subjective and biased when looks in to his own feelings.
• It is most simple method which requires no laboratory and apparatus.
• It is the oldest method of psychology and helps to improve thinking and performance.

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​Observation Method:

• It is very useful for the study of the behavior of person inside and outside the class.

Experimental Method

• This method is for observing mental behavior in laboratory according to the scientific rules. It is free from subjectivity.

Extrospection Method

• It is method of observation of things external to one's own mind, as opposed to introspection.

Hence, we can conclude that Introspection method is most subjective in nature.

'Albert Bandura', an American psychologist has propounded "Social Learning Theory". This theory is also called 'learning through imitation' as his theory emphasizes that:

• learning takes place through indirect sources, like watching or hearing others.
• cognitive and problem-solving skills can be learned by imitating and watching others.
• new behaviors and experiences are acquired by observing others in the immediate environment.

The social learning theory of 'Albert Bandura' emphasizes that the principles of social learning consist of four steps (respectively) including:

Hence, it could be concluded that Albert Bandura is associated with 'Social Learning Theory.

Additional Information

Learning Curve: The learning curve is a graphical representation that indicates the progress or lack of improvement in a given activity. There are several characteristics of the learning curve.

Some of them are as follows: The learning progress at any stage is not always uniform. The last stage of the learning curve is called a plateau. The scope for learning is very low in the final stages of the curve. 

Important Points

The three stages of the learning curve are:

• Slow beginning
• Steep progress
• Plateau.

1. Slow beginning: In this phase, the learner gradually pacing to learn the concept. He/she has to start the learning of a given activity from scratch, his early progress will be slow. This is the beginning stage of learning, in which the learner is motivated to gain new information.
2. Steep progress: In this phase, the learner successfully learned the concept.  In this stage, the learner steps accelerating in learning the concepts. After some time the learner gains a total understanding of the concept and reaches the boom stage of learning. and his/her learning improves swiftly.
3. Plateau: The plateau effect is often seen in the pattern of development, indicating periods of no apparent improvement.

• In this stage, learning plateau occurs, after gaining the mastery on the concept, the learner feels bore and want to learn new thing.
• Once the curve hit a plateau when they are not willing to add new to their learning and the performance gets deteriorated. So the teacher should always introduce the same concept with innovative methods, this will overcome the boredom.
• An example of the plateau effect is when someone's exercise fails to be as effective as in the past, or due to feeling fatigued because of a repetitive or similar concept.

Hence, we conclude that Plateau in the learning curve is caused due to fatigue.

Bilateral transfer of learning occurs when there is the transfer of performance to one side of the body following training of the opposite side, eg. improved left-handed performance following right-handed training. You will verify the phenomenon by conducting a simple experiment as explained below.

Key Points

• Problem: To demonstrate the phenomenon of bilateral transfer of learning.
• Material Required: Mirror-drawing apparatus, stylus, stop watch, paper and pencil.

Procedure:

• The following instructions are to be given to the participant, “Look at this mirror, you will see a star image.
• The star image is a reflection of a pattern grooved on the wooden board and hidden by the screen. Take the stylus in your left hand (the experimenter will give the stylus to the participant and helps him/her to position it at the end of the nearest projection).
• Now you will have to look into the mirror image and trace the star pattern with the stylus. Be careful about the stylus not touching the edges of the groove.
• If you touch, it will be counted as an error. Try to do as speedily as possible.” After the participant traces the path once with the left hand, she/he is asked to trace the path again. Time taken and the number of errors committed are noted down.
• In the same way, now the participant is asked to trace the star pattern with the right hand for 10 trials. In each of these trials, the number of errors committed and the amount of time taken in seconds to complete the pattern are noted down. A
• gain the participant is asked to perform the same task in the same manner with the left hand, and the errors committed and time taken in seconds are noted down.
• Compare the time taken in seconds and errors committed in the first trial with left hand with that of the second trial with left hand (after training with right hand for ten trials). Find out whether there is any transfer of training in the second trial with left hand and also if it is positive, negative or zero transfer.

Hence, it is clear that Mirror drawing test is used to measure transfer of learning.

Cloud Picture Test is a psychometric test is used to measure the personality of an individual. This test is made by Williams Stern. It is design fantasy-stimuli which would avoid the disadvantages of the Rorschach Series. 

• It consists series of three pictures that resemble clouds rather than ink-blots. 
• Picture A offers the most distinct shades and forms.
• Picture C is the vaguest,
• Picture B occupies an intermediate position. There is no symmetry or other regularity in these pictures.
• In this test, the respondents are shown pictures of the cloud and asked what cloud resembles.
• The respondents observe the pictures of the cloud and respond to what kind of pictures he is seeing. This how the personality of an individual assesses.
• Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach replace these cloud with ten inkblot test.

​Hence, we conclude that the Cloud Picture Test is used to measure personality.

Physical development is regulated by a complex balance between the heredity/genetic constitution and the environmental factors, all interdependent. 

Key Points

Factors Influencing Physical Development

• Heredity Factors: Heredity refers to the genetic constitution of an individual which is established during conception. It is the property of organic beings by which offsprings have the nature and characteristics of parents or ancestors. The height of a child depends more on heredity, while the weight, though also influenced Physical and Motor Development by heredity.
• Environmental Factors: Though heredity and environment are closely inter-related and each human being at birth has a gene determined physical, mental, and biochemical potential. Environmental factors like nutrition, living standard, family surroundings, etc. This potential may not be reached because of environmental influences. Environment influences this potential only to a limited extent favorably or unfavorably.
• Health Factors: The children are highly vulnerable to the negative health consequences associated with many environmental exposures. Health factors like, physical exercise, sports, games, etc. These factors influencing the physical development of a child. These factors also influence the growth of an individual. So school should provide physical exercises and games for child physical development.

Hence, we conclude that all are the factors influencing Physical Development.

Intelligence Quotient is commonly known as IQ refers to the score of a standardized test that assesses and measures human intelligence.

• The first test to measure intelligence was developed by Binet and Simon in 1905.
• Terman in 1916 revised the test and devised the concept of Intelligence Quotient.
• An individual’s Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is determined by the formula given below,

\({\bf{Intelligence}};{\bf{Quotient}};\left( {{\bf{IQ}}} \right) = \frac{{{\bf{Mental}};{\bf{Age}};\left( {{\bf{MA}}} \right);}}{{{\bf{Chronological}};{\bf{Age}};\left( {{\bf{CA}}} \right)}} \times 100\)

• Where, Mental Age is based on intellectual development.
• Chronological Age is the number of years a person has lived.

Hence, it could be concluded that MA/CA × 100 is the correct formula to calculate IQ.

Additional Information

John Dewey: The work of Dewey (1933) is considered as the beginning of the study and application of reflection.

• For him, reflection is a kind of thinking, in the process of which one brings the subject to the forefront of the mind and gives serious thought to this.
• It is a process of manipulation of knowledge and its reprocessing towards the set goal, and so, it is goal-directed.
• One ‘thinks’ when in uncertainty or difficulty so as to solve the ‘perplexity’, and the process leads to testing through some action.
• Dewey believed that effective education through reflection should aim at ‘making sense of the world’, and therefore, this is related to experience.
• Learners are aware of and control their learning by active participation in reflective thinking.
• In the reflective experience in which the environment is used as the object of reflection.

Key Points

Dewey’s concept of reflective thought and action, depicted comprises five phases: 

• Disturbance and uncertainty
• Intellectualization
• Formation of Hypothesis
• Reasoning
• Hypothesis Testing.

Hence we conclude that John Dewey described 'reflective thinking'.

Inductive Reasoning is a way of proving a statement or generalizing a rule or principle by proving or showing that if a statement or a rule is true in one particular case, it will be true in cases, which appear in some serial order, and thus it may be applied generally to all such type of cases.

Important Points

The levels of inductive reasoning are below:

• Generalization: Inductive reasoning starts from particular facts or special examples and instances one can formulate generalized principles and conclusions in this type of reasoning.
• Observation: Inductive reasoning is called the 'Bottom-up' approach, moving from specific observations and measures to detect patterns and regularities, formulate some tentative hypotheses that can explore and end up developing general conclusions or theories.
• Experimentation: Experimentation is an essential feature of inductive reasoning. Experiments are artificially created or contrived situations designed to make certain observations under strictly controlled conditions. The objective sometimes is to mimic nature. This allows the complexity of natural phenomena to be simplified for step by step study.

Hence, we conclude that 'Imagination' is not included in the level of Inductive reasoning.

Forgetting: Forgetting is a failure to retrieve and retain information from long-term memory stores. Much of the information is lost but enough remains so that we have a sketchy record of our lives. Sometimes what we think is forgotten in real sense is not forgotten because it was never encoded and stored in the first place. 

Key Points

Causes of Forgetting:  Many students complain that they do not remember the contents after attending the class or forget after reading .the text. This happens due to :

• Many times we forget as memory does not match events that had occurred. This happens due to the constructive processes i.e. during encoding, the to-be-remembered information, interference due to similar material.
• Under-learning, some information does not reach short term memory from the sensory register.
• Defective methods of remembering: Inadequate encoding and rehearsal, the information may not have been transferred from short term to long term memory.

Additional Information

• Memory is the knowledge of a former state of mind after it has already once dropped from consciousness, or rather it is the knowledge of an event, or fact of which meantime we are not been thinking with the additional consciousness that we have thought or experienced before.
• Retention is part of memory to retain the information for a longer period of life.
• Thinking is the process of cognition that is related to memory.

Hence, we conclude that failure in retention and recall of learned content is forgetting.