Table Of ContentPSYCHOLOGICAL
FOUNDATIONS
OF EDUCATION
LEARN I NG AND TEACH I NG
B. CLAUDE MATHIS
Northwestern University
JOHN W. COTTON
Uniaersity of California, Santa Barbara
LEE SECHREST
Northwestern University
ACADEMIC PRESS New York and London
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PREFACE
Nearly a decade has elapsed since the funding by the Carnegie
Corporation of a proposal advanced by Northwestern University which
had as its major objective the development of closer working relation
ships between a department of psychology known for its experimental
commitments and a school of education which has some reputation for
plotting an independent course in teacher education. Among the con
tributions of Northwestern faculty members to that project were papers
by Benton J. Underwood on verbal learning and education, Donald T.
Campbell (with Julian Stanley) on experimental and quasiexperimental
designs in education, Carl P. Duncan on problem solving, Robert I.
Watson on the history of educational psychology, Winfred F. Hill on
learning theory and identification, and Lee Sechrest (with R. Wray
Strowig) on teaching machines and programmed instruction. In addi
tion, a symposium on learning, "Can the Laws of Learning Be Applied in
the Classroom?," produced papers by Kenneth Spence and Arthur
Melton.
The Carnegie Project at Northwestern stimulated much interaction
between psychologists and educators on the problems and challenges of
education. One result of this interaction is Psychological Foundations of
Education, which includes content from both general and educational
psychology using the classroom as the organizer of the material. We feel
this approach has at least two implications. First, it requires some de-
emphasis of topics such as sensory and animal psychology, which are
xv
xvi Preface
often dominant in the general psychology curriculum. Second, given the
present conceptual status of basic problems in psychology such as learn
ing, motivation, and development, it suggests that the apparent dicho
tomies of knowledge represented by the classifications of general and
educational psychology are no longer realistic, if indeed they ever were.
An examination of textbooks available today for general and educa
tional psychology courses reveals an overlap of basic topics with the
latter course often appearing to be a furbishing of general psychology
material with classroom examples and references to educational research.
A prime criterion for including any topic in an educational psychology
book is relevance to teaching, which is a worthy standard. If the topic,
however, represents one previously learned in a general psychology
course, then a second criterion, the conscious effort to produce overlearn-
ing and transfer of repeated material, must also exist. Or perhaps this
duplication of material may be less than conscious, deriving simply from
intraprofessional differences among psychologists. Psychological Founda
tions of Education suggests an alternate answer to the problem of the
bifurcation of general and educational psychology in the curriculum of
teacher preparation. Our solution is provisional and has obvious imper
fections. We offer it, however, in the hope that we may stimulate discus
sion of the problem and other solutions and/or explicit justifications for
past practice.
This text should have a variety of uses in classes where students are
preparing for teaching. It was written specifically for those situations
in which the prospective teacher is introduced to psychology through a
one- or two-semester integrated sequence. The instructor in such a situa
tion may wish to use the chapters in the order in which they appear.
Administrative convenience may prevent such an arrangement; therefore,
we offer some alternate organizations of chapters for other teaching
situations. Instructors in a general psychology course intended for future
teachers may wish to cover Chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 16.
Instructors in an educational psychology course with a general psy
chology prerequisite may wish to present Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,
14, 15, and 17. The boldface numbered chapters in each case represent
possible sources of overlap between the two courses, to be omitted or
not as local conditions and the instructor's judgment dictate.
We do not consider our coverage of the material exhaustive, but we
have attempted to organize all the chapters so that their relevance for
teaching is either implicit or explicit. We hope the future educator who
reads this book will leave it with a clearer understanding of psychology
as a science and the contributions the science can make to teaching and
the process of education. One of the major values held by educators
Preface xvii
today is the concept of relevance. Our attempts at relevance will be
particularly noted in the chapters recommended above for the educa
tional psychology course. There the explicit focus is upon students and
teachers in their respective educational roles.
Reading this book in no way substitutes for perceptive, meaningful
experiences with students in a classroom. Learning to teach is more than
understanding a textbook. However, if the contents of this book help
future teachers prepare for methods courses, practice teaching, and the
professional teaching career itself, we shall be content.
No book would be complete without an acknowledgment of the efforts
of the many persons other than the authors whose contributions have
helped to produce that volume. We would especially like to recognize
Cleo Dietz and Dorothy Damewood for their help in typing the manu
script, Cynthia George for the many permission letters which she wrote,
Dennis Ridley for assistance with the Index, Michael Byer for his editing
skills, and Carolyn Cotton for her skills in proofreading.
Writing a textbook is inevitably a family affair. Our wives and children
are to be commended for the patience and support which they gave to a
project which all too frequently required the subordination of their
interests to the priorities of the manuscript.
Last, we should like to recognize the invaluable assistance given by
those with whom we worked at Academic Press.
1
PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION
Although psychological lore is so familiar, few of us attain a well-
rounded understanding of psychology from everyday experience.
This book reports some unusual facts of psychology and includes many
topics you may not be familiar with. Since this book is intended primarily
for persons interested in teaching, our emphasis is on the aspects of
psychology relevant to education. However, the chapters presented here
should give readers a clearer understanding of the science of psychology
generally, and of the commitments and points of view of psychologists
who translate the science into professional activity.
What Is Psychology?
Psychology is two things: an academic discipline and a technology.
As an academic discipline, psychology is the scientific study of the
behavior of human beings and of animals. As a technology, psychology
is the means of changing behavior by applying the findings of academic
psychology, combined with intelligent guesses where knowledge is lack
ing. Let us pursue what is meant by these two statements. Behavior—
what living things do—is the raison d'etre of psychology. At some time
or another psychologists have studied almost all aspects of life. Some of
the activities studied seem to fit better in fields other than psychology.
However, regardless of its relevance to biology, political science, religion,
or other disciplines, all behavior can be explained in part by psychological
principles and all deserve psychological investigation.
1
2 Chapter One
To say that psychology is a scientific study is to say that psychologists
choose to do research governed by scientific standards. Science, when
approached abstractly, may appear to have one set of absolute standards
for what is or is not scientific. As long as the product of science results
from the activity of men, there will be variations in the interpretation of
the standards representing science. Nevertheless, scientists generally
agree on some of the basic attributes of scientific activity necessary to
any discipline that deserves the label "scientific." Several of these basic
standards will be illustrated in this book. In general, scientists typically
favor:
1. Fact over "expert" opinion
2. Logic over intuition
3. Purity of research methods over speed of gaining knowledge
To learn whether one unidentified cola drink actually tastes sufficiently
different from another to be correctly identified consistently one must
look for factual evidence ( 3 ). When seeking facts, one does not ask one's
neighbor for an opinion nor judge by statements in a television com
mercial. To find out whether a "burning desire" to win is enough to make
an athlete the world's champion high jumper, we need to ask two logical
questions. First, how can we express a "burning desire to win" in a way
that can be measured, and second, how does it relate to the jumping
performance of the athlete? Similarly, to find out about the improvement
of elementary school children's reading skills, one does not ask their
parents. The scientific answer to the question could involve the assess
ment of evidence from many different sources (7).
Now look at psychology as a technology. This aspect of psychology
can best be understood by observing the psychologists who apply the
facts of psychology in their professional relationships. An applied psy
chologist is much like other psychologists in that he tries to influence
people's actions. The many kinds of applied psychologists try to influence
people in different ways. An industrial psychologist works to improve
employee morale, increase production, and decrease labor turnover. A
clinical psychologist works to alleviate or even prevent people's emotional
disorders. An educational psychologist helps school planners develop the
best in learning methods and techniques for students.
Comparisons suggest that applied psychologists and nonpsychologists
often try to achieve the same goals. What distinguishes the actions of the
psychologist from the nonpsychologist? The difference is twofold. First,
each uses different tools for his tasks: For example, a psychologist gives
individual intelligence tests, but a teacher does not. Second, even when
doing the same tasks, each emphasizes different aspects. In counseling a
child with reading problems, a psychologist uses a different body of
Psychology and Education 3
TABLE 1-1
Distribution of Psychologists among the Various Subfields of Psychology (4)
Percentage
1960 1962 1964
N = 15,257 N = 16,791 N = 16,804
Subfield % % %
Clinical 39 37 37
Counseling and guidance 12 12 11
Developmental psychology 2 3 3
Educational psychology 8 9 8
Engineering psychology0 2
Experimental, comparative, and 11 13 11
physiological psychology
General psychology 1 1 1
Industrial and personnel psychology 10 10 8
Personality 3 3 3
Psychometrics 3 3 3
School psychology 5 4 6
Social 5 4 6
Other 1 1 1
0 Did not appear on the Specialties List of the 1960 and 1962 surveys.
research findings and professional practices than does a social worker
or a teacher.
Some of the many areas of specialization within the field of psychology
are listed in Table 1-1, showing the percentage of psychologists engaged
in each. These data, summarized for the years 1960, 1962, and 1964, were
obtained from a recent study of manpower in psychology reported by
the American Psychological Association (4). Table 1-2, also from this
study, shows how these psychologists are distributed vocationally—that
is, where they work. The tables indicate that many psychologists are
employed in an educational setting, either in a college or university or in
a public school system. But in all the subfields of psychology the common
denominator is people studying human behavior scientifically. In this
book the area of specialization emphasized is educational psychology.
However, it will be apparent that the scientific approach is shared by all
psychologists.
The Purposes of Psychological Study
If psychology is an academic discipline employing scientific methods
for the study of behavior, what is the purpose of this study? For some it
may be a curiosity to discover what people are like, prompting the
2
TABLE 1-2>
C
Employers o/ Psychologists ( 4 ) h
a
p
Secondary Not em ter
College and Federal Other Nonprofit ployed or O
n
and uni school govern govern organiza Self- not re e
versity systems ment ment Military tions Industry employed Other ported
Subfield N % % % % % % % % % %
Clinical 6,151 22 7 10 22 1 14 2 14 2 5
Counseling and 1,831 51 10 10 8 <1 10 2 4 1 3
guidance
Developmental 510 65 3 3 6 1 9 <1 2 2 9
Educational 1,427 56 20 2 6 <1 4 3 1 3 4
Engineering 377 7 0 14 1 7 9 60 <1 1 1
Experimental, com 1,912 68 1 9 3 2 6 7 1 1 4
parative, and
physiological
General 141 76 1 2 3 1 4 0 1 0 12
Industrial and 1,367 19 1 9 3 2 5 51 6 2 3
personnel
Personality 479 67 2 7 7 1 7 1 3 1 4
Psychometrics 467 50 1 16 5 1 10 11 1 1 3
School 939 10 68 1 10 0 1 1 <1 3 6
Social 1,004 70 1 6 3 2 7 5 2 1 3
Other 199 35 2 6 9 1 11 6 6 1 23
All subfields 16,804 39 10 8 11 1 9 8 7 2 5
Psychology and Education 5
observer to watch what they do and record his findings. Other psychol
ogists may study behavior because they want to understand behavior.
Still others would like to be able to predict what will happen in certain
situations. A fourth type of psychologist may seek to influence or control
other people.
Research directed primarily by curiosity can answer whatever ques
tions the curious person may raise: At what age can the average child
first say a three-word sentence? How soundly do most people sleep? Do
left-handed people learn differently from right-handed people? Can
babies select a balanced diet if free to choose? Do children learn to read
better by one method than by another? Is pica or elite type easier to
read? Is prolonged hunger more severe than prolonged thirst? The
hundreds of facts garnered from the answers to such a group of questions
could comprise the material for a handbook on behavior.
But if a psychologist's curiosity is completely unchanneled, the ques
tions he answers may be as unrelated as those just raised. He functions
to produce a descriptive psychology, which tells much about many
things but does not connect any one thing to anything else. If, however,
the answer to one question leads him to ask one related to it, he is help
ing to build an organized body of knowledge. After finding at what age a
child first says a three-word sentence, he asks: What words are most
often found in the child's vocabulary at this period? How large must his
vocabulary be before he utters such a sentence? How many words like
"wa-wa" will an infant create for use with his own family before he
replaces them with the actual words his parents employ? The result of
this proliferation of research on related questions is a developing psy
chology which is systematic as well as descriptive. We are still describ
ing behavior, but we are trying to describe it in a systematic way. Only
thus can the hypothetical handbook mentioned above contain chapters
on infant speech, sleep, animal memory, food preferences, running speeds
of rats, legibility of different types, comparisons of different needs, and
so on.
Yet the psychologist who wants to understand behavior will still be
dissatisfied ( 1 ). If he finds that babies can select a balanced diet for them
selves (5), he wants to know why. He may have discovered many facts
about this food-selection procedure, but he is dissatisfied until he knows
why it occurs. Do the organs of taste become more sensitive to the foods
the child needs but has not been getting? Does a needed food taste
better than an unneeded one? If two foods of different food value taste
very much the same, like sugar and sucaryl, will the child choose the one
he needs? These questions are in fact hunches or hypotheses about the
reasons for the findings. As the psychologist learns which hypotheses are
