ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

Course: Educational Psychology and Guidance (6501)

Semester: Spring, 2022
Level: M.A/M.Ed.
Registration No. 0000274658

Assignment 1

Q. 1 Psychology is the science of mind; Psychology is the science of behavior,

comparatively discuss these schools of thoughts and explain concept of psychology in
your own view.

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. It encompasses the biological influences, social
pressures, and environmental factors that affect how people think, act, and feel.

Gaining a richer and deeper understanding of psychology can help people achieve insights into their
own actions as well as a better understanding of other people.

Psychology is a broad and diverse field that encompasses the study of human thought, behavior,
development, personality, emotion, motivation, and more. As a result, some different subfields
and specialty areas have emerged. The following are some of the major areas of research and
application within psychology:

 Abnormal psychology is the study of abnormal behavior and psychopathology. This specialty
area is focused on research and treatment of a variety of mental disorders and is linked to
psychotherapy and clinical psychology.

 Biological psychology (biopsychology) studies how biological processes influence the mind
and behavior. This area is closely linked to neuroscience and utilizes tools such as MRI and
PET scans to look at brain injury or brain abnormalities.
 Clinical psychology is focused on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental
disorders.
 Cognitive psychology is the study of human thought processes including attention, memory,
perception, decision-making, problem-solving, and language acquisition.
 Comparative psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal
behavior.
 Developmental psychology is an area that looks at human growth and development over
the lifespan including cognitive abilities, morality, social functioning, identity, and other life
areas.
 Forensic psychology is an applied field focused on using psychological research and
principles in the legal and criminal justice system.
 Industrial-organizational psychology is a field that uses psychological research to enhance
work performance and select employees.
 Personality psychology focuses on understanding how personality develops as well as the
patterns of thoughts, behaviors, and characteristics that make each individual unique.
 Social psychology focuses on group behavior, social influences on individual behavior,
attitudes, prejudice, conformity, aggression, and related topics.
Uses

The most obvious application for psychology is in the field of mental health where psychologists use
principles, research, and clinical findings to help clients manage and overcome symptoms of mental
distress and psychological illness. Some of the additional applications for psychology include:

 Developing educational programs

 Ergonomics
 Informing public policy
 Mental health treatment
 Performance enhancement
 Personal health and well-being
 Psychological research
 Self-help
 Social program design
 Understanding child development
Impact of Psychology
Psychology is both an applied and academic field that benefits both individuals and society as a
whole. A large part of psychology is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues,
but that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impact of psychology.

Some of the ways that psychology contributes to individuals and society include:

 Improving our understanding of why people behave as they do

 Understanding the different factors that can impact the human mind and behavior
 Understanding issues that impact health, daily life, and well-being
 Improving ergonomics to improve product design
 Creating safer and more efficient workspaces
 Helping motivate people to achieve their goals
 Improving productivity
Psychologists accomplish these things by using objective scientific methods to understand, explain,
and predict human behavior. Psychological studies are highly structured, beginning with a
hypothesis that is then empirically tested.
Potential Pitfalls
There's a lot of confusion out there about psychology. Unfortunately, such misconceptions about
psychology abound in part thanks to stereotyped portrayals of psychologists in popular media as
well as the diverse career paths of those holding psychology degrees.
Sure, there are psychologists who help solve crimes, and there are plenty of professionals who help
people deal with mental health issues. However, there are also psychologists who:
 Contribute to creating healthier workplaces
 Design and implement public health programs
 Research airplane safety
 Help design technology and computer programs
 Study military life and the psychological impact of combat
No matter where psychologists work, their primary goals are to help describe, explain, predict, and
influence human behavior.
History of Psychology
Early psychology evolved out of both philosophy and biology. Discussions of these two subjects date
as far back as the early Greek thinkers, including Aristotle and Socrates.
The emergence of psychology as a separate and independent field of study truly came about when
Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.
Throughout psychology's history, various schools of thought have formed to explain the human mind
and behavior. In some cases, certain schools of thought rose to dominate the field of psychology for
a period of time.
The following are some of the major schools of thought in psychology.
 Structuralism: Wundt and Titchener's structuralism was the earliest school of thought, but
others soon began to emerge.
 Functionalism: The early psychologist and philosopher William James became associated
with a school of thought known as functionalism, which focused its attention on the purpose
of human consciousness and behavior.
 Psychoanalysis: Soon, these initial schools of thought gave way to several dominant and
influential approaches to psychology. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis centered on how the
unconscious mind impacted human behavior.
 Behaviorism: The behavioral school of thought turned away from looking at internal
influences on behavior and sought to make psychology the study of observable behaviors.
 Humanistic psychology: Later, the humanistic approach centered on the importance of
personal growth and self-actualization.
 Cognitive psychology: By the 1960s and 1970s, the cognitive revolution spurred the
investigation of internal mental processes such as thinking, decision-making, language
development, and memory.
While these schools of thought are sometimes perceived as competing forces, each perspective has
contributed to our understanding of psychology.
Q.2 Critically discuss different stages of physical and cognitive development from birth to
adolescent. Explain the role of environment in this process.

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different
stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire
knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence. Piaget’s stages are:

 Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years

 Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7
 Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11
 Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up
Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting much like little
scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As kids
interact with the world around them, they continually add new knowledge, build upon existing
knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information. Piaget was born in
Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student, publishing his first scientific paper when
he was just 11 years old. His early exposure to the intellectual development of children came when
he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon as they worked to standardize their
famous IQ test.
History of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student, publishing his first
scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early exposure to the intellectual development of
children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon as they worked
to standardize their famous IQ test.
Much of Piaget's interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by his observations
of his own nephew and daughter. These observations reinforced his budding hypothesis that
children's minds were not merely smaller versions of adult minds.
Piaget proposed that intelligence grows and develops through a series of stages. Older children do
not just think more quickly than younger children. Instead, there are both qualitative and
quantitative differences between the thinking of young children versus older children.
Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than adults—they
simply think differently. Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so simple only a genius could have
thought of it."
Piaget's stage theory describes the cognitive development of children. Cognitive development
involves changes in cognitive process and abilities.
In Piaget's view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later
progresses to changes in mental operations.
The Sensorimotor Stage
During this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through
sensory experiences and manipulating objects. A child's entire experience at the earliest period of
this stage occurs through basic reflexes, senses, and motor responses.
During the sensorimotor stage, children go through a period of dramatic growth and learning. As
kids interact with their environment, they continually make new discoveries about how the world
works.
The cognitive development that occurs during this period takes place over a relatively short time and
involves a great deal of growth. Children not only learn how to perform physical actions such as
crawling and walking; they also learn a great deal about language from the people with whom they
interact. Piaget also broke this stage down into substages. Early representational thought emerges
during the final part of the sensorimotor stage.
By learning that objects are separate and distinct entities and that they have an existence of their
own outside of individual perception, children are then able to begin to attach names and words to
objects.
The Preoperational Stage
The foundations of language development may have been laid during the previous stage, but the
emergence of language is one of the major hallmarks of the preoperational stage of development.
At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view
of other people. They also often struggle with understanding the idea of constancy.
For example, a researcher might take a lump of clay, divide it into two equal pieces, and then give a
child the choice between two pieces of clay to play with. One piece of clay is rolled into a compact
ball while the other is smashed into a flat pancake shape. Because the flat shape looks larger, the
preoperational child will likely choose that piece, even though the two pieces are exactly the same
size.
The Concrete Operational Stage
While children are still very concrete and literal in their thinking at this point in development, they
become much more adept at using logic. The egocentrism of the previous stage begins to disappear
as kids become better at thinking about how other people might view a situation.
While thinking becomes much more logical during the concrete operational state, it can also be very
rigid. Kids at this point in development tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts.
During this stage, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people
might think and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their
thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings,
and opinions.
The Formal Operational Stage
The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning,
and an understanding of abstract ideas. At this point, adolescents and young adults become capable
of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more scientifically about the world
around them.
The ability to thinking about abstract ideas and situations is the key hallmark of the formal
operational stage of cognitive development. The ability to systematically plan for the future and
reason about hypothetical situations are also critical abilities that emerge during this stage.
Important Concepts
It is important to note that Piaget did not view children's intellectual development as a quantitative
process. That is, kids do not just add more information and knowledge to their existing knowledge as
they get older.
Instead, Piaget suggested that there is a qualitative change in how children think as they gradually
process through these four stages. At age 7, children don't just have more information about the
world than they did at age 2; there is a fundamental change in how they think about the world.
Piaget suggested several factors that influence how children learn and grow.
Schemas
A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and
knowing. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world.
In Piaget's view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that
knowledge. As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change
previously existing schemas.
For example, a child may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a dog. If the child's sole
experience has been with small dogs, a child might believe that all dogs are small, furry, and have
four legs. Suppose then that the child encounters an enormous dog. The child will take in this new
information, modifying the previously existing schema to include these new observations.
Assimilation
The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as assimilation.
The process is somewhat subjective because we tend to modify experiences and information slightly
to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. In the example above, seeing a dog and labeling it "dog" is a
case of assimilating the animal into the child's dog schema.
Accommodation
Another part of adaptation is the ability to change existing schemas in light of new information; this
process is known as accommodation. New schemas may also be developed during this process.
Equilibration
As children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to maintain a
balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing behavior to account for
new knowledge (accommodation).
Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation
using a mechanism he called equilibration. Equilibration helps explain how children can move from
one stage of thought to the next.
Q.3 Evaluate Psychosocial Crises theory by Erik Erikson. What are the major implications
of this theory for teaching learning process?
 To study changes in individuals over time, developmental psychologists use systematic
observation; self-reports, clinical interviews, or structured observation; case studies;
and ethnography or participant observation.
 Three common research methods are the experimental method (which investigates cause
and effect), correlational method (which explores relationships between variables), and
the case study approach (which provides in-depth information about a particular case).
 Regardless of whether studies employ the experimental, correlational, or case study
methodology, they can use research designs or logical frameworks to make key comparisons
within research studies.
 Common research designs include longitudinal, cross-sectional, sequential, and microgenetic
designs.
Developmental psychology employs many of the research methods used in other areas of
psychology; however, infants and children cannot be tested in the same ways as adults. To study
changes in individuals over time, developmental psychologists use systematic observation, including
naturalistic or structured observation; self-reports, which could be clinical interviews or structured
observation; clinical or case study methods; and ethnography or participant observation. Three
research methods used include the experimental, correlational, and case study approach.
Experimental Research

The experimental method involves actual manipulation of treatments, circumstances, or events to

which the participant or subject is exposed. This design points to cause-and-effect relationships and
thus allows for strong inferences to be made about causal relationships between the manipulation
of one or more independent variables and subsequent subject behavior. A limit to this method is
that the artificial environment in which the experiment is conducted may not be applicable to the
general population.

Correlational Research
The correlational method explores the relationship between two or more events by gathering
information about these variables without researcher intervention. The advantage of using a
correlational design is that it estimates the strength of a relationship among variables in the natural
environment. However, the limitation is that it can only indicate that a relationship exists between
the variables; it cannot determine which one caused the other.
Case Study
In a case study, developmental psychologists collect a great deal of information from one individual
in order to better understand physical and psychological changes over his or her lifespan. Data can
be collected through the use of interviews, structured questionnaires, observation, and test scores.
This particular approach is an excellent way to better understand individuals who are exceptional in
some way, but it is especially prone to researcher bias in interpretation, and it is difficult to
generalize conclusions to the larger population.
Research Designs
Regardless of whether studies employ the experimental, correlational, or case study methodology,
they can use research designs or logical frameworks to make key comparisons within research
studies. These include longitudinal, cross-sectional, sequential, and microgenetic designs.
Longitudinal Design
In a longitudinal study, a researcher observes many individuals born at or around the same time
(a cohort) and carries out new observations as members of the cohort age. This method can be used
to draw conclusions about which types of development are universal (or normative) and occur in
most members of a cohort. Researchers may also observe ways that development varies between
individuals and hypothesize the causes of such variation. Longitudinal studies often require large
amounts of time and funding, making them unfeasible in some situations. Also, because members of
a cohort all experience historical events unique to their generation, apparently normative
developmental trends may only be universal to the cohort itself.

Cross-Sectional Design

In a cross-sectional study, a researcher observes differences between individuals of different

ages at the same time. This generally requires fewer resources than the longitudinal method,
and because the individuals come from different cohorts, shared historical events are not as
unique. However, this method may not be the most effective way to study differences
between participants, as these differences may result not from their different ages but from
their exposure to different historical events.

Cross-Sequential Design

Cross-sequential designs combine both longitudinal and cross-sectional design

methodologies. A researcher observes members of different birth cohorts at the same time,
and then tracks all participants over time, charting changes in the groups. While much more
resource-intensive, this method results in a clearer distinction between changes that can be
attributed to individual or historical environment and changes that are truly universal.

Microgenetic Design

Microgenetic design studies the same cohort over a short period of time. In contrast to
longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, which provide broad outlines of the process of
change, microgenetic designs provide an in-depth analysis of children's behavior while it is
changing.

Q.4 Evaluate the concept of Master Learning. Explain the ways to ensure and
assess mastery learning in teaching learning process.

Concept learning describes the process by which experience allows us to partition objects in the
world into classes for the purpose of generalization, discrimination, and inference. Models of
concept learning have adopted one of three contrasting views concerning category representation.
In prototype theories, the concept learning process is assumed to yield an abstract representation
corresponding to the central tendency of the category exemplars on each of the dimensions of
variation. In exemplar models, the concept is simply the set of mental representations of all of the
category exemplars that have been previously observed, with each instance assumed to be stored as
a separate trace. In decision rule models, the learner is assumed to construct a boundary or rule in
psychological space which partitions it into different category regions. These different models, and
some of the evidence supporting each of them, are considered in turn. Next, the role of selective
attention in categorization, and the way in which the different models deal with selective attention,
is discussed. Evidence that categorization may be controlled by multiple mechanisms is evaluated,
and finally the fine-scale dynamics (i.e., time course) and some aspects of the neuropsychology of
categorization are reviewed.

What is Mastery Learning?

Mastery Learning, also known as Learning for Mastery (LFM) and Mastery Education, is an
educational philosophy that shifts the definition of student aptitude. In the traditional approach,
content is taught for a set amount of time, and a student’s aptitude is based on how much they
learned in that amount of time. In Mastery Learning, a student’s aptitude is based on how long they
need to master the content, and all students (given enough time and intervention) are assumed to
be able to eventually master the content.

What is the Purpose of Mastery Learning?

The purpose of Mastery Learning is to ensure that students truly master each course’s subject
material before moving on to the next course. In a traditional model, students who do not master
the content in the set amount of time are rarely, if ever, given additional time and opportunity to re-
learn what they missed. These students often fall farther and farther behind, which leads to many
seeing themselves (and being seen by others) as unable to learn successfully.

However, grading students via Mastery Learning removes this stigma, as the learning for mastery
model provides students with as much time and intervention as they need to truly understand, and
thus master, course material. This ensures that students master the formative content necessary to
move into increasingly complex material. Students who approach learning this way see themselves
as capable of learning. They are often far more ready to engage with the material and more resilient
in the face of struggle.

Mastery Learning vs. Standards-Based Grading

Mastery Learning, or Mastery Education, is actually intertwined with Standards-Based Grading. It is

difficult to move towards a mastery approach without Standards-Based Grading as a foundation.
One could say that Standards-Based Grading is the what and Mastery Learning is the how.

A school, its district, or even its county or state must first decide what a student needs to master.
Standards-Based Grading provides specific learning targets to provide students, teachers, and
parents with a clear picture of a student’s learning goals and progress with actionable insight.

Mastery Learning is how a student moves from not knowing the learning targets to mastering (or
becoming fully competent in) the targets based on the actionable insight that the Standards-Based
Grading provides. The Mastery Learning model does this by providing students with as much time
and intervention as they need to become competent in their learning.

How Does Mastery Learning Work?

The Mastery Learning model works cyclically through five stages: pre-assessment, instruction,
formative assessment, correction or enrichment instruction, and summative grading or assessment.

Pre-Assessment

First, a teacher will introduce course material that is connected to the standard they must teach
through a pre-assessment. The purpose of this pre-assessment is to ensure students have previously
mastered the skills or knowledge necessary to move into the current material. If the students do not
have the needed competencies, the teacher moves backward to ensure students master the
previous material before moving forward.

Instruction

Once students have exhibited competency in the foundational skills or knowledge necessary for the
current material, the teacher will begin instruction. It is essential that teachers clearly communicate
the mastery grading scale they will use to determine if students have achieved competency.

Formative Assessment

After the instruction stage, teachers will assess students’ skills and knowledge through formative
assessment. Formative assessment can measure student competencies through a variety of
methods, from exit tickets to homework assignments to classroom polls.

Correction or Enrichment Instruction

Once teachers get a gauge of where students are in the mastery process, they can differentiate as
necessary. Students who demonstrate high competency can continue to grow their knowledge and
skill set through personalized enrichment instruction (which often happens in small groups), while
those who have not demonstrated mastery can receive additional personalized instruction and
practice opportunities from the teacher.

Summative Assessment

The final step in the process is the summative assessment. Once a teacher believes all students are
at or close to mastery, they offer a cumulative test, essay, or project to assess if each student has
mastered the content. Most Mastery Learning models recommend students score a minimum of
80% to be considered at the “master” level. How teachers assess this as a percentage is often left up
to the teacher or school administration. Those who do not score at the master level simply require
additional time and support to reach that level of competency.

Benefits of Mastery Learning

Mastery Learning Sets Students Up to Succeed

In a traditional school model, teachers only have a set amount of time to teach a topic. Students
who don’t grasp the content are left behind because the teacher must move on to the next topic.
This system invariably sets up some students for success but more students for failure, simply
because students need different amounts of time to learn material due to a plethora of variables—
often outside the students’ control. In this system, there will always be students who fall increasingly
behind.

A Mastery Learning model, on the other hand, focuses on every student and the journey toward
growth, and ideally, mastery. It provides students with as much time and intervention as needed, so
each student is ready to move on to the next level. Studies show that Mastery Learning closes the
gap between aptitude levels by providing slower students with enough time to learn, and faster
students with enough enrichment that they remain engaged with the material, so every student
succeeds.

Mastery Learning Inspires a Love of Learning for the Sake of Learning

The shift from ability-based aptitude to time-based aptitude moves the weight of perceived
intelligence off a student’s shoulders. Instead of students in the traditional model constantly
competing to keep up and then potentially giving up when they realize they have fallen behind,
students in the Mastery Learning model begin to understand that their aptitude is based solely on
their decision to put in the time and work necessary to learn the material.

Grades are no longer a competition; rather, each student is working towards what will best set them
up for mastering the necessary content so all students can move forward together. Learning is far
more collaborative, and teachers often report that students engaged in Mastery Learning begin to
explore the content for a love of learning, not for fear of a bad grade.

Mastery Learning Puts the Responsibility for Learning in the Hands of the Students

As teachers create learning environments that foster students’ individual learning needs to truly
master the content, students begin to realize they must advocate for themselves when they don’t
understand something. Teachers often report growth in students’ motivation, sense of control over
their education, and resilience as students find agency in navigating through their learning process.

Students can no longer blame bad grades on bad teaching; rather, they are given as much time and
as many opportunities as they need until they master the content. They work with the teacher to
understand any learning blocks until they find the path that works for them to best understand and
master the content.

Q.5 Comparatively discuss the role and implications of cognitive and associative theories
of learning.

It appears to be a simple task to define what we mean by the term learning. After all we have spent
our entire lives learning new things. When asked to provide a definition of learning we usually offer
such responses as:

· Knowing something you didn’t know before.

· Gaining knowledge and skills.
· Acquiring information that you can use in new situations.
· Benefiting from instruction.
· Developing your intelligence.
· Acquiring a different perspective on the world.
Learning as a phenomenon has always fascinated people in many different disciplines, and there are
many theories and thoughts about what learning is. Learning is relatively permanent change in
mental processing, emotional functioning, and/or behavior as a result of experience.
Learning is the process of understanding, clarifying, and applying the meaning of the knowledge
acquired. Furthermore, it can also be an exploration, discovery, refinement, and extension of the
learner’s meaning of knowledge. Overall, learning occurs when an individual’s behavior or
knowledge changes.
Learning has also been defined from the perspectives of two major bodies of learning theory to
explain how people learn: behaviorism and cognitivism.
Associative learning can be defined as a type of learning in which a behavior is linked to a new
stimulus. It highlights that our ideas and experiences are connected and cannot be recalled in
isolation. Psychologists point out that in most situations our learning is a connected experience.
According to them, associative learning can take place through two types of conditioning. They are,

1. Classical conditioning
2. Operant conditioning
The term conditioning came into psychology with the Behavioral perspective. Psychologists such as
Pavlov, Skinner and Watson stressed that human behavior was an important feature in psychology.
With the theories of conditioning, they pointed out how behavior can be altered, or new behavior
can be created with the assistance of new stimuli from the surrounding environment. In associative
learning, this line of thought is pursued.

Through classical conditioning, Ivan Pavlov pointed out how a completely unrelated stimulus can
create a response in an organism through the use of a dog and a bell. Usually, a dog would salivate
at the sight of food, but not at the hearing of a bell. Through his experiment, Pavlov highlights how a
conditioned response can be created for a conditioned stimulus.

Skinner in his experiments of operant conditioning presented how rewards and punishments can be
used to train new behavior. In Associative learning, this pairing of a new stimulus with behavior can
thus be examined.
Cognitive learning can be defined as the learning processes where individuals acquire and process
information. The key difference between associative learning and cognitive learning is, unlike in
associative learning where the focus is on the behavior and external stimuli, in cognitive learning the
focus is on the human cognition.
According to cognitive learning theories, people learn things both consciously and unconsciously.
When consciously learning the individual makes an effort to learn and store new information. In the
case of unconscious learning, this naturally takes place.
When speaking of cognitive theories there are mainly two types. They are,
1. Social cognitive theory
2. Cognitive behavioral theory
According to the social cognitive theory, personal, environmental and behavioral factors influence
learning. On the other hand, in the cognitive behavioral theory of Aaron Beck, he points out how
cognition determines the behavior of the individual.
Definitions of Associative and Cognitive Learning:
Associative Learning: Associative learning can be defined as a type of learning in which a behavior is
linked to a new stimulus.
Cognitive Learning: Cognitive learning can be defined as the learning processes where individuals
acquire and process information.
Characteristics of Associative and Cognitive Learning:
Focus:
Associative Learning: The focus is on the impact of new stimuli.
Cognitive Learning: The focus is on the mental processes.
Types:
Associative Learning: Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning can be considered as types of
associative learning.
Cognitive Learning: Social cognitive theory and cognitive behavioral theory are two theories that
explain cognitive learning and different variables included in the learning process.