Educational Psychology Viewpoints

Conflicting psychological viewpoints among behaviorists like Thorndike 's connectionism and Dewey 's functionalism did not ease the psychological view points among educational theorists as noted by (Bode, 1929). As a result Gestalt psychology was creating excitement in Europe as a psychology of perception, emphasizing the wholeness properties not so much in terms of educational psychology but in terms of perception studies (Berlinger, 1996, Walberg and Haertel, 1992, Hilgard, 1996). The nature of Gestalt view point did not hold well among American and European educational psychologists because seems to follow few organismic laws, learning was hypothetical rather than actual, and fictional in nature. These viewpoints were not appealing to educational psychology and the viewpoint did not last long in the educational psychology arena (Berlinger, 1996, Walberg and Haertel, 1992, Hilgard, 1996).

The psychoanalysis movement in Europe and America publication concerning psychoanalysis viewpoints were making its way through the literature. However, educational psychologists did not use the viewpoint even though Freud ideas were readily accessible at the time. Primarily most of the European psychoanalysts who came to America in the late 1930,s did not make an influence felt like the early pioneers from s William James era. For the next few decades psychoanalytic influence came from immigrant scholar across United States such as Bruno Bettelhein (1948), Peter Blos (1941), Erik Erickson (1950/1963) who had messages for educators about the importance of psychoanalysis in education (Berlinger, 1996, Walberg and Haertel, 1992, Hilgard, 1996). It was apparent that conflicting themes in education at the end of the 1930s lacked the enthusiastic flavor and heroic of the early years prior and after World War I and World War II (Berlinger, 1996, Walberg and Haertel, 1992, Hilgard, 1996).

Researchers, philosophers, and psychologists formulated paradigms that became formal theories of psychology and education over the years. The events and heroic pioneers open new doors for educators to explore the theoretical paradigms that established not a line of demarcation between education and psychology but rather an integration of both disciplines.

Educational psychology textbooks