Theories in Educational Psychology

Educational psychologists study learners and learning contexts — both within and beyond
traditional classrooms — and evaluate ways in which factors such as age, culture, gender, and
physical and social environments influence human learning. They leverage educational theory
and practice based on the latest research related to human development to understand the
emotional, cognitive, and social aspects of human learning.

What Is Educational Psychology?

Educational psychology can influence programs, curricula, and lesson development, as well as
classroom management approaches. For example, educators can use concepts from education
psychology to understand and address the ways rapidly changing technologies both help and
harm their students' learning. In addition, educational psychologists play an important role in
educating teachers, parents or guardians, and administrators about best practices for learners who
struggle with conventional education methods.

As psychologists, these educational psychologists often work directly with children — and in
collaboration with parents or guardians and teachers — to improve a child's learning outcomes.
However, educational psychologists can also pursue careers as researchers, consultants, and
teachers in a variety of contexts, including schools, community organizations, government
research centers, and learning centers.

Key Theories in Educational Psychology

Although educational psychology programs include numerous theories, many experts identify
five main schools of thought: behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, experientialism, and
social contextual learning theories. The following summarizes these five major theory groups
and outlines the key theorists, definition, history, principles, and applications for each.

To expand on these theory groups, we spoke with Aimee Maxwell, Ph.D., a licensed
psychologist who provides further insight into these concepts.

Behaviorism

Key Theorists: Edward Thorndike, Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner

Definition and Background

Behaviorist learning theories first emerged in the late 19th century from the work of Edward
Thorndike and Ivan Pavlov. They were popularized during the first half of the 20th century
through the work of John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, and others.
Behaviorism defines learning as observable behavioral change that occurs in response to
environmental stimuli. Maxwell explains, "Behaviorism suggests we do what we do because of
what happens around us environmentally, not because of what’s inside us innately."

Positive stimuli — or "rewards" — create positive associations between the reward and a given
behavior; these associations prompt one to repeat that behavior. Meanwhile, negative stimuli —
or "punishments" — discourage the behaviors associated with those stimuli. Through this
process of conditioning, people learn to either repeat or avoid behaviors. Maxwell adds, "A bit
blank slate-ish, behaviorism suggests that we learn because we get rewards and punishments that
make us approach or avoid ways of being."

Because early behaviorists tried to legitimize psychology as a science, their theories emphasized
external, scientifically measurable behavioral changes in response to similarly measurable
stimuli.

Although they admit that thought and emotion influence learning, behaviorists either dismiss
these factors as phenomena beyond the realm of scientific inquiry (methodological behaviorism)
or convert internal factors into behavioral terms (neobehaviorism/radical behaviorism).

Assuming that changes in behavior signify learning, methodological behaviorists see no

fundamental difference between human and animal learning processes, and they often conduct
comparative research on animals.

Key Principle(s)

Behaviorism relies on the prediction or analysis of behavior based on causal stimuli, while
education uses the process of positive and negative reinforcement to encourage or discourage
behaviors. This school of thought emphasizes behavior's learned causes over its biological one;
therefore, behaviorism deeply values the ability of education to shape individuals.

Behaviorist learning theory distinguishes between classical and operative conditioning. The
former involves natural responses to environmental stimuli, while the latter involves the
reinforcement of a response to stimuli. Using a process often called "programmatic instruction,"
educators use operative conditioning to reinforce positive and correct negative learnings that
often accompany classical conditioning.

Behaviorist theories ascribe to a reductionist approach, which dictates that breaking behavior
down into parts is the best way to understand it. Other schools of thought critique behaviorism
for underemphasizing biological and unconscious factors, denying free will, equating humans
with animals, and overlooking internal learning processes or types of learning that occur without
reinforcement.

Application
Behaviorism has significantly shaped the disciplines of psychology and education, illuminating
major influencing factors in human behavior and learning. In psychology, both behavior
modification and behavior therapy owe their origins to behaviorism.

Meanwhile, behaviorist insights underlie many of the teaching methods still used today in
homes, classrooms, workplaces, and other contexts. The widespread use of learning objectives,
for example, breaks down larger learning goals into a series of specific skills and behaviors
desired from a student.

Behaviorism also influences the sequence and methods used during the teaching and learning
process. Teachers work toward their desired objectives by using external stimuli, explaining and
demonstrating a skill or behavior, and then inviting student practice and providing feedback that
reinforces the behaviors or skills they wish students to learn or unlearn.

Maxwell says, "The idea of measuring behaviors to assess acquired learning is deeply embedded
through most educational systems, as is a system of rules with punishments and rewards
designed to corral a learner into knowledge."

Cognitivism

Key Theorists: Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Robert Mills Gagne, Marriner David Merill, Charles
Reigeluth, and Roger Schank

Definition and Background

Cognitive psychology emerged in the 1950s and became dominant in the 1960s. Departing from
the comparative emphasis of behaviorists, cognitivists see human beings as rational creatures
quite different from animals. Consequently, cognitive theory explores the complexities of the
human mind as it processes information.

It views behavior as a result of one's thoughts. Maxwell states that cognitivists "try to understand
how we learn, think, and behave by looking at how our mind works to process, integrate,
perceive, decide, emote, and understand existence. Cognitivism helps us see how we use our
previous knowledge and experiences to learn new things and develop."

Using the computer as a metaphor for the human mind, cognitivists see learning as a product of
mental faculties and activities, including thought, knowledge, memory, motivation, reflection,
and problem-solving. Recasting learning as the acquisition of knowledge and the development of
understanding, this approach emphasizes reading and lecture as learning modalities.

Rather than measuring learning based on observable behaviors, cognitivists evaluate learning
based on a learner's demonstration of knowledge and understanding.
Maxwell says, "Like all good structures, they’ve come up with some useful rules of thumb for
optimized learning. Here’s four of them: 1. Make sure the learning has a relevant purpose. 2.
Ensure that the learner is focused. 3. Encourage the learner to move towards their own goals. 4.
Arrange teaching to foster discovery of ideas and support the learner in slotting those new ideas
into whole-mind understanding, at their own pace."

Key Principle(s)

Cognitive psychology understands knowledge acquisition schematically and symbolically. It

posits learning as the process of changing a learner's mental model or schematic understanding of
knowledge.

In this view, human behavior reflects internal processing of the human mind, rather than simply
a conditioned response to external stimuli. Learning involves the integration of information into
a stored and usable body of knowledge.

Cognitive psychology derives, in part, from Jean Piaget's stages of development, which depend
on biological factors such as age. Learning capacity and activity change over time as a person
moves through life. For example, although older people have accumulated more knowledge, they
do not always remain as teachable due to their tendency to adopt a more fixed outlook over time.

Cognitivism emphasizes the importance of an expert in transmitting accurate information, yet

sees a learner's success or failure in absorbing this information as largely dependent upon the
learner's mental capacity, motivation, beliefs, and effort.

Application

The setup of many learning experiences today reflects persistent cognitivist ideas, approaches,
and assumptions.

Although many contemporary educational psychologists see cognitivist approaches as outdated,

teachers often deliver lectures in front of a classroom and expect students to demonstrate their
retention of content through information-oriented tests.

However, teachers' efforts to balance lectures with activities that encourage mental processing
also reflect cognitivist influence. Self-reflection — a widely used cognitivist technique — helps
students think about and transform their understanding of the subject at hand.

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Constructivism

Key Theorists: John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Jerome Bruner

Definition and Background

Constructivism gained notoriety in the 1930s-40s and enjoyed a resurgence in the 1970s-80s.
This view challenges both the behaviorist notion of the learner as a blank slate and the cognitivist
notion of learning as the acquisition of objective information from an expert.

Rather, this school of thought suggests that learners create their own subjective information by
interpreting their world and restructuring their thinking. For instance, "meaning is co-created,
emergently between people, and between people and media, morals, ethics, societal norms, and
eras," says Maxwell.

Constructivist theories take a learner-centered approach, in which the teacher serves as a guide
— rather than the source of — the student's learning.

Maxwell says, "Learners don't just passively receive knowledge from teachers, they generate
their own learning by using their experiences and social interactions in combination with
teachings."

Originating in part from Piaget's understanding of intellectual growth as occurring through the
interaction between old and new knowledge, constructivism views knowledge acquisition as a
process of building upon a learner's previous knowledge.

Key Principle(s)

Constructivists agree that learners create knowledge rather than passively receiving it, and that
preexisting knowledge plays a crucial role in their learning. However, two differing strands of
constructivism bear mentioning.

Social constructivism — associated with Lev Vygotsky's emphasis on social context — posits
that students learn naturally through a process of discovery. While late 20th century cognitivist
theories tend to reduce a learner to a passive receptacle, social constructivism believes learners
actively hypothesize about their environment and test these hypotheses through social
negotiations.

Cognitive constructivism agrees that learners construct rather than receive information, but it is
interested in the cognitive processing involved in knowledge construction. "Your perspectives
and ideas about the world aren't just what you've picked up, like an empty tank slowly being
filled; but rather you're building your own house of knowledge and what you explicitly learn is
only some of the bricks," Maxwell says.
Following Piaget, cognitive constructivism acknowledges age-based developmental learning
stages and articulates learning as an expansion (through assimilation and accommodation
processes) of a learner's experientially informed mental model of their world.

Application

Constructivism influences the lesson plan methodologies employed by many teachers today. For
example, constructivist influence shapes the common teaching practice of posing questions or
problems and then inviting students to answer and solve them in their own ways.

Constructivism is also evident in popular classroom practices, such as having students create
their own questions, welcoming multiple points of view and intelligence styles, and using group
work as a collaborative learning tool.

Experientialism

Key Theorists: David A. Kolb and Carl Rogers

Definition and Background

This school of thought emerged in the 1970s out of the influence of the learner-centered and
interactive principles of constructivism and social learning theories. Experiential learning
theories identify meaningful everyday experience as the most central factor in increasing a
learner's knowledge and understanding, as well as transforming their behavior.

Namely, "experientialism really drills into the importance of direct experience in the learning
process," Maxwell explains.

Experientialist theorist Carl Rogers prioritizes experiential approaches to education because they
work with humans' natural desire to learn. Rogers posits that humans are more likely to learn and
retain information when they participate actively in the learning process.

Maxwell says, "In educational psychology, experientialism is applied when teachers get students
to work on real-world problems through project-based learning, or when students are involved in
immersive activities that engage more than just our thinking-brains, e.g., flight simulators, school
kitchens or workshops for tech classes, and role-playing exercises to practice dealing with
situations before really being in them like debating."

She continues, "These activities allow students to experiment, make mistakes, and develop
emergent understanding in the process."

Experientialist David A. Kolb identifies four stages in this learning process: experiencing,
absorbing and reflecting on experience, conceptualizing experience, and testing concepts in other
situations. These are cyclical stages that function as an ongoing feedback loop, which in turn
allows learners to improve skills and apply new or recent knowledge.

Key Principle(s)

Rejecting instructor-centric approaches, experientialism argues that one person cannot

effectively impart knowledge directly to another person; people must learn for themselves. A
teacher can facilitate the learning process by engaging students through an experience, but they
cannot control exactly what students learn from that experience.

"By ensuring direct [in real life] experiences, experientialism helps make learning more
engaging, relevant, and memorable!" Maxwell says.

Experientialists argue that learners become less receptive when they are afraid; as a result, this
view encourages teachers to create nonthreatening learning environments where learners can
experience and experiment freely.

Contemporary experientialists are interested in how a learner's engagement and testing of new
skills or concepts influences their learning environment, which creates a larger feedback loop
that shapes the world in which we live.

Application

The experientialist understanding of the learning process as a dynamic feedback loop often
shapes how educators plan their lessons.

By placing an emphasis on activities that prompt effective perception and processing, educators
can activate the learner's prior experience, demonstrate a new skill for the learner, ask the learner
to practice the skill, and then invite application of those skills in practical scenarios.

Experientialism also shapes theories of organizational learning, including workplace design and
professional training. Such programming often introduces realistic problems or scenarios where
professionals practice new skills to generate a constructive solution. Individuals may also work
collaboratively and receive feedback from their peers and instructors.

Many schools incorporate experiential education in their programs and curricula. In K-12
schools, these experiences often take the form of field trips or projects.

Meanwhile, colleges offer undergraduates internships and study abroad programs, and graduate
schools often incorporate practicum experiences that allow students to apply what they have
learned in other courses.

Social and Contextual

Key Theorists: Lev Vygotsky, Albert Bandura, Jean Lave, Barbara Rogoff, Etienne Wenger,
and Thomas Sergiovanni

Definition and Background

First emerging in the late 20th century, social and contextual learning theories challenge the
individual-focused approaches evident in both constructivism and cognitivism. Social and
contextual theories are influenced by anthropological and ethnographic research and emphasize
the ways environment and social contexts shape one's learning.

In this view, cognition and learning are understood as interactions between the individual and a
situation; knowledge is situated in — and a product of — the activity, context, and culture in
which it is developed and used. This led to new metaphors for learning as a "participation" and
"social negotiation."

Maxwell adds, "It's a fascinating branch of psychology that studies how social and cultural
factors influence our behavior, thoughts, and emotions. Basically, social and contextual
psychology looks at how the meaning of things, like words, emotions, and events, depend on the
context they occur in."

She says, "It also explores how we learn by observing others and being part of a group, and how
that can affect our development. This can include working with colleagues who have different
levels of experience, and how we can all stimulate each other's growth."

Social learning theory pays particular attention to social and interactive aspects of learning.
Albert Bandura, for example, emphasizes the roles that social observation and modeling play in
learning, while Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger put forward that learning works best in a
community that produces social capital. They believe this improves the health of the community
and its members.

Key Principle(s)

The situated, relational nature of knowledge and the social, engaged nature of effective learning
are the foundational principles of social and contextual learning theories.

Bandura posits a reciprocal determinism between environment, personality, and behavior,

arguing that these factors influence one another while also shaping learning situations.
Emphasizing learner attention, motivation, and memory, Bandura encourages educators to use
natural tendencies toward observation, modeling, and imitation when designing learning
situations.

Bandura's ideas correlate with Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, where the zone
of development is only accessible to a learner through interaction with mentors or other more
knowledgeable persons.
Lave and Wenger, on the other hand, view the diversity in knowledge levels as the best asset to a
community of practice. They believe that learning depends on a group's effective use of
cooperation, trust, understanding, and problem-solving to produce beneficial learning outcomes
for the community.

Thomas Sergiovanni seconds this view, arguing that schools and other communities need to shift
toward this approach before they can see substantial improvement.

Application

The efforts of today's teachers to connect students' new and preexisting knowledge aligns with
social and contextual learning. As a result, teachers account for the demographics of their
classrooms as much as they do lesson planning.

Social and contextual learning theories also inform educators' efforts to connect new concepts
with direct applications of concepts in specific contexts where a student lives, works, and/or
learns.

While educators used to expect learners to make connections on their own, teachers now achieve
more successful learning outcomes when they create learning environments that facilitate this
process. Many teachers try to incorporate multifaceted, experiential learning environments that
assist students in forging meaningful connections between abstract and practical concepts.

A teacher's effort to explicitly address the importance of lesson material reflects the impact of
social and contextual learning theory. Explanations and illustrations of reasons for a lesson
typically improve student motivation, helping students visualize or actually practice using this
knowledge in practical contexts.

"Some examples of social and contextual psychology include social perception, social cognition,
social influence, social identity, social interaction, and social change. It's amazing to see how
these factors can impact our daily lives and shape our understanding of the world around us,"
Maxwell states.