Briefly discuss the salient points of psychological foundation of education

The principles of psychology play a significant role for success in the educative process. Psychology, in fact, is the study of those natural laws of mind and behavior which pave the way to the successful process of instruction. It seems necessary to know the nature of the child for the justification of education. A teacher should know the sources which can bring about behavioral changes in the personality of the children. To my mind, the educative process is based on the following psychological principles :-

• The process of learning and instruction can only be effective if it conforms to the nature of child developmental needs and natural inclinations.
• The mind of a child always follows the laws of nature. He is granted the inclination towards good.
• The thing, or phenomenon, which is against human nature, cannot become the part of the educative process. The thing of this type cannot develop the personality of the learner.
• Human development, primarily, is composed of physical, cognitive, emotional and Social development.
• The children differ in ,aptitudes, attitudes, interests, abilities and natural tendencies. These differences are known as individual difference.
• A teacher should take into account the principles of learning and development during the instructional process.
• Every man is born free. He cannot be turned into civilized one by unnatural and unpsychological restraints. Every child is obsessed with the emotions of egoism and curiosity. The educative process should satisfy the basic sentiments of the children.
• The curricular content should conform to the cognitive abilities and psychological needs of the students so that the instructional objectives may be realized.
• The educative process cannot be made effective and result-oriented without the application of psychological principles and findings.
• All the children differ from one another. This difference in abilities can be observed in terms of intelligence, aptitude, Socio-economic status and interests.
• The scientific study of the mind and behavior of the students is not possible without the acquaintance with the psychological principles.