SOME BASIC CONCEPTS IN PSYCHOLOGY CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In unit 2, we discussed the study of behaviour. The unit also served to introduce us to other units in this course. You can now explain approaches to the study of behaviour, List the objectives of psychology, and describe some of the methods used by psychologists in their research. You are about to study another interesting and insightful unit: some basic concepts in psychology. We will now consider what some concepts mean within the context of psychology. Let us look at other contents that you will learn in this unit as specified in the objectives below.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

1. explain the concept of learning; 
2. describe the relationship between maturation and learning; 
3. define the concept of growth and development; and 
4. list the principles of growth and development. 

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Concept of Learning

To the layman ‘learning’ has always been a rather simple matter, he sees it frequently and assumes that he has a clear understanding of its meaning, that is getting to know something he does not know. As Oxiedine (1968:5) puts it, that ‘we learn what we are taught is often the attitude of the non- professional person’. Alhassan (2000) states that although there is little disagreement among psychologists as to the importance of learning and pervasiveness of learning in all forms of human activity, there is a marked difference between the ways they look at learning and the ways the layman does. Let us cite some examples to ensure you have a clear understanding of the concept.


Kohler (1925) in his book, The Mentality of Apes explained learning as a perceptual process with the major emphasis being on the study of relationships and how people learn to see relationships among various items of experience. Learning of relationships can be clearly seen in the phenomenon of insight. Sometimes pupils work for a long time on a problem or skill with apparently little progress. All of a sudden there will be a flash of understanding in which the pupil or student sees through the problem or reform his responses into a more complex habit. This phenomenon was first widely publicized by this famous psychologist. Worgang Kohler. He found that apes, when confronted with a different problem, might act as if they were surveying the situation and would then go directly to the goal object (banana) by putting two sticks together, or by piling one box on top of another. It appeared that there had been a sudden perceptual charge in which these animals saw the relationship of the sticks or boxes to themselves and the goal in a new way.

I can perceive you are looking comfortable indicating you are finding out discussion clear and understandable. Fine, we must go on.


Aristotle talked of learning as a association of ideas following the laws of similarity, contrast, and continuity. He believed that people learn and remember those things that are alike, that are striking because of their difference, and that occur together in space and time (Murphy, 1949). Bugelski (1956:120) on his own parts sees learning as the process of the formation of relatively permanent neural circuits through the simultaneous activity of the elements of the circuit to be. Such activity is of the nature of change in cell structure through growth in such a manner as to facilitate the arousal of the entire circuit when a component element is aroused or activated.


Lindgren (1961) posts that learning is a central process in understanding human behaviour. Most aspects of human behaviour, the writer argues, the learned contrary to the widely held view at the turn of the century that human behaviour is instinctive in nature. Learning may also be thought of as a process of problem solving, a way of thinking, creating, and synthesizing.


Alhassan (1985:1) opines that learning is the totality of the acquisition of factual information, the mastering of skills and means of aiding further study (understanding); acquisition of behaviour patterns, the styles of tacking problems of everyday life and more. Learning is a dynamic process whereby, through interactive experience, insights or cognitive structures of life spaces are changed and so become more useful for future guidance. Gagne (1970:3) attempts a definition of learning which seems to have a wide appeal when he writes that a learning event take place when the stimulus situation affects the learner in such a way that his or her performance changes from a time- before being in that situation to a time after being in it. The change in performance is what leads to the conclusion that learning has occurred.  In spite of the above discussion, note that leaning may not be easy to define adequately. This may be so because we cannot see it directly, but when we' observe a child’s behaviour, we can conclude that some kind of leaning has occurred. Let us give an example to drive home this point. When a preschooler is able to recite the alphabet from A – Z or the numerals which he could not do before, we can deduce that some learning has taken place. Another example: When we look at the stages of a child’s development we can see that he first knows how to eat, then to sit, to crawl about, to stand, to walk, to run about, and to speak. The child is now capable of doing some things which he could not do earlier in his life. It may be said that in these respects, the child has learned because ‘observed changes in behaviour are evidence of learning’ (Balogun,1981:52). Many psychologists agree that learning is a general term for relatively lasting or permanent change in performance or behaviour caused or produced directly by experience. O’ Connon (1963) submits that a study of learning is part of the larger study of psychology, which may be defined as the scientific study of human experience and human and animal behaviour.

For Mukherjee (1478) learning may be held to be an inference from some performance of the organism manifesting a change of behaviour venile for Olaitan (1992), learning refers to a collection of experiences which a person progressively acquires to be regarded as educated in his/her society. I want you note what this f description of the concept of learning implies: It implies that the value of learning is determined primarily by the society. People learn what the social leaning environment permits them to learn by way of subjects offered, quality of teachers, quality of the curriculum, quality of the learning environment, and so on. The writer fi.1rther states that when the learning the society is capable of offering does not suit its definition of an educated man, a vacuum is created which has to be bridged by making learning more meaningful and relevant to the societal perception of an educated man.


Time is ripe for you to check the progress you have made in understanding our .discussion.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

i. Complete the following psychological statements in the spaces

provided.


- Learning is……………………..change in…………..………………. - Learning is a c………………………………………..………process. - Learning is a d…………………………………………….…process. Well done. You deserve my commendation for your active participation in our discussion. Let us keep the ball rolling.

3.2 Maturation and Learning

Maturation as a scientific and psychological concept designates that period of development during which a germ cell becomes mature. It is a process of ripening and of moving towards the fuller unfolding of potentials of the organism. Maturation denotes both a change in the physical equipment of the organism but more importantly it is a change in function and the capacity to perform through the use of this equipment. Let us cite an example: When the muscles of a child’s legs grow they can be noticed, but it is only when maturation takes place that the baby walks with the legs. If in spite of the growth of the legs the baby cannot stand or walk, then maturation of the can germ cells of the muscles has not taken place. It is important for you to remember that psychologists have run experiments and discovered that in spite of the training, sessions babies are subjected to in order to quicken walking or standing, they do not yield any significant result when compared with sessions. The muscles wait until maturation takes place.


The concept of maturation has some indirect relationship with learning. Learning; by as discussed earlier, means a change in function as a result of experience and practice. In one sense, both learning and maturation depend on change of function. However, while maturation is not noticeable and takes place inside the organism, leaning is entirely based on experience and practice. You should note that the interesting relationship is that maturation must take place before any learning can take effect.


The concept of maturation leads to the concept of phsylogenetic function or prehensile skills sometimes referred to as developmental tasks. Such tasks include crawling, creeping, walking and so on. Remember that they are cross cultural and therefore common to all races. More importantly, remember that training is of little importance if maturation is not ready. Such tasks as learning to ride a tricycle or bicycle, learning to swim or make ridges in the farm require maturation and training. So while an American child of four can ride a bicycle, a child of eight in a remote African village may not be able to do so. Whereas maturation provides the raw time table for learning, the culture directs or determines what is learnt. Here’s a question for you to answer.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

Fill in the blanks in the statements below:

Maturation denotes both a in the physical equipment of the but more importantly it is the in function and the capacity to through the use of this equipment. We must continue now.

3.3 Concept of Growth and Development

Modem educationists stress the point that a teacher should not only know his subject matter but also the child he teaches. The knowledge of the .child would include knowing the child’s growth patterns’ developments, social and emotional characteristics. It is a thorough understanding of the growth and development of the child that would enable the teacher to make his education more meaningful to the child. Human body grows in stages and each stage has its dominant characteristics and uniqueness. Each stage has also its significant problems. Each stage is related to another and not clearly marked out as distinct. No individual passes from one stage to another on a particular birthday. A stage moves imperceptibly to the next stage. Some of the stages are very short but some are long. Psychologists see the study of the child from conception to the beginning of adolescence as child study while the adolescent psychologists see adolescence as concerned with the study of the child from the on-setting of puberty until maturity. Note that an understanding of a stage helps to throw light on what happens in the next stage. According to Alhassan (2000), it is good to look at a child as the child he is and the adolescent he will be. It is also good to look at the adolescent as the adolescent he is and the child he was.


Let us go on with our discussion.
Generally, when we refer to a child or any human organism as growing, we mean that such organism is becoming larger or heavier. Physical growth can be measured in terms of height (meters and centimeters) and in terms of weight (kilogrammes).
In effect, growth can be either horizontal or vertical. Physical growth involves stages or epochs. These stages or epochs can be gradual, continuous but not uniform. They include the pre-natal stage, the infancy stage, the childhood stage, the adolescence, the adult and the senescence. The concept of development refers to changes in structure and function. This means that development includes growth and the ability to see the organism in the performance of certain functions. Development is the progress an organism makes towards maturity. It then means that from the very beginning of life up to old age and death, human beings are subjected to many internal and external influences. You need to remember that psychologists usually see development as the process that leads to greater strength and stability.


It is time to stretch your legs and hands. So, take 5 minutes to do that. Let us now carry-on with our discussion.

3.4 Principles of Growth and Development

The principles of growth and development are:

1. Development ill an organism is for the most part orderly and proceeds on the same order for all children. For example, all fetuses turn their heads before they turn their hands. Every child sits before standing, babbles before talking, is dependent before being independent. 
2.  Growth and development are continuous. Growth may be continuous but not always smooth and gradual. There are spurts in physical growth and psychological functions. Let us cite some examples: abrupt or sudden increases in height or development of genital organ during pre-adolescence, sharp rises in vocabulary during childhood,sudden improvement in problem solving ability during middle and later adolescence. 
3. There are critical periods for certain organs. If anything interferes with the development of an organ at that particular time, it results in permanent deficiency or malfunctioning. For example,  certain organs such as the heart, the kidneys, the eyes, and the fingers have critical periods. If during their development, any thing happens to them, if affects these organs permanently. Eric Erikson, a psychologist (we will discuss more on him) postulates that if a child of 1 fails to learn to trust people, he may never trust people throughout his life. 
4. The basic personality of any individual is set during the first years of his life. Well adjusted babies develop this trait often during the first years of their lives and grow to be well adjusted adults. 

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit you have learnt the concept of learning and the relationship between maturation and learning. You also have learned the concept of growth and development as well as the principles of growth and development. You have learnt that the .concept of maturation has some indirect relationship with learning. Both learning and maturation depend on change of function. You will have seen that psychologists usually see development as the process of greater strength and stability. All aspects of growth are inter- related. The different aspects of growth such as physical, mental, social and emotional are inter-related because all these are taking place in one individual.