Examine The Relevance of Psychology To Adult Education
Examine The Relevance of Psychology To Adult Education
Examine The Relevance of Psychology To Adult Education
In this discourse, the relevance of psychology to the field of adult education practice
will be examined. The discourse shall be premised on the psychological perspectives
where implications thereof will be used to analyse the relevance of psychology to the
field of practice. The terms psychology, adult and adult education will be defined
and then a discussion of the various psychological perspectives like the Functionalist,
Behaviourism, Humanism, Cognitive and Gestalt will be examined showing their
relevance to adult education practice. A conclusion summing up the relevance of
psychology to adult education will wrap up the discussion.
Definition of terms
According to Spielman et al (2014, psychology is a social science which is concerned
with the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Crider et al (1983) define
psychology as the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. The definitions
contain three key concepts which are scientific, behaviour and mental processes. The
scientific aspect entails that psychology as a science is a body of systematised knowledge
obtained by observation and verified by experimentation (Mwamwenda 1998). This means
that psychology is based on information or data collected through a set of systematic
procedures. These procedures verify or validate the data collected.
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distinguish from children or it can include a set of ideas and values. Thus, adulthood
may be considered as a state of being, which accords status and rights to individuals
and simultaneously confers duties or responsibilities upon them (Tight 1996). It
would therefore suffice to say that the concept adult is not directly connected with
age, or does it conforms to the legal definition of the age of majority (Knowles et al
1973).
Adult education is a complex concept and its functions are diverse and
complementary. It can be seen as a tool for personal enhancement as well as
economic and social development. Adult learning theories make a distinction
between education of adults and adult education. Rogers (1986) argues that the
former applies to all forms of education planned for those over 16 years, regardless
of the relevant experience they may have, the ability to control their own learning
and their possibility to contribute to the learning process. By contrast, the latter,
consists of all those forms of education that treat the learner participants as adults
capable, experienced, responsible, mature and balanced people (Rogers 1996).
Having defined psychology, adult and adult education, the discourse shall now
examine the five lenses through which adult education is seen. These are
functionalist, behaviourism, humanistic, cognitive and the gestalt perspective and
their relevance to adult education will be highlighted.
Functionalism Perspective
The major proponents of the Functionalism perspective are William James and John
Jewey. Gary and Vandem (2006) defines functionalism as a psychological
perspective that considers mental life and behaviour in terms of active adaptation to
the person’s environment. Stangor (2011) contends that functionalism perspective
attempts to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular
psychological aspects that they currently possess. Functionalism perspective explains
mental phenomenon in terms of the external input and the observable output. It
explains the mind as a machine and takes the mental state as the internal cause of
behaviour.
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To this explanation, the mind is viewed as a machine with specific operational
conditions which waits to be activated by the external world, (Spielman2014). If
someone is called verbally or by means of a sign, he or she needs to understand the
language or sign for him or her to respond to the calling. The calling is viewed as an
input, the understanding as the processing done in the mind and the reaction as the
output which is observable.
According to Spielman (2014) the functionalist holds that the mind is not something
that exists apart from the physical. Against materialism, the functionalist denies that
mental states are identical with physical states. For functionalism, it is not the
physical substance itself that is important, but rather the way in which the mind
interprets how the physical substance is organized. This explains why the mind acts
as a central processing unit and not the environment directly shaping the mind.
Spielman (ibid) reiterates that the mind has the potential to adapt to the physical
and that the physical environment can be interpreted differently by different
individuals.
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happen with Midlands State University block release students who did their lessons
at Senga Primary school where the facilities were not of adult taste. Adult learners
are also psychologically uncomfortable in traditional classroom settings which
emphasises the distance and inequality between adult educator and the learner.
This stresses the need for adult educators to be conversant with the basic four areas
of sitting arrangements which are anthropometry, ergonomics, proxemics and
synaesthitics dimensions, (Hall (1988). The same authority went on to define
proxemics as interrelated observations and theories of people’s use of space as a
specialised elaboration of culture for example, seeking or avoiding touch when
greeting a lady or eye behaviour during conversation between a man and woman. A
lady is expected to maintain a considerable distance as well as not maintaining a
direct eye contact whilst talking to a man.
Synaesthetics can have impact on a person’s mood, for example, a room that is too
warm will deleteriously affect attention span or the ability to focus, (Vosko and
Hiemstra 1988). The field of synaesthetics helps us to understand how the physical
environment is perceived in a polysensory manner and how such perceptions affect
learning process. Thus understanding the environment and knowing how to affect it
in positive ways can help learners to understand and appreciate its importance.
Comfort, excellent illuminations without glare, absence from disturbing sounds or
environments among others, provide a setting in which the chances for effective
learning are increased (Kidd 1973).
As observed by Asante and Asante (1990) that Africa is one cultural river with
numerous tributaries characterised by their specific response to history and
environment, facilitation of learning programmes for adults must always take into
account the fact that adult learners are highly diversified with regard to age,
experience, intelligence, aptitude, personality, socio-economic status and including
interests. Thus adult educators should be alive to these differences and be
accommodative to both fast and slow learners since adult learners form a
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heterogeneous group of people with different educational biographies and diversified
educational needs.
Behavioural Perspective
This perspective is also referred to as the mechanistic approach where people are
likened to machines, whose response to external forces results in development
(Miller 1993). The theory was propounded by Thorndike, Ian Pavlov, B.F Skinner and
J.B Watson among others. From this psychological perspective, behaviour entails any
activity that can be observed, recorded and measured. This includes the behaviour
of human beings or animals.
The perspective assumes that past behaviour predicts future behaviour and that
people's machine-like minds do not construct knowledge but instead absorb existing
knowledge (Miller, 1993). According to Watson, (1930), behaviourism is a science
interested in predicting and controlling human behaviour. People learn behaviours by
responding to stimuli and by receiving positive or negative reinforcement or
punishment. Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that the immediately
preceding behaviour will be repeated (Shaffer, 1994). For example, if a learner
receives praise (an example of positive reinforcement) for doing well in his or her
assignment, he or she is likely to repeat the good work.
Watson (1930) contends that adult educators, who favour the behavioural or
mechanistic perspective, should provide learners with plenty of opportunity for drills
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and practice. Using praise, grades, or some small prizes for their efforts positively
reinforces learners. Thus, learners learn the appropriate response through
reinforcement.
Humanistic Perspective
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Relevance to adult education
It helps adult educators to understand that motivation and orientation are the
necessary tools that propel adults to start learning in order to achieve their goals. If
there is proper motivation and orientation to learning, adult learners take
responsibility of their learning and even for disseminating information, knowledge
and skills to young people in their communities. Adults will not need authority
figures to give them explicit directives on what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Adults’ readiness to learning also depends on the state of their physical health. This
may prevent adults from learning in spite of a strong motivation for learning,
(Gunawardena 1998). Thus facilitators should always examine the level of readiness
of learners to learn before embarking on any programme.
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Cognitive Perspective
Understanding of this perspective also helps adult educators realise that learning is
seen as an active use of knowledge hence learners’ goals and reflection becomes
important. Thus, Mezirow (1991) maintains that discussion with others becomes
integral to adult learning and development. Hence, adult educators should provide
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discussion guidelines that ensure an atmosphere of trust, safety, and respect in
which learners feel comfortable to express their ideas, (Cranton, 1994).
This is in agreement with the assertion by Merriam and Mohamad (2000) that it
makes sense for those adults who sacrifice leisure or working time for learning as
they have pragmatic reasons for doing so. Thus, adult education programmes should
be relevant to adult learners as they could be responding to a life event like coping
with a change in roles or responsibilities as postulated by Knowles (1975).
The perspective also helps adult educators to understand that adult learners need
inner motivation because there is no external pressure to learn as the case with
young children (Knowles 1975). Adults want to learn in order to maintain or
establish social relationships, to serve others, to satisfy a personal interest, to
advance their careers, to earn more money or to meet external expectations,
(Fasokun 1984). Thus facilitator should determine target audience’s interest,
attitudes, perceptions, self concepts and beliefs. He or she should understand why
adults enrol in educational programmes. Dialogue can be used to establish the needs
of adult learners and the life events that prompted the needs.
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learning abilities for example, sense organ, deterioration in sight, hearing and
general body condition which can influence endurance in regard to intellectual work.
Intellectual or cognitive characteristic refers to learning abilities like speed and
accuracy, intelligence and mental stamina, thought process and memory while
emotional characteristics like emotional stability provide individuals with long term
commitments for achieving the set goals, (Vosko & Hiemstra 1988).
Thus, adult educators are reminded that learning does not largely take place as a
result of the environmental cues or instructional components. It is a product of a
number of variables that take place in the cognitive domain like perceptual
processes and perceptual mapping as postulated by the Gestalt perspective.
Gestalt perspective
The perspective’s main study area is perception. Through perception, humans are
able to acquire knowledge of the world, interact with it and connect with others,
(Vosko & Hiemstra 1988). Our senses and mental processes allow us to perform
tasks, for instance, removing the hand from a burning surface or notice that the
person speaking to us is upset by their frowning. According to this perspective,
learning is a process of constructing meaning, (Jarvis 1987). It is how people make
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sense of their experience. Thus, learning is an active process in which learners
construct new ideas or concepts based on their current and past knowledge.
The factor of similarity proposes that like parts tend to be grouped together in
cognition. This has implications for instruction, suggesting that learning is facilitated
if similar ideas are treated and linked together and then contrasted with opposing or
complementary sets of ideas. Adult educators should therefore group or teach
similar or related ideas or concept together, (Woodward (2013). This should
influence content development and sequencing, for example, one unit of instruction
building on to the other unit. Diagrams or aids should be used by adult educators to
help learners quickly understand or comprehend the concept being taught, for
example when teaching about how the human heart functions, a diagrammatical
representation of the heart would go a long way to enhance comprehension of the
concept being taught.
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training as opposed to grasping movements of the action in parts. This is so because
learning is influenced by past experiences and knowledge and that acquiring new
knowledge depends on the ability to build on past knowledge ,(Rogers 1996).
Conclusion
Each of the five lenses on adult psychological perspectives makes different
assumptions. Recognizing these different perspectives on adult education practice
broadens our understanding of the adult learners and how best the learning
activities for them can be structured to realise their diverse interests and goals.
Knowledge of different psychological theories gives the adult educator a possibility
to make choices in the learning process, to understand, to analyse, to interpret and
to become conscious about one’s own work and learning. This awareness can lead
to appropriate instruction for the learners, which in turn, will promote the learners’
development whatever it may be believed to be. Thus, psychology is a very crucial
discipline to those in the field of adult education practice.
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