PETER PHILIP M.

PEREZ
Advanced Educational Psychology Rating____________
Reflection No. 4


REFLECTION NO. 4
The learning process involves acquisition of new behavior. It is a kind of change in a pattern of
behavior. On the other hand, the learning process and the aims of education can be stipulated as
follows:
Generally speaking, Education is utilized in three senses: Knowledge, Subject and a
Process. When a person achieves degree up to certain level we do not call it education
.As for example if a person has secured Masters degree then we utilize education it a
very narrower sense and call that the person has achieved education up to Masters
Level. In the second sense, education is utilized in a sense of discipline. As for example if
a person had taken education as a paper or as a discipline during his study in any
institution then we utilize education as a subject. In the third sense, education is utilized
as a process. In fact when we talk of education, we talk in the third sense i.e. education
as a process. Thus, we talk what is education as a process? What are their importances?
The following debate on education will discuss education in this sense and we will talk
education as a process
(https://sol.du.ac.in/Courses/UG/StudyMaterial/16/Part1/ED/.../SM-1.pdf).
Here, we can gauge that it has something to do with fulfillment more than the process itself; or better
say, the process helps in the attainment of satisfaction/fulfillment of individuals who goes through the
said. Thus, it gives me the feeling that indeed, education should be intended to the satisfaction of the
soul and not the head. This is in connection also with the preceding topic which is the hierarchy of needs
by Abraham Maslow.
Abraham Maslow is among the most the most notable forefathers of psychology; his work
Hierarchy of Needs Developed in 1948 has been found very useful in the endeavor of finding deeper
meaning of the human nature by serving as the foundation of numerous writings/ literature in
psychology. And indeed, the said is more than a theory due to its pragmatic importance; thus, is
pervasive across many disciplines, including business, management, and marketing, parenting
technology, education and psychology. The original hierarchy of needs five-stage model includes:
Biological and Physiological needs, Safety needs, Social Needs, Esteem needs, and lastly Self-
Actualization needs. Here, Biological and Physiological needs which are commonly referred to as air,
food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep; Safety needs on the other hand, pertains to protection from
elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, freedom from fear; Social Needs are in tune with
belongingness, affection and love; Esteem needs - achievement, mastery, independence, status,
dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from others; Self-Actualization needs are realizing personal
potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
In dealing with this kind of principle, one must put emphasis on the surrounding circumstances
such as: time element on the sprout of the principle, and the motivation which pushes Maslow to
proceed in making such a theory among others. Being developed in 1948; a not so distant past which
may possess the context which we can use to decipher deeper meaning and intention of such theory,
here; we can say that the schema of are in one way or another not so different with the present. And
the most probable intention of Maslow is to explain the nature of mans survival in this world. However,
the context of todays society and the advent of far more superior knowledge may in one way or
another may find fault in the work of Maslow like one literature which I quote:
Simple, orderly, intuitively sensible, cognitively appealing and offering order out of
chaos, the hierarchy of needs has only one problem: it is plain, flat, and dead wrong.
A fascinating article by Pamela Rutledge in Psychology Today entitled Social
Networks: What Maslow Misses (November 2011) points out that Maslows model
misses the role of social connection.
Maslows model, as its name suggests, organizes groups of human needs into
levels in a hierarchical structure, forming a pyramid. Its similar in some senses to video
games in that you have to fulfill the requirements of one set of needs before you can get
to the next level up.
Maslows model is hierarchical. The human brain at the base is driven by a basic
instinct to survive with food drink and shelter. The second level is made up of the safety
needs. The third level in Maslows model comprises the social needs like family,
affection, relationships, work groups, and community. The fourth level comprises the
ego-centric needs of achievement, responsibility, and reputation. And finally, at the top
is self-actualization, personal growth and fulfillment.
In reviews of research based on Maslows theory, little evidence has been found
for the ranking of needs that Maslow described or even for the existence of a definite
hierarchy at all.
Heres the problem with Maslows hierarchy, explains Rutledge. None of
these needs starting with basic survival on up are possible without social
connection and collaboration. Without collaboration, there is no survival. It was not
possible to defeat a Woolley Mammoth, build a secure structure, or care for children
while hunting without a team effort. Its more true now than then. Our reliance on each
other grows as societies became more complex, interconnected, and specialized.
Connection is a prerequisite for survival, physically and emotionally.
Needs are not hierarchical. Life is messier than that. Needs are, like most other
things in nature, an interactive, dynamic system, but they are anchored in our ability to
make social connections. Maslows model needs rewiring so it matches our brains.
Belongingness is the driving force of human behavior, not a third tier activity. The
system of human needs from bottom to top, shelter, safety, sex, leadership, community,
competence and trust, are dependent on our ability to connect with others. Belonging
to a community provides the sense of security and agency that makes our brains happy
and helps keep us safe.
In some ways, life hasnt changed our fundamental human natures. Whether its
the ancient Savannah or todays Facebook and Twitter, social behaviors adapt to the
environment to support that most basic of human needs. Social connection is ever-
present.
What social media has done is make it infinitely easier for the social connection
to take place. And todays young people entering the workplace, who have grown up in
this inter-connected world, expect the workplace to reflect that. .
Implications for management
In 20th Century management, Maslows hierarchy of needs was helpful to a
certain extent in pointing out to managers why traditional managementhierarchical
bureaucracy with managers acting as controllers of individualswas unlikely to meet
the psychological needs of employees. But it offered an unrealistic route to meeting
those needs: ascension up the hierarchy of needs towards self-actualization. The truth is
that not everyone wants or needs or is able to be a self-actualizing artist or leader.
In reality, Rutledges rewired version of psychological needs suggests a more
realistic set of multiple paths, through social connection, to meet our varying
psychology needs. What it implies, and the experience of radical management confirms,
is that getting work done by people working together in self-organizing teams can meet
most peoples psychological needs without positing unrealistic goals of self-actualization
as the be-all and end-all of life. (Steve Denning, What Maslow Missed)
Gauging from the foregoing, I felt that the knowledge nowadays are advancing and sometimes beyond
the phase that we can track; thus, having based from the theory of Maslow alone can sometimes lead us
astray, for; there are missing parts which humanity must understand to enable himself more and to the
fullest. Other branches of psychology may also help a person feel fulfilled; this will be discussed in the
following paragraph.
Nowadays, there are adhered principles and practices of psychology such as: Psychoanalytic
theory, behavioral theories, humanistic, and transpersonal psychology. Psychoanalytic theory refers to
the definition of personality organization and the dynamics of personality development that underlie
and guide the psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy, called psychoanalysis, a clinical
method for treating psychopathology. On the other hand, Behavioral psychology is a branch of
psychology that focuses on observable behaviors. Conditioning, reinforcement and punishment are key
concepts used by behaviorists. Humanistic psychology emerged during the 1950s as a reaction to
psychoanalysis and behaviorism, which dominated psychology at the time. Psychoanalysis was focused
on understanding the unconscious motivations that drive behavior while behaviorism studied the
conditioning processes that produce behavior. Humanist thinkers felt that both psychoanalysis and
behaviorism were too pessimistic, either focusing on the most tragic of emotions or failing to take into
accounts the role of personal choice. Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual's
potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of
humanistic psychology is that people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from
deviations from this natural tendency. And, transpersonal psychology is a field centered on the spiritual
aspects of human life. The term transpersonal psychology was first introduced in the 1960s by
psychologists such as Abraham Maslow and Victor Frankl. This field utilizes psychological methods and
theories to examine spiritual subject matter.
Note that, we can see in the foregoing that the flow of knowledge in psychology is improving; it
originates from its most crude form and has been developed further to provide comfort rather than
mere understanding of the psyche. I felt for a moment, that if we will not keep up with the
developments of psychology, we will be left in the abyss of unknowing, meaning; ignorance and inability
to cope with the very basics of our problems which can be solved by psychology. However, although one
must accept/consider that knowing some things is not at all bad, there is still a need to be aware of not
going to the extremes like some facets of integral psychology.
Integral psychology is another emerging field of psychology and is defined as: psychology that
presents an all-encompassing holistic rather than an exclusivist or reductive approach. It includes both
the lower, ordinary, and spiritual or transcendent states of consciousness. Important writers in the field
of integral psychology are Sri Aurobindo, Indra Sen, Haridas Chaudhuri, Brant Cortright and Ken Wilber.
Sen and Cortright closely follow Sri Aurobindo, while Chaudhuri and Wilber each present very different
theories.
I was shock to find out that some of the concepts embedded within it are the kaballah, or the
ancient Jewish mystic practice which is parallel but not equal to that of the practices of the Wiccan
(witches) religion. Here, I think, caution must be put into the mind of teachers who will try to
incorporate the said field of psychology to improve his/her pedagogy. The aforementioned, by virtue of
ethics is very controversial and must not be in one way or the other included in the list of usable
educational psychology principles; it is however, useful in personal and therapeutical purposes such as:
releasing ones stress thru meditation and improving ones control or temperament.