Back in my hometown Gaya, I have a feast of books available at home that were purchased right from the 1940s! Thank you, Dadaji and Papa/Ma/Bhaiya/Didi for the rich collection.
One such book is “Groundwork of Educational Psychology” by James Ross, first published in 1931. The book seeks to give the students of education a workable knowledge of human nature.
As a student trying to design a personal finance education enterprise, the book sounds interesting and I have started reading it.
James Ross starts chapter 1 by quoting a Swiss schoolmaster, Pestalozzi, who emphasized the fact that the mind of the pupil is the primary concern of the educator, and that the art of education must be based on accurate knowledge of mental processes.
But psychology is such a vast subject, there is a need to consider what psychology that the teacher must study. So the book will be an interesting education for me!
I often wonder why there is so much difference between our ingrained/automatic financial behaviour and taking rational financial decisions. My observation is that behaviour is fundamentally different from action of any machine which is rational, however complicated.
An example from the book: When a golfer hits the ball off the tee, the motion of the ball is determined by the impact of the club, force of gravity, resistance of air and the wind.
In contrast, let’s take the example of a bird picking crumbs and a cat stalking the bird. The moment the bird sees the cat, it flies off, just like the golf ball, until it finds itself in safety.
The first example is of mechanical motion, while the other, since it cannot be explained on mechanical principles, we call behaviour.
Behaviour is spontaneous and depends on your own worldview, while rational mechanical decisions factor in real tangible information.
The important thing is to be aware of your own behaviour and make best use of the understanding to take rational financial decisions.
On a lighter vein, since the questions about mind and matter are baffling, here’s a conversation between two friends:
Friend1: What is mind?
Friend2: No matter.
Friend2: Btw, What is matter?
Friend1: Never mind
Please share your thoughts on the psychology of education. Thanks.
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