The theory of psychological origin is a theory about the origin of education. Also known as "the educational origin theory of psychology". Initiated by Monroe, USA. From the psychological point of view, he thinks that the origin of biology ignores the essential difference between human psychology and animal psychology. According to the fact that there were no textbooks and corresponding teaching methods to impart all kinds of knowledge in primitive society, he came to the conclusion that education originated from children unconsciously imitating adults.

In his History of Education (1925), he wrote that education in primitive society "generally adopted simple and unconscious imitation" and "primitive society only had the simplest form of education. However, in the early days, the educational process had all the basic characteristics of the highest stage of educational development. "

In other words, imitation is not only the initial form and means of education, but also the essence of education. The History of World Education by Midensky of the Soviet Union summarized the above viewpoints as "the educational origin theory of psychology" or "the psychological origin theory" for short.

In Textbook of Educational History, Meng Lu judged that education should originate from children's unconscious imitation of adults from the perspective of psychology, according to the original historical facts that there were no schools, teachers and textbooks in primitive society.

He wrote in the book "Textbook of Educational History": Education in primitive society "generally adopts simple unconscious imitation." In this primitive community, children's unconscious imitation of older members is the initial development of education.

Detailed content

The founder of educational psychology avoided the mistake of biological origin theory, and proposed that imitation is a new educational origin theory, which has its reasonable side. Imitation, as a psychological phenomenon and learning style, can be regarded as one of various educational methods.

However, Meng Lu's mistake is that he attributed all education to the imitation behavior under the unconscious state, and failed to understand that the reason why people become people is the essential stipulation of consciousness, and all human activities are purposeful behaviors under the control of consciousness. Therefore, his view is still wrong.

The biological origin theory and psychological origin theory of education reveal the origin of education from different angles, but their common defect is that they both deny the social attribute and purpose of education, deny that education is a conscious activity, and confuse animal instinct and children's unconscious imitation with conscious education, so they are all incorrect.