Educational psychology is a discipline that studies psychological phenomena and laws in the process of education. Its development process can be divided into four stages: initial stage, development stage, mature stage and perfect stage. This paper will discuss the development of educational psychology from the perspective of these four stages.

Primitive period

Educational psychology began to sprout before the 1920s. Behaviorism and cognitive theory are two mainstream schools of educational psychology in this period. Behaviorism advocates studying visible behavioral responses through scientific methods, while cognitive theory focuses on internal learning process and individual experience.

development period

From the 1920s to the end of 1950s, behaviorism gradually occupied a dominant position, but it also incorporated the idea of cognitive learning theory and formed an eclectic learning theory.

mature period

From the 1960s to the end of 1970s, cognitive learning theory was paid more and more attention. At the same time, humanism appeared, emphasizing the overall study of human beings and holding that everyone has the potential of self-development and realization; And interpret learning from the perspective of pursuing self-realization, emphasizing learners' independent participation, self-motivation and self-evaluation.

Perfect period

Since 1980s, constructivism, as a new breakthrough in cognitive learning theory, has had a far-reaching impact on educational psychology. It is pointed out that learning is not only the transmission of external information, but also the active construction process of knowledge.