The 5 differences between a psychologist and an educational psychologist
Education is much more than what we do in schools when we go through the vital stage of our childhood and adolescence. Learning is a lifelong process that, due to its complexity, has been approached from the different disciplines that investigate and intervene on the human mind.
Psychology and psychopedagogy are two of these disciplines, and both allow for a global vision of both the learning process itself and the effectiveness of educational strategies.
But… what are the differences between a psychologist and a psycho-pedagogue? In what characteristics do they differ?
The differences between psychology and psychopedagogy
It is easy to confuse the tasks performed by the psychologist with those of the educational psychologist. In the end, both psychology and psychopedagogy use observation and empirical contrast to study some aspects of human behavior and mental processes and develop strategies to encourage forms of learning that benefit human beings.
However, beyond these superficial similarities, there are many characteristics that allow us to distinguish these two disciplines . Let us see what the main differences between them are and how they relate to each other.
1. The specific nature of psychopedagogy
Psychology is the science that studies behavior and mental processes in general. For years it has been an incredibly broad discipline that has belonged in part to both the social sciences and the world of biology-based sciences, and in recent times it has been linked to the neurosciences to better understand who we are and why we act the way we do.
Psychopedagogy, on the other hand, is much more specific and focuses on a very specific part of human experience: learning and education, both in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. This means that it considers secondary issues, for example, the study of consciousness, decision making or clinical intervention in psychopathology; they are only addressed from the implications they have for the educational process.
2. The importance of intervention in children
Psychopedagogy understands that learning is something that goes far beyond school and occurs at all ages, but in practice, more importance is given to education aimed at children and adolescents, since it is understood that youth is a stage in which one is particularly sensitive to the environment and that what happens during this stage will greatly influence the level of education one will have.
Psychology also gives much importance to the first two decades of life, but not in all cases, since there are certain psychological phenomena that become more relevant in the adult stage . For example, the purchasing decision process, the working environment or the effect of electoral propaganda have much more to do with adult life than with childhood or adolescence.
3. The importance of adaptation and context
This is one of the most obvious differences between psychology and psychopedagogy. From the second discipline much emphasis is placed on that facet of behavior that is due to learning, that is, the way in which interaction with the environment affects and transforms us.
Psychology also attaches a lot of importance to what is learned, but it is not the only thing it takes into account. For example, certain branches of this science, such as basic psychology or neuropsychology, give much importance to genetics, that which cannot be modified by interaction with the environment. This facet of psychology that is more focused on biological processes does not deny the transformative power of our experiences, but decides to focus its efforts on studying that which always remains latent in the individual .
4. One can focus on the individual, the other cannot
Psychopedagogy does not study the individual in isolation, but considers that the subject of study is bio-psycho-social, that is, that each person is indivisible from the physical and social environment in which they live.
Something similar occurs with psychology and it also tends to consider people as bio-psycho-social subjects, but not in all cases. One facet of this science studies only the individual , considering the contents of learning and social interaction as something secondary. These branches of psychology are usually the same that take genetic inheritance into account, although this is not the case in all cases.
For example, in the behavioral movement of the mid-twentieth century, research focused on individuals while placing much more emphasis on learning than on biological inheritance.
5. The type of formation
In Spain, Psychology is a 4-year university course, while Psychopedagogy only exists as a postgraduate course and is considered a form of specialization. This means that psychopedagogues can be people trained in different fields , such as psychology, pedagogy or any career that has been complemented with training to be a teacher.