Educational Psychology and Pedagogical Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards covering foundational concepts of human educability, instinct theory, pedagogical influence, and educational capabilities vs. skills based on the lecture notes.

Capabilities vs. Skills (Fähigkeiten vs. Fertigkeiten)

The distinction between innate capacity and trainability; people often mistake learnable skills for innate abilities, using biological fate as an excuse to avoid practicing.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Pedagogy

A phenomenon where an educator assumes a student lacks innate talent, altering their pedagogical behavior and causing the false assumption to become reality.

Intentional Learning Steps

Targeted educational actions guided by a professional once they recognize that a learner lacks a trainability-based skill rather than an innate capability.

Coercion in Education

The use of external force to compel compliance with rules, which fails to lead to true internalization, learning, or authentic educational transformation.

Biological Unfinishedness (Unfertigkeit)

The initial helpless state of human infants, which serves not as a biological flaw but as the necessary foundation for freedom of action, learning, and shaping.

Openness and Plasticity

The flexible nature of the human brain and behavior that allows individuals to adapt to any culture, create new solutions, collaborate, and adopt diverse perspectives.

Instincts

Innate, inherited behaviors triggered by key stimuli that run automatically and uniformly to preserve the self and species.

Key Stimulus (Schlüsselreiz)

A specific environmental trigger that automatically initiates a fixed, innate behavioral sequence in an animal without prior learning.

Reflexes

Simple, direct, and immediate inherited responses to stimuli that occur without conscious thought, which humans possess instead of complex instincts.

Poverty of Instincts (Armut der Instinkte)

The lack of fixed instincts in humans that leaves behavior vulnerable, but grants the freedom to choose among multiple actions and make deliberate decisions.

World-Open Being (Weltoffenes Wesen)

A designation for humans describing their capacity to make considered choices, solve problems productively, learn continuously, and undergo education.

Intentional Education

Conscious, planned, and direct pedagogical measures, such as structured discussions or formal concepts.

Functional Education

Unintentional, incidental learning that occurs when learners observe real-life adult behaviors, such as how adults manage conflicts or stress.

Inconsistency Between Word and Deed

A conflict between explicit verbal instruction and actual modeled behavior, where the modeled behavior prevails because children experience it as authentic and credible.

Continuous Self-Reflection

The ongoing self-examination required of pedagogical professionals to align their daily actions with their educational goals, ensuring their credibility is maintained.