Teachers have to handle a lot of noisy, self-centered kids whose brains aren’t fully developed yet. You either know this feeling or haven’t been in the business world for long. The biggest issue with everything is other people – no matter what fact or disaster you can think of, if you trace it back far enough, you’ll find someone asking, “Should I have done that?” Educational psychology can help you manage them.
Non-lethally.
Psychology looks at mental processes, but educational psychology uses that understanding in real-life situations. These are times when you bring a group of people together and try to persuade them. Your business has likely faced this challenge, or it might just be a one-person team digging deep in an Arctic mine.
One application is educating staff on the correct corporate strategy, and convincing them it’s actually important and not some pointless homework. Because you’ll see that. The instant you start talking about corporate directives, even the most experienced sales staff start wandering in their minds and kicking their heels. Even if you don’t see any paper airplanes thrown at a blackboard, that’s the vibe.
Another is persuading clients that your solution is what they need. You might know it for an absolute fact, and have the figures to back it up, but the brilliant and terrible thing about humans is that that might not be enough. The same weird wiring and emotional aspects which make comedy hilarious and thrillers exciting can derail any data, on any day, for the most ridiculous of reasons.
Learning how to actually deal with people is a massive part of any undertaking. Educational psychology doesn’t turn you into a stern schoolteacher hectoring uncooperative children but teaches you to truly study what you’re saying and why. When you realise that what you mean and what you’re achieving are very different things, it suddenly becomes easier to work out why your message isn’t getting across.
You wouldn’t hop in a car without learning how to drive. So why do you think you can steer other people when the only experience you have is yourself? You’re a different person! And, let’s be honest, you don’t even know what makes you tick at least half the time. (And no, we’re not counting sleep in that fraction. The average insane dream about a talking sandwich makes far more sense than most business-setting screaming matches.)
Training in the wiring of mind and the science of interaction automatically makes you more professional in group scenarios. You understand that you can shout at people until they obey, assuming they’re employees, but you’ll get far better reasons if they have better mental motivation than “I have to.” Educational psychology, emotional coaching, hypnotism, whatever you want to call it, studying how people actually work deep down can make you better at influencing them than they think. And we’d choose the first one. If only because hypnotism tends to be noticed and can cause side-effects like calling yourself “The Incredible Mesmero!”
Educational psychology has existed since before that second word was known. Over a century of scientific study has produced metrics and methods for many aspects of teaching people. Assuming you’re not talking to a robot or someone with tinfoil over their head, most people continue learning things all through their lives. It might have changed from “What is the capital of Assyria?” to “Why should I hire this person?”, but it’s still a process of their taking in information and then making a decision based on it. By learning educational psychology, you have far more control over that process.