BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory
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Levin’s Cognitive Field Theory
Kurt Levin was born in Germany. He worked in the field of psychology with gestalt psychologists: Wertheimer, Kohler and Koffka in Berlin. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
According to gestalts, man perceives an object in its entirety. Levin has modified it a little and has said that man perceives an object in the context of his environment. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
He left Germany for America and worked in the psychology departments of several universities.
The chief focus of his study was on motivated conditions of person, environment and situation. He took the help of concepts of natural sciences and mathematics in order to explain different aspects of human behaviour.
He combined the person and his environment and name the combination a field. He included all those factors for the study of human behaviour which exist in that field and which influences his behaviour. He called his study field psychology.
Under it, he studied the person and his interrelations in a field. He also drew the concept of topology from mathematics and called field psychology topological psychology. As a result of his study, he propounded a theory to explain human behaviour, which is called Levin’s Cognitive Field Theory. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
According to this theory, human behaviour and his learning process are in fact controlled by his psychological field.
According to him, the chief unit of this field is the Person (P). A person specifies his objectives in the context of the community. These objectives can be immediate (short-term) or long-term.
According to Levin, to understand a person’s behaviour, it is essential to know his situation on that diagram which is related to those objectives which he wants to achieve. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
Levin has expressed human behaviour by the following mathematical equation:
B=f(P.E)
In which:
B = behaviours
F = function
P = person
E = environment
Levin has explained learning on this basis, so his theory of learning is called Cognitive Field Theory or Topological Theory. This theory has eight chief components:
- Person: According to Levin, a person is such an entity that is surrounded by his environment, and still keeps himself distinct from it. Levin has classified a person internally into two classes: perceptual motor region, and inner personal region.
By the perceptual-motor region, and inner personal region. By the perceptual-motor region, a person’s perceptual and physical activities are controlled, and by his inner personal field, his motivational functions are controlled. The perceptual-motor field occurs at the external level and surrounds the inner personal region.
- Field: According to Levin, the field is meant a person’s entire psychological environment in which he resides and works. In this field, a person’s self, his thinking, facts, assumptions, imaginations, aspirations, beliefs and values are all included. This field is unique for each person. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
- Life Space: By life space, Levin means the environment in which a person resides. This environment comprises persons, objects and all those physical, social Whological stimuli by which a person is influenced, with which he interns and about which he possesses the capability to think and imagine about which he capability.
This environment establishes a relation with the person and his logy. A person has to cross several barriers to arrive at his objectives or he can attain his objective after having overcome these barriers. In psychology, the living space of a person is expressed by the following diagram.
- Foreign Hull: A person’s psychological environment is surrounded by a covering, which is called a foreign hull of a person’s living space. This is made up of those aspects of a person’s concerned environment which a person cannot perceive.
It comprises a person’s all unpsychological facts and those particles of the related physical and social environment which are not part of a person’s life space at a particular time but can be its part under other situations.
- Vector: This concept has been borrowed from physics. Vector demonstrates the quantum and direction of a force. In the field theory, a vector has been accepted as that force which carries a person near to or away from his goal. It indicates what happens in a particular situation, or what is about to occur in it.
- Valence: By valence is meant attraction or distraction of a person towards or goal. If a person is attracted to a field or goal, it is called positive valance, and if he is distracted from it, it is called negative valence. This valence of a person depends on his psychological status, his needs and several other elements.
- Barriers: The obstructions that a person has to overcome or cross to arrive at his goal are called barriers. These barriers can be physical, social or psychological. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
- Motivation: According to Levin, motivation is the process in which a motive is related to a particular goal or objective, and satisfaction of the motive is determined by the realization of the goal or objective. Levin has accepted motivation of both extrinsic and intrinsic types. In this connection, he has accepted the importance of reward and punishment.
According to Levin, observation and classification of data should not only be included in a scientific method, rather hypotheses should be formulated and their verification should be included in it. According to him, a person and his environment should be considered mutually dependent for understanding a person’s behaviour and making forecasts about him.
Characteristics of Cognitive Field Theory
- This theory accepts that perception and reality are both relatives. According to it, no object can be perceived in its partial form, rather its perception is undertaken in relation to other objects. In the same way reality for a person is what he perceives by his own senses. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
According to it, the concept of a psychological human is different from and wider than a biological and physiological human. According to it, both person and his environment interact with each other and participate in the process of perception.
- This theory accords that the learning process is determined by goal or objective. The goal is the focal point of the cognitive field theory, while the theory of stimulus-response of learning neglects the goal.
- This theory lays stress on psychological functions.
- This theory lays stress on circumstances too.
- According to this theory, only those elements that influence a person’s behaviour are present in that field. His behaviour is not governed by the past or future. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
- According to this theory, as a man grows in age, he undergoes different types of behavioural changes, due to this, we can see changes in behaviours of a person in childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
- According to this theory, with the growth in age, a person’s individual inner field and psychological field expand, and due to this, his capability to perform independent tasks as well as to distinguish between the real and unreal is enhanced.
Shortcomings in the Cognitive Field Theory
- This theory is chiefly the theory of perception, it does not clearly explain the process of learning.
- In Levin’s theory, the concept of living space is already made up of elements, therefore, it is hard to predict the person.
- This theory does not explain how the external environment is influenced by the living space and how the living space is influenced the external environment. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
- This theory does not attach significance to the effect of heredity, maturity etc. on a person s behaviour, though these factors have their influence for sure. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
- In this theory, the concepts of natural sciences and mathematics have been lied to, which are difficult to understand.
- This theory gives more importance to behaviour in place of experience.
- According to this theory, a person’s behaviour is influenced by only the environment, while in fact, it is also influenced by his inner desires and needs too. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
Application of the Cognitive Field Theory in Education
- This theory explains the process of perception correctly, and perception is very important in the learning process. Therefore, a child should be given an independent opportunity to perceive an object or activity in his environment.
- This theory accepts learning as a purposeful process. Therefore, a teacher should divulge the aims before teaching a student anything. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
According to it, the aims should be in keeping with a child’s age, ability and capability, else he will not be able to understand them. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory) - This theory accepts the importance of motivation in learning; therefore, a teacher should motivate a student for learning before he is taught something. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
- This theory attaches importance to the environment; therefore, a teacher should create such an environment in the class so that a student crosses the barriers to realize his goal. (BEd 2nd Year What do you understand by Levin’s Cognitive Field theory)
- This method can be used to raise the level of aspiration.
- Levin’s group dynamics is useful in giving collective instruction to students.
- A teacher should understand the psychological environment of a student and should cooperate with him keeping in view his needs, interests, abilities, capabilities, attitudes and aptitudes.
- A teacher should study the mental health of his students before commencing the process of teaching-learning so that he can remove any barriers like fear, despair, disappointment, stress, anxiety etc.
- According to this theory, a teacher should make use of modern teaching techniques to cultivate insight in students in order to make the teaching-learning process well-understood.
- This theory is helpful in studying a student’s personality.