Research On The Evolution Of Dewey's Psychological Thought

Dewey is an outstanding scholar in philosophy,psychology and pedagogy.Whether his high-yielding research results,wide-ranging research scope,his profound insightful ability,or his personal characteristics of wisdom,has a far-reaching impact on later generations.Dewey is regarded as the spokesman of modern education and plays an important role in the history of education.As one of the most original and greatest educational thinkers in the 20 th century,Dewey attached great importance to the combination of psychology and pedagogy,and he took his psychological thought as an important tool to explain and develop his educational thought.In addition,psychology is the key factor to promote the scientific development of education.It seemed that "education is based on psychology" has been widely accepted as a "law".It is a vital subject of the fundamental internal connection between psychology and education.Therefore,the paper takes Dewey's psychological thought as the research object,and takes genetic method,literature research method,historical research method and comparative analysis method as the research methods.Through the longitudinal logic analysis,the paper points out the evolution course of Dewey's psychological thought,and probes into how Dewey's educational thought changes with the evolution of his psychological thought,which provides a new perspective for further exploring Dewey's educational thought and its development course.Dewey's psychological thought has rich situational connotation and personal characteristics.At different stages of Dewey's life,the focus of his psychological thought is also changing.Based on Dewey's core psychological thought in his representative works in different periods,this study divides the evolution process of his psychological thought into four stages: the period of philosophical psychology,functional psychology,educational psychology and social psychology.In the period of philosophical psychology,Dewey's psychology was almost entirely concerned with how people perceive things,and with mind,consciousness,as well as substance and entities.He regarded psychology as a unique way to study knowledge.Dewey holds that psychology,by assuming that absolute consciousness is realized and manifested in individuals,ultimately provides a description of the true nature of reality.In the period of functional psychology,Dewey held a counter-analytical view.He objected to divide behavior into basic sense-motion elements.Dewey put forward to view consciousness and behavior from a holistic and coordinated perspective,and to understand it from the perspective of purpose and function.In the period of educational psychology,Dewey is well known to the world for curriculum psychologization,textbook psychologization and the psychologization of thinking and teaching methods.He opposed neglecting the physical and mental characteristics of children at different stages of development.He advocated a scientific concept of children's subjectivity and balancing the relationship between society and individuals,teachers and children,curriculum and children,methods and children driven by children's interests.In the period of social psychology,Dewey's spirit of being involved in the material world became more and more intense.He proposed interactive psychology,which regards environment as a part of organism's behavior and considers environment as a part of behavior,rather than merely an intermediary to trigger organism's behavior.Interactive psychology reflects the relationship between individuals and society,that is,society can shape individuals,and individuals can rebuild society.The evolution of Dewey's psychological thought is a process of leaping change.From the period of philosophical psychology to the period of functional psychology,it has realized the change from clinging to the concept of absolute unity to adopting the concept of organic unity.From the period of functional psychology to the period of educational psychology,it has realized the promotion from specializing in theoretical interpretation to involve in the educational experiments.And From the period of educational psychology to the period of social psychology,it has realized the expansion from the school education category to the social development category.However,under the process of leaping change of Dewey's psychological thought,there is an obvious common feature.That is,Dewey's psychology serves education.Dewey remained committed to education,he hoped that the development of the whole society would be based on stable,effective and healthy education.However,the realization of his hope is inseparable from Dewey's interest in psychology.With the influence of Dewey's psychological thought,his educational thought is also changing.Dewey's view of educational purpose gradually changed from focusing on individual development to social responsibility.In the period of philosophical psychology,Dewey advocated that education should cultivate individual's open mind.In the period of functional psychology,Dewey advocated that education should promote individuals to realize their potential.In the third period,the period of educational psychology,Dewey considered that education should promote the overall growth of individuals.And in the period of social psychology,it is believed that education should cultivate individual's sense of social responsibility.Dewey's concept of curriculum gradually changed from focusing on curriculum setting to curriculum implementation.In the period of philosophical psychology,in Dewey's view,the curriculum emphasized system integration,and in the period functional psychology,the curriculum emphasizes coupling to connect.In the period of educational psychology,Dewey advocated that the implementation of curriculum should focus on children.And last in the period of social psychology,Dewey advocate the implementation of curriculum should center on the changing social order.As for Dewey's concept of educational management,it gradually developed from focusing on the internal development to concerning to the internal and external interaction.In the period of philosophical psychology,Dewey advocated that schools should provide equal educational opportunities for women.In the period of functional psychology,Dewey emphasized the development of pedagogy discipline and training education experts in schools.In the period of educational psychology,Dewey advocated that schools should ensure teachers' educational freedom.And in the period of social psychology,Dewey stressed that schools should unite with the public and social groups.