The 5 differences between a psychologist and a psychopedagogist
Both disciplines study the human being and intervene on him, but they are often confused.
Education is much more than what we do in schools when we go through our when we go through the vital stage of our childhood and adolescence. Learning is a process that lasts a lifetime and that, due to its complexity, has been approached from the different disciplines that investigate and intervene on the human mind.
Psychology and psycho-pedagogy are two of these disciplines, and both allow us to have 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 psychopedagogist? 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. After all, both psychology and psycho-pedagogy use observation and empirical testing to study some aspects of human behavior and mental processes and develop strategies to promote forms of learning that benefit the human being.
However, beyond these superficial similarities, there are many characteristics that allow us to distinguish between them, there are many characteristics that allow us to distinguish these two disciplines.. Let us see what are the main differences between them and how they relate to each other.
1. The specific nature of psycho-pedagogy
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 forging closer ties with the neurosciences to better understand who we are and why we act as we do.
Psychopedagogy, on the other hand, is much more specific and focuses on a very specific area. and focuses on a very specific area of the human experience: learning and education, both in childhood and in adolescence and adulthood. This means that it considers secondary topics, for example, the study of consciousness, decision making or clinical intervention on psychopathologies; they are only approached from the implications they have for the educational process.
2. The importance of intervention in childhood
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 oriented to children and adolescents, since it is understood that youth is a stage in which one is especially sensitive to the environment and that what happens during this stage will greatly influence the level of education that one will have.
Psychology also attaches great importance to the first two decades of life, but not in all cases, since there are certain psychological phenomena that take on great importance in the first two decades of life. there are certain psychological phenomena that become more relevant in the adult stage.. For example, the purchasing decision process, the work climate 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 evident 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 great importance to what is learned, but this is not the only thing it takes into account. For example, certain branches of this science, such as basic psychology or neuropsychology, attach great importance to genetics, that which cannot be modified by interaction with the environment. This facet of psychology, which 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, i.e., that each person is indescribable from the physical and social environment in which he/she lives.
Something similar occurs with psychology, which 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 learning and social contents of the individual.The contents of learning and social interaction are considered secondary. These branches of psychology are usually the same ones that take genetic inheritance into account, although this is not the case in all cases.
For example, in the behaviorist current of the mid-twentieth century, research focused on individuals and, at the same time, much more emphasis was placed on learning than on what was biologically inherited.
5. The type of training
In Spain, Psychology is a 4-year university degree, while Psychopedagogy only exists as postgraduate training and is considered a form of specialization. This means that psychopedagogues can be people trained in different fields, such as psychology, pedagogy or any other field.psychology, pedagogy or any career that has been complemented with training to become a teacher.
(Updated at Apr 13 / 2024)