Foundations

oF
PsYCHoLoGY
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 UNIT -1 LEARNING
DEFINITON AND NATURE:
learning occupies a very important place in our life. Most of what we do or do not
do is influenced by what we learn and how we have learnt it. Learning, therefore,
provides a key or structure to one's personality and behaviour. An individual starts
learning immediately after his birth or in a strict sense even earlier when in the
womb of the mother. Experience - direct or indirect - is found to play a dominant
role in moulding and shaping the behaviour of the individual from the very
beginning.
While approaching a burning match stick the child gets burnt and he withdraws.
The next time, when he faces a burning match stick, he wastes no time in
withdrawing himself away. He learns to avoid not only the burning match stick but
also all burning things. When this happens, we say that the child has learned that
if one touches a flame, one gets burnt. the same way from some other
experiences, he may reach conclusions like "The green apples are sour", "Barking
dogs seldom bite", "Be very cautious in believing' strangers" etc. All these
conclusions derived from the experiences- direct or indirect - bring a change in
one's behaviour of the individual. Learning involves mastering a new skill,
academic subject, emotional development, social interaction, development of
personality.
Learning may be defined as a relatively permanent change in behaviour that
occurs as a result of experience

The definition has three important elements:

1. Learning is a change in behaviour either it is maladaptive or adaptive
2. It is a change that takes place through practice or experience; changes due to
growth or maturation are not learning
3. The change that occurs must be relatively permanent i.e., it must last for long
time.

Learning is closely related to a phenomenon called as maturation which is a natural

process. Maturation is the growth which takes place within the individual. The
maturational changes are the results of unfolding and ripening of inherited traits
and are relatively independent of activity, practice or experience.
Swimming of tadpoles and flying of birds can be attributed primarily to maturation.
But in most of the activities of human beings, it is difficult to decide whether these
activities result from maturation or learning. The child does not learn to talk until
he reaches a certain stage or age in maturation, but it is also equally true that he
does not learn the languages just because he or she attains that stage. The
language is taught to him or her. Therefore, the two processes – maturation and
learning – are closely related and different from each other.
Maturation helps in the process of learning. Learning can only take place if the stage
for that type of learning has been achieved through a process of maturation.

TYPES OF LEARNING:
Learning, defined as a process of bringing relatively permanent changes in the
behaviour of an organism, may be classified in a number of categories depending
upon the domain or specific area of the behaviour in which changes are
introduced or in terms of the methods or techniques that are employed for the
introduction of behavioural changes.
If we follow the former criterion, the learning can be classified as verbal learning
(involving verbal expression), learning of motor skills (such as walking, dancing,
typing, swimming, etc), affective learning (learning of habits, interest attitudes,
appreciation, etc.) and cognitive learning (learning of concepts, principles,
problem-solving, etc).
In the case of the latter criterion, we may categorize learning as trial-and-error
learning, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, chain learning, shaping,
learning through generalization, learning through discrimination, serial learning,
associate learning, insightful learning, etc.

VERBAL LEARNING: Learning of this type in the acquisition of verbal behaviour.

The language we speak, the communication devices we use are the result of such
learning. Rote learning and role memorization which is a type of school learning
also included in verbal learning. Signs, pictures, symbols, words, figure, sounds,
voices, etc., are employed by the individual as an essential instrument for
engaging him in the process of verbal learning.

MOTOR LEARNING: the Learning of all types of motor skills may be included in
such type of learning. Learning how to swim, driving a car, playing a piano,
drawing a geometrical design, performing experiments and handling various
instruments are the examples of such learning. The art of these skills can be
acquired through a systematic and planned wat of the acquisition and fixation of
a series of organized actions responses by making use of some appropriate
learning methods and devices.

CONCEPT LEARNING: A concept in the form of a mental image denotes a

generalize idea about the things, persons or events. For example, our concept of
"tree" is a mental image that brings to us the similarities or common properties
of all the different trees we know. We will call a thing tree when it has some
specific characteristics, the image of which we have already acquired in our mind
on account of our previous experience, perception or rich imagination. The
formation of such concept on account of previous experience, training or
cognitive processes is called concept learning. Such type of concept learning
proves very useful in recognizing, naming and identifying the things. All of our
behaviour, verbal, symbolic, motor as well as cognitive, is influenced by our
concepts. Thus, what we do, say, understand, reason and judge is, to a great
extent, controlled by the quality of our concept learning.

PROBLEM SOLVING: In the ladder of learning and acquisition of behaviour,

problem. solving denotes a higher type of learning. Such type of learning requires
the used the cognitive abilities like reasoning, thinking, power of observation,
discrimination. generalization, imagination, ability to infer and draw conclusions,
trying out novel ways and experimenting, etc. Based on the grounds of earlier
experiences, effect of coaching, training, formal or informal learning and
acquisition of knowledge, habits, attitudes, interests and learning sets, etc., an
individual may be motivated to reach an unknown target or unfolding the mystery
of an unresolved problem- How he can be trained to accomplish such a task is the
function of problem solving. This type of learning has essentially caused human
beings to contribute significantly to the progress and improvement of society.

PAIRED-ASSOCIATE LEARNING: In this learning, learning tasks are presented in

such a way that they may be learned on account of their associations. The name
of a village like Krishnapur is remembered on account of its association with the
name of Lord Krishna or a girl's name Ganga by learning it in the form of making
paired association with the river Ganges. Much of the verbal or motor learning
may, thus, be learnt or remembered on account of the technique of paired or
multiple association.

In having practice of such paired-associate learning the learner may be presented

a series of paired words or nonsense syllables like the following:
 PAIRED WORDS PAIRED NON-SENSE SYLLABLES
Dog-Animal PN-PF
Parrot-Bird NLP-JDS
Cat-Milk RJBP-RNYS
Motor-Child TIBPK-GMPRK

The learner views the pair (two words or syllables) for a brief spell, usually less
than five seconds. He is then presented with one member of the pair and asked
to recall the other. The practice with such procedure then helps in building What
is known as associate learning. An example of paired associate learning is the
acquisition of foreign language vocabulary items that are paired with their
mother-tongue equivalents. The matching items presented in the objective type
questions of the achievement test also lay emphasis on such type of learning.

CONDITIONAL LEARNING
There are two kinds of conditioning – classical and operant conditioning.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING:

In his laboratory, while studying the functioning of the digestive system, a Russian
psychologist named Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) encountered an unforeseen
problem: the experimental dogs salivated not only upon actual eating but also
when they saw the food, noticed the man who usually brought it, or even heard
the footsteps of their feeder. Pavlov began to study this phenomenon, which he
called "Conditioning". Since the type of conditioning emphasized was a classical
one -quite different from the conditioning emphasized by other psychologists at
the later stage - it has been renamed as classical conditioning. For understanding
the nature of the process of conditioning, let us have an idea of the type of
experiments performed by Pavlov.

In one of his experiments, Pavlov kept a dog hungry for a few days and then tied
him on to the experimental table which was fitted with certain mechanicals-
controlled devices. The dog was made comfortable and distractions were
excluded as far as it was possible to do. The observer kept himself hidden from
view of the dog but was able to view the experiment by means of a set of mirrors.
Arrangement was made to give food to the dog through automatic devices. Every
time the food was presented to the dog, he also arranged for the ringing of a bell.
When the food was presented to the dog and the bell was rung, there was
automatic secretion of saliva from the mouth of the dog. The activity of
presenting the food accompanied with a ringing of the bell was repeated several
times and the amount of saliva secreted was measured.

After several trials, the dog was given no food but the bell was rung. In this case
also the amount of saliva secreted was recorded and measured, it was found that
even in the absence of food (the natural stimulus), the ringing of the bell (an
artificial stimulus) caused the dog to secrete the saliva (natural response).

The above experiment thus, brings into the picture the four essential elements of
the conditioning process. The first element is a natural stimulus, technically
known as unconditioned stimulus (US) i.e., food. It results in a natural response
known as unconditioned response (UR). This response constitutes the second
element. The third element is the artificial stimulus like ringing of the bell which
is technically known as Conditioned Stimulus (CS). It is substituted in place of the
natural stimulus (food). Initially the conditioned stimulus does not evoke the
desired response, i.e., conditioned response (CR), the fourth element is the chain
of the conditioning process. However, as a result of conditioning, one learns to
produce behaviour to form conditioned response as a reaction of
conditioned stimulus

The theory of conditioning as advocated by Pavlov, thus, considers learning as a

habit formation and is based on the principle of Association and Substitution. It
is simply a stimulus- response type of learning where in place of a natural
stimulus like food, water, sexual contact etc., the artificial stimulus like the
sound of the bell, sight of the light of a definite colour etc., can evoke a
natural response.

OPERANT OR INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING:

Another core theory of learning is Operant Conditioning, posited by B. F. Skinner.

Skinner found that he could train pigeons and other animals to do particular
behaviours in exchange for a reward, namely food. His experiments consisted of
placing a pigeon in a cage with a lever. When by chance the pigeon pecked at the
lever, it was rewarded with a pellet of food. Consequently, the pigeon continued
to peck at the lever to get more pellets of food. B.F. Skinner developed more
formal model based on responses and its consequences. The skinner box is a cage
that contains a food release mechanism that the animal activates when it
responds in a particular way. Ex. By pressing a lever or pushing a button. A pigeon
would be deprived of food and placed in a cage. Whenever the pigeon pressed a
button at the side of the cage, a food pellet would drop into its food tray

Reinforcement refers to the process whereby the delivery of pleasant stimulus

or removal of unpleasant stimulus increases the probability of behaviour.

Positive reinforcement – a response is strengthened by the introduction of a

stimulus after the response occurs. e.g., Praising a child for good behaviour.
Negative reinforcement – a response is strengthened when it leads to the
removal of an “aversive “stimulus e.g., Brushing teeth to avoid drilling

Nature of Reinforcers: Whether something is positively reinforcing or punishing

depends on the effect it has on behaviour. What may be positively reinforcing to
one child may not be so for another. For example, usually food will be positively
reinforcing but to an anorexic girl who hates the sight of food it may be
punishing. Pain is usually punishing, but to a child preoccupied guilt with
masochistic tendencies it will be positively reinforcing or rewarding.

Further, the strength and direction of reinforcement will depend to some degree
on the child’s relationship with the person administering or involved in it. A game
of football is likely to be more positively reinforcing for a boy if it involves his
father than his mother. A star chart for bed wetting worked out in co-operation
with a mother with whom a 6-year-old has a good relationship is likely to be more
effective than if the mother and child are in serious conflict.
Primary reinforcers are intrinsic reward because they satisfy basic biological
needs or drives. Ex. Food, water, sleep, sexual stimulation.

Secondary reinforcers acquire their reinforcement value through a learning

process by which they become associated with primary reinforcers. Ex. Money,
good grades, award, praise.

Punishment refers to the introduction of an aversive stimulus or the removal of

a reinforcing stimulus after a response, leads to the weakening or suppression
of the response.

If the unpleasant stimulus is produced and the responding decreases then the
procedure is positive reinforcement e.g., Overcorrection.

If the pleasant stimulus is removed and the responding decreases then the
procedure is negative punishment e.g., Timeout – making the child sit alone
since he or she disturbed the class.

Schedule of Reinforcement: According to Skinner, at the beginning of training

you should reward each and every move the child makes toward the goal.
However, once the child has mastered a given response in the chain, you may
begin slowly fading out the reward by reinforcing the response intermittently.
Continuous reinforcement is necessary at first, both to keep the individual eager
to perform and to let him know that he is doing something right. However, once
the child learns what that something” is, you may begin reinforcing the response
every second time, then every third or fourth time, then perhaps every tenth
time. If you fade out the reward very gradually, you can get a child to make a
simple response several times for each reinforcement.

During the fading process, the exact scheduling of the reward is crucial. If you
reinforce exactly every tenth response, the, child will soon learn to anticipate
which response will gain him reward. Skinner calls this fixed ratio reinforcement,
because the ratio between the number of responses required and the rewards
given is fixed and never varies. Instead of reinforcing exactly the tenth response,
we can vary the schedule so that sometimes the third response yields reward,
sometimes the twentieth or any response in between. A hundred responses will
yield about 10 rewards, but the child will never know when the next reward is
coming. When trained on variable ratio schedules, individuals’ response at a fairly
constant pace.
Extinction generally occurs most rapidly following withdrawal of things that are
positive reinforcers. Thus, the withdrawal of love from people of whom the child
is fond is often the most effective way of achieving extinction of the undesirable
behaviour. In other children, the withdrawal of material goods, such pocket
money, special food or think, and opportunity to watch television is more
important.

Aversive: aversive are unpleasant stimuli that induce changes in behaviour via
negative reinforcement or positive punishment.

Anorexia: Anorexia nervosa — often simply called anorexia — is an eating

disorder characterized by an abnormally low body weight, an intense fear of
gaining weight and a distorted perception of weight.

Masochistic: A masochistic person gains pleasure from experiencing various

forms of pain. This can involve gaining sexual pleasure from pain or humiliation,
but it can also refer to situations where people seek out or enjoy activities that
create distress, discomfort, or pain.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING

Classical or respondent conditioning is based on respondent behaviour.

Specifically, it deals with responses that invariably follow a specific stimulus and
are thus elicited e.g., blinking at a bright light, jumbling at an electric shock,
salivation to the test of food, and so forth. In this greater importance is attached
to the stimulus for eliciting the desired response. That is why it is also called a
type S conditioning. On the other hand, operant conditioning helps in
conditioning or learning of operant behaviour - behaviour that is emitted (rather
than elicited). The organism seems to initiate operant behaviour on his own
without a single, explicit, preceding stimulus. In this type of learning, much
emphasis is placed on the response rather than the stimulus causing the
response. That is why it is also named as type R conditioning. In type S
conditioning, the problem with the trainer or teacher is to select appropriate
stimuli for evoking desired response. On the other hand, in R type conditioning,
out of many responses which an organism is capable of giving, the problem with
the trainer or teacher is to evoke only the appropriate responses and then fix
them properly with the help of suitable reinforcement.
 Classical Respondent Conditioning Operant Conditioning
1. It helps in the learning of 1. it helps in the learning of operant
respondent behaviour behaviour
2. It is called type S conditioning to 2. It is called type R conditioning
emphasize the importance of the because of the emphasis on the
stimulus in eliciting desired response response
3. in this type of conditioning 3. Here Beginning is made with the
beginning is made with the help of responses as they occur “naturally” or
specific stimuli that bring certain “unnaturally” shaping them into
response existence.
4. Here strength of conditioning is 4.Here strength of conditioning is
usually determined by the magnitude shown by the response rate i.e., the
of the conditioned response i.e., the rate with which an operant response
amount of saliva (as in the case of occurs as a result of some
classical experiment of Pavlov with reinforcement
dog.)

TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING:

Edward Thorndike constructed a device called a “puzzle box”, a cage in which the
animal (usually a cat) had to perform a simple activity (such as pulling a looped
string or pushing a pedal) in order to make its escape and reach a food placed
within its view outside the cage.

Initially the cat tries to reach the food by extending its paws through the bars.
When this fails, the cat moves about the cage, engaging in a variety of activities.
Thorndike named the learning of his experimental cat as “trial and error”. He
maintained that the learning is nothing but the stamping in of the correct
responses and stamping out of the incorrect responses through trial and error. In
trying for the correct solution, the cat made so many vain attempts. It committed
error after error before gaining success. On subsequent trials, it tried to avoid the
erroneous ways and repeat the correct ways of manipulating the latch.

Thorndike argues that the animals did not employ reasoning, insight, or any other
form of higher intelligence to find their way to the exit. Rather it was through a
random process of trial and error.

Trial and error are the gradual elimination of useless responses and then
finding out the successful behaviour which is purely by chance.
Trial and error or stimulus-response theory was propounded by E.L. Thorndike.
according to him, learning behaviour arises when the organism faces a new and
difficult situation. In order to solve the problem, the organism tries all sorts of
movement one by one in a random manner. During the process of solving, the
organism will make all possible movement, till the correct movement is made.
Thus, the correct response gradually gets bonded with the learning situation
which is termed as S – R bond.

The two most popular experiments which formed for trial and error are puzzle
box and maze experiment.
Puzzle box experiment: Thorndike put a hungry cat in a puzzle box and presented
fried fish in a tray outside the cage which the cat could view from inside the cage.
Inside the box, a loop of string hanged which if pulled, could open the cage. The
cat struggled energetically by trying to squeeze between the slate, scratching the
box, which did not have effect. But in course of these random act, the cat pulled
the string and the door opened.
 Trial and error are the gradual elimination of useless response by stamping
in correct and stamping out the incorrect response.
 Maze experiment: Thorndike performed another experiment on rats using
maze as a problem. A hungry rat was placed in maze box with food in its
goal. The rat explored the maze after putting in some efforts. It tried to
reach the goal with each and every blind paths. When the food is reached,
the trial ends.

Laws of learning:
1. Law of effect: This is the most important law of learning. The satisfying
activities are stamped in and the unsatisfied activities ones are stamped out.
Thorndike is supposed to be the first psychologist to recognize the significance of
motivation in learning which led to the formation of law of effect.

2. Law of exercise: the law of exercise is another important law. The strength of
responses are based on the frequency of occurrence of the response. This law
of exercise is also referred as law of frequency.
a. The law of use explains the establishment of correct response
b. The law of disuse explains why incorrect response are eliminated

3. Law of readiness: it refers to the state of the organism which makes him ready
to respond. The organism experience satisfaction in responding to the situation.
But when he is not ready to set to respond it causes annoyance. This law is
important in inducing a tendency to learn and hence, applies to every learning
situation.

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN LEARNING:

There are number of factors affect the learning in an individual. All the factors can
be categorized into two major factors viz., environmental factors, and personal
factors.
L = f (EF × PF)
L = Learning; f = Function; EF = Environmental Factors; PF = Personal Factors.

Personal factors include biological factors (Maturation, Taste aversion, instinctive

drive), psychological factors (intelligence, motivation, emotions, interests,
attitudes, self-concept, learning styles, physical health)

In other words, the learner should be mature enough to learn a particular skill or
task. This means that there is an optimal or most appropriate time for each
individual to learn a specific skill or a concept with ease and efficiency. This
appropriate time comes when one’s physical, neural and intellectual aspects of
development have advanced enough to enable one to perceive the problem and
solve it with relative ease and comfort. For instance, four-month-old child cannot
walk since it lacks the physical maturation or level of development required of
walking. Similarly, it is impossible for five years old to comment on democracy or
socialism as he/she is not ‘ready’ or cognitively adept at understanding these
concepts. Maturation can best be interpreted as relatively permanent change in
an individual – be it cognitive, emotional or physical, that occurs as a result of
biological ageing, regardless of personal experience. Maturation is pre-
programmed and occurs regardless of interactions a child has with the
environment. Maturation has to be thus understood as a natural process of
unfolding of the development stages, resulting in functionally preparing an
individual to acquire mastery over his/her environment.

Taste Aversion
Psychologist John Garcia and his colleagues found that aversion to a particular
taste is conditioned only by pairing the taste (a conditioned stimulus) with nausea
(an unconditioned stimulus). If taste is paired with other unconditioned stimuli,
conditioning doesn’t occur. Similarly, nausea paired with most other conditioned
stimuli doesn’t produce aversion to those stimuli. Pairing taste and nausea, on
the other hand, produces conditioning very quickly, even with a delay of several
hours between the conditioned stimulus of the taste and the unconditioned
stimulus of nausea. This phenomenon is unusual, since normally classical
conditioning occurs only when the unconditioned stimulus immediately follows
the conditioned stimulus

Example: Joe eats pepperoni pizza while watching a movie with his roommate,
and three hours later, he becomes nauseated. He may develop an aversion to
pepperoni pizza, but he won’t develop an aversion to the movie he was watching
or to his roommate, even though they were also present at the same time as the
pizza. Joe’s roommate and the movie won’t become conditioned stimuli, but the
pizza will. If, right after eating the pizza, Joe gets a sharp
pain in his elbow instead of nausea, it’s unlikely that he will develop an aversion
to pizza as a result. Unlike nausea, the pain won’t act as an unconditioned
stimulus.

An Evolutionary Adaptation- The combination of taste and nausea seems to be a

special case. Researchers think that learning to quickly associate taste and nausea
is an evolutionary adaptation, since this association helps people to know what
foods to avoid in order to survive

Instinctive drift
It is the tendency for conditioning to be hindered by natural instincts. Two
psychologists, Keller and Marian Breland, were the first to describe instinctive
drift. The Breland’s found that through operant conditioning, they could teach
raccoons to put a coin in a box by using food as a reinforcer. However, they
couldn’t teach raccoons to put two coins in a box. If given two coins, raccoons
just held on to the coins and rubbed them together. Giving the raccoons two coins
brought out their instinctive food-washing behaviour: raccoons instinctively rub
edible things together to clean them before eating them. Once the coins became
associated with food, it became impossible to train them to drop the coins into
the box.
IMPORTANT QUESITONS:
1. Write the nature learning:

NATURE OF LEARNING
1. Learning is Universal. Every creature that lives learns. Man learns most. The
human nervous system is very complex, so are human reactions and so are
human acquisition. Positive learning vital for children’s growth and development.
2. Learning is through Experience. Learning always involves some kind of
experience, direct or indirect (vicarious).
3. Learning is from all Sides: Today learning is from all sides. Children learn from
parents, teachers, environment, nature, media etc.
4. Learning is Continuous. It denotes the lifelong nature of learning. Every day
new situations are faced and the individual has to bring essential changes in his
style of behaviour adopted to tackle them. Learning is birth to death.
5. It results in Change in Behaviour. It is a change of behaviour influenced by
previous behaviour. It is any activity that leaves a more or less permanent effect
on later activity.
6. Learning is an Adjustment. Learning helps the individual to adjust himself
adequately to the new situations. Most learning in children consists in modifying,
adapting, and developing their original nature. In later life the individuals acquire
new forms of behaviour.
7. It comes about as a result of practice. It is the basis of drill and practice. It has
been proven that students learn best and retain information longer when they
have meaningful practice and repetition. Every time practice occurs, learning
continues.
8. Learning is a relatively Permanent Change. After a rat wake up from his nap,
he still remembers the path to the food. Even if you have been on a bicycle for
years, in just a few minutes practice you can be quite proficient again.
9. Learning as Growth and Development. It is never ending growth and
development. At reach stage the learner acquires new visions of his future growth
and news ideals of achievement in the direction of his effort. According to
Woodworth, “All activity can be called learning so far as it develops the
individual.”
10. Learning is not directly observable. The only way to study learning is through
some observable behaviour. Actually, we cannot observe learning; we see only
what precedes performance, the performance itself, and the consequences of
performance.
2. Types of Learning (pg-2 and pg-3)
3. Elaborate on the biological factors of learning (pg-11 and pg-12)
4. Mention the nature of language development in psychology

Language development or language acquisition is a process that starts early in

human life, when a person begins to acquire language by learning it as it is
spoken and by mimicry. Children's language development moves from simplicity
to complexity. Infants start without language. Yet by four months of age, babies
can read lips and discriminate speech sounds. The language that infants speak is
called " gibberish".

Usually, language starts off as recall of simple words without associated meaning,
but as children age, words acquire meaning, and connections between words are
formed. In time, sentences start to form as words are joined together to create
logical meaning. As a person gets older, new meanings and new associations are
created and vocabulary increases as more words are learned.

Infants use their bodies, vocal cries and other preverbal vocalizations to
communicate their wants, needs and dispositions. Even though most children
begin to vocalize and eventually verbalize at various ages and at different rates,
they learn their first language without conscious instruction from parents or
caretakers. It is a seemingly effortless task that grows increasingly difficult with
age. Of course, before any learning can begin, the child must be biologically and
socially mature enough.

Biological Preconditions Linguists do not all agree on what biological factors

contribute to language development, however most do agree that our ability to
acquire such a complicated system is specific to the human species.
Furthermore, our ability to learn language may have been developed through the
evolutionary process and that the foundation for language may be passed down
genetically.

Social Preconditions It is crucial that children are allowed to socially interact with
other people who can vocalize and respond to questions. For language
acquisition to develop successfully, children must be in an environment that
allows them to communicate socially in that language.
 UNIT-2 MEMORY AND FORGETTING
Memory – process of memorization, types, and efficient methods of
remembering. Forgetting – meaning, theories, factors affecting remembering,
memory disorders

Memory:
Learning occupies a very important place in one’s life. Its is the basics of our
survival as well as the development and progress of society. To make use of the
material we learnt it must remain n our mind, stored up somehow to be used
when the need arises. In the world of psychology this ability or power of mind to
store the past experiences of learning and utilising them (by reproducing) at a
later stage is known as “Memory”. In other words, Learning is a relatively
permanent change in behaviour that occurs as the result of experience. Learning
could not occur without memory.
Memory is the system by which we retain information and bring it to mind.
Psychologists make three major distinctions about memory
1. First concerns three stages of memory – encoding, storage and retrieval
2. Different memories store information for short and long periods
3. Different memories being used to store different kinds of information

PROCESS OF MEMORISATION:
Human memory can be represented as an information processing system
consisting of three basic processes: encoding, storage and retrieval of information

Information about the outside world comes to us through our senses. But for this
information to enter memory, it must undergo a process of memory encoding or
conversion into a form we can store in memory.
These memory images are conserved in the form of “engrams”. Thus, what is
learned leaves its after-effect which is conserved in the form of engrams
composed of Memory Traces. This preservation of memory traces by our Central
Nervous System or Brain is known as retaining of the Learned or Experienced
act. We encode information in different ways, including acoustically (coded by
sound), visually (coded by forming a mental picture) and semantically (coded by
meaning). Encoding information semantically helps to store information in
memory. We are more likely to remember material when we make a conscious
effort to understand the meaning rather than rote meaning. When we try to
recollect or repeat our past experiences of learning we make use of the memory
traces. If we are successful in the revival of our memory traces, our memory is
said to be good. But if, somehow or the other memory traces have died out, we
will not be able to reproduce or make use of our past experience or learning. In
this case it is said that we are not able to retain what has been learned or in other
words we have forgotten.
Memory retrieval is the process of accessing stored information to make it
available to consciousness. Some memories are retrieved without much effort,
and other depend on the availability of retrieval cues. The individual attempts to
pull information from the memory that are previously encoded and stored there.
Different stages of memory are mediated by different structures of the brain.
Brain scanning studies – involving positron emission tomography (PET) or
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – measures brain activity when the
participants are engaged in tasks.
Findings revealed that during encoding most of the activated brain regions are in
the left hemisphere, whereas during retrieval most of the activated brain region
are in the right hemisphere.

TYPES OF MEMORY:
The three memory stores of memory that vary with the length of time, the
information is stored. Sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term
memory.
Sensory memory or sensory register is the storage system that holds sensory
information in memory for a very short time. Visual, auditory and other sensory
stimuli strike the sensory receptors forming impressions that an individual briefly
hold in sensory memory. The information in sensory register lasts in memory for
a fraction of a second to as long as three or four seconds.
Short-term memory (STM) is a storage system that allows an individual to retain
and process sensory information for a maximum of about thirty seconds. Short-
term memory relies on both visual and acoustic coding, but mostly on acoustic
coding. In remembering phone number, we verbally repeat it to oneself.

Working Memory
Working memory is the memory system that allows to hold and think about
information in mind for brief period of time eg. Mental arithmetic.
Working memory is short-term memory. However, instead of all information going
into one single store, there are different systems for different types of
information.
The component of working memory responsible for coordinating the other
subsystems, receiving and processing stored information, and filtering out
distracting thoughts is called Central Executive. The central executive is the most
important component of the model which is responsible for monitoring and
coordinating the operation of visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop and
relates them to long term memory (LTM). The central executive decides which
information is attended to and which parts of the working memory to send that
information to be dealt with. For example, two activities sometimes come into
conflict, such as driving a car and talking. Rather than hitting a cyclist who is
wobbling all over the road, it is preferable to stop talking and concentrate on
driving. The central executive directs attention and gives priority to particular
activities. Baddeley suggests that the central executive acts more like a system
which controls attentional processes rather than as a memory store.
The phonological loop is the part of working memory that deals with spoken and
written material. It consists of two parts - The phonological store (linked to
speech perception) acts as an inner ear and holds information in a speech-based
form (i.e., spoken words) for 1-2 seconds. Spoken words enter the store directly.
Written words must first be converted into an articulatory (spoken) code before
they can enter the phonological store. The articulatory control process (linked to
speech production) acts like an inner voice rehearsing information from the
phonological store. It circulates information round and round like a tape loop. This
is how we remember a telephone number we have just heard. As long as we keep
repeating it, we can retain the information in working memory.
The visuospatial sketchpad (inner eye) deals with visual and spatial information.
Visual information refers to what things look like. It is likely that the visuospatial
sketchpad plays an important role in helping us keep track of where we are in
relation to other objects as we move through our environment. It is more difficult
to perform two visual tasks at the same time because they interfere with each
other and performance is reduced. The same applies to performing two verbal
tasks at the same time. This supports the view that the phonological loop and the
sketchpad are separate systems within working memory.

Long term memory (LTM) is the large storage of information that are maintained
to all information that is generally available to us. LTM is a storage system that
allows to retain information for periods of time beyond the capacity of STM. The
storage capacity of long term memory is unlimited. There are two kinds of
rehearsal for a information to be stored.

EFFICIENT METHODS OF REMEMBERING:

Success in the process of memorization depends upon the methods of learning
ormemorization adopted by the learner. Selection of particular method depends
on nature of the learner, the learning material, the learning situations etc.,

a. Whole and part method : there are two methods of memorization especially
whenmemorizing a poem. One can read the poem again and again from the
beginning till the end as a whole. Otherwise the poem can be divided into parts
and each part is memorized separately.

b. Space and unspaced methods : in spaced method the subject is not required
to memorise the assigned material in one continuous sitting. After memorizing
for sometime some rest is provided and in this way the principle of ‘work and
rest’ is followed in this method.

c. Repetition and practice : an intelligent repetition with full understanding

always helps in achieving better results in the process of memorization.

d. Use of mnemonics : mnemonics refer to the specific memory improvement

techniques. People with super memory sometimes use mnemonics and we can
also learn to do so. With training, practice and motivation memory can be
improved.There are variety of mnemonics or memory tricks to remember things
better. People with super memories sometimes use mnemonics, and we can also
learn to do so. One of it is to associate link whatever you want to recall with
something already established in your memory bank e.g. colours of rainbow are
associated with name “Roy G. BIV” i.e. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo
and Violet.

e. Popular saying and rhymes – it helps us to remember variety of activities.

Rhymes can be used as a mnemonic for remembering specific information.

f. Visual cues and visual imagery – visual cues can help us remember new words,
names and word combination for ex. To remember the word hippocampus think
of an associated image such as the image of hippopotamus.

g. Chunking – is one of the easiest ways to remember a series of numbers. Break

down a number series into more easily remembered bits. The task becomes
easier when the digits are chunked into bits. 739 – 292 – 8739

h. Stories you tell yourself – the list of unrelated items to remember, a useful
mnemonic device is to relate the items in a made-up story

i. The Method of Loci says that you visualize a scene and fit the items to be
remembered in that scene. The scene can be a street, a building with rooms, the
layout of a college campus, a kitchen, or just about anything that can be visualized
clearly and contains a number of discrete items in specific locations to serve as
memory pegs. Supposing you want to remember for examination classical
conditioning, which you have read in the previous unit. Then start by imagining a
dog, experimental room, food, bell and any person as an experimenter. Rehearse
this image over and over until it is well established in your mind. After you have
formed your image, associate the events like stimulus substitution, extinction
with this. The trick is to make associations with as many concepts as needed.

FORGETTING
Forgetting is failure to retrieve information from long term memory store. Much
of the information is lost but enough remains, so that we have sketchy record of
our lives. Sometimes what we think is forgotten in real sense is not forgotten
because it was never encoded and stored in the first place. Many students
complain that they do not remember the contents after attending the class or
forget after reading .the text. This happens due to lack of attention, some
information does not reach short term memory from the sensory register or due
to inadequate encoding and rehearsal, the information may not have been
transferred from short term to long term memory. Information was not stored in
long term memory because rehearsal was not sufficiently elaborate.

Many times we forget as memory does not match events which had occurred.
This happens due to the constructive processes i.e. during encoding, the to-be-
remembered information, especially if it is a complex life event or something you
have read, is modified. Certain details are accentuated, the material may be
simplified, or it may be changed in many other ways so that what is encoded and
stored is far from a literal copy of the input. Constructive processes of encoding
distorts which stored in the memory .and distortions are remembered. We
remember the gist, or meaning of what we have read or heard, but not the actual
words themselves. Inferences constructed at the time the information was
encoded for storage is remembered, or portions of encoded informations are
remembered.
Besides the faulty memory processes, some of the other common factors of
forgetting are as following:

Retrieval theory
If the stored information is not encoded well or organized at the time it was
learned, it is forgotten. Retrieval cues are also important in memory, as we may
not be able to recall ‘a’ information in one situation but may spontaneously
remember in the other situation. Retrieval is facilitated by organisation of the
stored material and the presence of retrieval cues that can guide our search
through long term memory for stored information. In absence of proper retrieval
cues, the sought for items stored in long-term memory are not be found. Many
times you would have experienced that you cannot recall something while
actively searching for it, but after giving up that search while doing something
else, you recall that object. The new activity in which you engaged, or the new
context gives another set of reminders, which helps to retrieve that information.
It is a good idea to give up and do something else in order to generate new
retrieval cues. According to retrieval theory, forgetting is the result of a failure to
access stored memories. The ways in which the retrieval process can break down,
encoding failure and lack ofretrieval cues.
 Encoding Failure: Memories cannot be retrieved if they were never
encoded in the first place. The failure to encode information may explain
why people often cannot recall details about common objects they use
every day. Eg. Number of language used in 10 rupee not? Since we don’t
need to encode more specific details of a coin to recognise one or use it
correctly, such information may not be encoded and thus cannot be
retrieved.
 Lack of Retrieval Cues: Information may be encoded in memory but remain
inaccessible because of a lack of appropriate retrieval cues. A common and
often embarrassing difficulty with memory retrieval is recalling proper names.
Unusual names may be more easily recalled since we are more likely to remember
information that stands out from the pack. A lack of retrieval cues may account
for a common experience called the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon, in
which the information seems to be at the tip of one’s tongue but just outside
reach.

Interference
According to this explanation, what we do in the interval between learning and
recall, determines the course of forgetting. Experimental studies have shown that
learning new things interferes with memory of what is learned earlier and prior
learning interferes with memory of things learned later.
i) Retroactive Interference
This is a technical name for new learning that may interfere with material
previously learned. This has been demonstrated in experiments as following:

ii) Proactive Interference

Proactive Interference is caused by the influence of previously learned material.
Because of proactive interference, you may have difficulty remembering a new
area code.

Even though lots of experiments have been conducted, yet the process of
interference is not very clear, one idea is that the interferences disrupts the
various kinds of associations between stimuli and responses formed during.
Another idea is that interference has its greatest effect on the memory of
retrieval cues. You have seen in the earlier section that memory depends on
retrieval cues, so if interference results in problems with the use of these cues,
forgetting will result. In both types of interference it has been found that the
effect of interference is less with meaningful material and after attaining some
mastery in the subject. In initial period of your course you should try to allot
different study times to similar subject.

Motivated Forgetting
Emotional factors also play an important role in forgetting. If we encode
information while in one emotional state and try to recall it while in another, our
recall suffers. Many lapses of memory in daily life illustrate motivated forgetting.
We may forget the names of people we do not like. Repression theory holds that
we forget because the retrieval of memories would be painful or unaceptable in
some way to the person. Freud, in his book “The Psychopathology of Everyday
Life” had illustrated many examples of repression inforgetting. Repression
includes retrieval failure for the associations of the threatening, anxiety-
provoking information.

Anxiety or guilt producing material are more often forgotten than pleasant
experiences. Supposing in a particular class you were scolded by the teacher,
chances of forgetting what happened in that class would be higher. Psychologist,
have also found that some persons can not forget unpleasant experiences easily,
they have related this phenomenon with personality. Some stored information is
so threatening and anxiety arousing that its retrieval is possible only under special
circumstances like hypnosis, free associations.Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist
demonstrated through experiments that incompleted tasks are remembered
longer than the completed tasks. This is sometimes called “Zeigarnik effect”,
“ego-oriented” persons remember more of completed tasks as incompleted
tasks generate more anxiety. On the other hand “task-oriented” persons
remember more the incompleted tasks, as for them the incomplete task is more
painful while completed tasks are not so. All these findings are related to the
“tension theory” of Kurt Levin.

Decay theory
A theory of forgetting that posits that memories consist of traces laid down in the
brain that gradually deteriorate and fade away over time (also called trace
theory).
The belief that memory consist of traces in the brain that gradually deteriorate
and fade away over time dates back to the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato
some 2500 years ago.This theory of forgetting, now known as decay theory was
bolstered by early experimental studies conducted by one of the founders of
experimental psychology, Hermann Ebbinghaus.
The result of the study showed a decline in memory that has since become known
as the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve. Forgetting occurred rapidly in the first few
hours after learning but then gradually declined. It seemed as though memories
simply faded over time. By the end of the first day, 66 percent of the information
had been lost, and after a month, nearly 80 percent was gone.

Memory Disorders

Amnesia refers to loss of memory due to disease. Amnesia is a general “disease

of memory.The person may forget his past experiences or may have impaired
ability to encode, store and to retrieve, thus forming of new memory is difficult.
Amnesia is a profound memory deficit due to either the loss of what has been
stored or to the inability to form new memories.

Amnesias are classified as two types:

The loss of memory of events occurring prior to a traumatic injury is called
retrograde amnesia and the difficulty to store new memories after an injury is
called anterograde amnesia.

Biological Amnesias
Forgetting could be due to any of following reasons ---- diseases of the brain like
senile dementia, Korsakoff syndrome, concussion from blows on head, brain
damage, brain infections, tumor, stroke, temporary disturbances in the blood
supply or effect of high dose of alcohol and drug abuse.

Senile dementia is characterized by deficits in many intellectual abilities like

memory, attention, judgement, and abstract thought, that can occur in aged
people. Personality changes like excessive dependence and irritability, are
common. Delusional thoughts which have no basis in reality and general
disorientation not knowing where one is in time or place can also occur. The
person has trouble remembering events, that happened after the onset of the
disease. Thus the person with this disorder has trouble learning and cannot recall
well what happened last month, yesterday, or even a few hours ago. Senile
dementia is usually the result of a reduction in blood flow to the brain. Most of
the patients with this disorder have brain arteriosclerosis, narrowing of the small
arteries of the brain due to fat accumulation in them.Arteriosclerosis deprives
brain cells of adequate supplies of oxygen and nutrients so that some cells die
and others malfunction.
Transient Global Amnesia are profound memory problem with no loss of
consciousness. It comes on suddenly without any obvious cause, and it typically
lasts for only a few hours or days before memory becomes normal again.
Fortunately, most people who experience such amnesia have it only once. This
type of amnesia is called global because much of what has already been stored in
memory is forgotten and because even though the person is conscious
and can go about the routine business of daily life, no new memories are formed
while the attack is in progress.

Alcohol and drug abuse also cause amnesia, a person may have amnesia for the
events occurring while under the influence of alcohol because encoding and
storage processes have been disrupted by the effects of the alcohol on the brain.
Heavy drinking over a period of years however, can result through vitamin-B
deficits and other chemical imbalances, inirreversible brain damage and a pattern
of symptoms known as the Korsakoff syndrome.

Psychological Amnesias
These types of amnesias occur due to psychiatric diseases where the person his
identity also.These may not be permanent loss.
 Childhood amnesia is due to the differences in the ways young children and
older people encode and store information. As adults, much of our memory
is encoded verbally and tied into networks, or schemata, that are based on
language. But the young child without language encodes memories in a non-
verbal form, perhaps storing information as images or feelings. Early
childhood memories are thus said to be stored in forms no longer available
to us as verbal adults, our language dominated memories, do not have
retrieval cues appropriate for gaining access to the image and feeling
memories of early childhood. Perhaps the memory machine is just not able
to store long term memories until its maturation is essentially finished.
Language ability and memory develop together because both depend on
brain maturation.
 You all experience that dreams are forgotten on waking up. Dream amnesia
may actually have a biological basis. The dreaming brain seems to be in a
special state different from that of the waking brain.People with defensive
amnesia may forget their names, where they have come from who their
spouses are, and many other important details of their past lives. It is called
defensive because this type of amnesia is usually considered to be a way of
protecting oneself from the guilt or anxiety that can result from intense,
 intolerable life situations and conflicts. Defensive amnesia is thus an
extreme of repression.
 Normal aging has its problems too, but the typical forgetfulness of old age
is hardly severe enough to be called amnesia, In normal aging, the memory
problem, centers largely on the storage of relatively recent events; it is
anterograde in nature. But, in marked contrast to senile dementia patients,
normal old people are able to compensate for their mile memory problems.
They try to do less and thus put a smaller burden on their information-
processing systems, they provide themselves with reminder cues, perhaps
by writing down what is to be remembered, and they organize their lives
into routines so that fewer new things need to be remembered. In other
words, normal old people adopt adaptive memory strategies

Factors affecting remembering

There are number of factors that are responsible for influencing and controlling
the process of memorization. The major factors can be broadly classified into
three categories.
1. Meaningfulness of the material to be memorized
2. Amount of the material
3. Methods of learning or memorization
4. Motivation of the learner
1. Meaningfulness of the material to be memorized
When an individual attempts to memorise the material, the meaning of the
material needs to
be understood by him or her for recall. The list of meaningful words like paint,
box, pencil can be effectively memorized rather than nonsense syllabus like sok,
pab, nal.
Similarly the words are remembered when it is associated in pair rather than
unrelated pair words. Eg. Banana – fruit, milk-cow are easily remembered than
food-book, piano-wheat. The learner’s level of understanding of the material
influences the rate and quantity of memory to a large extent.
2. Amount of the material to be memorized
The success of effective memorization depends on the size and quantity of the
material to be memorized. If the amount of material under memorization falls
within the reasonable limit of the individual’s memory, he or she is able to handle
it properly and if it crosses the reasonable limit no satisfactory is likely to be
achieved
3. Methods of learning or memorization; use of mnemonics, visual cues, visual
imagery, chunking, use of external memory aids
4. Motivation of the learner
It is the motivation of the learner to memorise the content which has a great
influence on the end result. Highly motivated individual learn and memorise
much material than the less motivated individual.
Hence the factors influencing the memory are many and varied. There are many
more factors such as attention span, intelligence level, creativity, attitude, self –
confidence also play a significant role during the process of memorization.
Attention is an important requirement to improve long-term memory. Actively
attend the information being presented to make it a part of long-term memory.
Students should stay away from distractions such as television, music,
smartphones.
Sleep
Quality sleep is known to optimize the neural processes of the brain. Slow-wave
sleep has shown an important role in the consolidation of long-term memories.
Sleep deprivation impairs the ability of the brain to encode new memories during
the daytime. Optimal sleep of 7-8 hours a day is always recommended.
Exercise
Exercise is known to activate the muscles and keep the heart working properly,
which has a positive impact on brainpower. Exercise enhances the chemical and
neurotransmitters that empowers the brain to grasp concepts and make them
part of long-term memory.
Retrieval
Retrieval is known to be one of the best strategies to convert short-term
memories into longterm memories. Retrieving information taking tests is an
amazing strategy for students to score more in the exam. Retrieving allows the
information to be processed at a much deeper level than the processing of short-
term memory. Memories that are not retrieved and recalled weaken and are
sometimes replaced by other information.
Visualization
Imagination and visualization refer to an association of images with words to
improve neuronal connection strength. Students benefit greatly from visualizing
the concepts and information. This association leads to a great improvement in
the storage and retrieval of long-term memories.
Role of Gene Transcription
Long-term memory formation requires the synthesis of new messenger RNA
(Ribonucleic acid). There is an increased expression of some genes during and
after the learning process.
Transcription factors and signal transduction mechanisms that guide the process
of formation of mRNA have been identified. Epigenetic modifications are critical
for memory storage because they play a role in the regulation of transcription.
Memory formation also requires molecular processes for the regulation of
neuronal transcription.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
1. Define Forgetting.(Pg-6 & Pg-7)
2. Write the various types of memory( Pg-2 to Pg-4)
3. Describe the process of memorization (Pg-1 & Pg-2)
4. Enumerate the theories of forgetting (Pg-7 to Pg-10)
5. What are the factors that are affected by memoritzation? Discuss
some factors which influence our memory process. They are:
a. Ability to retain:
This depends upon good memory traces left in the brain by past experiences.
b. Good health:
A person with good health can retain the learnt material better than a person
with poor health.
c. Age of the learner:
Youngsters can remember better than the aged.
d. Maturity:
Very young children cannot retain and remember complex material.
e. Will to remember:
Willingness to remember helps for better retention.
f. Intelligence:
More intelligent person will have better memory than a dull person,
g. Interest:
If a person has more interest, he will learn and retain better.
h. Over learning:
Experiments have proved that over learning will lead to better memory.
i. Speed of learning:
Quicker learning leads to better retention,
j. Meaningfulness of the material:
Meaningful materials remain in our memory for longer period than for nonsense
material,
k. Sleep or rest:
Sleep or rest immediately after learning strengthens connections in the brain and
helps for clear memory.
 UNIT-3 THINKING
Basic elements of thought – concepts, types of concepts, concept
formation, Reasoning, creative thinking. Intelligence – nature and
definition, theories, assessment intelligence, classification of
Intelligence. Language – nature and development of language, biological
foundations of language, language in other species.
INTRODUCTION:
The cognitive abilities like thinking, reasoning and problem solving may be
considered as some of the chief characteristics of human beings that separate
them from other species including higher animals, what we see in the form of a
good poetry, highly developed computer machine or robot, a beautiful painting a
magnificent building are the products of the thinking, reasoning and problem-
solving abilities of their creators and inventors. Not only that but what has been
given to us by these creators and inventors can only be fully understood,
appreciated and brought into our service if we are able to make judicious use of
our thinking and reasoning powers, per challenges and problems faced by the
individual, or society in general, may be solved through some serious efforts
involving thinking and reasoning. Thinking and reasoning powers may thus be
considered as an essential tool for the welfare of the individual as well as the
society.
BASIC ELEMENTS OF THOUGHTS:
Thinking is the mental representation and manipulation of information. We
represent information in our minds, in the form of images, word and concepts.
We manipulate information in our minds when we solve problems, make
decisions, and engage is creative activities.
 Mental images are mental pictures or representation of an object or event.
People form mental images of many different objects, faces of familiar
people, letters of the alphabet.
 A mental image is not an actual or photographic representation of an object,
rather it is a reconstruction of the object, or event from memory.
  Images can be formed based on various sensory experiences, including
vision, hearing, taste and touch mental images can be manipulated to help
us solve certain kinds of problems.
People vary remarkably in how much; they use images in their thinking. A few
report that they almost never use mental picture, so they must be doing their
thinking with words, or verbally. Others report that most of their thinking is done
in image form.
When individual use images to think, they are not usually complete “pictures in
the head”. They are usually incomplete. Images are abstractions of certain
features from previous experience. The incomplete, abstract images most of us in
thinking seen to be constructed from element stored in long – term memory.
CONCEPTS:
Concepts are mental categories for classifying events, objects and ideas on the
basis of common features or properties. A concept is a symbolic construction that
represent some common and general feature or features of many objects or
event. Concepts allow us to group similar objects, events, or ideas together based
on common features or properties, making it easier for our brains to process and
understand vast amounts of information efficiently.
E.g., men, red, triangle
The human ability to form concepts enables us to classify things into categories.
Concepts are ways of classifying the diverse elements of the world around us, they
are convenient tools to use in thinking about the world and in solving problems.
These concepts or categories are acquired easily, appear in thinking very early in
life and to some degree, reflect the way the brain processes and sorts information.
TYPES OF CONCEPTS:
Concepts can be classified as.
- Logical concepts
- Natural concepts
Logical concepts are those that have clearly defined rules for determining
membership. School children learn that the concept of a triangle applies to any
three-sided form or figure. If a figure has three sides, it must be a triangle.
But in Natural concepts the rules for determining how they are applied are poorly
defined natural concepts include
- Various objects such as furniture, mammals and fruits
- Activities such as games, work and sports
- Abstractions such as justice, honour and freedom
For ex, most people have an imprecise idea about what makes a fruit a “fruit”.
They might readily agree that an apple is a fruit, but not be sure about pumpkin.
Hence the judgments on the probability that objects are members of particular
categories forms the base for forming concepts. Individuals decide whether an
object is more or less likely to belong to a particular category by comparing its
characteristic with a mental representation of a model or example of a category
member.
HIERARCHIES OF CONCEPTS:
People order their concepts within their hierarchies of broad or narrow
categories. Commonly used hierarchy has three levels of concepts.
1. Superordinate concepts – are broad categories such as vehicle, animal and
furniture
2. Basic level concepts – are categories within superordinate concepts e.g., Car
dog & chair
3. Subordinate concepts - are even more specific such as Maruti, rocking chair.
Children are more readily acquire words representing basic level concepts than
those representing superordinate or subordinate concepts. People are faster at
recognizing an object as an example of a basic level concept(apple) than as an
example of a superordinate one (like – fruit). The reason why people learn basic
concepts is that these provide the most useful information about the objects we
encounter.
Categorizing an object as a piece of furniture tells us little about it specific
features. The feature associated with a basic level concept like “chair” gives us
more useful information. Subordinate concepts like “rocking chair”, are more
specific and limited in large, & they may give us more information than we need.
REASONING:
As Sherman defined, “reasoning is a process of thinking during which the
individual is aware of a problem identifies, evaluates, and decides upon a
solution”.
Reasoning is used not only when we want to solve an immediate problem but also
when we anticipate future problems.
 Reasoning is a stepwise thinking with a purpose or goal in mind” —Garrett.
 “Reasoning is the term applied to highly purposeful, controlled and selective
thinking”—Gates.
 “Reasoning is the word used to describe the mental recognition of cause-
and-effect relationships, it may be the prediction of an event from an
observed cause or the inference of a cause from an observed event”—
Skinner
Reasoning may be classified into two types.
 Inductive reasoning: It is a specialized thinking aimed at the discovery or
construction of a generalized principle by making use of particular cases,
special examples and identifying of elements or relations. For example,
Mohan is mortal, Radha is mortal, Karim is mortal; therefore, all human
beings are mortal.
 Deductive reasoning: It is the ability to draw some logical conclusions from
known statement or evidences. Here one starts with already known or
established generalized statement or principle and applies it to specific
cases. For example, all human beings are mortal you are a human being,
therefore, you are mortal.
CREATIVITY:
Creativity is thinking in ways that lead to original, practical and meaningful
solution to problems or that generate new ideas or forms of artistic expressions.
The creation of a new product, for example may solve a problem in a novel and
useful way.
Sternberg (2006) reports five commonalities in the research of creativity. These
are:
  Creativity involves thinking that aims at producing ideas or products that are
relatively novel and that are, in some respect, compelling.
 Creativity has some domain-specific and domain-general elements in the
sense that it needs some specific knowledge, but there are certain elements
of creativity that cut across different domains.
 Creativity is measurable, at least to some extent.
 Creativity can be developed and promoted.
 Creativity is not highly rewarded in practice, as it is supposed to be in theory.
Sternberg and Lubart (1999) define creativity as the ability to produce work that
is both novel (i.e., original, unexpected) and appropriate (i.e., useful concerning
tasks constrains). Creativity is not limited to a few creative geniuses in the arts or
science psychologists recognize everybody has the ability to be creative and to
apply creativity to many aspects of our daily life.
Creative thinkers become aware of the new idea suddenly, it is said that much of
the thought has already gone on unconsciously. The sudden appearance of new
ideas is called ‘insight’. A number of creative reports that after conscious thought
has failed then, insight suddenly appears when they are doing something
completely unrelated to the problem.
STAGES IN CREATIVE THINKING:
1. Preparation the thinker formulates the problem and collects the facts and
materials considered necessary for the new solution.
2. Incubation during this period, some of the ideas that were interfering with the
solution tend to fade. The individual thinks, examines analyses and interprets and
reinterprets what he/she observed or prepared. During this process of incubation,
a considerable amount of ‘trial and error’ learning also goes on.
3. Illumination an idea for the solution suddenly comes into consciousness. As the
process of unconscious activity goes on, the individual finds a right answer to his
problems, doubts and questions.
4. Verification / evaluation the apparent solution is tested to see if it satisfactorily
solves the problem.
Creativity and intelligence are regarded as totally independent of each other.
Intelligence is not supposed to influence creativity. Creativity is viewed as a
mental operation accessible to everyone. It is supposedly dependent on domain-
specific knowledge (i.e., the amount of exposure to and expertise in a given field)
and deliberate practice. However, a creative person’s IQ has been demonstrated
to be at least a standard deviation above the mean, often more. The process of
verification is continuous and very often we find that to creative individuals,
revise, modify or change their ideas.
INTELLIGENCE:
Intelligence is a complex and multifaceted construct that refers to the ability to
learn, understand, reason, problem-solve, adapt, and use knowledge effectively
to achieve goals. It encompasses various mental abilities and cognitive processes
that allow individuals to navigate the world, make informed decisions, and
successfully interact with their environment.
It's important to note that intelligence is a highly debated and complex concept
in psychology. There is no universally accepted definition, and various theories
and models attempt to capture its essence. The most well-known and widely used
measure of intelligence is the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test, although it has its
limitations and critics.
Controversies surrounding intelligence include discussions about the role of
genetics versus environment in intelligence development, the potential biases in
testing, and the cultural relativity of intelligence measures. Despite these debates,
intelligence remains a central and important area of study in psychology and is
associated with various life outcomes, such as academic achievement,
occupational success, and overall quality of life.
NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE:
The nature of intelligence is a complex and multidimensional topic that has been
extensively studied and debated in psychology. Various theories and perspectives
have emerged to understand the underlying nature of intelligence. Some of the
major views include:
1. Single General Intelligence (g factor): This perspective, proposed by Charles
Spearman, suggests that intelligence can be represented by a single,
general factor (often denoted as "g") that underlies all cognitive abilities.
 According to this view, individuals who perform well in one cognitive task
are likely to perform well in other tasks as well.
2. Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
proposes that intelligence is not a singular entity but comprises distinct
types of intelligences. Gardner identified several independent intelligences,
such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential intelligence, among others. Each
intelligence represents a different way of processing information and
excelling in specific domains.
3. Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory of
intelligence suggests that intelligence can be divided into three main
components: analytical intelligence (problem-solving and academic
abilities), creative intelligence (ability to generate novel and useful ideas),
and practical intelligence (ability to adapt and apply knowledge in real-
world situations).
4. Emotional Intelligence: Proposed by Daniel Goleman, emotional
intelligence refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's
emotions as well as the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence involves
skills related to empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and
social skills.
5. Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence: Raymond Cattell proposed a distinction
between fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is
the ability to think abstractly, reason, and solve novel problems, while
crystallized intelligence involves acquired knowledge, skills, and experience.
6. Cultural and Contextual Perspectives: Some researchers argue that
intelligence is not solely determined by cognitive abilities but is also
influenced by cultural and environmental factors. Different societies may
value and develop specific cognitive skills differently, leading to variations
in how intelligence is expressed across cultures.
It's essential to recognize that intelligence is a multidimensional construct, and no
single theory fully captures its complexity. Moreover, the nature of intelligence
remains a subject of ongoing research and discussion within the field of
psychology. Intelligence is not solely fixed or determined by genetics; it can be
influenced and shaped by various environmental factors, education, experiences,
and opportunities for growth and development. As our understanding of the
human mind and cognition advances, the nature of intelligence will likely continue
to be refined and expanded.
THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE:
Two Factor Theory
Charles Spearman proposed that individuals possess general intelligence factor
(G) in varying (degree) amount. This determines the individual’s overall ability. In
addition to G, individuals also possess specific abilities (S) ‘G’ is universal inborn
ability, it is general mental energy. The amount of ‘G’ differs from individual to
individual. Higher the ‘G’ in an individual, greater is the success in life. ‘S’ is
learned and acquired in the environment; it varies from activity to activity even in
the same individual; the individuals themselves differ in the amount of ‘S’ ability.
Two individuals in a class may be comparable on their G factor, yet one may be
very good with numbers while the other possesses higher musical ability.
Multifactor Theories (Thurstone and Guilford)
Thurstone (1936) felt that intelligence could be broken down into a number of
primary abilities. He had derived, primary abilities on the basis of factor analyses.
These abilities, as shown in the following table are represented in items in test
construction.
Ability Description
Verbal Understanding of meaning of words
comprehension
Word fluency Ability to think rapidly
Number Perform calculations
Space Visualise space form relationship
Memory Recall verbal stimuli
Perceptual speed Grasp of visual details
Reasoning Ability to find a general rule, logical
thinking
Guilford has broadened the concept of intelligence. According to him there are
two types of thinking:
i) convergent thinking — solving a problem that has a defined correct answer;
ii) divergent thinking — arriving at many possible solutions to a problem.
This is predominantly creative thinking. He had proposed a three-dimensional
theory represented in a cubical model Guilford maintained that intelligence test
items should distinguish in terms of the operations performed upon the Content
and the Product that results. This model provides for 120 factors of intelligence
which is a combination yield of 4 contents, 5 operations and 6 products.
Process Oriented Theories
These theories have focussed on intellectual processes ------ the pattern of
thinking that people use when they reason and solve problems. These theorists
prefer to use the term cognitive processes, in place of intelligence. They are often
more interested in how people solve problems and how many get the right
solution. They have focussed on the development of cognitive abilities. Piaget’s
work is a significant contribution in this area. He viewed intelligence as an
adaptive process that involves an interplay of biological maturation and
interaction with the environment.
Information Processing Theories
These theories break intelligence down into various basic skills that people
employ to take in information, process it, and then use it to reason and solve
problems. These basic skills may be simple or complex. Robert Sternberg (1984)
distinguishes between information processing “components” and “Meta
components”. Components are the steps to solve a problem and Meta
components are the basics of knowledge that one has to know to solve the
problem. The information processing theory has often been compared with
computers in which attention and memory have been designated as the
intellectual hardware whereas the action schemes
(Piaget’s notion) are similar to specific, repeatable intellectual sequences, and
executive schemes, similar to plans and strategies.
Other Theories
Cattell (1971) on the basis of factor analysis, has divided general factor of
intelligence (G) into two parts - fluid intelligence (GF) and crystalized intelligence
(GC) - The former being innate, biologically or genetically determined and the
latter acquired based on cultural and education experience. Eysenek (1973)
distinguishes between speed and power components of intelligence. Speed is
measured by the time required to complete the task and power is measured
through untimed test of reasoning.
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
According to Gardner (1999), intelligence is much more than IQ because a high IQ
in the absence of productivity does not equate to intelligence. In terms of his
definition (1983): “Intelligence is a bio-psychological potential to process
information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or
create products that are of value in a culture”
Linguistic Intelligence
This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself
rhetorically or poetically; and as a means to remember information. Writers,
poets, lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having
high linguistic intelligence.
Logical-mathematical Intelligence
This intelligence consists of the capacity to analyse problems logically, carry out
mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard
Gardner’s words, it entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and
think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and
mathematical thinking. Careers which suit those with this intelligence include
scientists, physicists, mathematicians, logicians, engineers, doctors, economists
and philosophers.
Musical Intelligence
This intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation
of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognise and compose
musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. Careers that suit those with this intelligence
include instrumentalists, singers, conductors, disc-jockeys, orators, writers and
composers.
Bodily-kinaesthetic Intelligence
It entails the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve
problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements.
In theory, people who have bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence should learn better by
involving muscular movement (e.g. getting up and moving around into the
learning experience), and are generally good at physical activities such as sports
or dance.
Spatial Intelligence
Spatial intelligence involves the potential for recognising and manipulating the
patterns of both wide spaces such as those negotiated by pilots or navigators, and
confined spaces such as those encountered by sculptors, architects or
championship chess players.
Interpersonal Intelligence
This intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions,
motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with
others. Educators, sales people, religious and political leaders and counsellors all
need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.
Intrapersonal Intelligence
This entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears
and motivations. Careers which suit those with this intelligence include
philosophers, psychologists, theologians, lawyers, and writers. People with
intrapersonal intelligence also prefer to work alone.
Naturalistic Intelligence
This intelligence has to do with nature, nurturing and relating information to one’s
natural surroundings. Such a person demonstrates expertise in recognition and
classification of the numerous species - the flora and fauna – of her or his
environment. Careers which suit those with this intelligence include naturalists,
farmers and gardeners.
Existential Intelligence
This is an ability to contemplate phenomena or questions beyond sensory data,
such as the infinite and infinitesimal. Career which suits those with this
intelligence include cosmologists, and philosophers.
Assessment of Intelligence
It was through psychological test of intelligence, that psychology has come to
attention of the masses. Alfred Binet (1875-1911) was the first psychologist to
devise an intelligence that (1904) aimed at measuring the ability to judge well, to
comprehend well, to reason well. Subsequently it was revised several times. Binet
in collaboration with Simon devised the test by age levels with items of increasing
difficulty, with which ‘he could measure a child’s intellectual level. He tested a
large group of children of different ages with tests of varying difficulty. This helped
in finding which items could be completed by majority of the children. For testing,
each child’s-based age is derived, i.e., highest level at which all items are passed.
Terminal age specific that lowest level where all the items are failed. Between
based age and terminal age all the items are given additional scores. The sum of
this total score is converted into mental age. The ratio between chronological age
and mental age is intelligence quotient (IQ). The formula of calculating IQ is

It is multiplied by 100 to eliminate decimals. For example, if the child is 8 years

old, his mental age also falls at 8 years then he will have IQ of 8¸ (8 × 100 = 100).
Supposing this 8 years old child scores mental age of 10 years then his IQ would
be 10 ¸ (8 × 100 = 125). The concept of IQ has become very popular, but it has a
number of problems. One that it has nothing to do for adults say a mental age of
2 or 45 is meaningless. Secondly it tends to suggest that intelligence is fixed in
childhood, whereas several studies have shown that intelligence scores quite
unduly.
Classification of Intelligence
Genius 140 & Above
Very Superior 130 – 140
Superior 120 – 130
Above Average 110 – 120
Average 90 – 110
Dull Average 80 – 90
Borderline 70 – 80
Mild Mental Retardation 50 – 70
Moderate Mental Retardation 35 – 50
Severe Mental Retardation 20 – 35
Profound Mental Retardation 0 – 20

LANGUAGE:
Language is a system of communication composed of symbols-words or hand
signs – that are arranged according to a grammar, a set of rules governing the
proper use of words, phrases, and sentences, to express meaning.
Language consists of four basic components: phonemes, morphemes, syntax and
semantics. The basic unit of sound in a spoken language are called phonemes.
English has about forty phonemes to sound out the 500,000 or so words found in
modern unabridged English dictionaries. The word dog consists of three
phonemes ‘d’, ‘au’ ‘g’. Phonemes are combined to form morphemes, the smallest
units of meaning in a language. Simple words such as care, ball and time are
morphemes.
Language requires more than phonemes and morphemes. It also requires syntax,
the rules of grammar that determine how words are ordered within sentences
and phrases to form meaningful expressions and semantics, the set of rules
governing the meaning of words.
Linguistics is the study of language as structured system of rules. It also comprises
of the study of the origin of languages, the relationship emerges languages, how
language change over time and the nature of language sounds. Language is a set
of rules for generating speech. A dialect is a variant of a language. Language
determines the thought we are capable of having. Thinking was perceived as a
kind of inner speech, a kind of ‘talking to yourself under your breath”. According
to this idea, people make small movements of the vocal apparatus when they
think and carry on their thinking by talking to themselves. A number of
experiments have indicated that movements of the vocal apparatus may indeed
accompany thought, but other experiments have made it clear that such
movements are not necessary for thinking.
Studies on children with hearing important revealed children with little verbal
language ability, score in normal range on standardized tests, of cognitive
performance and their cognitive development of the person with hearing
impairment. People with hearing impairment can think is sign. Language was
viewed by linguists and anthropologist as being more important than it actually is
in shaping our perception of reality.
NATURE OF LANGUAGE
The nature of language is a fascinating and multifaceted topic studied in various
disciplines, including linguistics, cognitive science, anthropology, and psychology.
Language is a uniquely human capacity that allows us to communicate, express
thoughts and emotions, convey information, and engage in complex social
interactions. Several key characteristics define the nature of language:
1. Symbolic System: Language is a symbolic system that uses words, sounds,
and gestures to represent and communicate meaning. Words are arbitrary
symbols that have agreed-upon meanings within a particular language
community. For example, the word "dog" represents a specific animal,
regardless of the different sounds used to pronounce it in different
languages.
2. Generative and Productive: Language is generative, meaning we can
produce and comprehend an infinite number of sentences using a finite set
of rules and vocabulary. We can create new and meaningful sentences that
we have never heard before, demonstrating the creative potential of
language.
3. Structured and Rule-Based: Language follows specific rules and structures,
both at the level of individual words (morphology) and the arrangement of
words in sentences (syntax). These rules govern how words are formed, how
sentences are structured, and how meaning is conveyed.
4. Semanticity: Language is characterized by semanticity, which means that
words and linguistic units have meaning or convey specific ideas, objects,
actions, or concepts.
5. Displacement: One of the unique features of language is displacement, the
ability to talk about things that are not present in the immediate
environment or refer to past and future events. This allows us to
communicate about abstract concepts, history, and hypothetical situations.
 6. Universality and Variability: While all human societies have some form of
language, languages vary significantly across different cultures and regions.
Each language has its own unique set of sounds, words, grammar, and
expressions. Despite this variability, the underlying principles of language
structure are remarkably similar across all human languages.
7. Multimodal Nature: Language is often expressed using multiple modalities,
including spoken and written words, sign language for the deaf, and non-
verbal cues such as gestures and facial expressions. These different modes
of communication work together to enhance the richness and effectiveness
of language.
8. Acquired Skill: Language is primarily learned through social interaction and
exposure during early childhood. Children acquire language naturally
through exposure to language spoken around them and through
interactions with caregivers and other members of their community.
9. Creativity and Productivity: Language allows us to be creative in expressing
ideas and meanings. We can use metaphors, analogies, and other figurative
language to convey complex concepts and emotions.
Understanding the nature of language is essential for comprehending human
communication, cognition, and culture. Linguists and psychologists continue to
study various aspects of language to gain insights into its structure, development,
processing, and the ways it shapes human thought and behaviour.

DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE
Children must hear people speak and be able to discriminate between the
different speech sounds and words. He or she must also be able to produce
sounds and gradually learn to combine these sounds to produce words.
Discriminating speech sounds – infants are able to hear at birth and can localize
the sound source. Infants have a remarkable ability to discriminate sounds. By
three months of age, the infant has understood that speech sounds are matched
by the speaker’s lip movements and can also associate a particular voice with a
particular face. The Infant’s ability to learn to discriminate speech sounds in the
first year helps to learn to speak later. It has been found that when parents speak
to the child and respond to the sounds that she produces in the early months, her
language development is fostered. Therefore, it is important to talk to babies right
from the time they are born
Turn-taking is critical for social interaction. In a dialogue between two or more
people, one partner speaks while the other person listens. Then the first one
pauses and waits for the other person to reply. Thus, the partners in conversation
take turns to speak and listen.
Let us now read about the stages in language acquisition.
Crying: The earliest form of communication that a child use is crying. From birth
to one month of age, this is about the only sound the baby produces to
communicate her di~tresasn d discomfort. Most mothers are able to make out
what the baby's cry indicates-whether she is hungry, wet or just irritable.
Cooing: Around one month of age babies begin to make cooing sounds in addition
to crying. This stage lasts till 4-5 months after birth. Cooing is a vowel: like sound,
particularly like 'oooo ......'. Babies make cooing sounds when they are content
and satisfied. They seem to get pleasure out of it.
As the child grows, she spends more time awake and practises sounds. She
delights in producing new sounds and repeats them. She experiments by varying
the pitch and loudness of sounds. The infant seems to be exploring the
possibilities of combining sounds. This experimentation is a very important stage
in acquiring language since it gives the infant an opportunity to perfect sounds.
The child first produces and practises the vowel sounds, (i.e., a, i, e, o, u) so that
you can hear sound like, "aaa ...", - "iiii ...". Then she practises consonant sounds
like p, t, b, m, d by combining them with vowels, so that you hear sounds like
"beeee ...", "maaaaa ...”.
Babbling: Between six and ten months, the infant begins to babble. She repeats
syllables like 'ma', 'day, 'ki', and 'ne' over and over again so that we can hear
sounds like "dadada….", bbkikikikiki..."", mamama....". This is referred to as
babbling. As in the earlier stage, the infant continues to produce new sounds and
experimenting with them. In the early stages of babbling, the infant may produce
sounds like those in adult speech and it seems as if the baby has learnt some
words. For example, when the baby babbles "mamama ..." or "bababa ...", the
parents feel that the child is saying "mama" to mean the mother and "baba" to
mean the father. But these are not really words because the child does not use
them to refer only to parents. She makes these utterances in many different
contexts and sometimes when the parents are not even present! The infant's
utterances will become words only when she begins to use them consistently to
refer to a particular object person.
The First Words: Sometime between ten, and twelve months, often around the
first birthday, the infant says the first word. This word may not match the words
adults use but it is a word that the child uses consistently to refer to something,
action or quality. One particular child used the word "mimi" to refer to the liquids
that she was drinking, like milk and water.
BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF LANGUAGE:
Children the world over develop language in basically the same stages, which
unfold at basically the same ages. Until about 6 months of age, infants are limited
to non-linguistic forms of communication-crying and cooing. At around that time,
the first sounds resembling human speech appear in the form of babbling. The
child then progresses through stages of one- and two-word phrases, and between
the ages of 2 and 3 begins developing more complex speech patterns.
The similar course of language development across cultures and the ease with
which children naturally acquire language suggest that language depends on an
innate mechanism that may be “prewired” in the human brain.
Noam Chomsky called this mechanism the Language Acquisition Device. We
acquire the ability to speak, much as we do the ability to walk and jump, because
we have an inborn propensity to develop it.
Our ability to use language depends not only on a biological capacity for language
production, but also on experience with the sounds, meanings and structures of
human speech. Children may have a natural capacity for language, but they learn
grammar by listening to the speech of others, and they enlarge their vocabularies
by imitating the words others use to refer to particular objects.
Thus, language development depends on both a biological capacity for language
production and experience with the sounds, meanings, and structures of human
speech.
LANGUAGE IN OTHER SPECIES:
Can nonhuman animals, such as apes, communicate through language? Apes lack
the vocal apparatus needed to form human sounds, so researchers have turned
to nonverbal means of expression to try to communicate with them, such as sign
language and artificial languages (Manipulation of signs and symbols).
Psychologist David Premack developed an artificial language in which plastic chips
of different sizes, colours, and shapes symbolize different words. Using shaping
and reinforcement techniques, he trained a chimp named Sarah to communicate
by placing the chips on a magnetic board. Sarah learned to form simple sentences.
For example, she would request food by putting together a sequence of chips that
signalled, “Mary gives apple Sarah”.
Apart from whether apes can learn human language, it is clear that many animal
species have communication systems of their own. They use grunts, squeals,
growls, and other sounds their own “native tongue”-as well as facial expressions
to communicate emotional states like anger and sexual arousal, to gather their
young and to warn others of approaching predators. Scholars continues to debate
the question of whether animals other than humans can use language. The
answer may hinge on how we define language. Research with chimps and gorillas
has shown that these primates are capable of learning elementary forms of
communication – for example, manipulation of symbols to request food-but
questions remain about whether these communication skills are equivalent to
human language.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
1. Define Intelligence (Pg-6)
2. Mention the types of concepts (Pg-2 and Pg-3)
3. State the Nature of Language (Pg-14 and Pg-15)
The nature of language refers to the fundamental characteristics that make
human communication unique. It is a symbolic system using words and gestures
to convey meaning. Language is creative, following rules and structures to
generate an infinite number of sentences. It enables us to talk about past,
present, and future events, as well as abstract concepts. Universally present but
diverse across cultures, language is a skill acquired through social interaction,
fostering creativity and deepening our understanding of human communication
and cognition. (For 2marks)
4.Mention on the Nature of Language Development (Pg-15 to Pg-17)
5.Elaborate on Concept Formation
Concept formation is a cognitive process through which individuals organize and
categorize information about the world by identifying common features or
properties shared by various objects, events, or ideas. It allows us to create
mental categories that simplify and streamline our understanding of complex and
diverse stimuli, making it easier to process and make sense of the vast amount of
information we encounter daily. The process of concept formation is fundamental
to human cognition and plays a crucial role in how we learn, reason, problem-
solve, and communicate.
Key aspects of concept formation include:
1. Abstraction: Concept formation involves abstracting essential features from
specific instances and generalizing them to form a more general category.
For example, by abstracting common attributes from individual instances of
"dogs," such as four legs, fur, and barking sound, we form the concept of
"dog."
2. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: Concepts have defining features that
include elements necessary for an item to be part of the category and
exclude features that would make an item not fit within that category. For
instance, the defining features of the concept "bird" might include wings
and feathers, while excluding flightless birds like penguins.
3. Prototype and Typicality: Concepts often have prototypes, which are the
most representative or typical members of the category. Prototypes capture
the central features that people associate most strongly with a concept. For
example, a robin might be considered a prototype for the concept of "bird"
due to its strong association with the category.
4. Fuzzy Boundaries: While concepts have defining features, real-world
concepts may have fuzzy boundaries, meaning some instances may not
perfectly match all defining features yet still be considered part of the
category. For example, a bat may be considered part of the "bird" category
by some people due to its ability to fly, despite not being a bird biologically.
5. Hierarchical Organization: Concepts can be organized hierarchically, with
more general categories encompassing more specific ones. For example, the
 concept "animal" is a higher-level category that includes more specific
categories like "bird" or "fish."
6. Cultural and Contextual Influences: Concept formation can be influenced
by cultural factors, societal norms, and individual experiences. Different
cultures may have unique ways of categorizing and conceptualizing the
world.
7. Learning and Development: Concept formation develops over time through
learning and exposure to various examples. Children develop concepts
gradually as they encounter more instances and refine their understanding
of the defining features of categories.
Understanding the process of concept formation is vital for various cognitive
tasks, including language comprehension, memory organization, problem-
solving, decision-making, and creativity. Psychologists study concept formation to
gain insights into how humans process information and create mental
representations of the world, leading to a deeper understanding of human
cognition and intelligence.

6.Explain the nature and Classification of Intelligence (Pg-5 to Pg-11)

 UNIT – 4: MOTIVATION
Basic concepts, types, theories, frustration and conflict. Emotion – meaning,
kinds of emotion; positive, negative. Theories of emotion: Control of emotion

INTRODUCTION:
We observe when a girl, while learning cycling gets bruises and cuts but she goes
on to improve her performance by continued practice. Similarly, an athlete may
be seen to get up quite early in the morning and regularly visit the field for his
continued practice irrespective of the odds of the seasons. A student may be seen
to burn midnight oil as the examination draws nearer and nearer while another
student of the same class at the same time may be seen enjoying the T.V. film or
playing cards with his friends. What makes the girl, the athlete and the students
behave in a particular manner? The answer to such questions, related to 'why'
and 'how of behaviour lies in the key word 'motivation'. They do or behave
because they are motivated to do or behave in such manner. Motivation, thus,
may be regarded as something which prompts, compels and energizes an
individual to act or behave in a particular fashion at a particular time for attaining
some specific goal or purpose. But what is that which is responsible for the
motivation of an individual. What are the real activating forces that push and pull
an individual to move or act for obtaining a specific goal? Psychologists have tried
to provide some answer by naming these activating forces as needs, drives and
motives. Let us try to learn about them.

BASIC CONCEPTS:
Motivation is a general term applied to the entire class of drives, desires, needs,
wishes and similar forces. To say that managers motivate their subordinates is to
say that they do those things which they hope will satisfy these drives and desires
and induce the subordinates to act in a desired manner.
Many people know motivation as the driving force behind an action. This is
probably the simplest explanation about motivation. Motivation can be
considered the state of having encouragement to do something.
Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic.
 Intrinsic motivation is internal. It occurs when people are compelled to do
something out of pleasure, importance, or desire.
 Extrinsic motivation occurs when external factors compel the person to do
something.
Primary Motivation pertains to motives involved with our need for self-
preservation. This includes needs such as hunger and thirst, warmth, sex,
avoidance of pain and other primary motives which influence a person’s
behaviour at a very basic level.
Many of the behaviour derived from secondary motivation are conscious ones.
That is, a person consciously desires a particular goal or result, and behaves in a
way that brings them closer to that particular goal. What drives them to do
something or to act Ina particular way is the longing for something which they
currently do not have or possess.
Motivation involves the basic psychological reasons for a person’s actions and
behaviour. These are the forces or factors that cause a person to act in a certain
way or to behave in the manner that they do. There are various types of
motivations that can influence a person. These include achievement, affiliation,
self-enhancement, socialisation, competence, power, change, attitude, incentive,
fear and aggression motivation. The inner and external rewards too, are good
reinforcing mechanisms. For many people, this is really the means towards
success. By choosing goals that you desire both in its intrinsic and extrinsic
rewards you can harmonize your own actions and devote your energies to your
goals.
Motivation refers to the drive and efforts to satisfy a want or goal, whereas
satisfaction refers to the contentment experienced when a want is satisfied. In
contrast, inspirations bringing about a change in the thinking pattern. On the
other hand, Manipulation is getting the things done from others in a
predetermined manner. To motivate others is the most important of management
tasks. It comprises the abilities to communicate, to set an example, to challenge,
to encourage, to obtain feedback, to involve, to delegate, to develop and train, to
inform, to brief and to provide a just reward. Many people know motivation as
the driving force behind an action. This is probably the simplest explanation about
motivation. Motivation can be considered the state of having encouragement to
do something.
Why do people do what they do? Why do we go on every day, living our lives and
trying to find justification for our existence? Some people think that they can find
purpose in the things that motivate them. Others just see the motivation and
react automatically. A common place where we see the need to apply motivation
is in the work place. In the work place, we can see motivation play a key role, for
example in leadership success. A person unable to grasp motivation or apply it in
the work situation, will not become a leader or stay as a leader for much time.
Salary, benefits, working conditions, supervision, policy, safety, security,
affiliation, and relationships are all externally motivated needs. Achievement,
advancement, recognition, growth, responsibility, and job nature are internal
motivators. They occur when the person motivates themselves after external
motivation needs are met.
Another place motivation plays a key role is in education. A teacher who
implements motivational techniques will see an increased participation, effort,
and higher grades. Part of the teacher’s job is to provide an environment that is
motivationally charged. This environment accounts for students who lack their
own internal motivation. One of the first places people begin to set goals for
themselves is in school. School is where were most likely to learn the correlation
between goals, and the definition of motivation. That relationship between these
factors leads to success.

TYPES OF MOTIVATION:
Achievement Motivation
This is the motivation of a person to attain goals. The longing for achievement is
inherent in every man, but not all persons look to achievement as their
motivation. They are motivated by a goal. In order to attain that goal, they are
willing to go as far as possible. The complexity of the goal is determined by a
person’s perception.
Self Enhancement Motivation
If you believe the task at hand will increase your character, advent or monetary
condition and these self-improvements are vastly desirable to you, you will
encounter significant motivation to perform even unpleasant parts of the process
necessary to reach the goal. How desirable the end improvements are to you will
determine the level of motivation you will encounter.
Affiliation Motivation
It is a drive to relate to people on a social basis. Persons with affiliation motivation
perform work better when they are complimented for their favourable attitudes
and co-operation.
Socialisation
Some people consider socialisation to be their main motivation for actions. This
is especially evident in the situation of peer pressure. Some people are willing to
do anything to be treated as an equal within a group structure. The idea of being
accepted among a group of people is their motivation for doing certain things.
Competence Motivation
It is the drive to be good at something, allowing the individual to perform high
quality work. Competence motivated people seek job mastery, take pride in
developing and using their problem-solving skills and strive to be creative when
confronted with obstacles. They learn from their experience
Power Motivation
It is the drive to influence people and change situations. Power motivated people
wish to create an impact on their organisation and are willing to take risks to do
so.
Incentive Motivation
This motivation involves rewards. People who believe that they will receive
rewards for doing something are motivated to do everything they can to reach a
certain goal. While achievement motivation is focused on the goal itself, incentive
motivation is driven by the fact that the goal will give people benefits. Incentive
motivation is used in companies through bonuses and other types of
compensation for additional work.
Fear Motivation
When incentives do not work, people often turn to fear and punishment as the
next tools. Fear motivation involves pointing out various consequences if
someone does not follow a set of prescribed behaviour. This is often seen in
companies as working hand-in-hand with incentive motivation. Workers are often
faced with a reward and punishment system, wherein they are given incentives if
they accomplish a certain goal, but they are given punishments when they
disobey certain policies.
Aggressive Motivation
Aggressive motivation or the desires to inflict harm on others, play an all-too-
common role in human behaviour. While human beings don’t always express
aggressive motivation overtly (often they simply fantasize about such behaviour),
they often do engage in various forms of aggression against others-effort to harm
them in some manner.
Stimulus Motivation
This type of motivation is driven by external stimuli or sensory experiences.
People with high stimulus motivation seek out activities that provide sensory
excitement or stimulation. It can manifest as a preference for novelty, adventure,
or sensory-rich experiences.
Altruism Motivation
Altruism motivation centres on the desire to help others and promote the well-
being of others, often without expecting anything in return. Those with high
altruism motivation are driven by a sense of empathy, compassion, and social
responsibility.
Aesthetic Motivation
Aesthetic motivation is driven by the pursuit of beauty, creativity, and
appreciation of art and aesthetics. Individuals with high aesthetic motivation are
motivated by the desire to experience and create aesthetically pleasing
experiences.

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Theories of
motivation

Need Goal Setting Attribution Drive

Theories theories
1. NEED THEORIES
Content (need) theories of motivation focus on factors internal to the individual
that energise and direct behaviour. In general, such theories regard motivation as
the product of internal drives that compel an individual to act or move (hence,
“motivate”) toward the satisfaction of individual needs. The content theories of
motivation are based in large part on early theories of motivation that traced the
paths of action backward to their perceived origin in internal drives. Major
content theories of motivation are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Alderfer’s ERG
theory, Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory, and McClelland’s learned needs or
three-need theory.
Needs are deficiencies that energise or trigger behaviours to satisfy those needs.
At some point in your life, you might have a strong need for food and shelter. At
other times, your social needs may be unfulfilled. Unfulfilled needs create a
tension that makes you want to find ways to reduce or satisfy those needs. The
stronger your needs, the more motivated you are to satisfy them. Conversely, a
satisfied need does not motivate. In this section, we will look at the four content
theories of motivation that dominate organisational thinking today.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory
Abraham Maslow developed the theory of hierarchy of needs, which suggests
that individual needs exist in a hierarchy consisting of physiological needs,
security needs, belongingness needs, esteem needs, and self-actualisation needs.
Five Levels of the Hierarchy of Needs
There are five different levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
i) Physiological Needs: These include the most basic needs that are vital to
survival, such as the need for water, air, food and sleep. Maslow believed that
these needs are the most basic and instinctive needs in the hierarchy because all
needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met.
ii) Security Needs: These include needs for safety and security. Security needs are
important for survival, but they are not as demanding as the physiological needs.
Examples of security needs include a desire for steady employment, health
insurance, safe neighbourhoods and shelter from the environment.
iii) Social Needs: These include needs for belonging, love and affection. Maslow
considered these needs to be less basic than physiological and security needs.
Relationships such as friendships, romantic attachments and families help fulfil
this need for companionship and acceptance, as does involvement in social,
community or religious groups.
iv) Esteem Needs: After the first three needs have been satisfied, esteem needs
become increasingly important. These include the need for things that reflect on
self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition and accomplishment.
v) Self-actualising Needs: This is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Self-actualising people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less
concerned with the opinions of others and interested fulfilling their potential.
Alderfer’s ERG needs theory
In 1969, Clayton Alderfer’s revision of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,
called the
ERG Theory. Alderfer’s contribution to organisational behaviour was dubbed the
ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness, and Growth) and was created to align
Maslow’s motivation theory more closely with empirical research
The ERG categories of human needs are:
 Existence Needs: physiological and safety needs (such as hunger, thirst and
sex).
 Relatedness Needs: social and external esteem (involvement with family,
friends, coworkers and employers).
 Growth Needs: internal esteem and self-actualisation (the desire to be
creative, productive and to complete meaningful tasks).

II Goal Setting Theories

Goal setting theory of motivation is a theory which states that there is an
inseparable link between goal setting and task performance. It states that specific,
measurable and attainable goals motivate an employee to achieve the goal, while
lousy vague targets suck off enthusiasm.
Principles of Goal Setting To prepare a delicious meal, you need to put in the right
ingredients. In the same way, setting the right goals, there needs to be the right
combination of certain factors. Let’s have a look at these important factors of goal
setting theory in management.
Clarity Vague, unambiguous goal spun in thin air will only build a house on the
sand. Such random goals leaves lots of room for misconceptions and will never
give desired results. When the manager says, ‘Do how much you can’, the
employee gets a vague idea of what is expected of him and does not strive to
perform better. The result is at the time of evaluation, there is a lot of confusion.
The manager is not happy with the employee’s low performance, while the
employee cannot understand why the manager is pouting. Crisp, clear,
measurable, specific goals have to be set and communicated to the employee in
the simplest way possible. No room for assumptions in goal setting.
Challenging goals Besides being clear and specific, the goal set should be
challenging. Easy to achieve goals fail to keep the employee excited, however,
since people are often motivated by the feeling of achievement, setting
challenging goals helps motivate the employee to do his best. Another factor that
has to be noted here is the fact of recognition. When an employee knows his
efforts will not go unnoticed, he will want to stretch himself. Financial or any other
kind of remunerations will help motivate the employee to reach his goal. Asthe
intensity of rewards increase with the difficulty of the task, employees are willing
to take up more challenging tasks to achieve that high compensation.
Achievable goals We just saw how important it is for an employee to know what
his manager expects out of him to perform better. However, if the goal by his
manager is something really steep, it will do more damage instead of good.
Blowing a balloon to its fullest capacity brings-about-beauty, however, blowing a
little more burst the balloon. There is only a hairline difference between the fullest
capacity and the amount that can burst it. Same is the case with an employee.
Easy goals don’t seem to challenge an employee, however, in the eagerness to set
challenging goals, if the goal is tad on the unattainable side, the employee can get
demotivated, instead of motivated. The idea is to challenge the employee to give
his best performance without frustrating him.
Commitment to goals If goals are to see fruition, they need to be comprehended
and agreed upon by both the management and the employees. The theory of
participative management rests on the basis of allowing employees to have a role
in setting goals and making decisions. If employees feel they were part of creating
the goal, they are more likely to try their level best to achieve the goal. Simply
barging into the meeting room and dictating the set of goals the employee has to
attain, without considering whether he can or cannot attain it, will not lead to
frustration and suffocation at work.

III Attribution Theories

Attribution theory is probably the most influential contemporary theory with
implications for academic motivation. It incorporates behaviour modification in
the sense that it emphasises the idea that learners are strongly motivated by the
pleasant outcome of being able to feel good about themselves. It incorporates
cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory in the sense
that it emphasises that learners’ current self-perceptions will strongly influence
the ways in which they will interpret the success or failure of their current efforts
and hence their future tendency to perform these same behaviours. According to
attribution theory, the explanations that people tend to make to explain success
or failure can be analysed in terms of three sets of characteristics:
First, the cause of the success or failure may be internal or external. That is, we
may succeed or fail because of factors that we believe have their origin within us
or because of factors that originate in our environment.
Second, the cause of the success or failure may be either stable or unstable. If the
we believe cause is stable, and then the outcome is likely to be the same if we
perform the same behaviour on another occasion. If it is unstable, the outcome
is likely to be different on another occasion.
Third, the cause of the success or failure may be either controllable or
uncontrollable. A controllable factor is one which we believe we ourselves can
alter if we wish to do so. An uncontrollable factor is one that we do not believe
we can easily alter. An important assumption of attribution theory is that people
will interpret their environment in such a way as to maintain a positive self-
image. That is, they will attribute their successes or failures to factors that will
enable them to feel as good as possible about themselves. In general, this means
that when learners succeed at an academic task, they are likely to want to
attribute this success to their own efforts or abilities; but when they fail, they will
want to attribute their failure to factors over which they have nopos control, such
as bad teaching or bad luck.

IV Drive Theory
Hull developed a version of behaviourism in which the stimulus (S) affects the
organism (O) and the resulting response (R) depends upon characteristics of both
O and S. In other words, Hull was interested in studying intervening variables that
affected behaviour such as initial drive, incentives, inhibitors, and prior training
(habit strength). Like other forms of behaviour theory, reinforcement is the
primary factor that determines learning. However, in Hull’s theory, drive
reduction or need satisfaction plays a much more important role in behaviour
than in other frameworks (i.e., Thorndike, Skinner). Hull’s theoretical framework
consisted of many postulates stated in mathematical form; They include: (1)
organisms possess a hierarchy of needs which are aroused under conditions of
stimulation and drive, (2) habit strength increases with activities that are
associated with primary or secondary reinforcement, (3) habit strength aroused
by a stimulus other than the one originally conditioned depends upon the
closeness of the second stimulus in terms of discrimination thresholds, (4) stimuli
associated with the cessation of a response become conditioned inhibitors, (5)
the more the effective reaction potential exceeds the reaction threshold, the
shorter the latency of response. As these postulates indicate, Hull proposed many
types of variables that accounted for generalisation, motivation, and variability
(oscillation) in learning. One of the most important concepts in Hull’s theory was
the habit strength hierarchy: for a given stimulus, an organism can respond in a
number of ways. The likelihood of a specific response has a probability which can
be changed by reward and is affected by various other variables (e.g., inhibition).
In some respects, habit strength hierarchies resemble components of cognitive
theories such as schema and production systems.

FRUSTRATIONS:
The term frustration refers to the blocking of behaviour directed towards a goal.
If motives are frustrated or blocked, emotional feelings and behaviour often
result. People who cannot achieve their important goals, feel depressed, fearful,
anxious, guilty or angry. Often, they are simply unable to drive ordinary pleasure
for living. For example, over restrictive parents would be a source of frustration
to an adolescent girl who wanted to give or attend a party, while a lack of water
would be a source of frustration to man lost in the desert. A wide range of
obstacles both environmental and internal can lead to frustrations.
1. Environmental Frustration By making it difficult or impossible for a person to
attain a goal, environmental obstacles can frustrate the satisfaction of motives.
An obstacle may be something physical, such as locked door or lack or money, or
it may be people – parents, teachers or police officer. The restriction placed on
behaviour by the rules of society constitute another important source of
frustration. In satisfying our manifold desires, our actions must be in conformity
with the accepted moral and social code of our culture.
2. Personal Frustration Unattainable goals can be important source of frustration.
These are largely learned goals that cannot be achieved because they are beyond
a person’s abilities. Individuals who aspire to scholastic, professional or social
achievements beyond their abilities court psychological disaster.
3. Competition Most individuals have somewhat similar desires, but they are not
equally equipped to satisfy them. In the competition struggle for health, desirable
marital partners and other values that make for happiness they encounter fewer
difficulties than the less well endowed, achieve. It is a fact that, all things being
equal, some individuals perform very well in a given task or assignment and some
do not care at all about the performance or even the task.
4. Affiliation We find on the one hand human beings trying to hurt and destroy
others physically and psychologically and on the other we find them trying
desperately seeking others, wanting to get close and be close to other human
beings and become members of groups. This behaviour of seeking other human
beings and w anting to be close to them both physically and psychologically is
called affiliation. The affiliation motive is aroused when individuals feel
threatened or helpless and also when they are happy.

CONFLICT:
Conflict arises when an individual is forced to choose between two alternatives,
in which choosing either alternative means frustration with regard to the other.
Such a situation requires a decision on the part of the individual. For example, he
may have to choose between two movies or between unemployment and a job,
which he dislikes.
1. Approach-approach Conflict As the name implies an approach-approach
conflict is a conflict between two positive goals—goals that are equally attractive
at the same time. For instance, a physiological conflict arises when a per son is
hungry and sleepy at the same time. Such conflicts are usually resolved either by
satisfying first one goal and then the other-for example, eating and then going to
bed if a per son is both hungry and sleepy or by choosing one of the goals and
giving up the other. Compared with other conflict situations, approach conflicts
are usually easy to resolve and generate little emotional behaviour.
2. Avoidance-avoidance Conflict Avoidance-avoidance conflict with two negative
goals leads to vacillation of behaviour and thought. People are inconsistent in
what they do and think. They do first one thing and then another. Vacillation
occurs because the strength of a goal increases as the per son nears it. As one of
the negative goals is approached, the person finds it repellent and withdraws
from it. But when this is one, the person comes closer to the other negative goal
and finds it unbearably obnoxious. So, the individual goes back and forth when
caught in avoidance – avoidance conflict e.g. a student must spend the next two
days studying for an examination or face the possibility of failure. At times people
in avoidance – avoidance conflicts try a different means of running away by
spending much of their time day dreaming – making up an imaginary world where
there are no conflicts. They may even re-create in their minds the care free world
of childhood. This way of leaving the conflict situation is called regression. Many
intense emotions are generated by avoidance – avoidance conflicts. If the two
negative goals are fear producing and threatening, a person caught between them
will experience fear. The person may be angry and resentful as he is trapped in a
situation where the goals are negative.
3. Approach-avoidance Conflict Approach-avoidance conflict leads to frustration
as in this type of conflict a person is both attracted and repelled by the same goal
object. Because of the positive balance of the goal, the per son approaches it, but
as it is approached, the negative balance becomes stronger. Vacillation is found in
avoidance – avoidance conflict. Even after the goal is reached, an individual may
feel uneasy because of the negative balance attached to it. Emotional reactions
like fear, anger and resentment commonly accompany avoidance-avoidance
conflicts.
4. Multiple Approach-avoidance Conflict Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts
lead to emotional reactions. Emotional reactions are generated by approach-
avoidance conflicts in which internal obstacles play a part wh ich lead to
behavioural problems. Suppose a woman is engaged to be married; suppose,
further, that the goal of marriage has a positive valence for her because of the
stability and security it will provide and because she loves the man she will be
marrying. Suppose, on the other hand, that marriage is repellent to her because
it will mean giving up an attractive offer of a job in another city. With respect to
her career, the w omen is attracted to the new job but also repelled by the
problems it will create for her marriage.

EMOTIONS:
Psychologists view emotions as more complex feeling states that have three
basics components:
 bodily and mental changes including physiological arousal (neural,
hormonal, visceral and muscular changes,
  cognition (subjective or conscious, experience of the feeling, as well as the
thoughts or judgements we have about people of situations that evoke the
feeling), and
 expressed behaviour (outwards expression of the emotions, such as
approaching a love object or avoiding a feared one).
Nature of Emotions
1. Emotions play a very important and inevitable role in each individual’s life. The
role of emotions varies from relaxation, increase in energy level, planning to
survival of human being.
2. They are normally accompanied by physiological changes like gestures,
muscular, movements, changes in facial expressions, changes in physiological
reactions like blood pressure, pulse rate, heartbeat, respiration etc
3. Subjective experiences of emotions or feelings, guide behaviour, decision
making and judgement. Subjective feeling serves as feedback about the personal
relevance of our current circumstances. When we feel a negative emotion, like
fear or anger, the unpleasant feelings serve as a cue that something in our
environment poses us a threat and that we may need to act fast to protect
ourselves.
4. Emotions occupy a very important position in a person’s life as they motivate
many of job endeavours. Love, affection etc. are not the only emotions by which
life is made worthy of living. The same can be said of grief, anger, etc. A person is
love makes sacrifices for the object of his emotion which he would not make in
an unemotional state. The love of their offspring spurs the parents on to great
sacrifices.
5. Emotions also have stimulating function. For example, a person who is in a
happy state of mind invariable makes others also happy and sees happiness
around him. Similarly, a person who is angry makes others angry. Thus, emotions
influence the atmosphere. It is already been said that emotions play a crucial role
in creative and artistic activities. Emotions also make one sensitive to the
problems of others. Thus, one may see that emotions have a contagious influence
6. Along with the bodily changes one also finds certain psychological changes or
alterations in the content and state of consciousness. Very often, there is blurring
or clouding of consciousness, blocking of memory, a confusion is perception.
Thus, emotions are complex experiences including a variety of bodily reactions
and also psychological reactions.
7. The emotions to an optimum level increase the effectiveness of performance
and when sufficiently intense it can seriously impair the processes that control
organized behaviour

THEORIES OF EMOTIONS:
Psychologists have proposed a number of theories about the origins and function
of emotions. The theorists agree on one thing that emotion has a biological basis,
which is evidenced by the fact that the amygdala (part of the limbic system of the
brain), which plays a large role in emotion, is activated before any direct
involvement of the cerebral cortex (where memory, awareness, and conscious
“thinking” take place). There are the following theories which explain the complex
mental and physical experiences that take place in humans called as “feelings”
and these are:
1. James Lange Theory
In the 1880 S. William James formulated the first modern theory of emotion, at
almost the same time a Danish Psychologist Carl Lange reached the same
conclusion independently. According to the James- Lange theory; Stimuli causes
change in our bodies, and emotions are the result of these physical changes, e.g.,
“we are afraid because we run”. “We are angry because we strike”. We often
experience an emotion only after we have undergone a physiological arousal.
2. Canon-Bard Theory
It proposes that emotion and bodily responses occur simultaneously, not one
after the other. Thus, when you see the bear, you run and are afraid with neither
reaction preceding the other. This model makes an important role in deter mining
the emotional experience that you have. This is also known as thalamic theory.
This theory has been modified to a certain extent by later investigators. According
to a new version of it, the sensory input caused by an emotional situation is first
interpreted by the cortex as emotional which then sends a message to the lower
brain areas (Thalamus). The lower brain activity then produces autonomic
response, involving the viscera. It also mobilizes the motor system (muscles) to
give expression to an emotion. The feedback from these lower activities reaching
the cerebral cortex, then produces the experience of emotion.
3. Schachter Singer’s two factor theory
Among the latest theories Schachter Singer Theory (1962) evoked considerable
interest. The main contention of this theory was that every emotional experience
depends upon the cognition of the emotion producing situation. The theory
assumes that he felt emotion is always an interpretation (cognition) of arousal.
Recently, cognitive psychologists have developed and extended this idea by
suggesting that our perception of judgment of situation (cognition) is absolutely
essential to our emotional experience (Lazarus, 1982). According to the cognitive
theory of emotion, the situation that were in when we are a round –the
environment –gives us clues as to what we should call this general state of arousal.
Thus, our conditions tell us how to label our diffuse feelings in a way suitable to
our current thoughts and ideas about our surroundings. It places special emphasis
on the interpretation of the situation producing an emotion. Such an
interpretation is dependent upon three things. The information received from the
emotion situation, the past experience of this and also his tendency to respond in
certain ways. The theory views emotion as a complex and patterned physiological
response which is characterized by a set of action tendencies that are likely to be
released, depending upon the appraisal of the emotional situation by a subject.
We experience general feeling and then decide what the experience mean, a
specific emotion. The two-factor theory of emotion focuses on the interaction
between physical arousal and how we cognitively label that arousal
4. Lazarus’s Cognitive Theory
The importance of cognitive interpretation of circumstances in determining the
arousal levels is central to Lazarus Theory. In this theory he suggests that some
degree of cognitive processing is essential before an emotional reaction, either
overt or internal, can occur. Lazarus et al. (1980) proposed a theory suggesting
that emotion is a cognitive function, arising as result of appraisal of a situation. A
situation may be appraised as nonthreatening leading to positive emotional
states. The actual emotion experienced depends upon other characteristics or
circumstances. A stimulus appraised as threatening leads to direct action, such as
attack, retreat or freezing, together with physiological responses such as these
which accompany negative states, including fear, anger or depression. If direct
action is impossible, coping strategies may be employed to reappraise the
situation benignly, in order to live with the threat. These coping strategies may be
simply to redefine the threat as ‘not’ as bad as it was first perceived. Cognitive
appraisal is a process through which we can assess the possible effect of a
situation on our state of wellbeing, before responding to it.

Positive emotions and Negative emotions

Basically, this definition is stating that positive emotions are pleasant responses
to our environment (or our own internal dialogue) that are more complex and
targeted than simple sensations.
Some common positive emotions include: love, joy, satisfaction, contentment,
interest, amusement, happiness, enthusiasm, empathy, curiosity, calmness,
peace, trust, ease, affection.
On the other hand, negative emotions are those that we typically do not find
pleasurable to experience. Negative emotions serve evolutionary purposes,
encouraging us to act in ways that boost our chances of survival and help us grow
and develop as people. A few of the most commonly felt negative emotions are:
fear, anger, disgust, sadness, rage, loneliness, annoyance, jealousy, frustration,
panic, worry, insecurity, shame.

CONTROL OF EMOTIONS:
To handle emotions and manage emotions effectively, it is very essential to know
about emotions, which involve the meaning of emotions and biological basis of
emotions, the nature of emotions, types of emotions and effects of emotions on
health of an individual. The most important aspect of managing emotions
primarily focuses on the emotional intelligence of the individual and to become
emotionally competent. Some of the common means of handling emotions
include:
1. Self-awareness
Noticing what we feel and naming it is a great step toward emotional regulation.
For example, when you feel bad, ask yourself – Am I feeling sad, hopeless,
ashamed, or anxious? Give yourself some options and explore your feelings. Try
to name the specific emotions that you can feel intensely within yourself at that
very moment, and write it down if you want. You need not act or judge the cause
and effect of your emotions at this stage; all you need is complete awareness of
each feeling that is controlling your mind ‘right now.’
2. Mindful awareness
In addition to gaining thought awareness, mindfulness lets us explore and identify
all aspects of the external world, including our body. Simple mindful exercises
such as breath control or sensory relaxation can calm the storm inside and guide
our actions in the right way.
3. Cognitive reappraisal
Cognitive reappraisal includes altering the way we think. It is an essential
component of psychotherapies like CBT, and Anger Management, and calls for
greater acceptance and flexibility. Cognitive reappraisal skills may include
practices such as thought replacement or situational role reversals, where we try
to look into a stressful situation from a whole new perspective. For example, we
can replace thoughts like ‘My boss hates me’, ‘I am no longer needed here’, etc.
with alternatives such as, ‘My boss is upset at this moment, I am sure I can make
up for this’, or ‘I know I am hard working and honest, let me give it another try’,
etc. By doing so, we gain a broader and better perception of our problems and
react to them with more positivity.
4. Adaptability
Emotional dysregulation lowers our adaptability to life changes. We become more
prone to distractions and fail our coping mechanisms, which is why we often start
resisting changes. A great exercise to build adaptability is objective evaluation. For
example, when you feel bogged down by stressful emotions that you want to
avoid, and you might end up destructively reacting to them, take a moment to
think what if your best friend was experiencing the same thing? What would you
have suggested him to do under these circumstances? Write your answers if you
want to and try to think if you are following the same steps for yourself!
5. Self-compassion
Setting aside some time for ourselves every day is a great way to build emotional
regulation skills. Reminding ourselves of our talents and virtues, and letting our
minds land on a flexible space can immensely change the way we feel and react
to our emotions. Some simple self-compassion hacks involve:
 Daily positive self-affirmations
 Relaxation and breath control
 Compassion meditation
 Regular self-care
6. Emotional support
Psychologists believe that we all have the innate capacity to build a robust
emotional repertoire and save our mental energy from getting invested in
negativity. We can seek emotional support within ourselves by practicing mindful
self-awareness or can seek help outside by engaging in positive communication
with others. It is okay to see a therapist or professional when our inner coping
fails; the sole focus is to create a positive emotional shield that can channelize our
emotions to bring out the best in us.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
1.List out the basic concepts of motivation (Pg-1)
2. what are the kind of emotions?
Emotions are complex psychological and physiological responses that arise in
response to various internal and external stimuli. They play a crucial role in how
individuals experience and interpret the world around them. Emotions can be
broadly categorized into several types, each serving different functions. Here are
some of the primary kinds of emotions:
1. Basic Emotions: These are considered universal emotions that are present
across different cultures and are typically recognized through facial
expressions. Basic emotions include:
 Happiness: A positive emotional state characterized by feelings of joy,
contentment, and satisfaction.
 Sadness: A negative emotional state associated with feelings of
sorrow, grief, or disappointment.
 Fear: An emotion triggered by the perception of potential threats or
dangers, leading to a fight-or-flight response.
 Anger: An intense emotional response to perceived frustration,
injustice, or provocation.
 Surprise: A brief emotional reaction to unexpected or sudden events
or stimuli.
 Disgust: An emotional response to unpleasant or offensive stimuli,
often related to aversions or revulsions.
2. Complex Emotions: Complex emotions are more nuanced and may result
from the combination of basic emotions or from cognitive appraisals. They
are often influenced by cultural and social factors. Examples of complex
emotions include:
 Love: A deep emotional attachment and affection toward someone or
something.
 Guilt: An emotional response arising from a sense of responsibility for
a perceived wrongdoing or violation of personal values.
  Shame: An emotional state resulting from a belief that one's actions
or characteristics are flawed or inadequate, often leading to feelings
of worthlessness or embarrassment.
 Pride: A positive emotion related to a sense of accomplishment, self-
worth, or recognition of one's achievements.
 Jealousy: An emotional response triggered by the perception of a
threat to a valued relationship or possession.
3. Secondary Emotions: These emotions emerge in response to more primary
emotions or as a result of complex social and cognitive processes. Secondary
emotions can vary widely based on individual experiences and cultural
backgrounds. Examples include:
 Envy: Similar to jealousy, envy involves desiring what others have and
feeling discontented with one's own situation.
 Hope: An optimistic emotional state associated with positive
expectations about the future.
 Regret: A feeling of sadness or disappointment about past actions or
decisions.
 Relief: An emotional response to the removal of a stressful or
threatening situation.
Emotions are integral to human experience and serve as a crucial mechanism for
communication, social bonding, decision-making, and overall well-being.
Understanding emotions and their functions is essential in psychology,
neuroscience, and various other fields of study.
3.Differentiate between Frustration and Conflict?
Frustration and conflict are two distinct psychological concepts, but they are
related and can often occur together. Here's a brief differentiation between the
two:
Frustration: Frustration refers to the emotional response that arises when an
individual is hindered or blocked from achieving a desired goal or satisfying a
need. It occurs when there is an obstacle or barrier that prevents progress toward
a goal, leading to feelings of irritation, disappointment, or anger. Frustration can
be caused by internal factors (e.g., personal limitations, lack of skills) or external
factors (e.g., external circumstances, other people's actions). Frustration can vary
in intensity and duration, depending on the significance of the goal, the
individual's coping mechanisms, and the perceived controllability of the situation.
For example, if someone is stuck in traffic and running late for an important
appointment, they may experience frustration due to the obstruction preventing
them from reaching their destination on time.
Conflict: Conflict, on the other hand, refers to the presence of opposing or
incompatible interests, ideas, or feelings within an individual or between two or
more individuals or groups. It occurs when there is a struggle or disagreement
between these conflicting elements. Conflict can arise in various contexts, such as
interpersonal relationships, social situations, or decision-making processes. It can
manifest as cognitive (thought-based) or emotional (feeling-based) dissonance.
There are different types of conflict, including:
1. Intrapersonal Conflict: This type of conflict occurs within an individual when
they experience conflicting thoughts, emotions, or values. For example, a
person may experience a conflict between their desire to spend time with
friends and the need to study for an important exam.
2. Interpersonal Conflict: Interpersonal conflict arises between two or more
individuals due to differences in opinions, goals, or behaviors. It can occur
in various settings, such as work, family, or friendships.
3. Intergroup Conflict: This type of conflict occurs between different groups or
communities, often based on differences in identity, beliefs, or resources.
4. Intragroup Conflict: Intragroup conflict takes place within a group when
members disagree or have conflicting interests or ideas.
It's important to note that frustration can lead to conflict, as individuals may
become agitated or engage in confrontations when they feel hindered or blocked
from achieving their goals. Conversely, conflict can also lead to frustration, as
unresolved disagreements or competing interests may result in feelings of
dissatisfaction and annoyance.
In summary, frustration refers to the emotional response to being blocked from
achieving a goal, while conflict involves the presence of opposing or incompatible
interests, ideas, or feelings within or between individuals or groups.
4. What are the Different types of Motivation? (Pg-3 to Pg-5)
5. Evaluate the theories of emotions (Pg-15 to Pg-17)
 Unit – V Personality
Meaning and description, types, concepts – Freud, Jung, Adler. Approaches – Humanistic,
trait, behavioural, social. Assessment of Personality.

Meaning and description

Personality refers to an individual’s unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits. A

personality trait is a durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of
situations.
The term “personality” stems from the Latin word persona, which was the name given to the
masks actors wore and the characters they portrayed.
Personality is the characteristic patterns of behavior and modes of thinking that determine a
person’s adjustment to the environment.
Individual’s personality would include many factors

 intellectual abilities,
 motives acquired in the process of growing,
 emotional reactivity,
 attitudes,
 beliefs and
 moral values.
Personality is the individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of behavior, thoughts and
feelings.
Psychologists give a variety of definitions for personality, but common to all of them are
conce pts of uniqueness, re l at ive stability over time and characteristic behaviour. Simply,
put, personality is what characterizes an individual. It inc ludes the unique psychological
qualities of an individual that influence a variety of characteristic behaviour patterns (both
overt and covert) across different situations over time.
Personality can be defined as the distinctive and characteristic patterns of thought,
emotion and behavioral make up of an individual’s personal style of interacting with the
physical and social environment.
Individuals show consistency in certain aspects of the behavior and also the behavior is also
strongly affected by situational factors.
The factors influence the development of Personality are genetic and constitutional factors,
family, society and culture, significant personal experiences.
The chief characteristic is self-consciousness.It is only in relation to others that we are
usually judged, and our consciousness of ourselves arises only in our interaction with other
members of society. A personality is continually making adjustments to environment and to
inner life, lack of adjustment means strain and tension and the individual is forever acquiring
new patterns of adjustment. Personality always strive for goals. Our life and behaviour is
purposive and we arefor ever seeking new ends and goals to meet our goals.

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 1 of 9

Theories of Personality

I Trait Theory
Labelling and classifying the many per sonality characteristics into limited n umber of type or
possessing particular traits that all people are assumed to have in varying degrees. One of the
earliest type theories was proposed in the fifth century B.C. by Hippocrates.
‘Hippocrates’ pairing of body characteristics with personality temperaments was the
following:

 Blood: Sequim temperament: Cheerful and active.

 Phelgm: Phlegmatic temperament: apathetic and Sluggish.
 Black bile: Melancholy temperament: sad and brooding.
 Yellow bile: Chloeric temperament, irritable and excitable.
An interesting popular type theory of personality was one advanced by American physician
William Sheldom (1942) who related Physique to temperament. He assigned people to
categories based on their some to type or body builds:

 Endomorphic (fat, soft, round) temperament-relaxed sociable and fond of eating

 Mesomorphic (Muscular, rectangular strong) Energetic comageous and assertive,
 Ectomorphic (thin long, fragile) – Brainy,artistic and introvert.
The typology specified relationship between the physique or bodily constitutional types and
particular personality traits, activities and preferences.
A better supported type approach attempt to reduce the complexity of personality to a few
major categories , Eysenck (1970, 1975) suggested that the two major dimension of
personality are introversion-extroversion and stability-instability (or neuroticism). Carl
Jung’s Extrovert-introvert Theory: The way to type personality is in terms
of behavior or psychological factors. Jung’s introvert and extrovert types are
an example.
 Extroverts are sociable outgoing, active impulsive, ‘tough minded’ people.
 Introverts are their psychological opposites tender minded, withdrawn, passive,
cautious and reflective.
Gorden Allport (1937, 1961, 1966) viewed traits – as the building blocks of personality and
the source of individual uniqueness. They produced consistencies in behaviour becuase they
were enduring attributes of the person and were general or broad in their scope.
Allport identified three kinds of traits.

 Cardinal traits were traits around which a person organized his or her life. It might
involve power or achievement for others self-sacrifice for the good of there. Not all
people developed Cardinal traits .
 Central traits were traits we think of as major characteristics of a person, such as
honesty or conscientiousness.

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 2 of 9

  Secondary traits were less important characteristics that were not central to our under
standing of an individual’s personality such as particular attitudes, preferences and
style of behaviour.
Scientific way to select a small number of distinctive traits to describe per sonality by
statistical procedure known as factor-analysis as done by Cattell. He reduced 171 traits names
into 12 clusters orfactors, by using the factorial analysis. His analysis led him to suggest
thatthere are two kinds of traits.
Allport, Cattell and all the other trait psychologists agree that even though traits may be
independent of each other, in actual behaviour there is a lot of interaction among them. Very
rarely do you find that any behaviour expr esses a single trait exclusively.
The concept of trait and the type approach to personality have been very influential in
research and the study of personality. Even today, most psychological measures of
personality use the trait model.
The “big five” are broad categories of personality traits. While there is a significant body of
literature supporting this five-factor model of personality, researchers do not always agree on
the exact labels for each dimension. However, these five categories are usually described as
follows:

 Extraversion: This is also called as Surgency. The broad dimension of Extraversion

encompasses specific traits as talkative, energetic, and assertive. More specifically
these include characteristics such as excitability, sociability, talkativeness,
assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.
 Agreeableness: This factor includes traits like sympathetic, kind, and affectionate. It
also includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial
behaviours.
 Conscientiousness: This includes traits like organised, thorough, and planful
tendencies. Common features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness,
with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviours. Those high in
conscientiousness tend to be organised and mindful of details.

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 3 of 9

  Neuroticism: This is sometimes reversed and called Emotional Stability. This
dimension includes traits like tense, moody, and anxious. Individuals high in this trait
tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness.
 Openness to Experience: This is also called as Intellect or Intellect/Imagination. This
dimension includes traits like having wide interests, and being imaginative and
insightful. Those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of interests.

II The Psychoanalytic approach

The approach developed by Sigmund Freud has four topics which are most central: levels of
consciousness, the structure of personality, anxiety and defence mechanisms and
psychosexual stages of development.
Levels of Consciousness: beneath the iceberg’s tip
Freud believed that the human mind has three distinct levels: the conscious, preconscious and
unconscious. He also believed that personality involves three basic structures: id, ego, and
superego, which correspond very roughly to desire, reason, and conscience.
Conscious includes our current thoughts: whatever we are thinking about or experiencing at a
given moment. Preconscious contains memories that are not part of current thought but can
readily be brought to mind if the need arises. Beneath the preconscious, and forming the bulk
of the human mind, is the unconscious: thoughts, desires and impulses of which we remain
largely unaware.
Psychoanalysis is a method of therapy based on Freud’s theory of personality, in which the
therapist attempts to bring repressed unconscious material into consciousness.
The id consists of all our primitive, innate urges. These include various bodily needs, sexual
desire, and aggressive impulses. According to Freud, the id is totally unconscious and

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 4 of 9

operates in accordance with what he termed the pleasure principle. It demands immediate,
total gratification and is not capable of considering the potential costs of seeking this goal.

The ego operates in accordance with the reality principle: it takes into account external
conditions and the consequences of various actions and directs behaviour so as to maximise
pleasure and minimise pain. The ego is partly conscious but not entirely so; thus some of its
actions-for example, its eternal struggle with the id- are outside our conscious knowledge or
understanding.
The superego is concerned with morality-with whether various ways that could potentially
satisfy id impulses only when it is morally correct to do so – not simply when it is safe or
feasible, as required by the ego. The superego is acquired from our parents and through
experience and represents our internalisation of the moral teaching and norms of our society.
Repression and Ego Defense
Repression is an important unique Freudian concept thatprovides a psychological means
through with strong conflicts created by Id impulses are taken out of conscious awareness—
pushed into privacy of the unconscious – and their public expression controlled. Repression is
the most basic of the ego defense mechanisms, which are mental strategies the ego uses to def
end itself against the conflict experienced in the normal course of life.

We have devoted so much space to Freudian theory and criticism because Freud’s ideas have
had a greater impact on psychology and on society than those of any other psychologists.
Despite the criticisms leveled against them a recent critical evaluation of Freud’s view has
validated many of his theories about the developmental aspects of personality and
psychopathology.

III Humanistic Theories

Humanistic approaches to understanding personality are characterized by a concern for the
integrity of an individual. Humanistic personality theorists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham
Maslow have stressed a basic drive toward self actualization as the organizer of all the forces
whose interplay continually creates what a person is.

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 5 of 9

In this view, the motivation for behaviour comes from a person’s unique biological and
learned tendencies to develop and change in positive directions toward the goal of self
actualization.
Humanistic theories explain that people are seen not as collection of discrete traits but as a
holistic because they explain people’s separate acts always in terms of their personalities.
Humanistic theories are dispositional because they focus on the innate qualities within a
person that exert a major influence over the behaviour. Situational inputs are more often seen
as constraints and barriers;like the strings that tie down the balloons. Once freed from
negative situational conditions, the actualizing tendency should actively guide people to
choose life enhancing situations.
These theories are Phenomenological because they emphasize an individual’s frame of
reference, the person’s subjective view of reality – not the objective perspective of an
observer.
Past influences are important only to the extent that they have brought the person to the
present situation.
Finally, these theories are existential, theyfocus on a person’s conscious, higher mental
processes that interpret current experience and enable the person to meet to be overwhelmed
by the everyday challenges of existence. These theories are unique in their emphasis on
freedom, which separates them from other approaches to personality.
The core of this theoretical approach is the concept of self-actualization, a constant striving to
realize one’s inherent potential; to fully develop one’s capacities and talents. Experiences are
evaluated positively and sought after w en they are perceived to maintain or enhance the self.
Those experiences which oppose the positive growth of the person are evaluated negatively
and avoided.

Perspective Emphasis Major Theorists

Trait Perspective Identifying, describing, and Eysenck, Cattell, Costa

measuring personality traits
Psychoanalytic Perspective Childhood experiences and Freud, Erikson and Jung
the unconscious mind

Humanistic Perspective Psychological growth, free Maslow and Rogers

will and personal awareness

Social Cognitive Observational learning, self- Bandura

efficacy and situational
influences

IV LearningTheories
Behaviourists are interested not in the consistencies in behaviour – which led other theorists
to propose enduring traits , instincts, or self concepts – but in the changes in behaviour as
environmental conditions change, their aim is to identify the external variables thatchange
responding. No mental states and no inferred dispositions are allowed – or need in their

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 6 of 9

explanations of behaviour. According to this theory an individual’s action in a given situation
depends upon the specific characteristics of the situation, his assessment of the situation and
his past reinforcement history. Most of thesetheorists therefore look upon human personality
as the result of a person situation interaction. The social learning theories assures thatdifferent
kinds of behaviour do not reflect different motives butrather different responses to different
situations, and also the role of reward and punishment on human behaviour and personality.
They view man as a creature of habit or response tendencies which areformed by the
mechanism of reinforcement.
According to the learning theory, people learn all kinds of behaviour, much in the same way
as animals learn in the classical and operant conditioning experiments. If there is any
differences it is only that of complexity of situations in which human learning takes place.
The social context in which human learning takes place is also important because it is in this
context that man learns new ways of responding to various situations.
The basic feature of the theory assumes that the personality of an individual is shaped by the
operation of classical and instrumental conditioning. It also recognize a special type of
learning mechanism and variously known as observational learning, modeling or imitation. In
this type of learning a person acquires a response by observing other people making that
response.
The central focus in Dollard and Miller theory formulation is on the process of learning or
habit formation. They discuss four significant features of this process viz. Drive, Cue,
Response and Reinforcement (reward). Drive gets an organism into action, cues suggest what
behaviour is appropriate (will lead to drivereduction), response is the behaviour itself and
reinforcement strengthens the connection between cues and response by reducing the tension
of drives.
Personality, according to this approach is descriptive rather than explanatory, static rather
than dynamic. More recently, there has been a clear trend towards a more dynamic view of
personality.

V Cognitive Theories
Those who have proposed cognitive theories of personality point out that thereare important
individual differences in the way people think about any external situation. Cognitive theories
stress the process through which people turn their sensation and perceptions into organized
impressions of reality. Like humanistic theories they emphasize thatindividuals participate in
creating their own personalities. People activelychoose their own environments to a great
extent, soeven if the environment has in important impact on us, we are not just passive
reactors . We weight alternatives and select the setting in which we act and are acted upon.
The relationship between situational variables (social and environmental stimuli) and
cognitive variables in regula ting behaviour is found in a n umber of per sonality theories.
George Kelly developed a theory of personality called Personal Construct Theory – that
places primary emphasis on each person’s active, cognitive construction of his or her world.
He argued that people can always reconstruct their past or define their present difficulties in
different ways.
Kelly argued that all people function like scientists. We want to be able to predict and explain
the world a round us, especially our interpersonal world. Kelly defined a personal construct

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 7 of 9

as person’s belief about the way two things are same and the way they are different from a
third. It places so much emphasis on the uniqueness of each person’s personality. This
approach has had more impact on clinic who can approach each case as an individual.
The social cognitive perspective of personality emphasizes the importance of observational
learning, self-efficacy, situational influences, and cognitive processes.

Assessment of Personality

Thereare manydifferent ways of assessing personality.

1. Observation and Rating
A very common method of assessing personality is to observe it in action and then rate it.For
example, in an interview situation the interviewers observe the behaviour of a person and rate
his personality on a scale ranging from a low to a high value. This method is called the rating
method. Such rating can be done in two ways:
1) Global Approach
Personality is created on a scale ranging from low effectiveness to high effectiveness. It
isuseful when time is limited and large number of people have to be assessed or when
thepersonality score is only one of the many criteria to be taken into account.
2) Analytic Approach
Here instead of the total personality, number of attributes or qualities are individually
ratedand these individual rating are summed up. For example, cheerfulness, alertness,
humour, andother individual attributes can be separately rated and summed up.

2. Objective Tests
Objective tests of personality are those in which the scoring like the administration
isrelatively simple and follow objective rules. Some tests may be scored and
eveninterpretedby computer programme. This means that the objective tests do not require a
skilled expert tointerpret the results. The most widely used objectivetestsare Minnesota
MultiphasicPersonality Inventory– Personalityknown as MMPI. It is used in manyclinical
settings to aid in the diagnosis of patients andas a guide in their treatment. These
testsareselfreportinginventories.Inthistesttheindividual answeraseries of questions about their
thoughts, feelings and actions. Theotherfamous tests are Sixteen Personality factor
questionnaire (16 P.F.)developed byCattell and the Eysenck Personality Inventory. These
tests have been adapted in India, tosuit our population. In addition, thereare other
personalitytests/inventories/questionnairesdeveloped in India also.
A variation of questionnaire is whatisknown as a “situational tests”. Here instead ofgiving
questions or statements, certainsituationsare described and differentalternativesresponses
aregiven. The individual has to choose whicheverhefeels would be the bestandtrueresponse.
An example of suchatestisthe Ascendance-Submission test developedby Allport.
3. ProjectiveTests
Haveyou ever looked at a could and “seen” aface or the shape of an animal? If you asked
Yourfriends to look to, you may have discovered thattheysaw a dragon or something else
quite different. Psychologistsrely on a similar phenomenon in their use of projectivetests
for personality assessment.
We tend to perceive things “not as theyarebut as weare”, particularlyistheyarevague of
ambiguous. We tend to project our personality whilegiving meaning to it.
Inaprojectivetestaperson is given a series of stimulithatare purposely ambiguous such
asabstract patterns, incomplete picture, and drawing that can be interpreted in severalways

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 8 of 9

and the aim of test is disguised. The person may be asked to describe the pattern,finish the
pictures or storiesabout the drawings. Because the stimuliarevague,responsesto them are
determined partlyby whattheperson brings to the situation namely,innerfeelings, personal
motives and conflictsform priorlifeexperiences. These idiosyncraticaspects areprojected or
“thrown outward” on to stimulithatpermit variousinterpretations. The subjects rarely know
whatisthepurpose of the test and how hisreponses aregoing to be interpreted. Hence
theyarelesslikely to be deliberatelydistorted.
Projective tests werefirst used by psycho-analysts who hoped thatsuch test would revealtheir
patients unconscious personality dynamics. Forexample, to uncover emotionallycharged
thoughts and fears. Carl jung used word association to a list of common words(whatisthefirst
thing brought to mind by the word house?) In addition to this techniqueof association a
verbal, auditory, or visual stimulus to its personal meaning, many otherprojectivetechniques
have been used to assess personality. Two of the more commonprojectivetestsare the
Rorschach test and the Thematic Aperception Test(TAT).

Sem II Foundations of Psychology II Unit 5 Personality Page 9 of 9

Important Questions:
1.Define personality
2.What are the concepts of personality?
The study of personality involves various concepts that help researchers and
psychologists understand and describe individual differences in human
behaviour, thoughts, and emotions. Some of the key concepts of personality
include:
1. Traits: Traits are enduring patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and emotions
that are relatively stable across time and situations. Traits are used to
describe and measure individual differences in personality. Examples of
traits include extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience,
agreeableness, and neuroticism (the Big Five traits).
2. Characteristics: Personality characteristics refer to distinctive qualities or
attributes that contribute to an individual's uniqueness. These may include
physical attributes, mannerisms, or cognitive tendencies that are relatively
consistent in an individual.
3. Self-concept: Self-concept is the perception and understanding that
individuals have about themselves. It includes beliefs, values, attitudes,
and self-assessments that shape how individuals view their own identities.
4. Self-esteem: Self-esteem is the overall evaluation or feeling of worth that
individuals have about themselves. It reflects the degree to which
individuals feel confident and positively regard themselves.
5. Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy is the belief in one's ability to accomplish specific
tasks or achieve goals. It influences an individual's motivation and
perseverance in the face of challenges.
6. Identity: Identity refers to an individual's sense of self and belongingness
to particular social groups or categories. It encompasses various aspects,
including cultural, ethnic, gender, and social identities.
7. Personality Disorders: Personality disorders are enduring patterns of
behaviour and inner experience that deviate significantly from societal
expectations and cause distress or impairment in functioning. Examples
 include borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder,
and avoidant personality disorder.
8. Psychological Défense Mechanisms: Défense mechanisms are unconscious
strategies used by individuals to protect themselves from anxiety and
emotional distress. Examples include denial, repression, projection, and
rationalization.
9. Personality Development: Personality development refers to the
continuous process of change and growth in an individual's personality
from infancy through adulthood. It involves various factors, including
biological, environmental, and social influences.
10. Nature vs. Nurture: This concept addresses the debate about the
relative contributions of genetic factors (nature) and environmental
influences (nurture) in shaping an individual's personality.
11. Temperament: Temperament refers to an individual's innate and
biologically-based behavioural tendencies, which emerge early in life and
influence later personality development.
12. Social Learning: Social learning theory emphasizes the role of
observation and modelling in acquiring new behaviours and personality
traits from others.
13. Personal Constructs: Personal constructs are cognitive frameworks or
mental models’ individuals use to interpret and understand the world
around them and the people they encounter.
14. Locus of Control: Locus of control refers to an individual's belief
about the degree of control they have over their lives and the outcomes
they experience. It can be internal (believing in personal control) or
external (attributing outcomes to external factors).
These concepts, among others, contribute to a comprehensive understanding of
the complexities of human personality. Researchers and psychologists use these
concepts to develop theories, assess personality traits, and explore the factors
that shape individual differences in behaviour and psychological functioning.
3.Discuss the significance of personality assessment?