Unit # 01 Educational psychology is that branch
2 NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY AND
Unit-1
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
1.1 Meaning, Nature and Scope,
field and Branches of Psychology.
1.2 Educational Psychology
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
The word, ‘Psychology’ is derived from
two Greek words, ‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’.
Psyche means ‘soul’ and ‘Logos’ means
‘science’. Thus psychology was first
defined as the ‘science of soul”. According
to earlier psychologists, the function of
psychology was to study the nature, origin
and destiny of the human soul. But soul is
something metaphysical. It cannot be seen,
observed and touched and we cannot make
scientific experiments on soul.
In the 18 century, psychology was
understood as the ‘Science of Mind’.
William James (1892) defined psychology
as the science of mental processes. But the
word ‘mind’ is also quite ambiguous as
there was confusion regarding the nature
and functions of mind.
Modern psychologists defined psychology
as the “Science of Consciousness”. James
Sully (1884) defined psychology as the
“Science of the Inner World”. Wilhelm
Wundt (1892) defined psychology as the
science which studies the “internal
experiences’. But there are three levels of
consciousness – conscious, subconscious
and the unconscious and so this definition
also was not accepted by some.
Thus psychology first lost its soul, then its
mind and then its consciousness. At present
only its behaviour exists. William
McDugall (1905) defined psychology as the
“Science of Behaviour”, W.B.
Pillsbury(1911) and J.B. Watson (1912)
also defined psychology as the science of
behavior. Behaviour generally means overt
activities which can observe and measured
scientifically. But one’s behaviour is
always influenced by his experiences. So
when we study one’s behaviour we must
also study his experiences.
Psychology should, therefore, be defined as
a “science of behaviour and experiences on
human beings” (B.F.Skinner)
According to Crow and Crow,
“Psychologyis the study of human
behaviour andhuman relationship’”.
What is Educational Psychology?
of 1.
psychology in which the findings of
psychology are applied in the field of
education. It is the scientific study of
human behaviour in educational setting.
According to Charles. E. Skinner,
“Educational psychology deals with the
behaviour of human beings in educational
situations ”.Thus educational psychology is
behavioral science with two main
references– human behaviour and
education.
In the words of E.A. Peel, “Educational
Psychology is the science of Education”.
Education by all means is an attempt to
mould and shape the behaviour of the pupil.
It aims to produce desirable changes in him
for the all-round development of his
personality. The essential knowledge and
skill to dothis job satisfactorily is supplied
by Educational Psychology. In the words of
E.A. Peel, “Educational psychology helps
the teacher to understand the development
of his pupils, the range and limits of their
capacities, the processes by which they
learn and their social relationships.”
In this way, the work of the Educational
Psychologists resembles with that of an
Engineer, who is a technical expert. The
Engineer supplies all the knowledge and
skill essential for the accomplishment of the
job satisfactorily for example, construction
of a bridge.
In the same way Educational Psychologists,
who is a technical expert in the field of
Education, supplies all the information,
principles and techniques essential for
understanding the behavior of the pupil in
response to educational environment and
desired modification of his behaviour to
bring an all-round development of his
personality.
In this way, it is quite reasonable to call
Educational Psychology as a science and
technology of Education. Thus, Educational
Psychology concerned primarily with
understanding the processes of teaching and
learning that take place within formal
environments and developing ways of
improving those methods. It covers
important topics like learning theories;
teaching methods ;motivation; cognitive,
emotional, and moral development; and
parent-child relationships etc.
In short, it is the scientific discipline that
addresses the questions: “Why do some
students learn more than others?” and“
What can be done to improve that
learning?”
PSYCHOLOGY
Its nature is scientific as it has been
accepted that it is a Science of Education.
We can summarize the nature of
Educational Psychology in the following
ways:
1. Educational Psychology is a science.
(Science is a branch of study concerned
with observation of facts and establishment
of verifiable general laws .Science employs
certain objective methods for the collection
of data. Ithasits objectives of
understanding, explaining, predicting and
control of facts.) Like any other science,
educational psychology has also developed
objective methods of collection of data. It
also aimsat understanding, predicting and
controlling human behaviour.
2. Educational Psychology is a natural
science.
An educational psychologist conducts his
investigations, gathers his data and reaches
his conclusions inexactly the same manner
as physicist orthe biologist.
3. Educational psychology is a social
science.
Like the sociologist, anthropologist,
economist or political scientist, the
educational psychologist studies human
beings and their sociability.
4. Educational psychology is a positive
science.
Normative science like Logic or Ethics
deals with facts as they ought to be. A
positive science deals with facts as they are
or as they operate. Educational psychology
studies the child’s behavior as it is, not, as
it ought to be. So it is appositive science.
5. Educational psychology is an applied
science.
It is the application of psychological
principles in the field of education. By
applying the principles and techniques of
psychology, it tries to study the behaviour
and experiences of the pupils. As a branch
of psychology it is parallel to any other
applied psychology. For example,
educational psychology draws heavily facts
from such areas as developmental
psychology, clinical psychology, abnormal
psychology and social psychology.
6. Educational psychology is a developing
or growing science.
It is concerned with new and ever new
researches. As research findings
accumulate, educational psychologists get
Psychology 1
better insight into the child’s nature and
behaviour.
W .A. Kelly (1941) listed the nature of
Educational Psychology as follows:
i. To give a knowledge of the nature of the
child
ii. To give understanding of the nature,
aims and purposes of education
iii. To give understanding of the scientific
methods and procedures which have been
used in arriving at the facts and principles
of educational psychology?
iv. To present the principles and techniques
of learning and teaching
v. To give training in methods of measuring
abilities and achievement in school subjects
vi. To give a knowledge of the growth and
development of children
vii. To assist in the better adjustment of
children and to help them to preventmal
adjustment
viii. To study the educational significance
and control of emotions and
ix. To give an understanding of the
principles and techniques of correct
training.
Thus, educational psychology is an applied,
positive, social, specific and practical
science. While general science deals with
behaviour of the individuals in various
spheres, educational psychology studies the
behaviour of the individual in educational
sphere only.
1.3 Scope of Educational
Psychology:
The scope of educational psychology is
ever- growing due to constantly researches
in this field.
The following factors will indicate the
scope of educational psychology:
1. The Learner. The subject-matter
of educational psychology is knitted around
the learner. Therefore, the need of knowing
the learner and the techniques of knowing
him well. The topics include – the innate
abilities and capacities of the individuals,
individual differences and their
measurements, the overt, covert, conscious
as well as unconscious behaviour of the
learner, the characteristics of his growth
and development and each stage beginning
from childhood to adulthood
2. The Learning Experiences.
Educational Psychology helps in deciding
what learning experiences are desirable, at
what stage of the growth and development
of the learner, so that these experiences can
be acquired with a greater ease and
satisfaction.
3. Learning process : After knowing
the learner and deciding what learning
experiences are to be provided, Educational
Psychology moves on to the laws,
principles and theories of learning. Other
items in the learning process are
remembering and forgetting, perceiving,
concept formation, thinking and reasoning,
problem solving, transfer of learning, ways
and means of effective learning etc.
4. Learning Situation or Environment.
Here Educational Psychology deals with
the environmental factors and learning
situations which come midway between the
learner and the teacher. Topics like
classroom climate and group dynamics,
techniques and aids that facilitate learning
and evaluation, techniques and practices,
guidance and counseling etc. For the
smooth functioning of the teaching-
learning process.
5. The Teacher. The teacher is a potent
force is any scheme of teaching and
learning process. It discusses the role of the
teacher. It emphasizes the need of ‘knowing
thyself’ for a teacher to play his role
properly in the process of education. His
conflicts, motivation.Anxiety, adjustment,
level of aspiration etc. It throws light on the
essential personality traits, interests,
aptitudes, the characteristics of effective
teaching etc. so as to inspire him for
becoming a successful teacher. Though the
entire scope of Educational Psychology is
included in the above mentioned five key-
factors, it may be further expanded by
adding the following:
1. Human Behaviour .It studies Human
Behaviour in educational situations.
Psychology is the study of behaviour, and
education deals with the modification of
behaviour; hence, educational psychology
pervades the whole field of education.
2. Growth and Development. It studies the
Growth and Development of the child. How
a child passes through the various stages of
growth and what are the characteristics of
each stage are included in the study of
educational psychology.
3. Environment. To what extent Heredity
and Environment contribute towards the
growth of the individual, and how this
knowledge can be made use of for bringing
about the optimum development of the
child; form a salient feature of the scope of
educational psychology.
4. Personality. Educational psychology
deals with the Nature and Development of
the Personality of an individual. In fact,
education has been defined as the all-round
development of the personality of an
individual; personality development also
implies a well-adjusted personality.
5. Individual Difference. It studies
Individual Difference. Every individual
differs from every other individual. It is one
of the fundamental facts of human nature
which have been brought to light by
educational psychology. This one fact has
revolutionalized the concept and process of
education.
6. Intelligence. It studies the nature
Intelligence and its Measurement. This is of
utmost importance for a teacher.
7. Guidance and Counseling. It Provides
Guidance and Counseling: Education is
nothing but providing guidance to the
growing child.
We can conclude by saying that
Educational Psychology is narrower in
scope than general psychology. While
general psychology deals with the
behaviour of the individual in a general
way, educational psychology in concerned
with the behaviour of the learner in an
educational setting.
1.4 Different Branches of
Psychology are asfollows:
Psychology studies and explains
thebehaviour of entire livingorganisms. The
term behavior includes the cognitive,
Conative andaffective, conscious,
subconscious orunconscious, implicit or
explicit. Italso includes the behaviour
ofpeople from infancy to old age, thenormal
as well as abnormal.It is very difficult to
understand allthese aspects of behaviour in
onesphere. Hence, in order to make
itconvenient to study, understand andaccess
the behaviour at different fields of life,
psychology is dividedinto different
branches. Thesebranches are broadly
divided intotwo categories viz., pure
andapplied.
1. Pure Branches:
Pure branches provide thetheoretical frame
work of thesubject. These branches deal
withformulation of principles, theoriesand
suggest different methods forthe assessment
of behaviour. The pure branches also
suggest certaintechniques for the
modification ofproblematic behaviour.
Pure branches are:
a. General psychology:
This branch deals with thefundamental
rules, principles andtheories of psychology
in relation tothe study of behaviour of
Psychology 2
normaladult human beings. It Some of the psychological experiences are differentapproaches of teaching,
explainsvarious psychological processes beyond the reach of5 sense organs. That is learningmaterial, etc. This branch addresses
like sensations, perceptions, why they arecalled extra sensory to the problems and improvement in
emotions,learning, intelligence, perceptions(ESP) or sixth sense. Some of teaching and learning processes.
personality,etc. thephenomena studied in ESP are
asfollows: b. Clinical psychology:
b. Physiological psychology: This branch deals with thetherapeutic
This branch describes the biologicalbasis of i. Clairvoyance: aspect of mentaldisorders. There are many
behaviour. There is a closerelationship This is referred to as television, which is types ofmental illness requiring varied
between body andmind; the functions of seeing the distant thingsmentally. We typesof therapies like chemotherapy,
each otherare mutually influenced. perceive at times some situations or things psychotherapy, recreational
Thefunctioning of the brain, without the helpof our eyes. In total – andoccupational therapies, behavior
nervoussystem, endocrine glands and seeing thingswhich happen beyond our therapy, etc.
theirrelation to cognitive, Conative visualfield through mind is
andaffective behaviour is explained inthis calledclairvoyance. c. Industrial psychology:
branch of psychology. Human beings are different frommachines.
c. Developmental psychology: ii. Telepathy: They will have manyproblems in their work
Human life passes through various stages of Transformations of emotions fromone place likeadjustment, safety, security,
development fromconception to old age. person to another person who isin a far of health,financial and such other
This branchexplains the growth place. For example, aperson who is in death problems.Both the management and
anddevelopment of various processes bedremembering his close relative may be workersneed to cooperate in dealing
inrelation to behaviour. experienced by the concerned person who withsuch problems. Industrialpsychology
is far away from him. seeks application ofpsychological
d. Child psychology: principles, theoriesand techniques for the
Childhood extends from 2 to 12years. This iii. Psychokinesis: study of allthese problems and the
is a crucial period in thelife. Future life Moving the objects without direct contact industrial environment.
depends upondevelopment during through power of mind iscalled
childhood. Growth and development will be Psychokinesis. For example,in d.Counseling psychology:
rapid during this stage. Childpsychology Mahabharata, Shakuni couldmove dice with Mental disorders may not becompletely and
deals with these aspects. his power of mind. easily cured just bydrugs and other physical
therapies.In addition to other therapies,
e. Animal psychology: iv. Precognition: thesepatients need counselling
This branch deals with behaviour of Knowing the future happenings wellin also.Counselling is a process in which an
animals. Many psychologicalexperiments advance. At times people will gainthe interaction takes place between atrained
are conducted to knowthe functioning of knowledge of future calledprecognition. counselor and a client. Thisbranch also
mind in animals.Animals like rats, For example, someaccident or disaster that helps people toovercome adjustment
dogs,chimpanzees, pigeons, guinea may takeplace after sometime will be problems.In addition to the above, there
pigs,cats are some of the animals usedfor knownbefore time. aremany other applied branches like
experimentation.Findings of these military psychology,
experiments aremany times generalized to v. Reincarnation: legalpsychology/criminal
humanbehaviour also. This is otherwise called rebirth.There are psychology,political psychology, etc.In this
some instances reportedwhere people way, psychology hasbroadened its scope
f. Abnormal psychology: remember theirprevious life details. today andgaining more and more
Today the life is complex. Theindividual is importance.It may be expected that in days
facing a lot ofcompetition and vi. Contacting souls: tocome, there cannot be any field oflife
experiencingfrustrations and conflicts. There are some reports that thesouls of without the application ofpsychological
Constantpressures in life are leading dead people are contactedthrough people principles.Particularly in the field of
topsychological abnormalities.Abnormal calledMediums.These Mediums use a plate medicine,for doctors and nurses
psychology deals withvarious kinds of calledPlanchette or Ouija board theknowledge of psychology is veryuseful
mental disorders,their symptoms and andestablish contact with souls. and also essential.
causes.
2. Applied Branches: _______________________________________
g. Social psychology: ________

Applied branches deal with the application Prepared and Compiled by:
Human being is a social animal.Naturally of psychologicalprinciples and techniques
the behaviour of anindividual is influenced forapproaching the problems indifferent RahmatUllah Khan (AD P&D)
by societyand in turn influences the fields of life. UST Bannu
society.Social psychology deals
withinterrelationships of people a. Educational psychology: 0333-9741577
amongthemselves, likes and dislikes This is the most important fieldwhere rahmatbannu@gmail.com
rahmatbannu@gmail.com
ofpeople, attitudes and interests, psychological principles areapplied. In the
theprejudices and social distancespeople field of education‘learner’ is the focal
have, group behaviour,group cohesiveness, point. Otheraspects like management,
group conflicts,etc. teachers,teaching and learning aids are
allmeant for learners.Learners differ in their
h. Parapsychology: abilities;hence they need
Psychology 3

Unit # 02
Unit-2 SYSTEM OF
PSYCHOLOGY
2.1 Psychoanalysis--- Freud’s system
2.2 Psychodynamics ---Behavioral Process
2.3 Individual Psychology—Adler
2.4 Merits of Adler system and its
utilization in Education
What is Psychoanalysis:
Today psychoanalysis is very familiar for
the wide public after it has been either
rejected or adulated for a long time. But, as
a paradox, the success achieved for
example in the Fifth decade, especially in
Europe, estranged it from its essence.
Psychoanalysis spread everywhere but not
only due to the interest incited by its
therapeutical method. It could even say that
therapy was shadowed by the virtues of its
application to other domains.
Psychoanalysis applied in literature,
sociology, anthropology, ethnology,
religion and mythology incited the interest
of a public that had no inclination towards
the clinical realm.
Definition
Psychoanalysis designates concomitantly
three things:
1. A method of mind investigation. And
especially of the unconscious mind;
2. A therapy of neurosis inspired from the
above method;
3. A new stand alone discipline who is
based on the knowledge acquired from
applying the investigation method and
clinical experiences.
Psychoanalysis is the Sigmund Freud's
creation. - Freud lived most of his life in
Vienna and died in London in 1939. He
discovered psychoanalysis by systematizing
ideas and information coming from
different, theoretical and clinical directions.
- The self-analysis, to which Freud was
submitted himself, represented the biggest
contribution to the birth of psychoanalysis.
- Freud was a Jewish neuropathologist who
tried to set up a psychoanalytical movement
with the help of non Jewish specialists in
order to make his orientation more reliable.
In this context he collaborated with
outstanding personalities, such as: Carl
Jung, Alfred Adler, SandorFerenczi ,
Wilhelm Reich and more.
The psychoanalytical movement initiated
by Freud went through a lot of ideological
break offs and difficulties. Today it is
inherited by a series of national or
international societies that dispute their
supremacy.
Psychoanalysis is the name;
(1) Of a procedure for the investigation of
mental processes which are almost
inaccessible in any other way.
(2) Of a method (based upon that
investigation) for the treatment of neurotic
disorders and
(3) Of a collection of psychological
information obtained along those lines,
which is gradually being accumulated into a
new scientific discipline. (From Two
Enciclopaedia Articles, 1923)
Psychoanalysis may be said to have been
born with the twentieth century; for the
publication in which it emerged before the
world as something new – my
Interpretation of Dreams - bears the date
"1900". But, as may well be supposed, it
did not drop from the skies ready-made. It
had its starting-point in older ideas, which it
developed further; it sprang from earlier
suggestions, which it elaborated.
2.3. Individual Psychology of
Adler
Introduction.
Alfred Adler was contemporary of
Sigmund Freud. He emphasized on
uniqueness of individual therefore his
theory is also known as “Adler’s individual
theory of personality”.
Adler criticized Freud for his over emphasis
on “unconsciousness”. He urged that we
have conscious abilities to monitor and
direct our lives. He further criticized Freud
by arguing that these are not aggressive
thoughts and sexual motivations which play
a role in personality development but social
factors are more important in this regard.
Basic assumption:
Adler gives his own theory of personality
based on assumptions that “primary human
motivations are to strive for superiority not
over others but as a quest for self
improvement and perfection.” On this basis
he gave some concepts which are:
1. Inferiority complex.
Adler used the term “inferiority complex”
for the first time. Inferiority complex is a
situation in which adults have not been able
to overcome the feeling s of inferiority they
developed during childhood. Feeling of
inferiority complex develops when, as
young children, we interact with people
bigger and powerful than us. As these
feelings of inferiority complex are
uncomfortable and create anxiety hence we
try to overcome them.
2. Superiority complex.
It is the opposition of inferiority complex. It
is the concept for exaggerated self-
importance designed to mask the feelings of
inferiority.
3. Concept of Birth order.
Concept of Birth order was also introduced
by Adler. Birth Order refers to “sibling
location in family”.
According to this concept, the first born in
family more often feels a sense of
superiority complex while the last born feel
a sense of inferiority complex. Therefore
birth order also play role in personality
development.
Analysis:
It is actually the birth order which
determines inferiority and superiority
complexes. If a sibling is elder within a
family, He / She would most probably fall
prey of superiority complex, while the one
who is the youngest among all would feel
inferior in family. Hence the feelings of
inferiority complex would not overcome
even in adulthood, causing anxiety. The
person still feels inferior in society and
feels anxiety while interacting with the
people bigger and powerful than him/her.
Psychology 4

Unitr # 03
Unit-3 PSYCHOLOGY OF
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
3.1 Stages and Principles
3.2 Theories of the growth and
Development
3.3 Factor influencing growth
Development
GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT
Growth and development in education has
specific meanings and both are relates to
each other. The following comparison will
clarify the differences between growth and
development.
What is Growth?
Growth is a progressive increase in size of a
child or part of a child.
OR
Physical changes that a particular
individual undergoes.
1. It is indicative i.e. increase in
body, size, weight etc.
2. It is quantitative progress
3. It is physical change
4. It is external in nature
5. Stops at certain stage
6. It is physical progress
What is Development?
Overall growth of human throughout their
lifespan. Development includes the
understanding of how and why people
change terms of physical growth,
intellectual, emotional, social and other
aspects of human growth.
OR
Development is the progressive acquisition
of various skills (abilities) such as head
support, speaking, learning, expressing the
feeling and relating with other peoples.
1. It is not indicative
2. It qualitative progress
3. It is psychological change
4. It is internal in nature
5. It is continuous process
6. It is cognitive progress
3.1 Stages of Growth and
Development in Children
Introduction
Growth and development goes side by side,
and both have profound effects upon each
other. When a child is born, passes through
various stages and ultimately a whole
picture of a person emerges. The following
are the stages of growth and development
through which every children passes:
There are two main stages o f growth and
development.
1. Pre natal stage 2. Post natal
stage.
and
1. Pre - natal stage.
The prenatal stage is the period of child in
the mother womb. It starts after
fertilization. Its duration starts from
fertilization to 9 months in mother womb.
2. Post natal stage of growth.
The post natal stage of growth consists of
the following.
1. Infancy: (From Birth to 2 Years)
Common features of infancy are
1. A child jumps, walk and learn to talk.
2. A child starts learning about simple,
social concepts.
3. The body growth is accelerated.
2. Childhood: (3 to 12 years)
1. Early Childhood: (2-6
Years)
2. Late childhood: (7 to 12)
The common features of this stage are:
1. Infancy features are strengthened.
2. Physical growth occurs like, expansion
of muscles; speed in body actions, changes
occur in respiration, blood pressure
develops etc.
3. Language skill is developed and learns
new words.
4. New concepts about social relations
develop.
5. Memory increases.
6. They ask questions about the
environment.
7. Socially he/she develops new friends,
and wants social approval of his/her
actions.
8. Emotional development starts to develop.
3. Adolescence: (13-19 Years)
This is the period of adulthood and to some
extend of maturity, physically and
socially.This is called the spring, romantic,
and the period of “storm & stress”. The
development and growth vary from culture
to culture and environment factors that
influence a person at this stage. Some basic
characteristics of this stage are as follows:
1. Physical Growth:Here children are
active, and sharp. They are keen
observers. They give more attention to
body – beauty and strength. Boys love
strength and play the games, where
power is shown.
2. Mental or Intellectual Development
a) They think in abstraction.
b) They can anticipate the future needs
and plan for that.
c) The children ability to solve complex
problems increase.
d) They try to understand complicated
issues, and to solve the complex
problems
e) They develop the communicative
abilities and talk for hours.
f) Confidence is developed which make
them to make decisions about future.
g) Moral concepts are developed and
know that what is morally and socially
good and wrong.
3. Emotional Development
Here the adolescent period is not rational
but emotional. That’s why it is called the
period of stress and storm. They are
entering a new stage, which therefore, want
emotional adjustment. Emotional
disturbance is produced when they don’t
adjust to new situation or role for which
they are suppose to be.
Characteristics of Emotions in
Adolescence
1. Complexity: They experience complexity
in various issues and start adjustment.
When that adjustment doesn’t develop,
storm and stress develop.
2. Development of Abstract Emotions:
They develop emotions with those things
which do not exist in real situation. Wants
and desires are generated by abstract
emotions.
3. Widening of Emotional Feelings:
Psychology 5
Here they select a hero/heroin. Idealization
and imagination start. And get emotional
attachment with that idealization.
4. Bearing Tension: They start to learn that
how to bear a difficult emotional situations.
5. Sharing of Emotions: They share
emotions, especially with peer groups. That
develops loyalty and emotional confidence
among peer groups.
6. Hopes & aspirations develop about the
future.
7. This stage gives increase to compassion
in them. Common Emotional Patterns.
The following are some emotional
patterns which can be seen in students:
1. Worries/Anxieties: These can be
imaginative or real. These can be the
products of school work, exam, school
problems or home problems.
2. Phobias: Phobias or fears can be from
material objects, meeting with people,
talking to strangers etc.
3. Anger, Love and Hate: These are some
emotional patterns, which have its own
causes, and effects.
As for emotions are concerned, the fear of
failure make you to work hard. Emotions
can be realized through good and positive
activities. Now it is the responsibility of
home, school, teachers & parents to
understand the emotional state of the
children and to avoid the bad effects of
emotional disturbance. “Become emotions
can make or mar one’s life”.
Principles of Human Growth and
Development
The principles are:
1. Development is Continuous
2. Development is Gradual
3. Development is Sequential
4. Rate of Development Varies Person to
Person.
5. Development Proceeds from General to
Specific
6. Most Traits are correlated in
Development
7. Growth and Development is a Product of
Both Heredity and Environment
8. Development is Predictable
9. Development
10. There is a Constant interaction between
all Factors ofDevelopment.
11. Principle of individual differences.
12. Principle of uniformity pattern.
13. Principle of cephalocardial and
proxymodestal.
14. Principle of spiral vs. linear
advancement.
3.2 THEORIES OF GROWTH &
DEVELOPMENT
Erick Erikson theory of
development:
Erik Erikson (1902–1994) was a stage
theorist who took Freud’s controversial
psychosexual theory and modified it into an
eight-stagepsychosocial theory of
development.
During each stage, two conflictingideas
must be resolved successfullyin order for a
person to become aconfident, contributing
member ofsociety. Failure to master
thesetasks leads to feelings ofinadequacy.
The stages of the theory are as under.
1. Trust vs. Mistrust
From birth to 12 months of age, infantsmust
learn that adults can be trusted.
This occurs when adults meet a child'sbasic
needs for survival. Infants aredependent
upon their caregivers, socaregivers who are
responsive andsensitive to their infant’s
needs help theirbaby to develop a sense of
trust; theirbaby will see the world as a
safe,predictable place.
Unresponsivecaregivers who do not meet
their baby’sneeds can engender feelings of
anxiety,fear, and mistrust; their baby may
see theworld as unpredictable. If infants
aretreated cruelly or their needs are not
metappropriately, they will likely grow
upwith a sense of mistrust for people in
theworld.
2. Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
As toddlers (ages 1–3 years) begin
toexplore their world, they learn that
theycan control their actions and act on
theirenvironment to get results. They begin
toshow clear preferences for
certainelements of the environment, such
asfood, toys, and clothing. A toddler’s
maintask is to resolve the issue of
autonomyvs. shame and doubt by working
toestablish independence. This is the “Ido
it” stage. For example, we mightobserve a
budding sense of autonomy in a2-year-old
child who wants to choose herclothes and
dress herself. Although heroutfits might not
be appropriate for thesituation, her input in
such basicdecisions has an effect on her
sense ofindependence. If denied the
opportunityto act on her environment, she
may beginto doubt her abilities, which
could lead tolow self-esteem and feelings of
shame.
3. Initiative vs. Guilt
Once children reach the preschool
stage(ages 3–6 years), they are capable
ofinitiating activities and asserting
controlover their world through
socialinteractions and play. According
toErikson, preschool children must
resolvethe task of initiative vs. guilt. By
learningto plan and achieve goals
whileinteracting with others, preschool
childrencan master this task. Initiative, a
sense ofambition and responsibility, occurs
whenparents allow a child to explore
withinlimits and then support the child's
choice.These children will develop self-
confidence and feel a sense of
purpose.Those who are unsuccessful at this
stage—with their initiative misfiring or
stifled byover-controlling parents—may
developfeelings of guilt.
4. Industry vs. Inferiority
During the elementary school stage (ages6–
12), children face the task of industry
vs.inferiority. Children begin to
comparethemselves with their peers to see
howthey measure up. They either develop
asense of pride and accomplishment intheir
schoolwork, sports, social activities,and
family life, or they feel inferior
andinadequate because they feel that
theydon’t measure up. If children do not
learnto get along with others or have
negativeexperiences at home or with peers,
aninferiority complex might develop
intoadolescence and adulthood.
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion
In adolescence (ages 12–18), children face
the task of identity vs. role confusion.
According to Erikson, an adolescent’s main
task is developing a sense of self.
Adolescents struggle with questions such as
“Who am I?” and “What do I want to do
with my life?” Along the way, most
adolescents try on many different selves to
see which ones fit; they explore various
roles and ideas, set goals, and attempt to
discover their "adult" selves. Adolescents
who are successful at this stage have a
strong sense of identity and are able to
remain true to their beliefs and values in the
face of problems and other people’s
perspectives. When adolescents are
apathetic, do not make a conscious search
for identity, or are pressured to conform to
their parents’ ideas for the future, they may
develop a weak sense of self and
experience role confusion. They will be
unsure of their identity and confused about
the future. Teenagers who struggle to adopt
a positive role will likely struggle to "find"
themselves as adults.
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation
People in early adulthood (20s throughearly
40s) are concerned with intimacy
vs.isolation. After we have developed
asense of self in adolescence, we are
readyto share our life with others. However,
ifother stages have not been
successfullyresolved, young adults may
have troubledeveloping and maintaining
successfulrelationships with others. Erikson
Psychology 6
saidthat we must have a strong sense of
selfbefore we can develop successful
intimaterelationships. Adults who do not
developa positive self-concept in
adolescence mayexperience feelings of
loneliness andemotional isolation.
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation
When people reach their 40s, they enterthe
time known as middle adulthood,which
extends to the mid-60s. The socialtask of
middle adulthood is generativityvs.
stagnation. Generativity involvesfinding
your life’s work and contributingto the
development of others throughactivities
such as volunteering, mentoring,and raising
children. During this stage,middle-aged
adults begin contributing tothe next
generation, often throughchildbirth and
caring for others; they alsoengage in
meaningful and productivework which
contributes positively tosociety. Those who
do not master this taskmay experience
stagnation and feel asthough they are not
leaving a mark on theworld in a meaningful
way; they mayhave little connection with
others andlittle interest in productivity and
self-improvement.
8. Integrity vs. Despair
From the mid-60s to the end of life, weare
in the period of development knownas late
adulthood. Erikson’s task at thisstage is
called integrity vs. despair. He saidthat
people in late adulthood reflect ontheir lives
and feel either a sense ofsatisfaction or a
sense of failure. Peoplewho feel proud of
their accomplishmentsfeel a sense of
integrity, and they can lookback on their
lives with few regrets.However, people
who are not successfulat this stage may feel
as if their life hasbeen wasted. They focus
on what “wouldhave,” “should have,” and
“could have”been. They face the end of
their lives withfeelings of bitterness,
depression, anddespair.
Kohlberg theory of Development :
Lawrence Kohlberg expanded onthe earlier
work of cognitivetheorist Jean Piaget to
explain themoral development of
children,which he believed follows a
seriesof stages.Kohlberg defined three
levels ofmoral
development:preconventional,
conventional, andpost conventional. Each
level hastwo distinct stages.
During the preconventional level, achild's
sense of morality isexternally controlled.
Childrenaccept and believe the rules
ofauthority figures, such as parentsand
teachers, and they judge anaction based on
its consequences.
During the conventional level,
anindividual's sense of morality istied to
personal and societalrelationships. Children
continue toaccept the rules of
authorityfigures, but this is now
becausethey believe that this is necessaryto
ensure positive relationships andsocietal
order.
During the post conventional level,a
person's sense of morality isdefined in
terms of more abstractprinciples and values.
People nowbelieve that some laws are
unjustand should be changed oreliminated.
Kohlberg's theory has beencriticized for its
cultural andgendered bias toward white,
upper-class men and boys. It also fails
toaccount for inconsistencies withinmoral
judgments.
According to Kohlberg, an
individualprogresses from the capacity for
pre-conventional morality (before age 9)
tothe capacity for conventional
morality(early adolescence), and toward
attainingpost-conventional morality, which
only a few fully achieve.
Each level of morality contains two
stages,which provide the basis for
moraldevelopment in various contexts.
Level 1:Preconventional.
Throughout the preconventional level,
achild's sense of morality is
externallycontrolled. Children accept and
believethe rules of authority figures, such
asparents and teachers. A child with pre-
conventional morality has not yet adoptedor
internalized society's conventionsregarding
what is right or wrong, butinstead focuses
largely on externalconsequences that
certain actions maybring.
Stage 1: Obedience -and- Punishment
Orientation
Stage 1 focuses on the child's desire toobey
rules and avoid being punished.
Forexample, an action is perceived
asmorally wrong because the perpetrator
ispunished; the worse the punishment
forthe act is, the more "bad" the act
isperceived to be.
Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation
Stage 2 expresses the "what's in it forme?"
position, in which right behavior isdefined
by whatever the individualbelieves to be in
their best interest. Stagetwo reasoning
shows a limited interest inthe needs of
others, only to the pointwhere it might
further the individual'sown interests. As a
result, concern forothers is not based on
loyalty or intrinsicrespect, but rather a "you
scratch myback, and I'll scratch yours"
mentality. Anexample would be when a
child is askedby his parents to do a chore.
The childasks "what's in it for me?" and
theparents offer the child an incentive
bygiving him an allowance.
Level 2: Conventional
Throughout the conventional level, achild's
sense of morality is tied topersonal and
societal relationships.Children continue to
accept the rules ofauthority figures, but this
is now due totheir belief that this is
necessary to ensurepositive relationships
and societal order.Adherence to rules and
conventions issomewhat rigid during these
stages, and arule's appropriateness or
fairness isseldom questioned.
Stage 3: Good Boy, Nice Girl Orientation
In stage 3, children want the approval
ofothers and act in ways to
avoiddisapproval. Emphasis is placed on
goodbehavior and people being "nice"
toothers.
Stage 4: Law-and-Order Orientation
In stage 4, the child blindly accepts
rulesand convention because of
theirimportance in maintaining a
functioningsociety. Rules are seen as being
the samefor everyone, and obeying rules by
doingwhat one is "supposed" to do is seen
asvaluable and important. Moral
reasoningin stage four is beyond the need
forindividual approval exhibited in
stagethree. If one person violates a
law,perhaps everyone would—thus there is
anobligation and a duty to uphold laws
andrules. Most active members of
societyremain at stage four, where morality
isstill predominantly dictated by an
outsideforce.
Level 3:Postconventional
Throughout the postconventional level,
aperson's sense of morality is defined
interms of more abstract principles
andvalues. People now believe that
somelaws are unjust and should be changed
oreliminated. This level is marked by
agrowing realization that individuals
areseparate entities from society and
thatindividuals may disobey
rulesinconsistent with their own principles.
Post-conventional moralists live by
theirown ethical principles—principles
thattypically include such basic human
rightsas life, liberty, and justice—and
viewrules as useful but
changeablemechanisms, rather than
absolute dictatesthat must be obeyed
without question.
Because post-conventional
individualselevate their own moral
evaluation of asituation over social
conventions, theirbehavior, especially at
Psychology 7
stage six, cansometimes be confused with
that of thoseat the pre-conventional level.
Sometheorists have speculated that
manypeople may never reach this level
ofabstract moral reasoning.
Stage 5: Social-Contract Orientation
In stage 5, the world is viewed as
holdingdifferent opinions, rights, and
values.Such perspectives should be
mutuallyrespected as unique to each person
orcommunity. Laws are regarded as
socialcontracts rather than rigid edicts.
Thosethat do not promote the general
welfareshould be changed when necessary
tomeet the greatest good for the
greatestnumber of people. This is
achievedthrough majority decision and
inevitablecompromise. Democratic
government istheoretically based on stage
fivereasoning.
Stage 6: Universal-Ethical-Principal
Orientation
In stage 6, moral reasoning is based
onabstract reasoning using universal
ethicalprinciples. Generally, the
chosenprinciples are abstract rather
thanconcrete and focus on ideas such
asequality, dignity, or respect. Laws
arevalid only insofar as they are grounded
injustice, and a commitment to
justicecarries with it an obligation to
disobeyunjust laws. People choose the
ethicalprinciples they want to follow, and if
theyviolate those principles, they feel
guilty.
In this way, the individual acts because itis
morally right to do so (and not becausehe or
she wants to avoid punishment), itis in their
best interest, it is expected, it islegal, or it is
previously agreed upon.
Although Kohlberg insisted that stage
sixexists, he found it difficult to
identifyindividuals who consistently
operated atthat level.
Criticism on Kohlberg'sTheory:
Kohlberg has been criticized for
hisassertion that women seem to
bedeficient in their moral reasoning
abilitieswhen compared to men. Carol
Gilligan(1982), a research assistant of
Kohlberg,criticized her former mentor’s
theorybecause it was based so narrowly
onresearch using white, upper-class
menand boys. She argued that women are
notdeficient in their moral reasoning
andinstead proposed that males and
femalesreason differently: girls and women
focusmore on staying connected
andmaintaining interpersonal relationships.
Kohlberg's theory has been criticized
foremphasizing justice to the exclusion
ofother values, with the result that it
maynot adequately address the arguments
ofthose who value other moral aspects
ofactions. Similarly, critics argue
thatKohlberg's stages are culturally biased
—that the highest stages in particular
reflecta westernized ideal of justice based
onindividualistic thought. This is
biasedagainst those that live in non-
Westernsocieties that place less emphasis
onindividualism.
Another criticism of Kohlberg’s theory
isthat people frequently
demonstratesignificant inconsistency in
their moraljudgments. This often occurs in
moraldilemmas involving drinking and
drivingor business situations where
participantshave been shown to reason at a
lowerdevelopmental stage, typically using
moreself-interest driven reasoning (i.e.,
stagetwo) than authority and social
orderobedience driven reasoning (i.e.,
stagefour). Critics argue that Kohlberg's
theorycannot account for such
inconsistencies.
3.3 Factors Which Influence
Human Growth and Development
There are several factors which directly or
indirectly influence the growth and
development of anorganism. The factors
which effect the individual growth and
development are further divided into two.
i.e. internal and external factors.
1. Heredity:
Heredity is a biological process through
which the transmission of physical and
social characteristics takes place from
parents to off-springs. It greatly influences
the different aspects of growth and
development i.e. height, weight, structure
of the body, colour of hair and eye,
intelligence, aptitudes and instincts.
However environment equally influences
the above aspects in many cases.
Biologically speaking heredity is the sum
total of traits potentially present in the
fertilized ovum (Combination of sperm cell
& egg cell), by which off-springs are
resemblance to their parents and fore
parents.
2. Environment
Environment plays an important role in
human life. Psychologically a person's
environment consists of the sum total of the
stimulations (physical & Psychological)
which he receives from his conception.
There are different types of environment
such as physical, environment, social
environment & psychological environment.
Physical environment consists of all outer
physical surroundings both in-animate and
animate which have to be manipulated in
order to provide food, clothing and shelter.
Geographical conditions i.e. weather and
climates are physical environment which
has considerable impact on individual
child.Social environment is constituted by
the society-individuals and institutions,
social laws, customs bywhich human
behavior is regulated.Psychological
environment is rooted in
individual'sreaction with an object. One's
love, affection andfellow feeling attitude
will strengthen human bondwith one
another.So Growth and Development are
regulated by theenvironment of an
individual where he lives.
3. Sex
Sex acts as an important factor of growth
anddevelopment. There is difference in
growth anddevelopment of boys and girls.
The boys in generaltaller, courageous than
the girls but Girls showrapid physical
growth in adolescence and excelboys. In
general the body constitution and
structuralgrowth of girls are different from
boys. Thefunctions of boys and girls are
also different innature.
4. Nutrition
Growth and Development of the child
mainly dependon his food habits &
nutrition. The malnutrition hasadverse
effect on the structural and
functionaldevelopment of the child.
5. Races
The racial factor has a great influence on
height,weight, colour, features and body
constitution. Achild of white race will be
white & tall even hair andeye colour, facial
structure are governed by thesame race.
6. Exercise
This does not mean the physical exercise as
adiscipline. The functional activities of the
childcome in the fold of exercise of the
body. We do notmean any law of growth
through use or atrophy(The reverse of
growth) through disuse.The growth of
muscles from the normal functioningof the
child is a matter of common knowledge. It
isa fact that repeated play and rest build the
strengthof the muscle. The increase in
muscular strength ismainly dye to better
circulation and oxygen supply.The brain
muscles develop by its own activity-
playand other activities provide for these
growth anddevelopment of various
muscles. Deliberately thechild does not
play or engages himself in variousother
functions with the knowledge that they
willhelp him in growing. This style of
functioning of thechild is but natural.
Psychology 8

7. Hormones
There are a number of endocrine glands
inside thehuman body. Endocrine glands
are ductless glands.This means there are
certain glands situated insome specific parts
of the body. These glandsmake internal
secretions locally. These secretionsproduce
one or more hormones.Hormones are
physiological substances having thepower
to raise or lower the activity level of the
bodyor certain organs of the body. For
example, thegland pancreas secretes
pancreatic juice, not intothe blood, but into
the intestine. Here it acts uponfood and
plays an important part in digestion offood.
This pancreas also discharges into the
blood,a substance called insulin. This being
carried by theblood to the muscles enables
them to use sugar asa fuel to add strength to
muscles. It the pancreasfails to produce the
secretions, the organism lapsesto the
unfavorable conditions of growth
anddevelopment.
Similarly, the adrenal glands are very close
tokidneys. These make a secretion of
adrenaline, avery powerful hormone, which
is responsible forstrong and rapid heart-
beat, release of stored sugarfrom liver and
which controls blood pressure.Gonads are
glands, which secrete hormones thathave
important effects on growth and sex
behavior.A balance of male hormones
controls developmentin the direction of
masculinity and that of femalehormones
steers it toward feminist. At puberty,these
sex hormones promote the development
ofgenital organs. Lacking the gonads,
individuals ofeither sex develops into rather
a neutral specimenwithout strong sex
characteristics. Pituitary is calledthe
"master gland". It is attached to the
undersideof the brain and its secretions
control the brainfunction and also the blood
pressure. It stimulatesother glands like
adrenal and gonads. If this glandis over-
active in childhood, the muscles and
bonesgrow very rapidly and the individual
may become agiant of seven to nine feet
tall.
8. Learning and Reinforcement
Learning is the most important and
fundamentaltopic in the whole science of
psychology.Development consists of
maturation and learning.Without any
learning the human organism is astructure
of various limbs, all other internal
organswith muscles and bones. But it is not
human beingwith maturation.Learning
includes much more than school learning.
Learning goes to help the human child in
hisphysical, mental, emotional, intellectual,
social andattitudinal developments. All
knowledge and skill,all habits, good and
bad, all acquaintances withpeople and Prepared and Compiled by:
things, all attitudes built up in yourdealing
with people and things have been learned.
RahmatUllah Khan (AD P&D)
Reinforcement is a factor in learning. UST Bannu
Exercise oractivity is necessary for
learning. It may be a motoractivity, as in 0333-9741577
playing on a musical instrument. Or itmay rahmatbannu@gmail.com
be a sensory activity as in listening to a
pieceof music. Whatsoever, there must be
activity insome from. "We learn by doing".
It is an oldpsychological proverb. Now it is
that out activityshould be repeated till we
get the desired results.So the proverb
should be, "We learn by doinggetting
results."
9. Socioeconomic:
Socioeconomic factors definitely have
some affect. It has been seen that the
children from different socioeconomic
levels vary in average body size at all ages.
The upper level families being always more
advanced. The most important reasons
behind this are better nutrition, better
facilities, regular meals, sleep, and exercise.
Family size also influences growth rate as
in big families with limited income
sometimes have children that do not get the
proper nutrition and hence the growth is Chapter # 04
affected.
Unit-4 PSYCHOLOGY OF
1. Pollution:
MOTIVATION
According to studies, air pollution not only
affects the respiratory organs but also have
harmful effects on human growth. Indoor 4.1 Motivation, Needs
pollution or the pollution from housing and Drives.
conditions can result in ill health which can 4.2 Content theories of
negatively impact human growth and Motivation
development. For example, lead exposure 4.3 Process theories of
from deteriorated lead- based paint in older Motivation
housing can be very harmful. Lead is very
harmful for children as it simply gets 4.1.1 Motivation:
immersed into the growing bodies of
children and obstructs with the normal
The words “motivation” is derived
development of brain and other organs and
systems. from Latin word “motivus” and from
Greek word “movere”.
Motivation is that internal or external
force which activates an individual to
do something to achieve his/ her goal.
Definition
“Motives or motivations are those
factors which direct and energize
human and other organisms’ behavior
for attainment of a goal”.
“Motivation is an agent which prompts,
compels, and energizes an individual to
behave in a particular fashion at a
_______________________________________________ particular time for the attainment of a
particular goal”.
Psychology 9
Role of motivation in human
behavior:
Motivations play a vital role in human
behavior. It influences human behavior
in the following ways,
1. Any act which an individual is
doing has a motive behind it.
2. If a girl is studying, it is because
she is motivated to become a
doctor.
3. A person is daily wager because he
thinks of nothing but to feed,
shelter and cloth his family
4. If a person is immensely engage in
politics, it is because he strives for
the attainment of power and
prestige.
5. If a person ids eating food, it is
because of motivation of hunger.
Motivation can be of Two Types I.e:
Extrinsic or Intrinsic
4.1.2 Drive
Anything which directs us towards
fulfillment of a need is called drive.
Examples.
1). Hunger drive.
2). sleep drive.
3). self esteem drive.
4). power and recognition
Drive,
Drive in psychology, an urgent basic
need pressing for satisfaction, usually
rooted in some physiological tension,
deficiency, or imbalance (e.g, hunger
and thirst) and impelling the organism
to action. Some researchers have used
the term need synonymously, although
others distinguish between need and the
deprived state and drive as its
psychological manifestations e.g.
tension and restless or goal – directed
activity. Psychologist also distinguish
between drives that innate and directly
related to basic physiological needs e.g.
food, air, and water. And drives that are
learned e.g. drug addiction. Among the
other drives or needs that have been
proposed are achievement, activity,
affection, affiliation, curiosity,
elimination, exploration, manipulation,
maternity, pain avoidance, sex, and
sleep.
4.1.3 Need
In psychology an urgent basic need
pressing for satisfaction, usually rooted
in some physiological tension,
deficiency, or imbalance e .g. hunger
and thirst and impelling the organism to
action, some researchers have used the
term need synonymously, although
others distinguish between need as the
deprived state and drive as its
psychological manifestations.
It is physiological state of tissue
deprivation.
Examples, need of food, need of water,
need of love, and need of freedom.
All drive leads us towards the
fulfillment of needs.
4.2 Theories of Motivation
We can distinguish between content
and process motivation theories.
Content theories focus on WHAT,
while process theories focus on HOW
human behavior is motivated. Content
theories are the earliest theories of
motivation. Within the work
environment they have had the greatest
impact on management practice and
policy, whilst within academic circles
they are the least accepted. Content
theories are also called needs theories:
they try to identify what our needs are
and relate motivation to the fulfilling of
these needs. The content theories
cannot entirely explain what motivate
or demotivate us. Process theories are
concerned with “how” motivation
occurs, and what kind of process can
influence our motivation.
The main content theories are:
1. Maslow’s needs hierarchy.
2. Alderfer’s ERG theory.
3. McClelland’s achievement
motivation
4. Herzberg’s two-factor theory.
The main process theories are:
1. Skinner’s reinforcement theory.
2. Victor Vroom's expectancy
theory.
3. Adam’s equity theory and
4. Locke’s goal setting theory.
No single motivation theory explains
all aspects of people’s motives or lack
of motives. Each theoretical
explanation can serve as the basis for
the development of techniques for
motivating.
1) Maslow- hierarchy of needs
This is the earliest and most widely
known theory of motivation, developed
by Abraham Maslow (1943) in the
1940s and 1950s.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often
shown in the shape of a pyramid: basic
needs at the bottom and the most
complex need (need for self-
actualization) at the top.
1. Physiological needs (e.g. food,
water, shelter, sleep)
It includes the most basic needs for
humans to survive, such as air, water
and food. Maslow emphasized, our
body and mind cannot function well if
these requirements are not fulfilled.
These physiological needs are the most
dominant of all needs. So if someone is
missing everything in his/her life,
probably the major motivation would
be to fulfill his/her physiological needs
rather than any others. A person who is
lacking food, safety, love (also sex) and
esteem, would most probably hunger
for food (and also for money, salary to
buy food) than for anything else.
2. Safety and security (secure source
of income, a place to live, health and
well- being)
If the physiological needs are relatively
well contented, new needs will appear,
the so called safety needs. Safety needs
refer to a person’s desire for security or
protection.
3. Belongingness and love (integration
into social groups, feel part of a
community or a group; affectionate
relationships).
If both the physiological and the safety
needs are fulfilled, the affection, love
and belongingness needs come into
prominence. Maslow claimed people
need to belong and accepted among
their social groups.
4. Esteem (respect for a person as a
useful, honorable human being)
In our society most people long for a
stable and high valuation of themselves,
for the esteem of others and for self-
respect or self-esteem.
Psychology 10

Esteem means being valued, respected
and appreciated by others. Humans
need to feel to be valued, such as being
useful and necessary in the world.
Maslow divided two types of esteem
needs: a ‘lower’ version and a ‘higher’
version. The ‘lower’ version of esteem
is the need for respect from others: for
example attention, prestige, status and
loving their opinion. The ‘higher’
version is the need for self- respect: for
example, the person may need
independence, and freedom or self-
confidence.
5. Self-actualization (individual’s
desire to grow and develop to his or her
fullest potential)
‘What humans can be, they must be.’
(Maslow, 1954)
Self-actualization reflects an
individual’s desire to grow and develop
to his/her fullest potential. People like
opportunities, choosing his/ her own
versions, challenging positions or
creative tasks. Maslow described this
level as the ‘need to accomplish
everything that one can, to become the
most that one can be ’. Maslow
believed that people must overcome
their other needs – described above -,
not only achieve them. At this level,
individual differences are the largest.
These five different levels were further
sub- categorized into two main groups:
deficiency and growth needs.
Deficiency needs – The very basic
needs for survival and security.
These needs include:
• Physiological needs
• Safety and security needs
• Social needs – belongingness and love
• Esteem needs
Growth needs – Personal growth and
fulfillment of personal potential.
These needs include:
• Self-actualization needs
This hierarchy is not as rigid as we may
have implied. For example, there are
some humans for whom self-esteem or
self-actualization seems to be more
important than love or belonging. The
popularity of this theory of motivation
rooted in its simplicity and logic.
2) Alderfer – ERG theory:
Existence needs, relatedness needs
and growth needs
Alderfer (Furnham, 2008) distinguished
three steps or classes of needs:
existence, relatedness and growth.
Maslow’s physiological and safety
needs belong together to existence
needs. Relatedness can be harmonized
to belongingness and esteem of others.
Growth is the same as Maslow’s self-
esteem plus self-actualization. Both
Maslow and Alderfer tried to describe
how these needs, these stages of needs
become more or less important to
individuals.
Existence needs: These include needs
for basic material necessities. In short,
it includes an individual’s physiological
and physical safety needs.
Relatedness needs: Individuals need
significant relationships (be with
family, peers or superiors), love and
belongingness, they strive toward
reaching public fame and recognition.
This class of needs contain Maslow’s
social needs and external component of
esteem needs.
Growth needs: Need for self-
development, personal growth and
advancement form together this class of
need. This class of needs contain
Maslow’s self-actualization needs and
intrinsic component of esteem needs.
Alderfer agreed with Maslow that
unsatisfied needs motivate individuals.
Alderfer also agreed that individuals
generally move up the hierarchy in
satisfying their needs; that is, they
satisfy lower-order before higher-order
needs.
As lower-order needs are satisfied, they
become less important, but Alderfer
also said: as higher-order needs are
satisfied they become more important.
And it is also said that under some
circumstances individuals might return
to a lower need. Alderfer thought that
individuals multiply the efforts invested
in a lower category need when higher
categorized needs are not consequent.
For example there is a student, who has
excellent grades, friends, and high
standard of living, maybe also work at
the university. What happens if this
individual finds that he or she is
frustrated in attempts to get more
autonomy and responsibility at the
university, maybe also more
scholarship that generally encourage
individuals’ growth? Frustration in
satisfying a higher (growth) need has
resulted in a regression to a lower level
of (relatedness) needs (‘I need just my
friends, some good wine, I do not want
to go to the university anymore.’).
This event is known and called as the
frustration-regression process. This is a
more realistic approach as it recognizes
that, because when a need is met, it
does not mean it will always remain
met. ERG theory of motivation is very
flexible: it explains needs as a range
rather than as a hierarchy. Implication
of this theory:
Managers must understand that an
employee has various needs that must
be satisfied at the same time. ERG
theory says, if the manager concentrates
only on one need at a time, he or she
won’t be able to motivate the employee
effectively and efficiently.
Prioritization and sequence of these
three categories, classes can be
different for each individual.
3) McClelland – Need for
achievement, affiliation and
power.
In the early 1960s McClelland – built
on Maslow’s work – described three
human motivators. McClelland (Arnold
et al., 2005) claimed that humans
acquire, learn their motivators over
time that is the reason why this theory
is sometimes called the ‘Learned Needs
Theory’. He affirms that we all have
three motivating drivers, and it does not
depend on our gender or age. One of
these drives or needs will be dominant
in our behaviour.
McClelland’s theory differs from
Maslow’s and Alderfer’s, which focus
on satisfying existing needs rather than
creating or developing needs. This
dominant motivator depends on our
culture and life experiences, of course
(but the three motivators are
permanent).
The three motivators are:
Achievement: a need to accomplish
and demonstrate competence or
mastery
Affiliation: a need for love, belonging
and relatedness
Psychology 11
Power: a need for control over one’s
own work or the work of others
Achievement motivation – a need to
accomplish and demonstrate
competence or mastery. It pertains to a
person’s need for significant success,
mastering of skills, control or high
standards. It is associated with a range
of actions. Individual seek
achievement, attainment of challenging
(and also realistic) goals, and
advancement in the school or job.
Individuals with high need for
achievement like to receive regular
feedback on their progress and
achievements; and often like to work
alone; seek challenges and like high
degree of independence.
McClelland said that training, teaching
can increase an individual’s need for
achievement. For this reason, some
have argued that need for achievement
is not a need but a value.
Affiliation motivation – a need for
love, belonging and relatedness
These people have a strong need for
friendships and want to belong within a
social group, need to be liked and held
in popular regard. They are team
players, and they may be less effective
in leadership positions.
In these situations people come
together and find security in one
another. There are times when
individuals want to be with others and
at other times to be alone – affiliation
motivation can become increased or
decreased. Individuals do not like high
risk or uncertainty.
Authority/power motivation – a need
to control over one’s own work or the
work of others. These persons are
authority motivated. There is a strong
need to lead and to succeed in their
ideas. It is also needed to increase
personal status and prestige. This
person would like to control and
influence others. McClelland studied
male managers with high need for
power and high need for affiliation and
found that managers with a high need
for power tended to run more
productive departments in a sales
organization than did managers with a
high need for affiliation.
4) Herzberg – Two factor theory
It is also called motivation-hygiene
theory.
This theory says that there are some
factors (motivating factors) that cause
job satisfaction, and motivation and
some other also separated factors
(hygiene factors) cause dissatisfaction.
That means that these feelings are not
opposite of each other, as it has always
previously been believed.
According to Herzberg (1987) the job
satisfiers deal with the factors involved
in doing the job, whereas the job
dissatisfies deal with the factors which
define the job context.
If the hygiene factors, for example
salary, working conditions, work
environment, safety and security are
unsuitable (low level) at the workplace,
this can make individuals unhappy,
dissatisfied with their job. Motivating
factors, on the other hand, can increase
job satisfaction, and motivation is based
on an individual's need for personal
growth. If these elements are effective,
then they can motivate an individual to
achieve above-average performance
and effort. For example, having
responsibility or achievement can cause
satisfaction (human characteristics)
(Dartey-Baah, 2011).
Hygiene factors are needed to ensure
that an employee is not dissatisfied.
Motivation factors are needed to ensure
employee's satisfaction and to motivate
an employee to higher performance.
Herzberg's Two Factory Theory
Dissatisfaction – Low level Hygiene
factors
No dissatisfaction-High level
No satisfaction – Low level Motivating
factors
Satisfaction – High level
Herzberg’s five factors of job
satisfaction (motivating factors) :
• Achievement
• Recognition
• work it
• Responsibility
• Advancement
Only these factors can motivate us. But
at the same time we need the lack of
dissatisfactions (we need hygiene
factors, "workpeace") to achieve more
efficient work.
Herzberg’s five factors of job
dissatisfaction (hygiene factors –
deficiency needs):
• Company policy and administration
• Supervision
• Salary
• Interpersonal relationships
• working conditions
Can we motivate with money, with
higher salary? What did Herzberg and
Maslow says? Is it just the same or
something different?
Herzberg addressed salary not a
motivator in the way that the primary
motivators are, just like achievement
and recognition. Salary can be a
motivator, if you get always higher and
higher salary, but we cannot say that it
is an incentive.
Maslow said, money or salary is needed
to buy food to eat, to have some place
to live and sleep, etc. It can be a
physiological need.
Limitations of this theory:
• This theory oversees situational
variables.
• Herzberg supposed a correlation,
linear between productivity,
performance and satisfaction.
• The theory’s reliability is uncertain.
• No comprehensive measure of
satisfaction was used.
• The theory ignores blue-collar
workers, only white-collar men’s
opinion was discussed.
However, Herzberg tried to bring more
humanity and caring into companies’
life. His intention was not to develop a
theory that is used as a 'motivational
tool’, but to provide a guidance to
improve organizational performance.
There are some critics for all need
theories.
• Universality: they do not care about
gender, age, culture, religious or other
factor differences.
• Research support and methodology
problems: these theories were not based
on reliable and creditable research
results.
• Work focus: individuals have needs
only at their workplaces, but not at any
other places of their life.
Psychology 12
• Individual differences and stability
over time.
• Process simplicity.
The main process theories are:
1. SKINNER'S
REINFORCEMENT THEORY.
The Reinforcement theory, based on
Skinner's operant conditioning theory,
says that behaviour can be formed by
its consequences (Gordon, 1987).
Positive reinforcements for example
praise, appreciation, a good
mark/grade, trophy, money, promotion
or any other reward can increase the
possibility of the rewarded behaviours'
repetition.
If a student gets positive verbal
feedback and a good grade for his test,
this reinforcement encourages the
performance of the behaviour to recur.
If the teacher doesn’t tell precisely what
he expects, then the positive
reinforcements can drive the behaviour
closer to the preferred. For example,
when a student who is usually late to
class gets positive feedback when he
arrives on time, the student becomes
more and more punctual. Positive
reinforcement motivates to get the
anticipated reinforcement of required
behaviour.
We use negative reinforcement when
we give a meal to a hungry person if he
behaves in a certain manner/way.
In this case the meal is a negative
reinforcement because it eliminates the
unpleasant state (hunger). Contrary to
positive and negative reinforcement,
punishment can be undesired
reinforcement, or reinforce undesired
behaviour.
For example, if a student is always late
to class and thus he gets negative verbal
feedback and also always has to tidy up
the classroom at the end of the day, in
this case the undesirable behaviour is
reinforced with an undesirable
reinforcer. The punishment declines the
tendency to be late.
According to the theory, positive
reinforcement is a much better
motivational technique than
punishment because punishment:
• tries to stop undesirable behavior and
does not offer an alternative behaviour
• creates bad feelings, negative attitudes
toward the activity, and the person who
gives the punishment
• suppresses behaviour, but does not
permanently eliminate it.
Once certain behaviour has been
conditioned through repetitive
reinforcement, elimination of the
reinforcement will decline the
motivation to perform that behaviour.
Therefore it is better not to give a
reward every time. Reinforcement in
the workplace usually takes place on a
partial or irregular reinforcement
schedule, when reward is not given for
every response.
The reinforcement theory is included in
many other motivation theories.
Reward must meet someone's needs,
expectations, must be applied equitably,
and must be consistent. The desired
behaviour must be clear and realistic,
but the issue remains: which
reinforcements are suitable and for
which person?
2. Vroom's expectancy theory:
The expectancy theory places an
emphasis on the process and on the
content of motivation as well, and it
integrates needs, equity and
reinforcement theories.
Victor Vroom's (1964) expectancy
theory aims to explain how people
choose from the available actions.
Vroom defines motivation as a process
that governs our choices among
alternative forms of voluntary
behaviour. The basic rationale of this
theory is that motivation stem from the
belief that decisions will have their
desired outcomes.
The motivation to engage in an activity
is determined by appraising three
factors. These three factors are the
following:
• Expectancy – a person’s belief that
more effort will result in success. If you
work harder, it will result in better
performance.
In this case the question is: "Am I
capable of making a good grade on a
math test if I learn more?" Appraisal of
this factor is based on the effort to learn
math, on knowledge of math, on the
previous experience of math test
results, on self- efficacy and specific
self-rated abilities.
• Instrumentality – the person’s belief
that there is a connection between
activity and goal. If you perform well,
you will get reward.
In this case the question is that: "Will I
get the promised reward (a good mark)
for performing well on a math test?"
Appraisal of this factor is based on the
accuracy and consistency of marking. If
one day I get a good grade and another
day I get a bad grade for the same
performance, then the motivation will
decrease.
• Valence – the degree to which a
person values the reward, the results of
success.
In this case the question is that: "Do I
value the reward that I get?" Appraisal
of this factor is based on the importance
of its subject (math), the good mark,
and the good performance in general.
Vroom supposes that expectancy,
instrumentality and valence are
multiplied together to determine
motivation. This means that if any of
these is zero, then the motivation to do
something will be zero as well.
A person who doesn’t see the
connection between effort and
performance will have zero expectancy.
A person who can’t perceive the link
between performance and reward will
have zero instrumentality. For a person
who doesn’t value the anticipated
outcome, reward will have zero
valences.
For example if I think:
- that no matter how hard I’m studying
I can’t learn math due to lack of
necessary skills or - that no matter how
good I perform on the test I don’t
always get good mark so the reward is
unpredictable, not dependent on my
success or
Psychology 13
 - the good mark from math is not
important for me, and I’m not
interested in math, so the reward is not
attractive, then I won’t be motivated to
learn for the exam.
The expectancy theory highlights
individual differences in motivation and
contains three useful factors for
understanding and increasing
motivation.
This theory implies equity and
importance of consistent rewards as
well (Konig & Steel 2006).
3. Adams' equity theory:
The equity theory states that people are
motivated if they are treated equitably,
and receive what they consider fair for
their effort and costs.
The theory was suggested by Adams
(1965) and is based on Social Exchange
theory.
According to this theory, people
compare their contribution to work,
costs of their actions and the benefits
that will result to the contribution and
benefits of the reference person. If
people perceive that the ratio of their
inputs-outputs to the ratio of referent
other's input-output is inequitable, then
they will be motivated to reduce the
inequity.
At the workplace the workers put inputs
into the job, such as education,
experience, effort, energy, and expect
to get some outcomes such as salary,
reward, promotion, verbal recognition,
and interesting and challenging work
each in equal amounts
The equity theory works not just in the
workplace, but at school as well. For
example, when for the same oral exam
performance two students get different
marks, then inequity exists. In this case,
the student who gets the worse mark
may lose his/her motivation to learn
(reduce his/her efforts), or persuade the
teacher to give him/her a better mark,
or change the perception of the
reference person's performance (" I did
not know everything, but my classmate
could answer all the questions"). At the
school it can demotivate students if
someone who never studies or who
never performs better than the others
always gets good mark. The greater the
inequity the greater the distress an
individual feels, which will motivate
the endeavour to make the outcomes
and the inputs equal compared to the
reference person.
When inequity exists, a person might
• reduce his/her inputs, efforts, quantity
or quality of his/her work
• try to increase his/her outputs (ask for
better mark, or pay raising)
• adjust his/her perception of reference
person or his/her outcomes or inputs
(re- evaluate his/her or the reference
person's effort or outcome)
• change the reference person
• quit the situation.
The problem with equity theory is that
it does not take into account differences
in individual needs, values, and
personalities. For example, one person
may perceive a certain situation as
inequitable while another does not.
Nevertheless ensuring equity is
essential to motivation.
4. Locke's goal-setting theory:
Locke's (1990) goal setting theory is an
integrative model of motivation just
like the expectancy theory.
It emphasizes that setting specific,
challenging performance goals and the
commitment to these goals are key
determinants of motivation. Goals
describe a desired future, and these
established goals can drive the
behaviour.
Achieving the goals, the goal
accomplishment further motivates
individuals to perform.
We can distinguish goals according to
specificity, difficulty and acceptance. A
specific goal can be measured and lead
to higher performance than a very
general goal like “ Try to do your best!
” A difficult, but realistic goal can be
more motivational than easy or
extremely difficult ones. The
acceptance of the goal is very important
as well, therefore involvement in the
goal setting is recommended.
The following guidelines have been
useful in the goal-setting:
• Set challenging but attainable goals.
Too easy or too difficult/unrealistic
goals don’t motivate us.
• Set specific and measurable goals.
These can focus toward what you want,
and can measure the progress toward
the goal.
• Goal commitment should be obtained.
If people don’t commit to the goals,
then they will not put effort toward
reaching the goals, even specific, or
challenging ones. Strategies to achieve
this could include participation in the
goal setting process, use of extrinsic
rewards (bonuses), and encouraging
intrinsic motivation through providing
workers with feedback about goal
attainment. Pressure to achieve goals is
not useful because it can result in
dishonesty and superficial performance.
• Support elements should be
provided.
For example, encouragement, needed
materials, resources, and moral support.
• Knowledge of results is essential –
so goals need to be quantifiable and
there needs to be feedback. Goal-setting
is a useful theory which can be applied
in several fields, from sport to a wide
range of work settings.
Sports psychology in particular has
adopted its recommendations. The
concept of goal-setting has been
incorporated into a number of incentive
programmes and management by
objectives (MBO) techniques in a
number of work areas. Feedback
accompanying goal attainment may
also enhance a worker’s job
performance and ability to become
more innovative and creative on the job
through a trial-and-error learning
process. Since goal-setting is a
relatively simple motivational strategy,
it has become increasingly popular.
Psychology 14

Unit # 05
UNIT-5 LEARNING
5.1 Principal of learning.
5.2 Factor affecting learning.
5.3 Theories of learning
5.3.1 Trial and error
5.3.2 Classical conditioning
5.3.3 Operant conditioning
5.3.4 Insightful learning
LEARNING
Meaning and Nature:
Learning is a key process in human
behaviour. All living is learning. If we
compare the simple, crude ways in
which a child feels and behaves, with
the complex modes of adult behaviour,
his skills, habits, thought, sentiments
and the like- we will know what
difference learning has made to the
individual.
Learning is defined as “any relatively
permanent change in behaviour that
occurs as a result of practice and
experience”. This definition has three
important elements.
a. Learning is a change in behaviour—
better or worse.
b. It is a change that takes place
through practice or experience, but
changes due to growth or maturation
are not learning.
c. This change in behaviour must be
relatively permanent, and it must last a
fairly long time.
All learning involves activities. These
activities involve either physical or
mental activities. They may be simple
mental activities or complex, involving
various muscles, bones, etc. So also the
mental activities may be very simple
involving one or two activities of mind
or complex which involve higher
mental activities.
What activities are learned by the
individual refer to types of learning.
For example, habits, skills, facts, etc.
There are different types of learning.
Some of the important and common
learning activities are explained here.
Types of Learning:
1. Motor learning:
Most of our activities in our day-to-
days life refer to motor activities. The
individual has to learn them in order to
maintain his regular life, for example
walking, running, skating, driving,
climbing, etc. All these activities
involve the muscular coordination.
2. Verbal learning:
This type of learning involves the
language we speak, the communication
devices we use. Signs, pictures,
symbols, words, figures, sounds, etc,
are the tools used in such activities. We
use words for communication.
3. Concept learning:
It is the form of learning which requires
higher order mental processes like
thinking, reasoning, intelligence, etc.
we learn different concepts from
childhood. For example, when we see a
dog and attach the term ‘dog’, we learn
that the word dog refers to a particular
animal. Concept learning involves two
processes, viz. abstraction and
generalisation. This learning is very
useful in recognising, identifying
things.
4. Discrimination learning:
Learning to differentiate between
stimuli and showing an appropriate
response to these stimuli is called
discrimination learning. Example,
sound horns of different vehicles like
bus, car, ambulance, etc.
5. Learning of principles:
Individuals learn certain principles
related to science, mathematics,
grammar, etc. in order to manage their
work effectively. These principles
always show the relationship between
two or more concepts. Example:
formulae, laws, associations,
correlations, etc.
6. Problem solving:
This is a higher order learning process.
This learning requires the use of
cognitive abilities-such as thinking,
reasoning, observation, imagination,
generalization, etc. This is very useful
to overcome difficult problems
encountered by the people.
7. Attitude learning:
Attitude is a predisposition which
determines and directs our behaviour.
We develop different attitudes from our
childhood about the people, objects and
everything we know. Our behaviour
may be positive or negative depending
upon our attitudes. Example: attitudes
of nurse towards her profession,
patients, etc
5.1 Principal of Learning.
The following list presents the basic
principles that underlie effective
learning. These principles are distilled
from research from a variety of
disciplines.
Psychology 15
1. Students’ prior knowledge can
help or hinder learning.
Students come into our courses with
knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes gained
in other courses and through daily life.
As students bring this knowledge to
bear in our classrooms, it influences
how they filter and interpret what they
are learning. If students’ prior
knowledge is robust and accurate and
activated at the appropriate time, it
provides a strong foundation for
building new knowledge. However,
when knowledge is inert, insufficient
for the task, activated inappropriately,
or inaccurate, it can interfere with or
impede new learning.
2. How students organize knowledge
influences how they learn and
apply what they know.
Students naturally make connections
between pieces of knowledge. When
those connections form knowledge
structures that are accurately and
meaningfully organized, students are
better able to retrieve and apply their
knowledge effectively and efficiently.
In contrast, when knowledge is
connected in inaccurate or random
ways, students can fail to retrieve or
apply it appropriately.
3. Students’ motivation determines,
directs, and sustains what they do
to learn.
As students enter college and gain
greater autonomy over what, when, and
how they study and learn, motivation
plays a critical role in guiding the
direction, intensity, persistence, and
quality of the learning behaviors in
which they engage. When students find
positive value in a learning goal or
activity, expect to successfully achieve
a desired learning outcome, and
perceive support from their
environment, they are likely to be
strongly motivated to learn.
4. To develop mastery, students
must acquire component skills,
practice integrating them, and
know when to apply what they
have learned.
Students must develop not only the
component skills and knowledge
necessary to perform complex tasks,
they must also practice combining and
integrating them to develop greater
fluency and automaticity. Finally,
students must learn when and how to
apply the skills and knowledge they
learn. As instructors, it is important that
we develop conscious awareness of
these elements of mastery so as to help
our students learn more effectively.
5. Goal-directed practice coupled
with targeted feedback enhances
the quality of students’ learning.
Learning and performance are best
fostered when students engage in
practice that focuses on a specific goal
or criterion, targets an appropriate level
of challenge, and is of sufficient
quantity and frequency to meet the
performance criteria. Practice must be
coupled with feedback that explicitly
communicates about some aspect(s) of
students’ performance relative to
specific target criteria, provides
information to help students progress in
meeting those criteria, and is given at a
time and frequency that allows it to be
useful.
6. Students’ current level of
development interacts with the
social, emotional, and intellectual
climate of the course to impact
learning.
Students are not only intellectual but
also social and emotional beings, and
they are still developing the full range
of intellectual, social, and emotional
skills. While we cannot control the
developmental process, we can shape
the intellectual, social, emotional, and
physical aspects of classroom climate
in developmentally appropriate ways.
In fact, many studies have shown that
the climate we create has implications
for our students. A negative climate
may impede learning and performance,
but a positive climate can energize
students’ learning.
7. To become self-directed learners,
students must learn to monitor
and adjust their approaches to
learning.
Learners may engage in a variety of
metacognitive processes to monitor and
control their learning—assessing the
task at hand, evaluating their own
strengths and weaknesses, planning
their approach, applying and
monitoring various strategies, and
reflecting on the degree to which their
current approach is working.  which the pupil is mastering what is
Unfortunately, students tend not to
engage in these processes naturally.
When students develop the skills to
engage these processes, they gain
intellectual habits that not only improve
their performance but also their
effectiveness as learners.
5.2 Factor affecting learning.
Some of the important factors which
may affect the learning process are as
follows:
It has been found out that the pupil’s
difficulty in learning may be due to
many factors within the child himself.
1) Intellectual factor:
The term refers to the individual mental
level. Success in school is generally
closely related to level of the intellect.
Pupils with low intelligence often
encounter serious difficulty in
mastering schoolwork. Sometimes
pupils do not learn because of special
intellectual disabilities.
A low score in one subject and his
scores in other subjects indicate the
possible presence of a special
deficiency. Psychology reveals to use
that an individual possess different
kinds to intelligence. Knowledge of the
nature of the pupil’s intellect is of
considerable value in the guidance and
the diagnosis of disability.
The native capacity of the individual is
of prime importance in determining the
effectiveness of the, learning process.
2) Learning factors:
Factors owing to lack of mastery of
what has been taught, faulty methods of
work or study, and narrowness of
experimental background may affect
the learning process of any pupil. If the
school proceeds too rapidly and does
not constantly check up on the extent to
being taught, the pupil accumulates a
Psychology 16
number of deficiencies that interfere
with successful progress.
In arithmetic, for instance, knowledge
of basic addition is essential to
successful work in multiplication.
Weakness in addition will contribute
directly to the deficiency in multiplica-
tion. Likewise, failure in history may be
due to low reading ability or weakness
in English.
Similarly, because of faulty instruction,
the pupil may have learned inefficient
methods of study. Many other kinds of
difficulty which are directly related to
learning factors may interfere with
progress.
3) Physical factors:
Under this group are included such
factors as health, physical development,
nutrition, visual and physical defects,
and glandular abnormality. It is
generally recognized that ill health
retards physical and motor develop-
ment, and malnutrition interferes with
learning and physical growth.
Children suffering from visual,
auditory, and other physical defects are
seriously handicapped in developing
skills such as reading and spelling. It
has been demonstrated that various
glands of internal secretion, such as the
thyroid and pituitary glands, affect
behavior. The health of the learner will
likely affect his ability to learn and his
power to concentrate.
4) Mental factors:
Attitude falls under mental factors
attitudes are made up of organic and
kinesthetic elements. They are not to be
confused with emotions that are
characterized by internal visceral
disturbances. Attitudes are more or less
of definite sort. They play a large part
in the mental organization and general
behavior of the individual.
Attitudes are also important in the
development of personality. Among
these attitudes aw interest, cheerfulness,
affection, prejudice, -open mindedness,
and loyalty. Attitudes exercise a
stimulating effect upon the rate of
learning and teaching and upon the
progress in school.
The efficiency of the work from day to
day and the rapidity with which it is
achieved are influenced by the attitude
of the learner. A favorable mental
attitude facilitates learning. The factor
of interest is very closely related in
nature to that of symbolic drive and
reward.
5) Emotional and social factors:
Personal factors, such as instincts and
emotions, and social factors, such as
cooperation and rivalry, are directly
related to a complex psychology of
motivation. It is a recognized fact that
the various responses of the individual
to various kinds of stimuli are
determined by a wide variety of
tendencies.
6) Teacher’s Personality:
The teacher as an individual personality
is an important element in the learning
environment or in the failures and
success of the learner. The way in
which his personality interacts with the
personalities of the pupils being taught
helps to determine the kind of behavior
which emerges from the learning
situation.
7) Environmental factor:
Physical conditions needed for learning
is under environmental factor. One of
the factors that affect the efficiency of
learning is the condition in which learn-
ing takes place. This includes the
classrooms, textbooks, equipment,
school supplies, and other instructional
materials.
5.3 THEORIES OF
LEARNING:
5.3.1 Trial and error
5.3.2 Classical conditioning
5.3.3 Operant conditioning
5.3.4 Insightful learning
Psychologists have tried to explain how
people learn and why they learn. They
have conducted many experiments on
animals and children and come to
certain definite conclusions which
explain the modes of learning.
These are called as theories of learning.
In many books, these explanations are
treated as kinds of learning. In a sense
it is true. But the term learning is very
comprehensive. It covers a wide range
of activities which cannot be explained
within a limited framework. There are
many theories explaining modes of
learning. Important among them are:
5.3.1 Trial and Error Learning
Theory:
DEFINATION :
This theory was developed by an
American psychologist Edward Lee
Thorndike (1874-1949). He argues
that learning takes place through trial
and error method. According to
Thorndike, learning takes place by trial
and error. In learning the learner selects
a correct response out of a large number
of possible ones and connects it with
the appropriate stimulus. Learning by
this method is called trial and error
learning theory. Thorndike formulated
his theory, based on his experiments
conducted on his cat in the puzzle box.
Classical Experiment on Trial an
Error:
Thorndike placed ahungry cat inside a
puzzle box<and a plate of fish was kept
outside the box.it was impossible for
cat to get out to the plate, unless it
could open the door and get
out.throndike had arranged the puzzle
box such that, the cat either had to pull
a loop or press a lever in order to open
the door. Initially the cat moved
randomly inside the box biting and
clawing at the bars trusting its paws
trying to squeeze out of the box. After
several minutes of trying these
ineffective responses and the cat
accidently pulled the loop. Having hit
the correct response, the cat managed to
get out and it was awarded with a small
piece of fish.
The cat was placed inside the box
again. This time around, the cat took
less time to pull the loop. The exercise
was continued repeatedly.it was seen
that as a number of trial increased, the
time 3 taken to pull the loop decreased,
as the response latency decreased, the
Psychology 17
cat finally learn the trick then it pulled
the loop as soon as it was put in the box
and managed to get out.
The term trial and error learning was
then introduced as the number of trials
resulted in decreased number of error.
Other Experiment on Trial And
Error
(II) Dog Experiment by Loyd
Morgan:
The dog was put into an iron cage, with
a door not clearly visible or
discernable. The dog made a number of
attempts before he could Discover the
door.
(III) Rat Experiment by M.C.
Dougal:
The rats were similarly confined in a
small box with secret passage.After
committing mistakes for 165 times,
they succeeded in finding out the
correct passage.
(IV): Fish experiment by
Thorndike put fundulus (a type of fish
that live in shade) in an aquarium with
glass partition, and one part of which
was in sun. There was a small hole in
the partition.First they were put in
shade and then in sun.in order to escape
sun, the fish made attempts to find out
the passage to the shade, until they did
discover the hole. The experiment was
repeated, and it was found that in the
succession experiments, the number of
unsuccessful attempts went on
decreasing progressively.
Factors Involved in Trial and Error
Theory:
1. Motive or drive: Drive is a tension
state resulting from needs. Where there
is drive or motive there is learning. In
the present experiment drive was
hunger.
2. Stimulus or goal: It is the casual
factor for activity. In the present
experiment, food is the stimulus. To get
the food by getting out of the box is the
goal.
3. Responses: The cat makes a number
of varied types of responses like
scratching, pulling etc. The responses
which lead to the goal known as
satisfying responses. The responses
which do not lead to the goal is known
as annoying responses.
4. Block: The cat was confined in the
box with a closed door.
5. Chance success: As a result of
random movements, the cat, by chance,
succeeded in opening the door.
6. Selection of proper movement:
Gradually the cat selected the proper
way of pulling the string out of its
random movements.
7. Fixation: At last, the cat learned the
proper way of opening the door by
eliminating all the incorrect responses
and fixing only right response. Now the
cat was able to open the door without
any error
LAWS OF LEARNING
PRIMARY LAWS
1) Law of Readiness:-
First primary law of learning, according
to him, is the ‘Law of Readiness’ or the
‘Law of Action Tendency’, which
means that learning takes place when
an action tendency is aroused through
preparatory adjustment, set or attitude.
Readiness means a preparation of
action. If one is not prepared to learn,
learning cannot be automatically
instilled in him, for example, unless the
typist, in order to learn typing prepares
himself to start, he would not make
much progress in a lethargic &
unprepared manner.
2) Law of Exercise:-
The second law of learning is the ‘Law
of Exercise’, which means that drill or
practice helps in increasing efficiency
and durability of learning and
according to Thorndike’s S-R Bond
Theory, the connections are
strengthened with trail or practice and
the connections are weakened when
trial or practice is discontinued. The
‘law of exercise’, therefore, is also
understood as the ‘law of use and
disuse’ in which case connections or
bonds made in the brain cortex are
weakened or loosened. Many examples
of this case are found in case of human
learning. Learning to drive a motor-car,
typewriting, singing or memorizing a
poem or a mathematical table, and
music etc. need exercise and repetition
of various movements and actions
many times.
3) Law of Effect:-
The third law is the ‘Law of Effect’,
according to which the trial or steps
leading to satisfaction stamps in the
bond or connection. Satisfying states
lead to consolidation and strengthening
of the connection, whereas dis-
satisfaction, annoyance or pain leads to
the weakening or stamping out of the
connection. In fact, the ‘law of effect’
signifies that if the response satisfies
the subject, they are learnt and selected,
while those which are not satisfying are
eliminated. Teaching, therefore, must
be pleasing. The educator must obey
the tastes and interests of his pupils. In
other words, greater the satisfaction
stronger will be the motive to learn.
Thus, intensity is an important
condition of ‘law of effect’.
SECONDARY LAWS
1) Law of Multiple – Response-
According to it the organism varies or
changes its response till an appropriate
behavior is hit upon. Without varying
the responses, the correspondence for
the solution might never be elicited. If
the individual wants to solve a puzzle,
he is to try in different ways rather than
mechanically persisting in the same
way. Thorndike’s cat in the puzzle box
moved about and tried many ways to
come out till finally it hit the latch with
her paw which opened the door and it
jumped out.
2) The Law of Set or Attitude-
Learning is guided by a total set or
attitude of the organism, which
determines not only what the person
will do but what will satisfy or annoy
him. For instance, unless the cricketer
Psychology 18
sets himself to make a century, he will
not be able to score more runs. A
student, similarly, unless he sets to get
first position and has the attitude of
being at the top, would while away the
time and would not learn much. Hence,
learning is affected more in the
individual if he is set to learn more or
to excel.
3) Pre- potency of Elements:-
According to this law, the learner reacts
selectively to the important or essential
in the situation and neglects the other
features or elements which may be
irrelevant or non- essential. The ability
to deal with the essential or the relevant
part of the situation makes analytical
and insightful learning possible. In this
law of pre-potency of elements,
Thorndike is really anticipating insight
in learning which was more
emphasized by the Gestaltions.
4) Law of Response by Analogy-
According to this law, the individual
makes use of old experiences or
acquisitions while learning a new
situation. There is a tendency to utilize
common elements in the new situation
as existed in a similar past situation.
The learning of driving a car, for
instance, is facilitated by the earlier
acquired skill of driving a motor cycle
or even riding a bicycle because the
perspective or maintaining a balance
and controlling the handle helps in
steering the car.
5) The Law of Associative Shifting-
According to this law we may get a
response, of which a learner is capable,
associated with any other situation to
which he is sensitive. Thorndike
illustrated this by the act of teaching a
cat to stand up at a command. A fish
was dangled before the cat while he
said ‘stand up’. After a number trails by
presenting the fish after uttering the
command ‘stand up’, he later ousted the
fish and the overall command of ‘stand
up’ was found sufficient to evoke the
response in the cat by standing up or
her hind legs.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION
OF TRIAL AND ERROR THEORY
OF LEARNING
Thorndike’s theory of Trial and Error
and his three basic laws of learning
have direct educational implications.
The ‘Law of Readiness’ lays emphasis
on motivation while the ‘Law of
Exercise’ compels us to accept a well-
known fact ‘Practice makes a man
perfect’, and the third one i.e., ‘Law of
Effect’ opens fairly a large scope to
discuss the role of reward and
punishment as an incentive in the
child’s learning.
1. Importance of readiness:
Thorndike believes that readiness is
preparation for action. It is essential for
learning. If the pupil is ready to learn,
he learns more quickly and effectively
and with greater satisfaction than if he
is not ready to learn. He warns us not to
make the child learn till he is ready to
learn and allow not missing any
opportunity of providing learning if the
pupil is already prepared to learn.
2. Importance of motivation:
Thorndike emphasized the importance
of motivation in learning which was
totally neglected his time. Arousal of
motivation makes the students ready for
learning. Students must be properly
motivated before they are taught.
3. Importance of experience:
The theory recognizes the importance
of previous experiences. Understanding
grows due to previous experiences. The
best way to develop understanding is to
develop a body of connections
appropriate to that of understanding.
4. Strengthening of bonds:
An important task of the teacher is to
see what theories, principles and
generalizations, etc. he likes to be
remembered or forgotten by the
students. Consequently, he must try to
strengthen the bonds or connections
between the stimuli and the responses
which are to be remembered. This
could be done through drill, repetition,
practice and reward. For forgetting he
should make attempts to weaken the
connections through disuse and
annoying students.
5. Importance of repetition:
For effective learning more repetitions
should be made. Students should follow
the rule that “practice makes a man
perfect.” Forgetting takes place because
of the law of disuse.
6. Role of reward and punishment:
The theory (law of effect) recognizes
the role of rewards and punishments in
learning. Getting reward as a result of
some learning motivates and
encourages the child to proceed on the
same path with more intensity and
enthusiasm while the punishment of
any type discourages him and creates
distaste and distraction towards that
learning.
Thus the theory implies that:
(i) Mere repetition is of no use.
Repetition becomes useful when the
response is rewarded. In that case
repetition strengthens the connections.
(ii) Rewards have more strengthening
effect than the corresponding
weakening effect of punishments.
7. Grading of the task:
Theory contributes the grading of the
task from simple to complex. So
teacher should proceed from simple to
complex, known to unknown, concrete
to abstract.
8. Use of experiments:
Thorndike placed much emphasis on
experimental verification. So the
teacher should make use of experiments
and learning by doing wherever
possible for better and effective
learning.
9. Learning of skills:
Various skills like sitting, standing,
walking, running, cycling are learnt by
trial and error.
10. Scientific inventions:
Many scientific inventions, machines
and improvements are the results of
trial and error.
11. Formation of habits and
sentiments:
Habit formation is based on trial and
error. Teachers and parents can form
good habits and sentiments in the
students on the basis of trial and error.
Psychology 19

12. Use in insightful learning:
Even in insightful learning, trial and
error is involved.
13. Transfer of learning:
Transfer in learning takes place because
of identical elements in the two
situations.
14. Aids to improve learning:
Thorndike advocated the following
aids of learning:
(i) Attentiveness.
(ii) Interest in work.
(iii) Interest in improvement of work.
(iv) Problem solving attitude.
Limitations of trial and error theory:
1. Energy consuming:
The theory requires a good deal of
energy because transfer of learning is
minimum under trial and error.
2. Random efforts:
It is not desirable to do random efforts
because doing anything without insight
is meaningless. The theory ignores the
role of understanding, experience,
discrimination and insight in learning.
3. Emphasis on rote learning:
The theory over-emphasizes the role of
rote learning.
4. Not much useful for bright
students:
The theory may be useful for less
intelligent and backward students but
not much useful for bright and
intelligent students.
5. Not much useful for higher classes:
The theory is useful in case of students
of lower classes, but for students of
higher classes, the theory does not
provide much guidance.
Criticism:
Thorndike’s theory of learning is
severally criticized by different school
of psychologist. The behavioristsdeny
the law of effect and claim that
frequency is the most important
principal of learning which helps in all
kind of retention.
The gestaltian school criticizes the laws
of Thorndike on the ground that
learning is not merely the organization
of independent units of behavior and
there is no building up process like the
formation. The psychologists of this
school contend that the relation
between situation and response already
exists in an experience which is
perceived as a whole.
On the whole, it may be concluded that
although the laws of learning
enunciated by Thorndike are found to
be much psychological and subjected to
so many limitations, they have ample
practical truth and utility in the early
learning systems. The principle of
exercise, readiness and effect has a lots
of importance for effective learning.
Learning by Conditioning:
In literal sense, conditioning means
‘getting used’ to, or ‘adjusted ‘to a new
situation, or a stimulus. It is a process
of substituting the original stimulus by
a new one and connecting the response
with it. There are two types of
conditioning theories:
1. Classical conditioning:
This method of conditioning got its
name from the fact that, it is a kind of
learning situation that existed in the
early classical experiments of Ivan P
Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian
physiologist who was awarded Nobel
Prize, in 1904 for his experiments.
Pavlov designed an apparatus to
measure the quantity of saliva produced
in response to food (meat power). At
the beginning of his experiment Pavlov
noted that no saliva flowed when he
rang the bell. He then trained the dog
by sounding the bell, and shortly
afterwards presenting food.
After the sound of the bell had been
paired with food a few times, he tested
the effects of the training by measuring
the amount of saliva that flowed when
he rang the bell and did not present
food. He found that some saliva was
produced in response to the sound of
the bell alone. He then resumed the
training-paired presentation of bell and
food a few times and then tested again
with the bell alone.
As the training continued, the amount
of saliva on tests with the bell alone
increased. Thus, after training the dog’s
mouth watered-salivated- whenever the
bell was sounded. This is what was
learned; it is the conditioned response.
This theory states that CS (bell)
becomes a substitute after pairing with
UCS (food) and acquires the capacity to
elicit a response. It is because the
association (conditioning) is formed
between CS and UCS. This may be
symbolically presented as follows:
UCS<———————————à
UCR
(Food) (Saliva)
↓ (Conditioning)
CS<————————————-à
CR
(Bell) (Saliva)
Sub-principles of Classical
Conditioning:
There are certain sub-principles which
explain the different phenomena of this
experiment.
a. Extinction and spontaneous
recovery:
Extinction means cessation of a
response. The strength of the CS
gradually decreases when it is presented
alone and not followed by UCS for a
number of trails. This process is called
‘extinction’. In this experiment when
only bell is presented without food for a
number of trials, the dog stopped
salivation gradually.
But when the CS (bell) was paired
again with UCS (food) for some trials,
the CR (salivation) recovered. This is
known as ‘spontaneous recovery’. In
spontaneous recovery the dog required
less number of trials than the first time,
because the association between CS and
UCS still existed in the brain of the
animal.
b. Stimulus generalization:
A tendency to respond to a stimulus
which is similar to original one is called
stimulus generalization, the greater the
similarity, the more the generalization.
In this experiment, the dog started
salivating even for the sound of a
buzzer which was similar to bell.
c. Stimulus discrimination:
Psychology 20
When there is much difference between
two stimuli, the animal can discriminate
between the two. For example, if the
dog is conditioned to salivate at the
signal of red light, it will not salivate
when green light is presented.
d. Higher order conditioning:
If a ‘light’ is presented followed by bell
and then by food for a number of trials,
the dog will start salivating to light
itself. This phenomenon is called higher
order condition.
All these principles are very useful in
behaviour therapy. Conditioning is not
confined only to the laboratory.
In our day-to- day’s life we come
across many instances of such learning.
For example, a small child who does
not know, touches a burning candle, it
gives him a painful experience and
withdraws his hand. Later this
experience will make him withdraw
from burning objects and avoid them all
together.
Conditioning is used as
psychotherapeutic technique very
effectively in the treatment of abnormal
behaviours such as phobias, alcoholism,
enuresis, etc. These are called
behaviour modification techniques.
Watson and others have conducted
many experiments to prove the
usefulness of this method.
2. Operant Conditioning:
This method of conditioning was
developed by an American psychologist
BF Skinner. This theory is also known
as ‘Instrumental conditioning’, because
the animals use certain operations or
actions as instruments to find solution.
Skinner conducted his famous
experiment by placing a hungry rat in a
box called after his name ‘Skinner
box’. This box was containing a lever
and a food tray in a corner of the box. It
was so arranged, that the animal was
free to move inside the box, but the
pressing of the lever would get the
animal a pallet of food in the tray as
reinforcement.
Arrangement was also made to record
the number of pressings of the lever by
a mechanical device. It was found in
the beginning that the rat pressed the
lever occasionally and used to get food
as reinforcement for each pressing.
Gradually, as the animal learnt the
pressing of lever would give some
food, it repeated the responses very
rapidly. This rapid increase in pressing
the lever is the indication of the animal
conditioned to get food.
In day-to-day’s life also, much learning
takes place in animals as well as in
human beings by this method. The
reinforcement will be the motivating
factor. It will make the organism to
repeat its action.
It is on the basis of these experiments,
Skinner made his famous statement
“Rewarded behaviour is repeated”.
Instrumental conditioning involves
more activity by the learner than
classical conditioning. Skinner
conducted his experiments on different
animals like pigeons, rats, etc.
Reinforcement which is the most
important aspect of this experiment is
divided into two types: positive
reinforcement is used in reward
training. Negative reinforcement-like
punishment is used to stop undesired
responses or behaviours. Operant
conditioning is useful in shaping
undesirable behaviour and also in
modification of behaviour.
This is also useful in training of
mentally retarded children to learn
dressing, eating and toilet training
skills, treatment of phobias, drug and
alcohol addictions, and psychotherapy
and to teach needed behaviour in
children. Further, these experiments
have proved that intermittent
reinforcement yields better results than
continuous reinforcement.
Learning by Insight:
Many times learning proceeds by the
more efficient process of trying those
methods which are seem to have a
relation to solution. This is possible by
understanding or perception of the
situation.
Learning by perceiving the relationship
in the scene and understanding the
situation is insightful learning. This
theory was developed by a psychologist
known as Wolf gang Kohler, who
belonged to Gestalt school of
psychology.
According to Gestalt theory—
perception of a situation as a ‘whole’
gives better understanding than sum
total of its parts. That is, the situation
viewed as a whole will definitely look
different from that, viewed through its
parts.
Kohler conducted his most famous
experiments on chimpanzee- called
Sultan. In the experiment, Sultan was
put in a cage and a banana was placed
at some distance outside the cage. Then
the chimpanzee was given two sticks,
so constructed that one stick could be
fitted into another and make the stick
longer.
The hungry Sultan first attempted with
its hands to get the banana. Then he
took one of the sticks and tried to pull
the banana nearer, then tried with other
stick, but failed to reach it. By this
effort, the chimpanzee became tired and
left the attempts to reach banana and
started playing with sticks.
While playing so, one of the sticks got
fitted into the other and the stick
became lengthier. Immediately Sultan
became elated and pulled the banana
with this long stick and ate it. This
‘sudden flash of idea’ to reach food
with longer stick was called as
‘Insight’, by Kohler.
He conducted many experiments to
prove that learning takes place also by
insight and not only by trial and error.
He concluded that the occurrence of
insight to find solution to a problem is
possible by perception of the whole
situation.
Kohler conducted many experiments on
this line of learning to prove that, just
trial and error method is not enough to
find solution for many complex
problems.
Trial and error or association through
connectionism and conditioning may
account for simple acquisition of
knowledge, skills, interests, habits and
other personality characteristics. But it
is absolutely insufficient for solving
complex problems.
Psychology 21
It is here the method of insightful
learning is very useful. Because it
involves many higher mental processes
such as thinking, reasoning,
intelligence, etc.
Insight occurs, when the individual sees
in a flash, the solution to his problem or
difficulty. It is not blind or stupid
learning. It is an intelligent way of
learning. In many occasions people try
to size up the situation, things and
arrive at a conclusion. With experience
man is able to solve problems better
and sooner.
He exercises his discrimination ability
in solving problems, and learning
becomes a matter of insight rather than
of trial and error. Archimedes’s
example of’ Aha’ experience (eureka)
explained in creative thinking is the
appropriate example for occurrence of
insight.
Learning by Imitation:
It is the simplest method of learning.
Many of our day-to-day’s activities are
learnt by imitating others. For example,
the way we eat, drink, walk, talk, dress,
etc, are all learnt by imitating others.
We observe and watch what and how
other people do certain activities and
imitate them.
We observe the demonstrations given
by an expert, imitate his movements
and learn them. By copying the
behaviour of others, people avoid waste
of time and effort of trial and error
method of learning. For example, a boy
observes the way of holding a cricket
bat, the movements of an expert player,
imitates the same and learns.
Psychologists like Millar and Dollard
have tried to show that the tendency to
imitate is itself a learned response and
if reinforced, the individual will be
more likely to continue to imitate.
Many people believe that imitation is a
lower form type of learning. Still others
argue that imitation can never lead to
novel responses and there will be no
chance to use individual’s creativity or
originality. But at the same time many
educationists believe that only the
imitative individual can learn better.
Whatever may be the opinion it is quite
obvious that we learn many things by
imitation.
Laws of Learning:
EL Thorndike has explained three laws
of learning called Primary laws and in
addition to these, he has also framed 5
subsidiary laws in connection with his
trial and error learning theory.
Primary laws:
These are the most important laws,
which explain the basic aspects of
learning. They are:
1. Law of readiness:
By readiness means the organism is
ready to respond or act. This is more
essential prerequisite for learning.
This indicates that the animal or human
being is motivated to learn. This
condition of readiness has two effects
— satisfaction and annoyance. When
the animal is ready to act- if permitted-
it gives pleasure. If it is not permitted, it
feels annoyed.
In the same way when the animal is not
ready to learn- if asked to learn- it is
annoying. On the other hand, if it is
prevented from learning it gives
pleasure.
These points have been given below in
the words of Thorndike:
a. For a conduction unit ready to
conduct-to conduct is satisfying.
b. For a conduction unit ready to
conduct-not to conduct is annoying.
c. For a conduction unit not ready to
conduct- to conduct is annoying.
This law clearly shows that readiness of
a person to learn is very important.
Hence motivate him to learn.
2. Law of exercise:
This law is also known as law of
frequency. Frequency refers to number
of repetitions of learning. Thorndike
believed that repeated exercising of a
response strengthens its connection
with stimulus.
This aspect refers to law of use and
disuse, which explains that, anything
not in use will perish. So also if the
response is not repeated, its bond with
stimulus gets weakened. This is also
according to the statement that ‘practice
makes man perfect’.
In Thorndike’s experiment the cat
becomes perfect after repeating the
response more number of times, i.e. it
learnt to open the door without
committing any error.
3. Law of effect:
This law states that when a connection
is accomplished by satisfying effect- its
strength is increased. By this,
Thorndike meant that the probability of
its occurrence is greater. In his
experiment if the hungry cat succeeded
in opening the door, would get its
favourable dish to eat.
This had a positive effect on its
response. Rewards always strengthen
connections between stimuli and
responses, and on the other hand,
punishment weakens connections.
Secondary laws:
In addition to the three primary laws
explained above, Thorndike has given
five secondary or subsidiary laws also.
They are as follows:
a. Law of multiple response:
It means when a response fails to elicit
a desired effect, the learner will try with
new responses until the goal is reached.
b- Law of set or attitude:
Mental set or positive attitude is very
important in any learning.
c. Law of associative shifting:
This is nothing but shifting of the
response to a new situation which is
similar to the earlier one. Because the
fundamental notion is that, if a response
can be kept intact through a series of
changes in stimulating situation, it may
finally be given to a new situation.
d. Law of prepotency of elements:
This law states that the learner is able to
react in a selected way, only to the
salient elements of the problem and not
for other unimportant elements.
e. Law of response by analogy:
It means comparing a new situation to
the previously learned one and thus
giving a response by analogy.
Psychology 22
As stated above, Thorndike formulated
these laws on the basis of his
experiments. According to the law of
readiness, the cat was ready to learn,
because it was hungry. This hunger
motivated the cat to learn to open the
door.
According to the second law, the cat
was repeatedly given trials and exercise
which strengthened its learning. Finally
on each trial the cat was given
reinforcement in the form of fish.
This encouraged the cat to continue its
effort to learn to open the door. The
secondary laws given by him support
these findings. These laws are highly
relevant to the field of education. The
teachers can make use of these laws in
order to make their teaching more
effective.
5.3.2 Classical Conditioning
Theory :
Definition: The Classical
Conditioning Theory was proposed by
a Russian Physiologist Ivan Pavlov.
According to this theory, behavior is
learnt by a repetitive association
between the response and the stimulus.
The classical conditioning theory is
based on the assumption that learning is
developed through the interactions with
the environment. Also, the environment
shapes the behavior and internal mental
state such as thoughts, feelings,
emotions do not explain the human
behavior.
Here, an organism learns to transfer
response from one stimulus to a
previously neutral stimulus. Classical
conditioning is comprised of four
elements:
1. Unconditioned
Stimulus (US): Which invariably
causes to react in a way.
2. Unconditioned
Response (UR): Takes place
when the US is presented.
3. Conditioned
Stimulus (CS): The object that
does not bring about the desired
response
4. Conditioned
Response (CR): a particular
behavior that an organism learns
to produce, when the CS is
presented.
Pavlov conducted an experiment on a
dog and measured the amount of saliva
secreted by a dog, with a use of a
surgical procedure, when it is exposed
to different stimulus or object. At first,
when Pavlov presented a piece of meat
(US) to the dog, he noticed a great
amount of salivation (UR) whereas, in
the second time, when he just rang the
bell, he observed there was no effect of
a bell on the dog’s salivation.
After this, Pavlov rang the bell
accompanied with meat and noticed the
salivation of a dog. He repeated this
process several times, and finally, one
day he just rang the bell without meat
and observed that dog still salivated to
the bell alone which was originally a
neutral stimulus.
How can a teacher use this theory?
A teacher can use this theory by
creating a positive environment in their
classroom. Many students have
something or many things they are
anxious about in the classroom whether
it be presenting in front of the class,
reading out loud or doing a math
problem. The teacher should make the
students feel relaxed and calm by being
cheerful, pleasant and accepting.
 
 When teachers often shout or call out
students for misbehaving, they will feel
scared, embarrassed and will not want
to be in the room. This type of
environment will condition the students
to be on-edge, nervous and anxious.
Classical conditioning can go both
ways,  so it is crucial for teachers to
keep a welcoming, positive atmosphere
to help all students learn. 
Classical Conditioning in the
Classroom
The implications of classical
conditioning in the classroom are less
important than those of operant
conditioning, but there is a still need for
teachers to try to make sure that
students associate positive emotional
experiences with learning.
If a student associates negative
emotional experiences with school, then
this can obviously have bad results,
such as creating a school phobia.
For example, if a student is bullied at
school they may learn to associate the
school with fear. It could also explain
why some students show a particular
dislike of certain subjects that continue
throughout their academic career. This
could happen if a student is humiliated
or punished in class by a teacher.
How is the theory used in
contemporary education?
Two assumptions of this theory are that
the environment shapes behavior and
that taking thoughts, feelings, and
emotions into consideration is useless
in explaining behavior. By controlling
the environment, teachers can apply
classical conditioning by creating a
positive classroom experience to help
students overcome anxiety or fear.
Students often feel nervous or anxious
when performing in front of a group
such as presenting a project or reading
out loud.  By associating these anxiety-
provoking situations with a positive
environment helps the student learn
new associations and instead will stay
calm and relaxed.
Often times, classical conditioning is
paired with operant conditioning in the
classroom. This involves a system of
reinforcements and punishments that
can either decrease or increase the
behavior. For example, in addition to
creating a positive environment, during
a math lesson, a teacher can use
positive reinforcements by praising a
child for working quietly and
independently. These aspects working
together will increase his behavior and
will allow him to associate math work
with a positive experience. 
Psychology 23
Classical conditioning is also used in
classroom routines, often times without
realizing. Every time students are too
loud, the teacher might put her hand on
her head and tell the class to quiet
down. Eventually, the students will be
conditioned and will associate the
teacher putting her hand on her head
with needing to quiet down and will do
it without thinking. The same goes for
facial expressions and non-verbal cues.
Even the teacher simply counting down
from 20 during the day. In the
beginning, the students will have no
idea what is happening and what is
expected of them, but give them time
and when they hear "20, 19, 18," they
will start scrambling to be the first one
cleaned up.
Every morning, the bell may ring and
the principal will come of the loud
speaker to lead the pledge to the flag. A
few weeks in and the students will most
likely stop what they are doing and
stand up simply by hearing that bell in
the morning. All throughout the day,
the class is conditioned to associate one
symbol or cue with the corresponding
behavior whether it be lining up or
moving to the carpet and most times the
teacher is not even aware of the theory
in practice.
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Classical Conditioning:
Advantages of Classical Conditioning:
1. It helps an individual protect itself.
Being an adaptive mechanism, classical
conditioning helps protect an individual
from harm or get him ready for an
important biological activity, such as
sex. Here, a stimulus that occurred
before intercourse has caused arousal,
which prepares a person for sexual
contact.
2. It has produced a high success rate
in behavior modification.
This method of learning has been used
as successful treatment in modifying
behaviors, such as smoking and
substance abuse. Among the therapies
associated with it include systematic
desensitization, aversion therapy and
flooding. As you can see, aversion is a
type of behavioral therapy that
encourages individuals to give up bad
habits by making them associate such
habits with certain unpleasant effects.
3. It can be used in everyday life.
Not only that classical conditioning is
employed in therapeutic interventions,
but it can also be applied in everyday
life. For example, marketing executives
can adopt it by applying the principles
of associative learning.
Disadvantages of Classical
Conditioning:
1. It does not help create new
behaviors.
While this learning method helps an
individual learn new behaviors, it does
not create new behaviors. Basically, it
only connects a naturally occurring
response to a stimulus and deals with
visceral responses.
2. It comes with numerous variables,
making it difficult to understand.
There is a lot of variables that can
affect the degree to which this method
would occur or not in different
situations. As you can see, research on
classical conditioning can become a bit
complex by considering these variables.
It requires these variables to be
assessed with most attention.
3. It can trigger the development of
phobias in humans.
Research by John B. Watson on
Pavlov’s work conducted on an infant
child found that the child became afraid
of a white rat by pairing the animal
with a jarring and loud noise, though
the child was not afraid when
introduced to the rat alone the first
time. This implies that classical
conditioning can cause phobias in
humans.
5.3.3 Operant Conditioning:
Definition: The Operant Conditioning
theory states that people are likely to
emit responses that are rewarded and
will not emit any responses that are
neither followed by any reward nor
punishment. Thus, an individual tries to
establish an association between a
particular behavior and consequence.
The Operant Conditioning Theory is
given by B.F. Skinner, who believed
that behavior is voluntary and is
determined, maintained and controlled
by its consequences. According to him,
one must focus on the external or
observable causes of behavior rather
than the internal mental events such as
motivation, thoughts, feelings, etc.
B.F. Skinner performed an experiment;
wherein the Rat was placed in a glass
box, called as a “skinner box.” In that
box, there were two levers, one
attached to the feeding tube, while the
other produced the electric shock. The
rat pressed the first lever attached to the
tube and got the food to eat, but as soon
as it pressed the other lever, it got the
shock. A rat discovered from its
actions, the lever which is rewarding
and the one which gives a shock
(negative response) and pressed only
that lever which resulted in food. Thus,
Skinner observed, that the rate of
response, as well as the change in the
response, was seen after the behavior
was performed, not before.
Often, the operant conditioning is also
called as an
Instrumental Conditioning, which
means learning is developed through
the rewards and punishments given for
a particular behavior. There are three
elements that result in the development
of a new behavior; these are:
1. Stimulus Situation (the event or
object)
2. Behavioral Response to the
situation
3. Consequence of a response
Example: A vehicle driver applies the
brakes in order to avoid the accident,
thus, the possibility of an accident
without the application of the brakes is
stimulus situation. The application of
brake is the behavior and escape from
the accident is the consequence of
behavior.
Thus, through this process, an organism
learns to distinguish between the
behaviors that are rewarding and try to
engage them in those behaviors.
5.3.3 Insightful learning:
Insight learning is a type of learning or
problem solving that happens all-of-a-
Psychology 24
sudden through understanding the
relationships of various parts of a
problem rather than through trial and
error.
Wolfgang Kohler and his contribution
to Insightful Learning • Wolfgang
Köhler was a psychologist who
conducted experiments in which insight
learning was observed in animal
behavior.
Insight, in learning theory, immediate
and clear learning or understanding that
takes place without overt trial-and-error
testing. Insight occurs in human
learning when people recognize
relationships (or make
novel associations between objects or
actions) that can help them solve new
problems.
Much of the scientific knowledge
concerning insight derives from work
on animal behaviour that was
conducted by 20th-century
German Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang
Köhler. In one experiment Köhler
placed a banana outside the cage of a
hungry chimpanzee, Sultan, and gave
the animal two sticks, each too short for
pulling in the food but joinable to make
a single stick of sufficient length.
Sultan tried unsuccessfully to use each
stick, and he even used one stick to
push the other along to touch the
banana. Later, apparently after having
given up, Sultan accidentally joined the
sticks, observed the result, and
immediately ran with the longer tool to
retrieve the banana. When the
experiment was repeated, Sultan joined
the two sticks and solved the problem
immediately. This result, however,
is ambiguous, because it appeared that
Sultan solved the problem by accident
—not through insight.
Differences b/w Trial and Error
Learning and Insighful Learning:
Trial & Error Learning: Just a
process of habit formation. No mental
processes are involved. Insightful
Learning: Higher mental processes like,
comprehension perception of
relationships analysis generalization are
involved.
Trial and Error Learning: Success is
due to ‘chance’ after much trial & error.
Insightful Learning: Sudden awareness
or insight after implicit trial & error.
Trial and Error Learning: Learning
is gradual & needs practice. Insightful
Learning: Insight is ‘sudden’ & doesn’t
need practice.
Trial and Error Learning:
Acquisition, retention & transfer of
learning are not possible. Insightful
Learning: Acquisition, retention &
transfer of learning is possible.
Trial and Error Learning: Fit for
learning motor skills, language
&arithmetic skills. Insightful Learning:
Fit for learning scientific involving
creative thinking understanding.
 Kohler’s Experiment Involving
Insightful Learning An experiment
was conducted by Kohler to show the
occurrence and importance of
perceptual organization and insight in
learning.
So how Insightful Learning Occurs:
1. The nature of the situation is very
important for insightful learning.
2. The organism reacts to the whole
situation, not to its component parts.
3. The organism perceives the
relationships between means and the
goal, and restructures the perceptual
field.
4. Insight follows a period of trial and
error behavior.
5. The insightful solution comes all on
a sudden.
6. Once the insightful solution is
reached, the organism shows high
degree of retention and transfer to
similar problems.
7. Insight is closely related to the
organisms capacity to learn.
 Educational Implications of
Insight Theory of Learning:
An individual has insight into a
learning situation to the extent that he is
able to understand the situation as a
whole. A solution to a problem is an
example of insight that results from
integration of all the mental processes.
All the higher learning takes place by
this method.
Unit # 06
UNIT-6 PERSONALITY
6.1 Study of personality
6.2 Theories of Personality
6.2.1 Psychoanalytic theory
6.2.2 Learning theory
6.2.3 Phenomenological
theory
6.2.4 Trait Theory
6.1 Study of personality:
What is Personality?
Personality is the product of social
interaction in group life. In society
every person has different traits such as
skin, color, height and weight. They
have different types of personalities
because individuals are not alike. It
refers to the habits, attitudes as well as
physical traits of a person which are not
same but have vary from group to
group and society to society, everyone
has personality, which may be good or
bad, impressive or unimpressive. It
develops during the process of
socialization in a culture of a specific
group or society. One cannot determine
it of an individual exactly because it
varies from culture to culture and time
to time. For example, a killer is
considered criminal in peace time and
hero in war. The feeling and actions of
an individual during interaction moulds
the personality. It is the sum of total
behaviors of the individual and covers
both overt and covert behaviors,
interests, mentality and intelligence. It
is the sum of physical and mental
abilities and capabilities.
Personality has been derived from the
Latin word “persona” which means
“mask” used by the actors to change
their appearance. It is the combination
of an individual thoughts,
characteristics, behaviors, attitude, idea
and habits.
Definition of Personality
1. “It is the constant pattern of
thinking, feeling and acting.”
2. It as the totality of sentiments,
attitudes, idea, habits, skills and
behaviors of an individual.”
Psychology 25
Types of Personality
Following are the three types of
personality
1. Extrovert Personality
This type has the tendency to live
mostly outside the like to live with
others. Those individuals are highly
socialized and have contact with
outside people in the society. They
want to join other groups who are more
in number. These types of people are
drivers, excessive drinkers, smokers,
robbers, thieves, wicked persons etc.
2. Introvert Personality
Introvert is opposite to extrovert. Those
people are always live alone in their
rooms and do not want to go outside.
They have their own imaginary world.
They are teachers, scientists, thinkers
and philosophers.
3. Ambivert Personality
Between extrovert and introvert
personalities there is a third one type
called ambivert. People belonging to
this type enjoy both the groups and
attend them. They have middle mind
and want to live in both parties.
Sometimes they join outside people but
sometimes they live in their own
rooms.
6.2 Theories of Personality
6.2.1 Freudian Psychoanalytic
Theory of Personality
Personality development refers to
enhancing an individual’s personality
for him to stand apart from the rest and
make a mark of own. An individual
with a pleasing personality is respected
and appreciated by all.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory of
Personality Development:
According to Freud’s psychoanalytic
theory of personality development,
there are two basic factors which drive
an individual and help in shaping
his/her personality. These two basic
drivers are love and aggression which
have a direct impact on what an
individual does and thinks. According
to Freud, love and aggression have a
direct control on our minds and
thoughts.
Freud referred to Love and
Aggression as “Eros” and
“Thanatos” respectively.
“Eros” refers to intimate and passionate
love between two partners. It is often
defined as a kind of madness which one
experiences for his/her partner.
“Thanatos” was a figure in Greek
mythology, though he never really
existed as a person. Thanatos
symbolizes death.
Freud believed that Eros represents an
individual’s instinct to survive. Eros
refers to an individual’s determination
to live, where sex is the major driving
force.
Thanatos on the other hand represents
aggression which ultimately leads to
death.
Structure of Personality
According to Freud, an individual’s
mind has a fixed amount of desire
towards sexual activity, often called
as libido. No two individuals would
have similar desire for sexual activity
and the same would vary as per an
individual’s situation, circumstance at
the moment.
An adult personality generally has three
determinants: Id, Ego and Super Ego
The outcome of the combination of all
the three determinants shapes an adult
personality. Freud believed than an
individual’s personality has three parts
and thus is often called as tripartite
personality.
 Id
 Ego
 Superego
Id - refers to irrational needs and
demands, something which has nothing
to do with the reality of the situation.
Freud believed that Individuals seek
immediate pleasure in order to satisfy
their biological and physiological needs
without taking into consideration the
reality.Id gives immediate pleasure to
individuals and is often irrational.
Ego - Ego develops when individuals
start interacting with people around.
Ego helps in the fulfillment of id,
taking into consideration the reality of
the situation.
Super Ego - Super ego is often the
third stage which includes the moral
constraints imposed on an individual by
his parents or family.
Defense Mechanisms
According to Freud’s theory,
Repression is one of the most powerful
defense mechanisms which push
irrational impulses into unconscious
mind. Defense mechanisms play an
important role in pushing unrealistic
thoughts out of awareness. Stressful
thoughts which are threatening to an
individual’s survival should be pushed
into unconscious mind to reduce
anxiety through repression.
Psychosexual Stages
Freud believed that a single organ or
body part is more sensitive to sexual
stimulation at a particular stage in a
child’s complete development cycle.
These organs often referred to as
erogenous zones include mouth, genital
regions and anus. An individual’s
sexual desires depend on erogenous
zone for a particular age. Sometimes a
child finds himself/herself overindulged
in sexual pleasures of a particular age
and is reluctant to grow beyond that
stage. Frustration arises when sexual
needs are not fulfilled. Overindulgence
and Frustration sometimes lead to
fixation. Fixation refers to a state
where an individual is reluctant to
progress beyond a particular stage and
is often obsessed with a sexual
attachment.
6.2.: Learning theory
Learning can be defined as the process
leading to relatively permanent
behavioral change or potential
behavioral change. In other words, as
we learn, we alter the way we perceive
our environment, the way we interpret
the incoming stimuli, and therefore the
way we interact or behave. John B.
Watson (1878-1958) was the first to
Psychology 26
study how the process of learning
affects our behavior, and he formed the
school of thought known as
Behaviorism, now considered a sub-
camps of learning theory. The central
idea behind behaviorism is that only
observable behaviors are worthy of
research since other abstraction such as
a person’s mood or thoughts are too
subjective. This belief was dominant in
psychological research in the United
Stated for a good 50 years.
Bandura's Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura (1986) one of the
advocates of social learning theories
argued that individuals learn new
behaviours through socialization. He
defined socialization as the process
through which an individual’s pattern
of behaviour and their values, attitudes
and motives are influenced to conform
with those seen as desirable in a
particular organization, society or
subculture. According to his theory
much learning takes place when
individuals observe what other people
do and note the consequences of their
behaviour. In his perspective,
individuals construct through
observation and experience internal
models of environment and plan
courses of action accordingly.
Skinner's Operant Learning Theory
Operant-learning theory offered another
view of social learning. People learn
behaviour because external stimuli
reinforce and punish the behaviour.
Reinforcement increases the likelihood
of the behaviour in the future whereas
the punishers decrease likelihood of the
behaviour in the future.
For example, if a boy is rewarded for
sitting quietly in a class then he is apt to
sit quietly again in order to obtain a
reward. In the context of this theory
'sitting quietly' is called operant
whereas the reward is called reinforcer.
Reinforcement can be positive and
negative. When something pleasant is
given it is called a positive reinforcer
whereas if something is taken away in
order to reinforce the behaviour then it
is negative reinforcer. Punishers can be
again positive or negative. Positive
punishers are when something
unpleasant is given to a human to
decrease certain pattern of behaviour
and negative when something pleasant
is taken away. The proper application
of reinforces and punishers develops
complete behaviour patterns that form
an individual’s personality. Skinner
argued that humans repeat acts that that
lead to favourable outcomes and
suppress those that lead to negative
results.
Erikson’s Theory
Erikson’s theory is a good example of
the idiographic approach. He viewed
personality development as continuing
throughout life. He was interested in
the effect of experiences on the
development of the self concept and
how different individuals resolved
personal conflicts. He identified eight
stages of life development (see figure
below).
According to Erikson, personality is the
outcome of eight life stages each of
which has its own distinctive
characteristics. He divided stages into
two parts - childhood and adulthood
stages. The childhood stages are
concerned with development of trust,
autonomy, initiative and industry
whereas the later stages focus on
identify, intimacy, Generativity and
integrity. As you can see from the
figure below each stage focuses on
resolution of dilemmas i.e. autonomy
versus doubt.
He proposed that each developmental
stage builds on the successes of the
previous stage nevertheless
developments in one stage don't end
when the next begins. Instead
developmental preoccupations emerge
and overlap with previous stage and
continue after another stage emerges.
They may emerge later in life if a
previous resolution fails. He argued that
all eight stages of life produce a healthy
personality nevertheless difficulties in
earlier stages may produce problems
later on. His theory emphasises the
results of both development and
changing social expectations as
individuals’ age. It not only makes
considerable sense in terms of face
validity but also links with other
research indicating that individual’
motivations and goals change with age.
6.2.1: Phenomenological theory:
Phenomenological Theory of
Personality
• Carl Roger believes that the innermost
care of human nature is essentially
good, purposive and trustworthy.
• He is primarily concerned with the
blocks and detours on the path to self-
actualization or full- functioning.
Self- Actualization
Is a drive in ways consistent with our
self concept.
Self- Concept
Is made up of a collection of self
schemes.
Self- Schemes
Are beliefs about the self that influence
how we process self- relevant
information and interpret our life
experiences.
Reasons Why some People stop
Reaching their Full Potential
• All persons start out in life with
positive feelings about themselves
which are continually eroded by
significant persons in their perspective
worlds.
• Oftentimes, adults give conditional
positive regards to the children.
• A person’s self concept refers to the
individual’s overall perceptions of his/
her abilities.
Psychology 27
Roger’s further distinguishes •It includes sensitivity to personal insult determine his unique adjustments to his
between the real self and the ideal or affront. A slight remark or offensive environment”.
self. gesture, though insulting, would not
• The greater discrepancy the real self trigger a sense of “amor propio”. The Trait.
from the ideal, means more maladjusted stimulus that sets it off is only that Traits can be defined as.
a person is. Carl Roger’s which strikes at the Filipino’s most 1. Traits are identifiable patterns of
Phenomenological Theory of highly valued attributes. Carl Roger’s behaviors.
Personality Phenomenological Theory of 2. It a stable characteristics of an
Personality individual.
How to Help an Individual Develop a 3. Traits are any identifying habits or
Positive Self- Concept Mañana Habit trend.
• People need to be accepted by other’s • The Mañana Habit is something that
regardless of who they are or what they we have learned from the Spaniards. Trait theory of personality.
do. The word “Mañana” means ‘tomorrow’
• People need to recognize each other’s or specified future time’ Allport concluded that every human
worth and dignity as persons. • Also known as “procastination” in being possesses hundreds of traits
• People should give each other English and “mamaya na” in Filipino. which can be organized into three
unconditional positive reward. Carl Roger’s Phenomenological Theory categories. These traits are as under.
• People should be emphatic listeners, of Personality 1. Cardinal traits.
trying to understand one another’s true 2. Central traits.
feelings. Ningas Cogon 3. Secondary traits.
• People should be genuine too and • “Ningas Cogon” is a Filipino word
open with their feelings in their human which translate to Burning Cogon. 1. Cardinal Traits:
relations.Carl Roger’s • Cogon is a type of thin, dry grass that
Phenomenological Theory of burns very easily, but it also burns out Cardinal traits are those traits which
Personality fast. dominate the whole life of a person.
• Ningas Cogon means “finish what you Cardinal traits are rare because most
Key Elements to Understanding start- don’tburn out fast on a project. people lack a single theme that shapes
Personality Carl Roger’s Phenomenological Theory their whole lives. People having
• The way we perceive ourselves and of Personality cardinal traits dominate their
our world; personality to an extent that their name
• The need to look at the whole person; Pakikisama even become synonymous with those
• The innate positiveness of qualities of • “pakikisama” means going along with traits, and is identified by this trait.
individuals; others. Carl Roger’s Phenomenological Most of the person's behaviors can be
• The people’s conscious experiences. Theory of Personality traced to it. Many historical figures can
Carl Roger’s Phenomenological Theory be defined this way. Serves as person’s
of Personality dominant trait. Shapes a person’s sense
of self, emotional make-up, attitudes,
Dr. Virgilio G. Enriquez and behavior. Dominates an
• Develop the theories that explain the individual's complete personality.
characteristics of a Filipino--- Filipino Examples: a person due to his
Personality Theory. cunningness is known as
6.2.2: Trait theory of
• Father of Sikolohiyang Pilipino. Carl Machiavellian.
Roger’s Phenomenological Theory of personality: Mother Teresa (altruistic religious
Personality service)
Allport (1897-1967) developed his trait Hitler (intense drive for power)
Some Examples of Filipino theory of personality. Allport was a
Characteristics psychologist and professor and a trait 2. Central Traits:
•Amor Propio theorist. This theory is based upon These traits form the basic foundation
•Mañana Habit innate / inborn human traits. It says that of personality. These traits are less
•Ningas Cogon human personality is composed of dominant in personality than cardinal
•Pakikisama Carl Roger’s various traits and all of our behaviours traits. These traits describe our
Phenomenological Theory of are due to those inborn traits. personalities. Usually five to ten traits
Personality are listed for the individual. Traits such
Definition of personality by Gordon as sensitivity, friendliness, generosity,
Amor Propio Willlard Allport. honesty, and are all examples of central
•“Amor propio” is a Spanish word traits. These are general characteristics
which means self- love; a sense of self- “Personality is the dynamic usually found in every person, to some
esteem or self respect that prevents a organization within the individual of degree. These would be obvious traits
person from swallowing his pride. those psychophysical systems that that would be commonly know about a

Psychology 28
person and used to describe him or her.
These would be easily detected to
measure and compare. Basic building
blocks that shape most of our behavior.
3. Secondary Traits:
Secondary traits are less influential than
Cardinal and central traits. They affect
behavior in fewer situations. They are
sometime related to attitudes and
performance. These traits may only be
present under certain circumstances or
conditions. These would be
characteristics or behaviors only known
by close friends.
Examples.
Getting anxious while speaking to a
group.
Becoming impatient while waiting for
your turn of speech.
6.2.3: Personality Assessment:
Personality Assessment is a proficiency
in professional psychology that
involves the administration, scoring,
and interpretation of empirically
supported measures of personality traits
and styles in order to:  with other relevant information,
 Refine clinical diagnoses;  including findings from structured
 Structure and inform psychological
interventions; and  clinical
 Increase the accuracy of behavioral
prediction in a variety of contexts
and settings (e.g., clinical, forensic,
organizational, educational).
Specialized Knowledge:
 Psychometric properties of test
instruments which demonstrate
their construct validity and clinical
utility  interpretation
 Elements of psychometric theory,
including issues of reliability,
validity, reference group norms,
limits of generalizability and test
construction  personality tests, into coherent and
 Theories of intelligence and human
cognition, including the role of race
and ethnicity in intellectual
evaluation  
 Theory, administration and
interpretation of performance-based
measures of personality such as the
Rorschach Inkblot Test and other
major free-response tests;
and major self-report inventories,
such as the MMPI-2 or the PAI,
including the applicability of
specific population norms to 1. Observational technique
individual clients.  2. Situational test
 Appropriate selection of 3. Interview
instruments to answer specific 4. Questionnaire
referral questions including the 5. Rating scale
construction of a test battery  6. Case study
 Data integration from multiple data 7. Sociometry
sources, including interview, 8. Personality inventory
psychometric tests and collateral 9. Projective technique
sources  10. Rorschach inkblot Test
 Communication of assessment 11. Thematic Apperception Test
results to different referring (TAT)
individuals and agencies and 12. Children’s Apperception Test
feedback to clients themselves  (CAT)
 The relationship between 13. Word Association Test (WAT)
assessment and intervention  14. Sentence Completion Test (SCT)
 Ethics, laws and regulations I5. Objective Methods
pertaining to Personality
Assessment in general and in The projective techniques have in
particular settings. common the following features:
Skills and Procedures Utilized: (1) The stimulus material is generally
neutral, ambiguous or more or less
 Administration of and scoring tests undefined so that the subject can easily
properly in accordance with leave an impression of his personality
established standardized on it.
procedures 
 Analysis and integration of test data (2) The psychological reality, rather
than the actual reality of the subjects
world is important – his wishes, his
diagnostic interviews, unstructured attitudes, beliefs, ideals, conflicts and
interviews, historical fantasies.
information, data provided by
informants familiar with the person (3) Implicit or unconscious aspects of
being evaluated and behavioral the personality are revealed in these
observations  techniques – and psycho-dynamic
 Administration and interpretation principles, therefore, play an important
of cognitive assessment part in the interpretations.
instruments 
 Interviewing and case (4) An untrained interpreter is likely to
conceptualization  project his own biases and fantasies
 Selection, administration and into his interpretations of the subject’s
of assessment productions.
instruments appropriate to specific
populations and problems  Some of the important projective
 Integration of information from techniques are the Roareschach Test,
multiple data sources, including the TAT or the Thematic Apperception
Test, the Sentence Completion Tests,
relevant reports that facilitate the Tantophone, the play techniques,
appropriate interventions and the word-association method or the
estimate likely outcomes  picture association method.
Provision of feedback that is clear,
useful and responsive to the client
or patient
Techniques and Methods of
Assessment of Personality:
Subjective, Objective and Projective
Psychology 29

6.2.6 Interview:
An interview isa conversation where q
uestions are asked and answers are
given.[1] In common parlance, the word
"interview" refers to a one-on-one
conversation between
an interviewer and an interviewee. The
interviewer asks questions to which the
interviewee responds, usually so
information may be transferred from
interviewee to interviewer (and any
other audience of the interview).
Sometimes, information can be
transferred in both directions. It is a
communication, unlike a speech, which
produces a one-way flow of
information.
Interviews usually take place face-to-
face and in person, although modern
communications technologies such as
the Internet have enabled conversations
to happen in which parties are separated
geographically, such as
[2]
with videoconferencing software,  and  competing requirements leads to
telephone interviewscan happen
without visual contact. Interviews
almost always involve spoken
conversation between two or more
parties, although in some instances a
"conversation" can happen between two
persons who type questions and
answers back and forth.
Types of Interviews
Every employer has a preferred style of
obtaining the information they need for
their hiring decision.  These are some
basic types of interview styles you may
encounter.  Some employers may
choose to utilize a combination of
different styles, but as long as you've
prepared well for your interview, you'll
be able to adapt to the situation they
present.
1) Structured Interview:
A structured interview is typically
formal and organized and may include
several interviewers, commonly
referred to as a panel interview.  An
interviewer who has a more structured
style will usually begin with what is
known as an “icebreaker” question.
The icebreaker is used to relax you
before the more serious questions are
asked.  A discussion about the weather
might be used or perhaps a question
about the traffic on your way to the
office.
2) Unstructured Interview:
The unstructured interview is what the
name implies.  The only structure to the
interview is the one that you provide.
Basically, the interviewer is interested
in hearing from you, so you may be
asked a variety of different open ended
questions.
3) Stress Interview
This style is used primarily by
interviewers who are hiring for
positions where there is a high level of
daily stress in the work environment
(i.e., sales, stockbroker, etc.). 
 Behavioral Interview.
 Problem Solving or Case Interview.
 Panel Interview.
 Informational Interview.
 Screening or Telephone Interview.
 Individual Interview. ...
 Small Group or Committee
Interview
 The Second or On-Site Interview.
 Behavioral-Based Interview.
 Task Oriented or Testing Interview.
6.2.6 Situational Tests:
Situational stress tests (SStTs)
or Inventories (SSIs) are a type
of psychological test which present the
test-taker with realistic, hypothetical
scenarios and ask the individual to
identify the most appropriate response
or to rank the responses in the order
they feel is most effective. SJTs can be
presented to test-takers through a
variety of modalities, such as booklets,
films, or audio recordings.[2]SJTs
represent a monitoring of material moved into and
distinct psychometric approach from
the common knowledge-based multiple
choice item. They are often used
in industrial-organizational
psychology applications such
as personnel selection. Situational
judgement tests tend to determine
behavioral tendencies, assessing how
an individual will behave in a certain
situation, and knowledge instruction,
which evaluates the effectiveness of
possible responses.[4] Situational
judgement tests could also reinforce
the status quo with an organization
6.2.7 Inventory:
Inventory (American English)
or stock (British English) is the goods
and materials that a business holds for
the ultimate goal of resale (or repair).
Inventory management is a discipline
primarily about specifying the shape
and placement of stocked goods. It is
required at different locations within a
facility or within many locations of a
supply network to precede the regular
and planned course of production and
stock of materials.
The scope of inventory management
concerns the balance between
replenishment lead time, carrying costs
of inventory, asset management,
inventory forecasting, inventory
valuation, inventory visibility, future
inventory price forecasting, physical
inventory, available physical space,
quality management, replenishment,
returns and defective goods, and
demand forecasting. Balancing these
optimal inventory levels, which is an
ongoing process as the business needs
shift and react to the wider
environment.
Inventory management involves a
retailer seeking to acquire and maintain
a proper merchandise assortment while
ordering, shipping, handling and related
costs are kept in check. It also involves
systems and processes that identify
inventory requirements, set targets,
provide replenishment techniques,
report actual and projected inventory
status and handle all functions related
to the tracking and management of
material. This would include the
out of stockroom locations and the
reconciling of the inventory balances. It
also may include ABC analysis, lot
tracking, cycle counting support, etc.
Management of the inventories, with
the primary objective of
determining/controlling stock levels
within the physical distribution system,
functions to balance the need for
Psychology 30
product availability against the need for
minimizing stock holding and handling
costs.
Generally, inventory types can be
grouped into four classifications: raw
material, work-in-process, finished
goods, and MRO goods.
6.2.8 Projective technique:
Projective technique or test, in
psychology, examination that
commonly employs ambiguous stimuli,
notably inkblots (Rorschach Test) and
enigmatic pictures (Thematic
Apperception Test) to evoke responses
that may reveal facets of the subject’s
personality by projection of internal
attitudes, traits, and behaviour patterns
upon the external stimuli. Projective
tests are also used, less frequently, to
study learning processes. Other
projective methods involve requiring
subjects to build wooden block
structures, complete sentences, paint
with the fingers, or provide handwriting
samples; additional methods include
association tests in which spoken words
serve as the stimuli.
The usefulness and reliability of
projective tests depend on a number of
factors, including the extent to which
identical personality interpretations can
be reached by different evaluators using
the same test data and the extent to
which those interpretations are
supported by assessments of personality
from other sources (e.g., personality
inventories and clinical observation). In
consideration of such factors,
psychologists are sharply divided over
the value of projective tests, despite
their prominence in both personality
research and therapeutic practice.
How Projective Tests Are Used to
Measure Personality?
A projective test is a type of personality
test in which you offer responses to
ambiguous scenes, words, or images.
The goal of such tests is to uncover the
hidden conflicts or emotions that you
project onto the test with the hope that
these issues can then be addressed
through psychotherapy or other
appropriate treatments.
How Projective Tests Came About
This type of test emerged from the There are a number of different types of
psychoanalytic school of thought, projective tests. Here are a few of the
which suggested that people have best-known examples:
unconscious thoughts or urges.
Projective tests are intended to uncover 1) The Rorschach Inkblot Test
feelings, desires, and conflicts that are 2) The Thematic Apperception
hidden from conscious awareness. By Test (TAT)
interpreting the responses to ambiguous 3) The Draw-A-Person Test:
cues, psychoanalysts hope to uncover
these unconscious feelings that might Weaknesses
be causing problems in a person's life. Projective tests are most frequently
used in therapeutic settings. In many
Despite controversy over their use, cases, therapists use these tests to learn
projective tests remain quite popular qualitative information about you.
and are extensively used in both clinical Some therapists may use projective
and forensic settings. Recent research tests as a sort of icebreaker to
shows that while training in projective encourage you to discuss issues or
testing in psychology graduate settings examine your thoughts and emotions.
has rapidly declined over the past
decade or so, at least one projective test While projective tests have some
was noted as one of the top five tests benefits, they also have a number of
used in practice for 50 percent of 28 weaknesses and limitations, including:
worldwide survey-based studies.
The respondent's answers can be
How Projective Tests Work
heavily influenced by the examiner's
In many projective tests, you are shown
attitudes or the test setting.
an ambiguous image and then asked to
Scoring projective tests is highly
give the first response that comes to
subjective, so interpretations of answers
mind. The key to projective tests is the
can vary dramatically from one
ambiguity of the stimuli. According to
examiner to the next.
the theory behind such tests, using
Projective tests that do not have
clearly defined questions can result in
standard grading scales tend to lack
answers that are carefully crafted by the
both validity and reliability. Validity
conscious mind. When you're asked a
refers to whether or not a test is
straightforward question about a
measuring what it purports to measure,
particular topic, you have to spend time
while reliability refers to the
consciously creating an answer. This
consistency of the test results.
can introduce biases and even untruths,
whether or not you're trying to deceive
the test provider. For example, a
respondent might give answers that are
perceived as more socially acceptable
or desirable but are perhaps not the
most accurate reflection of his or her
true feelings or behavior.
By providing you with a question or
stimulus that is not clear, your
underlying and unconscious
motivations or attitudes are revealed.
The hope is that because of the
ambiguous nature of the questions,
people might be less able to rely on
possible hints about what they think the
tester expects to see and are less
tempted to "fake good," or make
themselves look good, as a result.
Types of Projective Tests
Psychology 31
 6.2.9 Observation

Inspection of the overt behaviour of a

person in appropriate situations
It is a popular method to study the
behaviour pattern of an individual in an
actual life situation.
The observer decides what personality
traits or characteristics he needs to
know, and he then observes the relevant
activities of the subject in real life
situations.

Types of observation

 Participant observation: observer

becomes the part of the group which
he wants to observe.
 Non- Participant observation: without
actual participation
 Controlled observation: observation
made under the controlled conditions.
 Uncontrolled observation:
observation is done in natural settings
as they occur spontaneous.

Psychology 32
 Unit #: 07
Unit-7 Social
Behaviour
7.1 Social aspects of individual
behavior
7.2 Attitudes
7.3 Social organization --social class –
status and role.
7.4 Group process - competition and
cooperation, conformity and
leadership.
7.1 Social aspects of
individual behavior:
Social behavior
Behavior directed towards society, or
taking place between members of the
same species. Occurs predominantly, or
only, in individuals that are part of a
group.
Social behavior is behavior among two
or more organisms, typically from the
same species. Social behavior is
exhibited by a wide range of organisms
including social bacteria, slime moulds,
social insects, social shrimp, naked
mole-rats, and humans.
In psychology
Social psychology is the scientific
study of how people's thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors are influenced
by the actual, imagined, or implied
presence of others. In psychology,
social behaviour is referred to human
behaviour. It covers behaviours ranging
from physical to emotional that we
communicate in and also the way we
are influenced by ethics, attitudes,
genetics and culture etc.
Types
The types of social behaviour include
the following:
Aggressive behavior:
Violent and bullying behaviour are two
types of aggressive behaviour, their
outcomes are extremely similar. These
outcomes include affiliation, gaining
attention, power and control.[6]
Aggressive behaviour is a type of social
behaviour that can potentially cause or
threaten physical or emotional harm.
People who suffer from aggressive
behaviour are most likely to be
irritable, impulsive and restless hence
why this type of behaviour can range
from verbal abuse to damaging victim
property. Although, an outburst of
aggression is highly common.
Aggressive behaviour on the other hand
is always deliberate, and occurs either
habitually or in a pattern. The one way
to handle aggressive behaviour is to
understand what the cause is, Below is
what can influence aggressive
behaviour:
Family structure
Relationships
Work or school environment
Health conditions
Psychiatric issues
Life issues
In children
Poor parenting skills is one of the most
common reasons why children are
aggressive. Biological factors and lack
of relationship skills are a couple to
name. As children grow up, in many
cases they tend to imitate behaviour
from their elders such as violence or
aggression. Aggressive behaviour can
be irritating, and to stop a child from
doing such, they receive attention for it
from their parents, teachers or peers.
However, there can be times where
parents aren't aware of when such
behaviour is occurring and
unknowingly reward it; they are
encouraging the child. Aggressive
behaviour can lead onto bipolar
disorders
In adults
Adults can also suffer from aggressive
behaviour, these can develop over time,
from undesirable life experiences or an
illness. Disorders such as depression,
anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder
tend to have aggressive behaviour but
this is unintentionally exposed.
However, those without any recent
underlying medical or emotional
disorder, frustration is the answer to
their aggressive behaviour. Emotional
behaviour can also trigger aggression
when someone stops caring about
others
Violent behavior:
An individual that threatens or
physically harms another individual is
classified as violent behaviour. Violent
behaviour usually starts of with verbal
abuse but then escalates to physical
harm such as hitting or hurting.
In children
Violence is learned behaviour, just like
aggressive behaviour, children imitate
what they see from their elders.
There are many reasons to what triggers
violence abuse, these include the
following:
Childhood abuse
History of violw
Researchers in many fields -- including
animal behavior, anthropology,
psychology, and sociology -- study
social behavior. The term "social
behavior" may be defined slightly
differently depending on the field, but
this definition (from biologist Terrence
McGlynn) captures the main idea:
"Social behavior consists of a set of
interactions among individuals of the
same species."
"Social behavior is defined as
interactions among individuals,
normally within the same species, that
are usually beneficial to one or more of
the individuals."
But it's important not to conflate "social
behavior," which is neutral with respect
to the nature of the social interactions,
with terms like "prosocial behavior,"
which specify behavior that is intended
to help others.
Social behavior can be friendly and
mutualistic, as when two monkeys
groom each other. Both parties receive
immediate benefits.
It can be altruistic, as when a vampire
bat donates food to a hungry
companion. The donor pays a cost to
deliver a benefit to the recipient.
Psychology 33
But it can also be mutually
antagonistic, as when two male
elephant seals fight for access to
females. And of course social behavior
can include one-sided displays of
aggression, or assertions of dominance.
Examples of human social behavior
include:
shaking hands, flirting, conversation,
religious rituals, snubbing or "putting
down" another person , exchanging
nonverbal signals (like smiles or
frowns), offering reassurance or
consolation, sharing a meal
teaching, disciplining a child, singing
or making music together, any act of
coopeyration between individuals
7.2: Attitudes and Behavior:
An attitude is "a relatively enduring
organization of beliefs, feelings, and
behavioral tendencies towards socially
significant objects, groups, events or
symbols" (Hogg, & Vaughan 2005, p.
150)
" a psychological tendency that is
expressed by evaluating a particular
entity with some degree of favor or
disfavor" (Eagly, & Chaiken, 1993, p.
1)
Structure of Attitudes
Attitudes structure can be described in
terms of three components.
Affective component: this involves a
person’s feelings / emotions about the
attitude object. For example: “I am
scared of spiders”.
Behavioral (or conative) component:
the way the attitude we have influences
how we act or behave. For example: “I
will avoid spiders and scream if I see
one”.
Cognitive component: this involves a
person’s belief / knowledge about an
attitude object. For example: “I believe
spiders are dangerous”.
This model is known as the ABC model
of attitudes.
One of the underlying assumptions
about the link between attitudes and
behavior is that of consistency. This
means that we often or usually expect
the behavior of a person to be
consistent with the attitudes that they
hold. This is called the principle of
consistency.
The principle of consistency reflects the
idea that people are rational and attempt
to behave rationally at all times and that
a person’s behavior should be
consistent with their attitude(s). Whilst
this principle may be a sound one, it is
clear that people do not always follow
it, sometimes behaving in seemingly
quite illogical ways; for example,
smoking cigarettes and knowing that
smoking causes lung cancer and heart
disease.
There is evidence that the cognitive and
affective components of behavior do
not always match with behavior. This is
shown in a study by LaPiere (1934).
To investigate the relationship
between attitudes and behavior.
Method
LaPiere travelled round America with a
Chinese couple, expecting to meet
discrimination as a result of anti
Chinese feeling. At the time prejudice
against Asians was widespread and
there were no laws against racial
discrimination. They visited 67 hotels
and 184 restaurants. Six months later,
after their return, all the establishments
they had visited were sent a letter,
asking whether they would accept
Chinese guests.
Results
They were only refused at one of the
establishments they visited, and were
generally treated very politely. Of the
128 establishments which responded to
the letter, 91% said they were not
willing to accept Chinese guests.
Conclusion
Attitudes do not always predict
behavior. Cognitive and affective
components of attitudes are not
necessarily expressed in behavior.
The LaPiere's study shows that the
cognitive and affective components of
attitudes (e.g. disliking Chinese people)
do not necessarily coincide with
behavior (e.g. serving them).
Attitude Strength
The strength with which an attitude is
held is often a good predictor of
behavior. The stronger the attitude the
more likely it should affect behavior.
Attitude strength involves:
Importance / personal relevance refers
to how significant the attitude is for the
person and relates to self-interest, social
identification and value. If an attitude
has a high self-interest for a person (i.e.
it is held by a group the person is a
member of or would like to be a
member of, and is related to a person's
values), it is going to be extremely
important.
As a consequence, the attitude will have
a very strong influence upon a person's
behavior. By contrast, an attitude will
not be important to a person if it does
not relate in any way to their life.
The knowledge aspect of attitude
strength covers how much a person
knows about the attitude object. People
are generally more knowledgeable
about topics that interest them and are
likely to hold strong attitudes (positive
or negative) as a consequence.
Attitudes based on direct experience are
more st
7.3 Definition of Social
Organization
What are Social Organizations
Definition & Characteristics
Define Social Organizations:
Elliot and Merrill define social
organization is a state or a condition in
which various institutions of a society
are functioning to recognize their
purposes.
According to Earnest Jones it is a
system in which all the parts of a
society are interrelated to each other
and to the whole society in a
meaningful way.
Characteristics of Social
Organizations
Following are the main characteristics
of social organizations
Psychology 34
Unanimity among Members
Unanimity means the full agreement
among the members of a social
organization who accept the situation
willingly. Unanimity among members
of a social organization is an important
character which plays a vital role in the
existence of that organization. Every
individual in a group or society has its
own status and according to the status
they perform various roles which are
acceptance to the whole group. But
when the status or a role of an
individual charged it becomes
dysfunctional to the social organization
and leads to social disorganization. For
example caste system in its initial
stages worked well and was a part of
our social organization but when the
statuses of the individual in caste
system were misused. The whole
system of social organization
equilibrium members is necessary.
Social Control
When a social organization becomes
disorganized, social control is very
essential for its organization. The
individuals must be brought under
social control which makes a block in
the way of social disorganization.
Desire to Accept Status
In a society, all the members have no
equal status but having difference in
sex, physical capabilities, age and
group. So for smooth running of a
social organization every individual
accepts one’s own status and works
bitterly. These individuals work in a
cooperative level which promotes their
living standards. So, in a good social
organization these individual accept
their own status which can be
improved.
Social Organization and Social
Control
In every society small groups are
combined and form a social
organization but when it becomes
disintegrated and again leads to the
formation of small group. So, there
exists an interaction between social
organization and social group and both
are interlinked with each other.
What is Social Class?
Any observer of American society
would quickly note that there are large
variations in wealth, material
possessions, power and authority, and
prestige in our society. They would
also note differences in access to
education, healthcare and leisure. One
child in ten lives in poverty in major
industrial countries, one in five in the
United States. Taken together these
differences in resources and outcomes
are thought of as the basis of inequality.
What is the source of this inequality?
Some say it is the result of an unequal
distribution of resources, power and
authority.
What are resources: money, land, assets
– distinction made between wealth –
monetary value of all own and income
– amount of money brought in through
wages, investment, etc.
What is power: ability to be in charge,
to rule
What is authority: control, particularly
in the face of resistance
Are material interests (money, land,
assets, etc.) the only basis of
inequality? Status represents another
form of inequality – standing, esteem,
respect, prestige, may involve physical
ability, intelligence, beauty,
occupations that are ranked in order of
prestige – doctors, corporate lawyers,
financial experts … to garbage
collectors and janitors.
When sociologists talk of social class,
they refer to a group of individuals who
occupy a similar position in the
economic system of production.
Within that system occupation is very
important because it provides financial
rewards, stability and benefits like
healthcare. Are people in similar
positions, aware of each other? In broad
terms, yes. Get information (cues) by
type of job, neighborhood, clothing,
cars, etc. Also get information by
conversation – topics, style, grammar
etc. Can people mislead or be misled?
Of course. Is there a point of view
specific to social class? Middle class
values? Working class values?
How many social classes are there in
the United States? Disagreement
within the field on both the number and
the composition of these classes. Many
sociologists suggest five:
Upper Class – Elite
Represent institutional leadership,
heads of multinational corporations,
foundations, universities
Capitalist elite – owners of lands,
stocks and bonds and other assets –
wealth derived from what they own
Forbes magazine publishes a list of the
400 wealthiest families in America. In
1997, net worth had to be at least $475
million.Bill Gates, in that year, had net
worth pf 39.8 billion. Of all the wealth
represented on the Forbes list, more
than half is inherited. Newly acquired
wealth, nouveau riche, have vast
amounts of money but not often
accepted into “old money” circles.
Upper Middle Class
Represent scientific and technical
knowledge – engineers, accountants,
lawyers, architects, university faculty,
managers and directors of public and
private organizations. Have both high
incomes and high social prestige. Well-
educated. Difficult to define a “middle
class” (i.e. upper middle, middle middle
and lower middle) probably the largest
class group in the United States –
because being middle class is more that
just income, about lifestyles and
resources, etc.
Lower Middle Class
Clerical-administrative
Provide support for professionals
Engage in data collection., record-
keeping
Paralegals.\, bank tellers, sales
Blue-collar workers in skilled trades
Working Class
Craft workers
Laborers in factories
Restaurant workers
Nursing home staff
Repair shops, garages
Delivery services
Poor
Psychology 35
Working poor – work full-time at
wages below poverty line
Social services
Underclass
Social class is one of the most
important concepts that sociologists
discuss and yet its definition is often
illusive. There are two classical
sociologists who are most important in
the discussions about class – Karl Marx
and Max Weber
And what is frustrating about both is
that they did not produce a viable
definition of the things that they wrote
extensively about
Status and Role
The term has two sociological uses:
1. R. Linton (1936) defined status
simply as a position in a social system,
such as child or parent. Status refers to
what a person is, whereas the closely
linked notion of role refers to the
behaviour expected of people in a
status.
2. Status is also used as a
synonym for honor or prestige, when
social status denotes the relative
position of a person on a publicly
recognized scale or hierarchy of social
worth. (See 'Social Stratification').
It is the first meaning of the term status,
status as position, which we are going
to refer to in the following paragraphs.
Status as honour or prestige is a part of
the study of social stratification.
A status is simply a rank or position
that one holds in a group. One occupies
the status of son or daughter, playmate,
pupil, radical, militant and so on.
Eventually one occupies the statuses of
husband, mother bread-winner, cricket
fan, and so on, one has as many statuses
as there are groups of which one is a
member. For analytical purposes,
statuses are divided into two basic
types:
7.5 Group process
---competition and cooperation,
conformity and leadership.
_______________________________________________
Prepared and Compiled by: annoyance and  disappointment,
frustration arises from the perceived
RahmatUllah Khan (AD P&D) resistance to the fulfillment of an
UST Bannu individual's will or goal and is likely
to increase when a will or goal is
0333-9741577 denied or blocked.
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There are two types of frustration;
internal and external.
Internal frustration may arise from
challenges in fulfilling 
personal goals, desires, instinctual
drives and needs, or dealing with
perceived deficiencies, such as a lack
of confidence or fear of social
situations. Conflict, such as when one
has competing goals that interfere with
one another, can also be an internal
source of frustration and can
create cognitive dissonance. External
causes of frustration involve conditions
outside an individual's control, such as
Unit #: 09 a physical roadblock, a difficult task, or
the perception of wasting time.
Unit-9 Adjustment:
9.1 Frustration and adjustment Role of Frustration in Personality
9.2 Conflict Development:
9.3 Defense Mechanisms
Frustration experienced during infancy
9.1 Frustration and and in later life becomes an important
adjustment: determining factor for the type of
personality make up of the individual in
Frustration is the hollow state of mind question. When a child reacts to
which occurs when a goal response is interference, blocking and shocks a
blocked. In other words, it occurs when patter is set in his personality
satisfaction of needs is interfered with throughout his life.
or blocked.
In a classic experiment, wolf
OR temporarily deprived the rats the use of
their eyes and ears during infancy.
Frustration is an emotional (like Deprivation during infancy
aggression) response to circumstances handicapped these rats throughout his
where in abstracted from arriving at a life.
personal goal. The more important the
goal, the greater will be frustration. Early development of personality
feeding elimination, toilet habits and
Frustration could take place under the way in which the child is reared,
two circumstances: brought up and cared for. Too rigid or
 When the biological, psychological too slack toilet training creates various
and social needs of the students are problems in normal personality
not fulfilled or satisfied development.
 When the individual faces
conflicting situations or moral In the process of socialization too,
dilemmas. while teaching the child the Dos and
Don’ts of life and during the oral, anal
In psychology, frustration is a the phallic stages of psychosexual
common  emotional response to development, the child consciously or
opposition, related to anger, 
Psychology 36
unconsciously meets a large number of
frustrations.
A child who is frustrated usually in
relation to feeding retaliates by
attempting to bite. While longing for
pleasurable union with the source of
food, the child may yet in moments of
frustration may wish to destroy it.
Extremely rigid and strict disciplinarian
make their child meet a number of
frustrations during childhood.
Such constant and continued frustration
spoil the personality of the individual
by making him react to any minor
frustration and disappointment in very
maladoptive manner, such as by
becoming over aggressive, antisocial,
hostile and non-cooperative.
Sometimes he tries to withdraw as well
as to regress from the reality and make
excessive use of various defense
mechanisms. The way in which a
frustrated person differs in his
activities, reactions and adjustments to
life with that of a normal one indicates
in the long run, how important and
distinct part frustration plays in the
development of human personality.
Adjustment :
Process by which living organism
maintain a balance between it’s need
and the circumstances • Continual
process by which a person varies his
behavior to produce a more harmonious
relationship between himself and
environment
Adjustment is a continual process by
which a person varies his behavior to
produce a more harmonious
relationship between himself and
environment( Gates, Jersild and others,
1970)
Meaning of adjustment
Adjustment is a continual is the
outcome of the individual’s attempt to
deal with stress and meet his needs also
his efforts to maintain harmonious
relationships with the environment.
Psychological survival in much the
same ways as biologist uses the term
adaption to describe physiological
survival (vonhaller,1970)
Adjustment is a process that takes us to
lead a happy and well- contented life
• It helps us to keeping balance between
our needs and the capacity to meet
these needs.
• Adjustment persuades us to change
our way of life according to the
demands of the situation.
• Adjustment gives us strength and
ability to bring desirable changes in the
conditions of our environment.
Characteristics of Adjustment:
• Adjustment helps us to keep balance
between ours needs and the capacity to
meet these needs.
• Adjustment implies changes in our
thinking and way to the demands of the
situation
• It gives us ability and strength to
desirable changes in the state of our
environment
• Adjustment is phsychosociological as
well as psychological
• It is multidimensional
• Adjustment learn us happiness and
contentment.
Well Adjusted person
• Free from physical ailment.
• Psychological comfort. No
psychological diseases or depression,
anxiety
• Social acceptance
• Self understanding about assets &
limitation
• Self respect
• Balanced level of aspiration
• Strong will power
• Healthy attitude and interest
• Emotionally controlled
• Intellectually developed
Maladjustment
• Maladjustment is degree of
disharmony between the individual and
the environment. Mal adjustment
results from frustration and conflict.
• Individual struggles between his
abilities and capacities and his
environment.
• It indicates the failure of the
individual to adjust to a situation.
Process of Adjustment
• An adjustment mechanism is a device
used by the individual to achieve
satisfaction of the need indirectly. This
helps reducing tension and stress in
maintaining self respect.
• Compensation: individual attempt s to
cover up his weakness in one area by
exhibiting his strengths
• Identification: individual attempts to
identify himself with successful
person.to hide his own failures, a
student identify himself with his father
and talk about his success.
Adjustment program in school
• Achievement testing, interpretation,
follow-up
• Diagnostic testing
• Identification & analysis of
adjustment behavior.
• Varity in instructional methods.
• Individual & remedial work.
• Counseling
9.2 Concept of Conflict:
Before going ahead, let us understand
the difference between conflict and
frustration. Yes, there is a difference
between  conflict  and  frustration.
The latter (frustration) is the product or
the consequence of the dissatisfaction
of needs, whereas, the former (conflict)
Psychology 37
is the process, or one of the factors
responsible for causing frustration.
Conflict is the operation of two
incompatible action systems, it may be
drives; needs, values, tendencies and
impulses. The individual finds it
difficult to make a choice between two
conflicting situations.
A conflict is caused under two
situations.
First, it (conflict) arises when there is
an urge to fulfill the two equally
important objectives, needs, drives,
values, tendencies and impulses. This
situation of conflict is exemplified in
the following situation.  situation, wherein an individual is
Example: Mr. Singh is a Police
Inspector. He is quite sincere and
honest in his work. He has a good
reputation in the community. Like any
other responsible father, he too arranges
his daughter's wedding. Unfortunately,
the marriage expenses exceed the
budget and he finds it difficult to
manage. At that moment, his wife
advises him to borrow money from his
friends. But Mr. Singh cannot even
think of borrowing money from others
as he gives much importance to self-
respect.
So, the situation may create a conflict
in his mind. In the above given
example, you find that the
psychological need of self-respect is
incompatible with the social need or
social status in the community.
Types of Conflicts:
Conflicts are classified into three types.
These are the following:
An approach-approach conflict:
An approach-approach conflict is a
situation, wherein I the individual is
caught between two mutually exclusive
goals which are desirable and also are
difficult to realize simultaneously. This
is exemplified in the following
situation. A student prepares for his
examination, is keen to secure high
marks but at the same time, wishes to
attend the wedding of his best friend,
both due on the same day.  We use defense mechanisms to protect
Similarly, a girl who is eager to marry
her fiance, and also wishes to complete
her computer course in the same threatened, or because our id or
semester itself. In these illustrations, superego becomes too demanding. 
you find that the boy and girl should They are not under our conscious
move towards the other goal in order to control, and are non-voluntaristic. 
achieve one.
Ego-defense mechanisms are natural
An approach - avoidance conflict: and normal.  When they get out of
Let us consider a common example. A proportion (i.e., used with frequency),
girl of twenty five wishes to marry a neuroses develop, such as anxiety
boy who is highly qualified and well states, phobias, obsessions, or hysteria.
placed. She hesitates to achieve her
goal because the life style of the boy is
totally different from the girl. He
smokes and drinks. Similarly a boy
wants to approach his father to obtain
grace marks in two subjects. 
An avoidance-avoidance conflict: _______________________________________________
An avoidance-avoidance conflict is a
motivated to avoid both the goals. Prepared and Compiled by:
Observe yet another dilemma. Karan is
forced by his friends to see a new Rahmat Ullah Khan (AD P&D)
movie, which he is reluctant to watch. UST Bannu
At the same time, he does not want to
displease his friends by saying that he 0333-9741577
would not accompany them for the
rahmatbannu@gmail.com
movie. In this situation, he wants to
avoid both the goals and finally faces a
conflicting situation.
Measures for Resolving Conflicts:
Every individual faces a conflict in life
sometime or the other. But it is not
necessary that every time, it leads him
to frustration. Whenever he meets
frustration in life he develops tolerance
towards that situation. Thus, every
individual develops a certain degree of
frustration tolerance. A person who has
low frustration tolerance may live in a
maladjusted manner.
9.2 Defense Mechanisms:
A defense mechanism is an 
unconscious  psychological mechanism
that reduces anxiety arising from
unacceptable or potentially harmful
stimuli.
Sigmund Freud (1894, 1896) noted a
number of ego defenses which he refers
to throughout his written works.  His
daughter Anna (1936) developed these
ideas and elaborated on them, adding
ten of her own.  Many psychoanalysts
have also added further types of ego
defenses.
ourselves from feelings of anxiety or
guilt, which arise because we feel
Psychology 38