CBSE psychology 12thstd – Running notes for all chapters (Ch-1 to Ch-7)

REVISED SYLLABUS (2020-2021)

Chapter I–Variations in Psychological Attributes

Variability is a fact of nature and individuals are no exception hence within and
across the species also, there are individual variations.

This is termed as Individual differences.

In psychology this term is defined as:
Individual differences refer to distinctiveness and variation amongst people’s
characteristics and behaviour patterns.
1. Many psychologists believe they are influenced by our Personal Traits.
2. Some believe that they are based on situational factors, known as Eg. People
of different personal traits behaving alike infront of aggressive boss.

Psychological Attributes:
These attributes are involved in simple phenomena like ‘time taken to react to a
stimulus’ to ‘highly global concept like Happiness’. It is difficult to count and specify
psychological attributes which can be assessed.

Hence any attribute will be said to exist in a person if it can be measured/assessed

in a scientific may.

Assessment of Psychological Attributes:

Assessment is the first step of understanding the attributes. It is the measurement

of psychological attributes of individuals and their evaluation, often using multiple
methods as standards of comparison. The assessment may be Formal or Informal:
Informal- e.g. If we say Harish is dominant.
Based on our perception and assessment of Dominance, without applying any formal
technique to measure. Hence this type of assessment will vary the results from one
assessor to another, depending on their opinions and will be open to subjective
interpretation and huge variation.

Formal- This is when we use a defined technique or measuring standards to assess

any attribute without letting our own perception change the assessment.
Its objective, standardized and organized.
The formal assessment also involves measurement of an attribute with respect to
its application in a situation.

e.g. If Harish is assessed as dominant , some interventions might be needed to

effect a change in his behaviour while dealing with his teams at work etc

Main Domains of Psychological Attributes:

Psychological attributes are not linear or unidimensional. They are complex and
expressed in dimensions.
If you want to have a complete assessment of a person, you will need to assess how
s/he functions in various domains or areas…such as Cognitive, Social, Emotional
etc.

Some of the domains of these attributes are:

1. Intelligence- It is the global capacity to understand, think rationally and

use available resources effectively in a situation/challenge. It represents
general Cognitive competence/ability.
2. Aptitude- Individual’s underlying potential for acquiring skills. Aptitude
assessment helps predict what an individual will be able to do if given proper
environment and training. E.g. training a person with good language aptitude
can help him become a good writer.
3. Interest- It’s individual’s interest / preference to engage in a particular activity.
Assessment of interest may help in deciding that in which occupation/activity
an individual would be comfortable and happy/satisfied.
4. Personality- Relatively enduring characteristics that make a person distinct
from others. This test tells us how a person is likely to behave in future-
Dominant, submissive, moody withdrawn or emotional.
5. Values- Enduring Beliefs about an ideal mode of behaviour. A set
of standard rules, guidelines which a person follows to live his life. This
would help assess what kind of decisions a person would make in a specific
situation..e.g. political, religious, social & economics.

Assessment methods-

Several methods are used for Psychological assessment.

1. Psychological Test- is an objective and standardized test to measure any of
the individual’s psychological attributes- mental, behavioural, aptitude etc as
mentioned above. g. Clinical diagnosis, guidance, personnel selection,
placement n training.
2. Interview- involves seeking information on a one on one basis by a counsellor
from the client. g. Door to door salesmen surveying about a product, journalists
from important political people, employer while selecting employees use this
technique to assess.
3. Case Study- is a detailed study of a person in terms of his/her psychological
attributes by collecting history, wide amount of data using interview,
observation, and questionnaire of Psychological tests methods. To assess any
of the attributes to draw learnings. g – case study of an eminent leader to learn
about his personality, aptitude and values etc.
4. Observation- employing systematic, organized and objective procedure to
record behavioural phenomena occurring naturally in real time. Observation
methods are useful to study real events, situations however their interpretation
can be subjective and in little control of the observer. g. studying Mother Child
relationship by watching them objectively for a certain duration.
5. Self-report– It s a method in which an individual provides factual information
about himself or opinions, beliefs etc.
Such information can be obtained by Interviews, questionnaires or tests.
Intelligence:
Intelligence is the key attribute employed to know how individuals are different
from eachother.
Psychological definition is very different from the common definition of intelligence.

Common Definition: Mental alertness, ready wit, quickness to learn and grasp and
ability to understand relationships.

Oxford Definition: Power of Perceiving, Learning, Understanding and Knowing

Psychology definitions:

Alfred Binet: Ability to Judge well, Reason well and Understand well. One similar
set of abilities used for solving any or every problem. His theory is called Uni or One
factor theory.
Wechsler: Ability to think rationally, act purposefully and to deal effectively with your
environment.
Charles Spearman: 1927, proposed a Two Factor Theory. As per hm Intelligence
consists of a
General factor (g- factor) are primary and common to all performances.

Specific factors (s- factors) which are responsible for specific abilities- Singing,
architects, scientists

Louis Thurstone: Intelligence consists of 7 primary abilities, relatively independent.

They are:
1. Verbal Comprehension ( meaning, words, concepts, ideas)
2. Numerical Ability ( speed & accuracy in numerical & computation skills)
3. Spatial Relations (Visualising patterns and forms)
4. Perceptual Speed (Speed in Perceiving details)
5. Word Fluency ( Using words fluently n flexibly)
6. Memory (accuracy in recalling information)
7. Inductive reasoning ( Deriving rules from presented facts)
8.
Arthur Jensen: Proposed a hierarchical model of intelligence, consisting 2 levels:
Level1- Associative learning where Output is more or less similar to Input. ( eg Rote
learning & memory)

Level2- Cognitive competence. Higher order skills. It transforms the input to produce
effective output.

J.P. Guilford: 3 dimensions:

1. Operations- are the things that respondent does. Cognition, memory,
recording, retention, convergent.
2. Contents- Nature of material or information on which intellectual operations are
performed. Visual, auditory, symbolic, semantic ( words) , behavioural.
3. Products- Form in which information is processed by respondent.
His theory has 6X5X6 = 180 cells
Theory Multiple Intelligence:

Howard Gardner: Intelligence is not a single entity, rather distinct type of

intelligences exist. They are independent of each other but do work together at times
to find solution to a problem. (MISLLB) to remember
Gardner studied extremely talented people and arrived on eight types of
intelligences:

Linguistic (production and use of language skills): Such people are word-smart,
articulate, poets & writers.
Logical-Mathematical (Scientific thinking & Problem solving): Think Logically,
critically, abstract reasoning, symbols & mathematical problem solving. Scientists,
mathematicians who won nobel prize.
Spatial ( Visual images & Patterns): Forming, using, transforming mental images.
Pilots, sailors, sculptors, painters, architects, interior decorators, surgeons.
Musical ( Sensitivity to rhythm & sound pattern): Produce, create and manipulate
music patterns.
Bodily-Kinaesthetic ( using body flexibly & creatively): Athletes, dancers,
sportsmen, gymnasts , surgeons etc.
Interpersonal ( awareness of one’s own feelings, motives & desires): Using
their knowledge about their strengths, limitations and using this awareness
effectively to relate to others. Human existence, finer sensibilities regarding their
identity, meaning of life.
Philosophers, spiritual leaders.

Naturalists: ( sensitivity towards the natural world): Awareness of relationship

with the natural world. Beauty of flora, fauna, ecology.
Hunters, farmers, tourists, botanists, environmentalists, animal activists.

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence:

Robert Sternberg (1985): Intelligence is Ability to adapt, to shape and select
environment to accomplish one’s goals and those of society/culture.

3 basic types of intelligence:

1. Componential- Analysis of information to solve problems. Such people think

analytically and critically. This intelligence has 3 components, each serving
different function:
2. Knowledge acquisition-Learn, encode, combine & compare information (
Find stage)
3. Meta component: Control, evaluate, monitor, plan ( cognitive processing-
analyse & solve stage)
4. Performance components: Action, actually executing the planned task (
Operational skill- transfer stage)
5. Experiential Intelligence: Using past experiences creatively to solve new
problems. Such people make new discoveries and inventions. They have the
ability to filter crucial information for a given situation.
 6. Contextual Intelligence: This intelligence involves the ability to deal with
environmental demands. The manifestation needed to adjust to the situation.
Street smart, Business sense. Such people adapt to the environment or modify
environment as per their needs and hence are more successful.

PASS Model of intelligence: (Planning, Attention Arousal and Simultaneous-

Successive model)- by J.P. Das, Jack Naglieri, Kirby

Arousal/Attention: Arousal helps in paying attention to the stimuli. Too much or too
little arousal with interfere with the attention. E.g Teacher informs you about the
upcoming test, which stimulates you to attend to the chapters. Arousal helps you in
focusing your attention to reading, learning, revising.
Simultaneous & successive progressing: Simultaneous processing allows you to
perceive the relationship between various concepts and integrate them into
meaningful patterns. Relationship among abstract figures..eg. Solving Jigsaw
puzzles.
Successive processing takes place when you remember things sequentially.
Learning digits, alphabets etc.

Planning: It is an essential part of the intelligence. After the information is attended

to and processed, planning is activated. It allows us to think of possible courses of
action need to be implemented to reach the target and evaluate their effectiveness.
In case the plan doesn’t work this part of intelligence also help review the gaps and
device alternate plan.

Individual Differences in Intelligence:

The study conducted on Identical/fraternal twins, siblings, brought up together or in
different environment helps us establish the fact that the factors that influence
intelligence are:

Nature- Heredity, genes

Nurture- Environment, nutrition
Research showed: Correlation of Intelligence of diff samples as follows:

Identical Twins reared together correlate almost 0.9

Identical twins , separated in childhood correlate 0.72
Fraternal twins reared together correlate 0.6
Siblings reared together correlate 0.5
Siblings reared apart correlate about 0.25
Adopted children display intelligence more similar to biological parents than
adoptive ones. However studies also report that as adopted children grow their
intelligence moves closer to adoptive parents.
Hence, there is a general consensus amongst psychologists that Intelligence is a
product of complex interaction of heredity (Nature) and environment (Nurture).

Assessment of Intelligence:
1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon – made the first successful attempt to
measure intelligence.
MA- Mental Age- It’s a measure of intellectual development relative to people of
same age.
CA- Chronological Age- It’s the biological age from birth.

If MA is higher than CA, the person is considered bright and more intelligent.

If MA=CA , then it is considered average intelligence.

If MA<CA, The person is called retarded as per Binet and Simon.

Intelligence Quotient: 1912, William Stern, German Psychologist: IQ

IQ= Mental Age divided by Chronological age and Multiplied by 100.
IQ= MA/CA X100
100 is the multiplier to avoid value in decimals.
So if MA=CA, IQ is 100
For value >100, it means the child’s mental age is higher by those points than
chronological age. And for values <100, considered low IQ.

Usually distribution over the population follows a bell curve:

IQ range description %age population

Above 130- Very superior 2.2

120-130- Superior 6.7

110-119- High Average 16.1

90-109- Average 50

80-89- Low average 16.1

70-79 Borderline 6.7

Below 70 Intellectually disabled 2.2

Variations of Intelligence:
Intellectual Deficiency
Is defined as significantly sub average general intellectual functioning with deficit in
adaptive behaviour and manifested during the development period.
This impacts 3 features as captured in the definition:

1. Sub- average intellectual functionality.- Slower in grasp than children of same

age.
2. Adaptability of adapt and deal with environment effectively. ( Independently
holding job and family)
3. Manifestation- during developmental period.
Severity of above is dependent on the different levels of IQ deficiency.

Mild- IQ 55-70 , Moderate- IQ 35-55, Severe IQ- 20-35 & Profound IQ < 20

Depending on the range, some people can be trained and educated with special
care and those on the other extreme may live a dependent s life throughout.
Intellectual Giftedness
High performance due to outstanding potential with IQ >130.
Can be assessed from Talent and Giftedness.

Usually these terms are used interchangeably, however there is a difference:

Giftedness- Exceptional general ability shown in superior performance in a wide

variety of areas.
Talent- is a narrower term and refers to remarkable ability in a specific field ( e.g.
spiritual, social, aesthetic, etc..). Highly talented people are also called Prodigies.

It is- combination of high ability, high creativity and high commitment.

Important characteristics of gifted children:

Advanced logical thinking, questioning and problem solving.

High speed in processing information.
Superior generalization and discrimination ability
Advance original and creative thinking
High level intrinsic motivation, self esteem.
Independent and non-conformist thinking
Preference for solitary academic activities.

Type of Intelligence tests:

Individual or Group tests:

Individual Tests Group Tests

Administered to several persons
1 Administered to one person at a time
simultaneously
Administrator to establish rapport with
No opportunity to be familiar with
2 the subject & be sensitive to his/her
the subject
feelings, moods, expressions.
In this tests subjects are allowed to In this they seek written
3 answer orally/written form/manipulate answers usually in a multiple
objects as per tester’s instructions choice.

Verbal, Non-verbal or performance tests:

An intelligence test may be fully verbal, fully written or fully performance based,
or it may consist a mixture of each category.
Verbal- requires verbal responses either orally or in written form. Can be
administered only to literate people.
Non- Verbal- Tests use pictures or illustrations. In these subjects examine an
incomplete pattern and choose from figures to complete the pattern.
Can be administered to any culture group or illiterate people.
E.g Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM).

Performance Tests: Require subjects to manipulate objects and other materials to

perform a task. Written language is not necessary. So can be administered to
persons with low literacy and any culture.

e.g. Koh’s block design containing wooden blocks.

Intelligence in Indian Tradition:
Unlike the western view, which particularly focuses on cognitive parameters,
following competencies are identified as facets of intelligence in the Indian tradition:

Cognitive capacity: ( Sensitivity to context, understanding, discrimination,

problem solving, effective communication)
Social competence: ( respect of social order, commitment to elders, the young
and the needy , concern about others perspectives)
Emotional competence: ( Self regulation, self monitoring of emotions, honesty,
politeness, good conduct and self-evaluation)
Entrepreneurial competence: (commitment, persistence, patience, hard work,
vigilance, goal-directed )
Emotional Intelligence: The notion of emotional intelligence broadens the concept
of intelligence as it considers that Intelligence includes emotions.
This encompasses- Appraisal, expression and regulation of emotions.

It is the Feeling side of intelligence. A good IQ/Scholastic record is not enough to be

successful in life. Even the people who are most successful in academics face
problems in managing their personal life. Psychologists refer to this as a lack of
emotional intelligence.

It is represented as EQ.

Salovey& Mayer first defined EQ as- The ability to monitor one’s

own and other’s emotions and discriminate them to use them to guide one’s
thinking and actions.
Characteristics of the people with high EQ:
Perceive and be sensitive to your feelings and emotions.
Sensitive to observing others’ emotions by noting their body language,
voice, tone & facial expressions.
Use emotions and thoughts while solving problems and taking decisions.
Understand the nature and intensity of emotions and their powerful
influence.
Control on emotions/feelings while dealing with others to achieve peace
and harmony.
Aptitude:
Mental ability in a special/particular field is referred as Aptitude.
Aptitude is also- Ability to acquire some specific knowledge and skill after training.

People with similar intelligence- IQ differ widely in acquiring certain type of skills.

They can be good in different areas/subjects.

This means people can have aptitude of different fields with similar measure of
intelligence.

Difference between Aptitude & Interest:

Aptitude is the potential to perform any activity/task
Interest is the preference for performing certain activity.
To excel in any field a person needs to have both Aptitude and Interest.
Measuring Aptitude:

There are several types of Aptitude tests largely available in two forms:

1. Independent (specialised) aptitude tests. – Mechanical, clerical, numerical,

tests for specialized fields.
2. Multiple (generalized) aptitude tests.- Exist in the form of test batteries.
Differential Aptitude test ( DAT), General aptitude test battery (GATB), Armed
services vocational aptitude battery (ASVAB) are well known.
DAT is commonly used in educational settings, consisting eight specialized subtests-
Verbal, Numerical, Abstract, Clerical speed and accuracy, Mechanical, Space,
Spellings and Language tests. ( common test )

Creativity and Intelligence:

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is

formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory,
a musical composition or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary
work or a painting).
There are differences in the potential for creativity across individuals and the manner
in which Creativity is expressed.

Creativity can be expressed in writing, dance, poetry, science and so on.

Manifestation of creativity can be seen in a poem, painting, new chemical process,

an innovation of law, a breakthrough in science in preventing a disease.

Names of some highly creative persons in the history: Tagore, Einstein, C.V.Raman,
Ramanujan etc. for their outstanding contribution.

The definition of creativity has broadened and it includes ordinary people in creative
occupations like Pottery, carpentry, cooking etc.

Variation in potential for creativity:

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Creativity is determined both by Heredity and Environment.
Limit of the creative potential are set by heredity and Environmental factors help
stimulate the development of creativity. Environmental factors such as motivation,
commitment, family support, peer influence, training n opportunities to polish skills
really help enhance the realisation of true creative potential.

Creativity and Intelligence:

Intelligence is the overall ability to understand, analyse and adapt in different
situations. It is a brain function which helps individuals to perform and excel in
multiple domains. Creativity is the ability to use intelligence in order to churn out
something unique and novel in a specific field.

Thus a person who has the ability to learn faster, reproduce accurately is considered
intelligent more than creative until he /she devices new ways of learning and doing.

Terman in 1920 found that Person with high IQ were not necessarily creative.( He s
just a faster computer/processor).
And creative ideas can come from persons who did not have very high IQ. Ability to
think differently.

The relationship between Intelligence and creativity is positive. All creative abilities
require a minimum level of intelligence to acquire knowledge, capacity to
comprehend, retain and retrieve.

e.g. to express creativity in writing, one must possess adequate language skills and
to express creativity in creating new laws of science, one must have to intelligence to
acquire basic knowledge of the subject.

Creativity test are open ended and involve making a person think of different
answers to the questions and problems. They give freedom to individuals to go in
different direction and freedom to use their imagination and express in original ways.
Chapter 2- Self and Personality

Self and Personality –can be referred as the characteristics in which we define our
existence.
These characteristics are usually acquired from our experiences and they show up in
our behaviour.

These characteristics make people different from each other. Hence they behave
differently in similar situations.

Also same people behave almost similarly in different situations.

Hence it is safe to say that Different people have different personalities in

different situations.
Self- Totality of an individual’s conscious experiences, ideas , thoughts and feelings
with regard to her/himself developed since the beginning( childhood days).
These experiences and ideas define the existence of an individual both at
personal and social level.
Parents, friends, teachers n other significant people around ourselves.

Self can be defined under two type of identities:

Personal Identity– Personal aspects: eg Name, personal qualities (honest,
hardworking), potential, capabilities (singer, dancer), beliefs (believer in God).
Social Identity- These are those aspects that link a person with society or a cultural
group.
Eg- religion( Hindu, sikh), North Indian or a South Indian

Cognitive and Behavioural aspects of Self

I Self- Esteem- The personal value and worth judgement by a person about
her/himself is termed as Self-esteem.
1. High Self-esteem- Those who think highly of themselves, more accepted by
others. Are generally happier, more confident, usually perform better at
school/work.
2. Low Self-esteem- Those who feel less accepted and valued by others. Are
generally anxious, depressed and may develop antisocial behaviour.
Studies show children develop self-esteem by the age of 6-7 years in four
areas:
1. Academic competence, 2. Social competence, 3. physical/athletic competence
and 4. Physical appearance.
II Self-efficacy- Notion of Self-efficacy is based on Bandura’s social learning theory.
It is the extent to which people believe that they can control their life and the
outcomes themselves. Their conviction in themselves.

High Self-efficacy – A strong self of self-efficacy allows people to select, influence

and even construct and circumstances of their own life.
III Self-regulation- is the ability to organize and monitor our own behaviour.
High self-regulation– are people who are able to change their behaviour according
to the demands of the external environment.
Will power– Resistance to situational pressures and control over ourselves.
Self-control– Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs is called self-
control.
Psychological techniques of self-control:
1. Observation of own behaviour
2. Self- instructions- to instruct oneself on do something
3. Self- reinforcement- Rewarding behaviours that have pleasant outcome.

Culture and Self:

Several aspects of Self are linked to the characteristics and features of the culture in
which an individual lives.

e.g Distinction between Indian and Western cultures.

Western culture:

1. In this culture the Individual ( self) and the cultural group are two different
identities
2. The boundaries between self and group are clearly defined.
3. Individual members of the group maintain their individuality.
4. Western culture is Individualistic.
Diagram:

Indian Culture:

1. Self is not separated from one’s own group

2. They both ( self& group) remain in state of harmonious co-existence.
3. Lot of dependency and no clear boundaries.
4. Indian culture is Collectivistic.

Concept of Personality
Literary definition- This word is derived from Latin word-Persona, which
means mask used by actors in Roman theatre to perform their roles.
Layperson’s definition– Personality represents external or physical appearance.
They often mistake the superficial features for a person s overall personality.
Eg. We often assume that Good looking person also has a charming personality.

Psychology definition: Personality refers to our characteristic ways of responding

to individuals and situations. Personality refers to unique and relatively stable
qualities that characterise an individual’s behaviour across different situations over a
period of time.
People can easily describe the way in which they respond to various situations. Eg-
Shy, sensitive, quiet, warm, nervous..)

Overall:
Personality is characterised by following features:

1. It consists of both physical to psychological components

2. Expression of personality in form of behaviour is unique for each individual
3. It’s main features do not easily change with time
 4. Though some features may change due to internal or external situational
demands, making personality also adaptive to situations.
Some similar meaning words/terms to Personality which are often used as
synonyms but differ in meaning:
Temperament: Biologically based characteristic way of reacting
Traits: Stable, persistent and specific way of behaving, in most situations.
Disposition: Tendency of a person to react to a specific situation
Character: The description based on overall pattern of regularly
occurring behaviour
Habits: Over learned modes of behaving, become involuntary
reactions/actions.
Values: Goals and ideals that are considered important and worthwhile to achieve.
Benefits of understanding diverse personalities:

Different Approaches to study Personalities and behaviours:

Type approach
Trait Approach
Interactional Approach
Psychodynamic approach
Behaviour approach
Cultural Approach
Humanistic approach

Type Approach: This approach attempts to comprehend and segregate people into
groups by examining and based on their broad patterns in observed behaviours.
So each pattern type refers to a group of people who have similarity of their
behavioural characteristics that match with the pattern that set denotes.

Greek physician Hippocrates had proposed a typology of personality based on

fluid/humour: Sanguine, Phlegmatic, melancholic, choleric.
CharakSamhita famous treatise on Ayurveda classifies as- Vata,
pitta and kapha based on 3 humoural elements- Tridosha
Typology of personality based on trigunas:
Sattva- Cleanliness, Truthfulness, dutifulness, detachment and discipline.
Rajas- Intensive activity, desire for sense gratification, dissatisfaction, envy.
Tamas– Anger, arrogance, depression, laziness, feeling of helplessness.
Sheldon theory: based on body type and temperament
Endomorphic- Fat, soft and round. Relaxed and sociable.

Mesomorphic- Strong muscular, rectangular body and energetic and courageous by

temperament

Ectomorphic- Thin, long, fragile by body type and creative, brainy and introvert by
temperament.

Jung theory- Introverts, Extroverts

Friedman &Rosenman- Type A & Type B

Type A- Possess high motivation, lack patience, fall short of time, in a great hurry,
always feel burdened with work, cant slow down.
Type B- Absence of category of Type A

Type C- Unassertive, cooperative, patient

Type D- Proneness of depression.

Trait Approach: This type groups people as per specific set of traits. For eg
Shyness is a trait, so people can be rated in terms of degree of presence or absence
of that trait in individuals as Less, More, Not shy at all against that. Friendliness can
be another trait and many others.
1. Traits are relatively stable over time
2. They are generally consistent across situations
3. Their strengths and combinations vary across individuals leading
All of the above lead to individual differences in personality.

Gordon Allport’s Trait theory: As per Allport, Traits are the intervening variables
between situations which stimulate and person’s response to them.
1. Cardinal traits: They are highly pervasive and generalized and indicate
the goals around which an individual’s life revolves. g. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-
violence – Gandhian trait
and Hitler’s Nazism – Hitlerian trait

2. Central traits: These are less pervasive, still much generalized dispositions.
E.g. warm, sincere , diligent

We often use these traits for writing a job recommendation or in our resume.

3. Secondary traits: These are least generalized Commonly found in various

people, cannot be made the basis for differentiating personalities of people.
E.g. likes mangoes, prefer ethnic clothes, likes black dresses.

Cattell theory: Trait based personality factors- He developed a test called sixteen
personality factor questionnaire.
1. Source traits: Stable and are considered as building block of personality.
2. Surface traits: They result out of the interaction of source traits.
Eysenck’s Theory: Based on biological and genetically governed, Personality could
be reduced into two broad dimensions– (However, in his later work Eysenck
introduced 3rd dimension also).
1. Neuroticism Vs Emotional stability: If refers to the degree of control people
have on their feelings. People who score high on the neuroticism are anxious,
moody, touchy, restless, distressed, irritable, emotional unstable. The opposite
/low scores are calm, emotionally stable.
2. Extraversion Vs Introversion: Extraversion refers to people who are
outgoing, active, gregarious, impulsive, thrill seeking and introversion refers to
people passive, quiet, cautious and reserved.
3. Psychoticism Vs sociability: Person scoring high on psychoticism tends to
be hostile, egocentric, anti-social. The opposite are friendly and sociable.
Five Factor Model of Personality:

Paul Costa and Robert McCrae have examined all possible personality traits. They
indicated set of Big five factors, which are useful and consistent in analysing
personality traits across cultures, languages, hence most promising empirical
approach to study personality.

Openness to experience: Those who score high on this are imaginative, curious,
and open to ideas. Interested in cultural pursuits. Opposites are cold and rigid.
Extraversion: Socially active, assertive, outgoing, talkative and fun loving. Opposite
are shy.
Agreeableness: Helpful, cooperative, caring and nurturing. Opposite are hostile,
self-centred.
Neuroticism: People scoring high on this are highly emotionally unstable, anxious,
irritable, hypertensive. Opposites are well adjusted, calm.
Conscientiousness: Achievement oriented, dependable, responsible, prudent,
hardworking and self-controlled. Opposites are impulsive.
The Interactional Approach: This theory claims that situational characteristics play an
important role in determining our behaviour. People may behave as dependent or
independent not because of their internal trait, but because of external rewards or
threats. The compelling situations can used to observe people’s behaviour in places
like a market, a courtroom, or a place of worship.

Psychodynamic approach:

Highly popular approach to study personality, by Sigmund Freud. He used ‘Free

Association’ the technique ( a method in which a person is asked to openly share his
thoughts, feelings and ideas that comes to his/her mind) Dream and error analysis to
understand the functioning of mind and help analyse thoughts by expression.
Based on the theory of Levels of consciousness, Freud visualizes the human minds
in terms of 3 levels of consciousness:
Conscious: Thoughts, feelings, actions people are aware of.
Preconscious: The mental activity people are aware of only if they pay attention to it
closely.
Unconscious: This includes mental activity people are unaware of. These
are instinctive, animalistic drives concealed and repressed away from conscious
mind because they may lead to psychological conflicts.
Freud used therapy of Psychoanalysis to bring the repressed, unconscious materials
to consciousness.

Leading people to live more self-aware and integrated life.

According to this theory there are 3 structural elements of Personality- Id, Ego and
Superego.

Id – It is source of a person’s instinctual energy. Deals with immediate gratification of

primitive needs- sexual desires, aggressive impulses does not care for moral values,
society or any individuals. Id is energised by two instinctive forces- life
instinct & death instinct.
The life force that energises the Id is called libido, which seeks immediate
gratification.
Ego- It grows out of Id only but seeks to satisfy an individual’s instinctual needs in
accordance with reality. Works by reality principle. Ego often directs the Id towards
more appropriates ways of behaving, which are socially acceptable.
Eg: A boy sees some one having an ice-cream. His Id may want him to snatch it and
eat it. But Ego guides him to ask permission and then take it, which is socially more
acceptable behaviour.

Human behaviours reflect an attempt to deal with or escape from anxiety. People
avoid anxiety by distorting reality. Freud described defence mechanism of 5 types:

Repression: Anxiety provoking behaviours or thoughts are totally dismissed by the

unconscious mind. When people repress any desire at times they totally become
unaware of that desire. E,g When someone does something which expresses that
desire in a situation, they say, ‘ I do not know why I did this.’
Projection: In projection, people attribute their own traits to others. E.g People who
have aggressive tendencies may see other people also acting aggressive towards
them. i.e projecting their own behaviour.
Denial: Person in this trait totally refuses to accept reality.
e.g. A person with AIDs refuses to accept or deny his illness.

Reaction formation: This person to defend against anxiety adopts a behaviour

totally opposite to the instinctive feeling.
e.g Many people acquire religious practices to channelize their strong sexual urges.

Rationalization: Trying to rationalize their unreasonable feelings and behaviours

making them seem reasonable and acceptable.
e.g. When a student after doing poorly in exams buys new pens to rationalize reason
of bad performance and tells himself that he will do well with these new pen.

Super Ego- Super Ego can be characterised as the moral branch of mental
functioning. Super Ego tells the Id and Ego whether gratification is ethical or not.

e.g. Extending the same example, If the child who wants ice cream, if asks his
mother for it which is socially and morally correct.

Stages of Personal Development:

Freud Approach: Freud claims that core aspects of personality are formed at an
early stage and remain stable throughout life. He has proposed a 5 stage theory.
Oral stage: Newborn’s instincts are focused on the mouth. The baby seeks pleasure
in food that reduces his hunger, thumb sucking, biting, and babbling through his
mouth.
Anal stage: It is found that around ages of 2 or 3 child learns to respond to some of
the needs of society and learns to control the bodily functions of urination and
defecation. If left to themselves, most children at this age experience pleasure by
focusing on their anal area and in moving their bowls.
Phallic stage: This stage focuses on genitals. At age of 4 to 5, children begin to
realise the difference between males and females. During this stage male
children may feel Oedipus complex, which involves love for mother and hostility
towards father. And female child experiences Electra complex wherein they are more
attached to father and see mothers as their rivals.
Latency Stage: From age of 7 to puberty, child continues to grow physically. Sexual
urges are relatively inactive.
Much of their energy is channelled in social or achievement activities.

Genital Stage: During this stage, individual develops maturity in psychosexual

development. People learn to deal with opposite gender in a socially mature way.
However, if the journey is marked thorough excessive stress or over-indulgence, it
may cause fixation to that stage or regression to an earlier stage of
development.

Post Freudian Approaches: A number of theorists developed their ideas following

Freud.
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These theories are less characteristics of sexual and aggressive tendencies of the Id
and the expansion of the concept of Ego. The human qualities of creativity,
competence and problem solving abilities are emphasised.

Carl Jung : Aims and aspirations: Jung worked with Freud in his early stage of
career. Later he broke away as he believed that human beings are also driven by
their aims and ambitions besides sex and aggression.

Karen Horney: She another disciple of Freud also derived her theory further from
Freudian principles. She adopted a more optimistic of human life. As per her human
beings are also driven by growth and self-actualization.

She also contributed by challenging Freud’s treatment of women as inferior. As per

her each gender has attributes to be admired by the other, neither being superior or
inferior. Women are more affected by social and cultural factors.
Psychological disorders like anxiety are caused by disturbed interpersonal
relationship during childhood. Indifferent, discouraging, excessively dominating.

Alfred Adler: Lifestyle and social interest

His basic assumption is that human behaviour is purposeful and goal
directed each one chooses and creates. Personal goals are the source of
motivation.
In Adler’s view every individual suffers from feeling of inadequacy and guilt
i.e. Inferiority complex.
Overcoming these complexes is essential for optimal personality
development.
He believed human beings are social beings and psychological qualities such as
growth and realization resulted from desire of freedom and striving for justice/truth.

Erik Erikson: Search for identity

This theory lays stress on rational, conscious, ego processes in personality
development.
Identity is granted a central place in the process. His concept of identity crisis of
adolescent age has drawn considerable attention.
Reasons for criticism of Psychodynamics theories:

These theories are strongly condemned for following reasons:

1. They are largely based on case studies and not backed by scientific

2. Small and archetypical individuals were taken as sample groups for studies for
advancing generalizations.
3. Concepts are not properly defined. And they can not be subjected to scientific
testing.
4. Freud theory has used males as prototype of all human personality
development. He overlooked female experiences and perspectives.
Behavioural Approach:
This approach does not give importance to the internal dynamics of behaviour. The
behaviourists believe in data, which they feel are definable, observable and
measurable.

The theory focuses on study of stimulus – response and reinforcements. Personality

can be best understood as a response of an individual to the environment. They see
the development as a change in response characteristics .i.e person learns new
behaviours in response to new environments and stimuli.

Cultural Approach:

This approach attempts to understand personality in relation to the features of

ecological and cultural environment. Rituals, ceremonies, religious practices, arts,
recreational activities, games and plays are the means through which people’s
personalities get projected in a culture. People develop various personality qualities
in an attempt to adapt to a culture or ecological features of groups in life.

Thus cultural approach considers personality as an adaptation of individuals

or groups to the demands of ecology or culture.
Humanistic approach: This approach is mainly built on the theories of Freud,
Carl Roger and Abraham Maslow.
Roger proposed the idea of a fully functional person. Fulfillment is the
motivational force for personality development. People try to express their
capabilities, talents and potentials to the fullest extent.
He observed that each person has a concept of True self and an Ideal self about
him. Correspondence between the two leads to a happier and contented person in
congruence with himself.
When there is discrepancy and these two spheres don’t overlap each other at all it
leads to unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

As per Roger’s principle people have a tendency to maximize self concept through
self actualization. And personality development is a journey towards that.

Who is a Healthy Person? As per humanistic approach.

The Humanistic theory suggests that no one can be a healthy person by mere
adjusting to the society.

It involves following characteristics:

 1. Awareness of self , one’s feelings and their limits and accept themselves.
2. Experience Here and Now. Mindfulness.
3. Don’t so much live in the past and dwell in the future through anxious
expectations and distorted defences.

Personality Assessment:

A formal process aimed at understanding personality of an individual with minimum

error and maximum accuracy is termed as personality assessment.

Uses of Personality Assessment:

1. Helps understand how an individual is likely to behave in a given situation.
2. Accurate assessment is also useful for diagnosis, training, placement,
counselling
Techniques:
Psychometric tests
Self- report measures
Projective techniques
Behavioural Analysis

Self Report: Method to assess a person by asking him/her about himself/herself.

These are structured measures in which subjects are made to objectively report
verbal responses using a rating scale.
1. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)- developed for psychiatric
diagnosis but later applied to variety of psychopathology- hypochondriasis,
depression, hysteria masculinity, femininity. True/false questions
2. Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire – (EPQ)
Tests 2 dimensions of personality- Introverted / Extraverted and Emotionally
stable/unstable.

Later Eyesenck added 3rd dimension to this theory psychoticism ( lack of feelings for
other). Such people have a tough manner of interaction, tendency to defy social
conventions.
1. Cattell- Sixteen personality factor questionnaire – (16PF). The tests provides
with declarative statements and the subjects respond to the specific situation
by choosing from a set of given alternatives.

Uses of Self-report test:

1. Career guidance, vocational exploration and occupational testing for
students/adults.
2. To assess specific dimensions of personality type ( e.g. authoritarianism, locus
of control, optimism)

Limitations of Self-report tests:

1. Social desirability: this is a tendency on part of a student to endorse/select
responses basis socially desirable behaviour.
2. Acquiescence: It is a tendency of the subject of saying Yes to items
irrespective of the content, which makes it less reliable for an effective
outcome.
 3. Hesitant to open: This being a direct method where assessment is based on
the information directly obtained from the subject, hence he knows that he is
been assessed for personality and gets self-conscious and hesitates to share
his private feelings.

Hence these tests should be performed under careful supervision of an expert or a

trained person.

Projective Technique:

This technique is an indirect method, used to uncover and assess the large part of
the behaviour which is governed by unconscious motives, as direct ( self-report)
methods cannot assess this.

Methods include: Reporting association with stimuli- words, inkblots, story writing
around pictures, some require sentence completion, expression through drawings.

Features of this technique:

1. The stimuli are relatively or fully unstructured and poorly defined.

2. The subject is not told about the purpose of assessment and method of scoring
and interpretation.
3. The person is informed that there is no correct or incorrect answer.
4. Each response is considered to reveal a significant aspect of personality.
5. Scoring and interpretation are lengthy and sometime subjective.

Examples of Projective tests:

1. Rorschach Inkblot Test:

This test was developed by Harmann Rorschach. The tests consists of 10 inkblots (
5 black and white, 2 red and remaining of pastel colours) printed in the centre of a
cardboard of 7” to 10”.
1st Phase- Performance proper: Subjects are shown the cards and are asked to tell
what they see in each.
2nd Phase- Inquiry: A detailed report of responses is prepared by asking the subject
to tell on where, how and on what basis was a particular response made.

Use of the test requires extensive training to make fine judgement and interpretation.

2. The Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT): developed by Morgan and Murray.

Little more structured that the Inkblot test. It consists of 30 black and white
picture cards and 1 blank card. Each card depicts one or more people in a
variety of situations. 20 cards to 5 cards are used for performing assessment.
Method: One card is presented at a time, asking the subject to tell a story describing
the situation presented in the picture:

What led up to the situation

What is happening at the moment

What will happen in future

What are the characters thinking and feeling

A standard procedure is followed for scoring the TAT responses.

Indian adaptation done by: Uma Chaudhary.

Rozensweig’s Picture-Frustration study ( P-F Study): was developed

by Rozenweig to assess how people express aggression in a frustrating situation.
The test consists cartoon like pictures depicting situations where one person is
frustrating other.

The subject is asked to describe:

What the frustrated person will say or do?

Analysis is based on:

1. the Type and Direction of aggression ( towards onself or environment or

evading the situation).
2. It is examined whether the focus is on frustrating object or protecting the
frustrated person, or on constructive solution.
Sentence Completion Test:
This test makes use of number of incomplete sentences. The starting of the
sentence is presented and the subject has to provide an ending of the sentence. The
type of ending helps assess the unconscious attitude, motivation and conflicts.

e.g.

1. My father………………….
2. My greatest fear is……………..
3. The best thing about my mother is……………..
4. I am proud of………………
Draw-a-Person test:
In this test subject is provided with a pencil, eraser and sheet and asked to draw a
picture of a person.

After the completion of the drawing, subject is asked to draw a picture of a person of
opposite gender. Subject is asked to make a story about the person as if he/she was
a character of a movie/novel. Some examples of the interpretation as follows:

1. Omission of facial features suggests that the person tries to evade a highly
conflict-ridden interpersonal relationship.
2. Graphic emphasis on the neck suggests lack of control over impulses.
3. Disproportionately large size of the head suggests organic brain disease or
preoccupation with headaches.
Behavioural Analysis:
This analysis can provide us with a meaningful information about his/her personality.

An observer’s report contains data obtained from:

Interview

Observation

Ratings

Nomination

Situational tests

Interview:

Structured interview follows a set of very specific questions and set procedure.
This is often done to make objective comparison of persons being interviewed.
Use of rating scales add to the objectivity.

Unstructured Interview involves asking a number of questions (not specific) to

develop an impression about a person. The way a subject answers and presents
himself and answers the questions carries enough potential to reveal about his/her
personality.

Observation:

Use of Observation for a personality assessment is a sophisticated procedure

that cannot be carried out by untrained people. It requires careful training of the
observer and fairly detailed guideline to carry out analysis to use observations to
assess personality. In spite of the widespread use of this method, it has following
limitations:
1. Professional training required for collection of useful data and is quite
demanding and time consuming.
2. Maturity of the observer is a precondition. Else personal biases can alter the
assessment.
3. Mere presence of the observer may contaminate the results.

Behavioural Ratings

Behavioural ratings are frequently used for personality assessment of individuals in

an educational or industrial settings.

Behavioural ratings are generally taken from the people who know the assesse
intimately and have interacted over a period of time. In order to use ratings the traits
should be clearly defined in terms of carefully stated behavioural anchors.

Limitations of Behavioural Rating method:

1. Raters generally display biases that colour their judgements of different traits.
For example most of are greatly influenced by a single favourable/unfavourable
trait which colours the overall judgment on all the traits. This is called ‘Halo
effect.’
 2. Raters have a tendency to place individuals in the middle of the scale (middle
category bias) or in the extreme positions (called extreme response bias).

Nominations: in this method people in a group who know each other for a long
period are asked to nominate another person from the group with whom they would
like to work/play/do some activity. Then they are asked to state the reason why they
would have nominated that person.

Situational tests: A variety of situational tests have been devised for the
assessment of personality. Most commonly used test is –Situational Stress test. It
provides us information on how a person behaves under stressful conditions. In
performing this test the person is given a task under stressful environment, where
others are instructed not to provide any support and act non-cooperative. This is kind
of role playing. The subject is observed and a report is prepared.
Chapter 3 – Meeting Life Challenges

All the challenges, problems and difficult circumstances put us to stress. Thus if
handled properly, stress increases the probability of one’s survival.
Stress is like electricity. It gives energy, increases human arousal and affects
performance. However, if the electric current is too high, it can fuse bulbs, damage
appliances. Similarly, high stress too can produce unpleasant effects and cause our
performance to deteriorate.

Conversely, too little stress may cause someone to feel listless and low on
motivation leading to slow and less effective performance.

Hence not all the stress is inherently bad or destructive. Eustress is the term used to
describe the level of stress which is good for us and is one of the person’s best asset
for achieving peak performance and managing crisis.
However, it also has the potential of turning into distress, causing our body’s wear
and tear.

Stress definition: The pattern of responses our organisms make against the
stimulus/event that disturbs the equilibrium and exceeds a person’s ability to
cope.

Nature of Stress: The word stress originated from Latin word- ‘strictus’ meaning
tight, narrow – internal feeling of tightness, constriction of muscles and breathing
reported by many people under stress.

Stressor: is an event that causes our body to give the stress response. E.g.
External- environment (noise, pollution, crowd etc.)

Social- Break-up with a friend, loneliness

Psychological- Mental conflict, frustration

Strain: is the reaction of our body to external stressors.

Hans Selye : as per him an individual will respond with a same physiological pattern
of reactions regardless to the causes of threat/nature of stressors.

Many researchers however do not agree with Hans theory. They believe the
responses cannot be as general and non-specific for any stimulus.

Stress is not a factor that resides in an individual’s mind or environment, it is a

dynamic mental/cognitive state that arises due to disruption in homeostasis or
an imbalance that gives rise to the requirement of resolution to restore
homeostasis/balance.
The perception of stress is dependent upon the individual’s cognitive appraisal of
events and resources available to cope up with them.

Lazarus described two types of appraisals– primary and secondary:

Primary Appraisal: refers to the perception of a new or changing environment

as Positive, Neutral or Negative in its consequences.
Secondary Appraisal: is when we perceive an event very stressful that it involves
challenge appraisal that involve more confident expectations of ability to cope
up. This is more focused on coping abilities and assessment of resources-
mental, physical, social or personal to meet the challenge of harm, threat or
challenge of the event.

Negative events are appraised for their possible harm, threat or challenge.
Harm- is the assessment of damage that has been done by the event.
Threat– Possible future damage by the event
Challenge– more confident expectations of the ability to cope up with the stressful
event.

Types of Stress:

Physical stress: Impact state of our body or strain our body e.g. we overexert, lack
of nutrition/diet, suffer an injury or fail to get enough sleep.

Environmental stress: is caused by our surroundings. E.g. pollution, crowding,

noise, heat of the summer, winter cold or catastrophic events like floods, fire and
earthquakes etc.

Psychological Stress: These are generated in our minds and are personal and
unique to the person. Caused by frustration, conflicts, internal and social
pressures they lead to worry, anxiety or depression.

Frustration: Results from blocking of needs and motives and someone or

something hindering us from achieving goals. E.g. social discrimination,
interpersonal hurt, low grades in school. Etc.

Conflicts: Occur between two or more incompatible needs. E.g. to study Dance or
Psychology, to continue with old or take up a new job, to do something against the
personal values.

Internal Pressures: are the stresses caused by high expectations we set from
ourselves or setting unrealistic goals. E.g. trying to do everything perfectly, setting
high goals.

Social Pressures: Excessive demands from people around us in family, community.

Working with people with interpersonal conflicts and personality clash.

Social Stress: These are caused by people in society and surroundings. Social
events like death in the family, conflict with the neighbourhood, strained relationship
between spouses.

Sources of Stress:
A wide range of events and conditions can generate stress.

Life Events: any event causing major and sudden disruption in our routine and life
can cause stress as we find it difficult to cope with that sudden change. e.g. break up
in a long-term relationship, business exigency.
Hassles: Personal stresses we ensure as individuals due to happenings in our daily
lives. E.g traffic while commuting, quarrelsome neighbour, electricity, water shortage
etc.

Traumatic Events: Extreme events like fire, train accident, plain hijack, robbery etc.
Such things haunt people in their dreams and keep coming back as flashbacks and
cause stress.

Effects of Stress on Psychological Functioning and Health

Emotional Effects: Mood swings, erratic behaviour, low confidence, alienation from
family and friends, anxiety, physical tension.

Psychological Effects: Under psychological stress human body produces certain

hormones in access- Adrenalin and cortisol. They produce marked changes in heart
rate, metabolism, blood pressure and physical activity. Some increase although
helps in effective functioning of body to combat stress, but excessive release of
hormones can impact the slowing down of digestive system, expansion of air
passages in lungs, increased heart rate and constriction of blood vessels.

Cognitive Effects: If pressures due to stress continue, one may suffer from mental
overload. This can impact individuals’ ability to make sound decisions and lead
to poor concentration, reduced short term memory capacity.

Behavioural Effects: Stress also affects our behaviour. A stressed individual tends
to eat less nutritional food, increasing intake of stimulants like- cigarettes, caffeine,
alcohol and other addictive substances. Dizziness and disrupted sleep patterns.

Stress and Health

Chronic daily Stress can affect physical and mental health of an individual.

Physical exhaustion can cause chronic fatigue, weakness and low energy.
The mental exhaustion appears in the form of irritability, anxiety, feelings of
helplessness and hopelessness.

Burnout: And state of physical, emotional and psychological exhaustion is known

as burnout.

Stress can also impact our immune system and increase the chances of becoming
ill, development of cardiovascular disorders, high blood pressure and sometimes
psychosomatic disorders like ulcers, asthma, allergies and headaches.

Researchers estimate that stress plays an important role in 50% to 70% of our
physical illnesses. 60% of medical visits are on account of Stress related
symptoms.

Selye’ s theory of General Adaptation Syndrome(GAS)

Selye noticed a similar pattern in bodily responses by all in their response to stress.
According to him GAS involves three stages:
Alarm Reaction,

Resistance,

Exhaustion

Alarm Reaction:

Presence of noxious stimulus or stressor leads to activation of adrenaline-pituitary-

cortex system. This triggers the releasing of hormones to respond to stress making
individual to Fight or Flight.

Noxious stimulus or stressor> activation of adrenaline-pituitary- cortex system> Fight

or Flight mode

Resistance Stage:

If stress is prolonged this stage begins. The parasympathetic system calls for more
cautious use of body’s resources. The organism makes efforts to cope with the
threat, through confrontation.

Prolonged Stress> Parasympathetic system uses body resources cautiously >

Organism confronts the threat and attempts to cope up.

Exhaustion Stage:

Continuous exposure to same stressor> drains body resources> Alarm reaction &
Resistance do not work> lead to stress related diseases like blood pressure etc.

Selye’s model has been criticised for assigning a very limited role. They
believe studying perceptions, personalities and biological factors also constitute to
the response against stress.

Stress and Immune system:

The Immune system guards the body against attackers both from within and
outside. Psychoneuroimmunology focuses on the links between the mind, the
brain and the immune system. It focuses on the study of how our immune system
works. The white blood cells ( leucocytes) within the immune system identify and
destroy foreign bodies ( antigens) such as viruses by producing antibodies.
T- cells destroy invaders and enhance immunological activity. ( It is these T cells
when attacked by HIV virus , it causes AIDS.

B-cells produce anti-bodies.

Natural Killer cells are involved in fight against viruses and tumours.

Stress can effect Natural killer cells- cytotoxicity which are defence against infections
and cancer. Stressed persons have been found to have reduced levels of these
cells. (students appearing for important examination, bereaved and severely
depressed people.)

Lifestyle:
Lifestyle is the overall pattern of decisions and behaviours that determine a person’s
health and quality of life. Stressed individuals are more likely to be exposed to
pathogens – the agents causing physical illness.

Stressed people have poor nutritional habits, unhealthy sleep pattern and health
risking behaviours like smoking and excessive drinking. These habits adversely
impact physical and mental health.

Alternately, studies reveal health promoting behaviours are like balance diet, regular
exercise, family support. Adhering to this lifestyle enhances health and longevity.

Coping With Stress:

Over the years, research shows that it is not the Stress that we experience that
influences our health and wellbeing, it is how we Cope with the Stress that
impacts us.

Endler and Parker suggests 3 step coping strategies:

Coping: is a dynamic situation specific reaction to stress. It is a set of concrete
responses to stressful situation or events that are intended to resolve the problem
and reduce stress.

Task- oriented Strategy: this involves obtaining sufficient info about the stress full
situation and alternative courses of action and there probable outcome. It involves
taking action based on the above information and deal with the stressful situation.
For eg-

1. Your stress for being late to work..You analyse reasons of getting late, course
of action-Time management, timely service of vehicle to ensure you eliminate
the reasons of delay.

Emotional oriented strategy- This involves addressing emotion and by maintain

hope. E.g. giving vent to your anger by hitting punching bag, watching entertainment
program to reduce your stress. To give hope to someone ailing by telling positive
outcomes.

Avoidance- oriented strategy- This involves denying or minimizing the seriousness

of the situation. It also involves conscious suppression of stressful thoughts and their
replacement by protective thoughts.
e.g. watching TV, phone up a friend.

Lazarus and Folkman coping strategy:

As per them coping is a dynamic process rather than an individual trait. It refers
to constantly changing cognitive and behavioural efforts to Master, tolerate or
reduce the internal/external demands created by stressful transactions.
According to them coping responses can be divided into two types: problem
focused & emotion focused.
Problem focused: this strategy attacks the problem itself, by gaining more
information about the problem, causes, and possibilities of altering the event.
Explore the behavioural and cognitive coping options and confronting the stress
giving problem.

Emotional focused: this focuses on dealing with the emotions and not the problem
(by controlling or giving vent) by psychological changes to limit the degree of
emotional disruption caused by the event.

e.g. Sharing your emotions caused by stress by talking to someone, distracting your
mind with something that gives positive emotions.

Stress Management Techniques:

Stress is a silent killer. Hypertension, heart disease, ulcers, diabetes, cancer all are
linked to stress. Due to our lifestyle changes they are on the rise. In order to reduce
stress we need to make some lifestyle changes:

Relaxation Technique: Deep breathing is used along with muscle relaxation to

calm the mind and relax the body.

Meditation procedures: A yogic method of meditation consists of a sequence of

techniques to bring about an altered state of consciousness. It involves thorough
concentration that meditator becomes unaware of any outside stimulation and
reaches in a different state of consciousness.

Biofeedback: training involves 3 stages:

1. Developing awareness of a particular physiological response ( e.g. situations
when my heart rate goes up)
2. Learning ways of controlling that in quiet conditions.
3. Transferring this control into actual situations by practice.

Creative Visualization: It is an effective technique for dealing with stress. This

involves creative visualization of any new situation that is susceptible to cause
stress. This makes it easier to plan and address the stressors and convert
imagination into reality.

Cognitive Behavioural technique: involves inoculate people against stress. 3

steps:
Assessment: discussing the nature of problem and seeing it from a view point of
external/third person.

Stress reduction: involves learning the technique by approaching the solution and
using relaxing technique

Application and follow through: by applying the solution by setting self-instructions.

Exercise: Regular exercise improves efficiency of heart, enhances the function of

lungs and maintains good circulation and metabolism. Swimming, walking, running,
cycling, skipping etc help make systems stronger to combat physical impact of
stress.
Promoting Positive Health and Wellbeing:
To stay healthy, we need to have Stress resistant Personality – It consists of 3 Cs:
I.e. Commitment, Control and Challenge.

But not everyone has this personality. Regular people need to acquire Life Skills in
order to manage stress in day to day life:

Life Skills: are the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable
individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.
These life skills are–

Assertiveness: this skill helps to communicate clearly confidently our feelings,

needs, wants and thoughts. Ability to say ‘No’ to a request. To express emotions of
love, anger openly. Assertive people have high Self esteem and solid sense of
identity.
Time Management: Learning how to plan time and delegate can help relieve the
pressure. Learning to prioritize and doing the things you value than doing non value
adds under pressure. Helps focus achieving your goals.
Rational Thinking: Many stress related problems are caused by distorted thinking.
The way you think and the way you feel are connected. Rational thinking is
challenging your distorted /negative thinking from the past and making positive
statements.
e.g. I failed last time I will fail again ..be replaced by This time I am fully prepared
and will pass with flying colours.

Improving Relationships: The people who enjoy lasting sound relationships are
better equipped to manage stress. The key is to: Listen carefully, Express your
feelings and accept the other person’s opinion.
Self –care: If we keep ourselves healthy, fit and relaxed we are better prepared to
tackle physically and mentally stressing situations. Relaxed slow breathing is the
representation of people who can manage the stress of noise, pollution, space, light,
colour the daily challenges.

Overcoming Unhelpful Habits: Unhelpful habits like- Perfectionism, avoidance,

procrastination etc make you more vulnerable to stress.

Diet: A balanced diet can lift one’s mood give more energy, feed muscles, improve
circulation, prevent illness and strengthen the immune system and make feel better
to cope the stress.

Exercise: There’s a consistent positive relationship between physical fitness and

health. Regular exercises help manage weight, health and wellbeing better to
address stressful situations.
Positive Attitude: Being tolerant to others’ views, taking credit for success and
responsibility for failures, sense of purpose, being open to ideas, and ability to laugh
at yourself.

Positive Thinking: Optimism, inclined to expecting favourable outcomes.

Social Support: Existence people you can rely upon, care, love and value. People
who act as social support.
Chapter 4 Psychological Disorders- Running notes

Psychological disorders are commonly represented by 4 Ds:

Deviance- Deviant behaviour – different, extreme, unusual, even bizarre)
Distressing- Unpleasant, Upsetting to the person and the others
Dysfunctional- Interfering with person’s ability to carry out day to day activities in a
constructive way.

Dangerous- to himself or others

1. Why there is no ideal/normal model on human behaviour to use as a
reference for studying Normal & Abnormal behaviours?
2. Because there are conflicting views about these defining normal/abnormal
behaviours.
3. The first approach views abnormal behaviour as a deviation from social
norms. Each society has certain norms that are stated or unstated rules of
conduct. Behaviours, thoughts and emotions that break societal norms are
called abnormal.
4. the second approach views abnormal behaviours as maladaptive. Many
psychologists believe best criterion for determining the normal behaviour is not
whether your society accepts it, but whether it fosters the well-being of the
individual and of the group where he /she belongs.

And Well- being is not simply maintenance and survival but also includes
growth and fulfilment (as defined by Maslow’s need hierarchy).

History of Psychological disorders:

Ancient times:
Supernatural: These disorders were attributed to operation of Supernatural, magical
forces (evil spirits, devil). Exorcism, counter magic, prayers were practised to cure.

Biological approach: People behave abnormal because their bodies and brains are
not functioning normally.

Psychological: inadequacies in the way individual feels, thinks, perceives the world.

Organismic: 4 body fluids imbalance: blood, black bile, yellow bile, phlegm.

Middle Ages: Demonology & superstitions gained renewed importance.

Renaissance Period: ( 15th/15th century) emphasised Psychological conflicts –

disturbed interpersonal relationships conflicts and not witches.

17th/18th centuries: Age of reason &enlightment. Recognised these disorders

as medical state and applied scientific attitude towards them to develop empathy,
care towards such people and cure them. Asylums and reform centres were created.
Factors underlying normal/abnormal behaviour:

Biological factors: These factors influence all aspects of behaviour. Faulty

genes, endocrine imbalances, malnutrition, injuries and other conditions may
interfere with normal development and functioning of human body.
Psychological disorders are often related to problems in transmission of messages
from one neuron to other. When an electric impulse reaches neuron’s ending, the
nerve ending is stimulated to release a chemical called neurotransmitter.

Abnormal activity in releasing these neurotransmitters can lead to specific

psychological disorders.

Low activity of neurotransmitter aminobutyric acid ( GABA) leads to Anxiety

disorder.
Access activity of dopamine can cause schizophrenia.
Low activity of serotonin leads to depression.

Genetic factors: are linked to mood disorders, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety,

mental retardation and other disorders. It is not proved that there is a specific gene
that causes that disorders, infact it is a combination of genes which are responsible.
Also there is a sound evidence that genes are responsible for all such psychological
disorders, but these are not the only factors.

Psychological model (psychological and interpersonal factors)-

Have significant role in causing mental disorders and abnormal behaviour. These
factors include maternal deprivation (separation from mother or lack of warmth
during early years), faulty parent-child relationships (rejection, overprotection,
permissiveness, faulty disciple) maladaptive family ( inadequate or disturbed family),
severe stress.

Psychodynamic Model– Freud theory

Is the oldest and most famous model in psychology. This model describes that
person’s behaviour normal or abnormal is determined by psychological forces within
which a person is consciously unaware of. As Freud theory, it is a conflict
between Id, Ego and Superego.
Behavioural model- Psychological disorders are the result of learning
of maladaptive ways of behaving. This model concentrates on
the behaviours that are learned through conditioning and can also be
unearned. Learning can take place by classical conditioning ( 2 events occur
close together in time), operant conditioning ( behaviour followed by reward).
Cognitive Model: This model states that abnormal functioning can result from
cognitive problems. People may hold assumptions about themselves that
are irrational and inaccurate. They may draw assumptions from a past
negative event and over generalise and extend to situations in future.
Humanistic- existential model- focuses on broader aspects of human existence. It
believes that humanbeing are born with a natural tendency to be friendly (
social beings), cooperative, constructive and are driven to self-
actualization. i.e. to fulfil this potential for goodness and growth. Those who shirk
from responsibility live empty, inauthentic and dysfunctional lives.
Socio- culture factors– social and cultural forces that influence the
humanbeings. Family structure, communication, social network, societal
conditions, war and violence.

Diathesis Stress model– Diathesis ( biological predisposition to disorder) is set

off by a stressful situation. This model has three components.
1. Presence of biological aberration, may be inherited.
2. Vulnerability to develop a psychological disorder.
3. Presence of pathogenic stressor, leading to psychopathy.
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Such people can develop disorders including anxiety, schizophrenia and
depression.

Types of Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety is usually defined as a diffuse, vague, very unpleasant feeling of fear and
apprehension.
Symptoms are: rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, diarrhoea, loss of appetite,
fainting, dizziness, sweating, sleeplessness, frequent urination and tremors.

Anxiety is of many types:

1. Generalized anxiety disorder: this consists of prolonged, vague, unexplained

and intense fear which are not attached to any particular object or person.
Symptoms: worry, apprehensive feeling about future, hypervigilance that
involves constantly scanning the environment for dangers.
2. Panic disorder: recurrent anxiety attacks, feeling intense terror. A panic
attack denotes an abrupt of intense anxiety rising to a peak when thoughts of
a particular stimuli are present.
Symptoms: shortness of breath, dizziness, trembling, palpitations, choking, nausea,
chest pain or discomfort, fear of going crazy, losing control or dying.
3. Phobias: People with phobia have irrational fear related to a specific object,
people or situations. Phobia often develops gradually, starts with a general
anxiety disorder. E.g. people scared to climb heights, afraid of deep waters, in
an elevator. Can be grouped into 3 types.
Specific phobia, social phobia, agoraphobia.
Specific Phobia– most common. Includes irrational fears of a certain animal, or
being in an enclosed space.
Social Phobia– Intense and incapacitating fear and embarrassment when dealing
with other characters.
Agoraphobia– is when people develop a fear of entering unfamiliar situations. Or
sometimes afraid of entering their home.
4. Obsessive compulsive disorder- unable to control their preoccupation with
specific ideas or unable to prevent themselves from repeating a particular
act/series of acts that affect their ability to carry out normal activities.
Obsessive: is when you cannot stop thinking about an idea or a topic, generally
unpleasant or shameful.

Compulsive: is the urge to repeat/perform certain behaviours/acts over and over

again. E.g. counting a bundle, order checking, washing hands repeatedly.
 5. Post-traumatic stress disorder- Very rarely when some people have been
caught in a natural disaster, floods, earthquakes, tsunami, war, terrorist attack,
major accident etc. experience this disorder.
Symptoms- dreams, flashbacks, impaired concentration and emotional numbing.

Somatoform Disorder:

These are conditions, where there are physical symptoms despite no/absence of any
physical disease.

In this the individual has physical difficulties but complains of physical symptoms, for
which there is no biological cause.

These disorders include:

Pain Disorder, somatization, conversion and hypochondriasis

Pain Disorder- report extreme and incapacitating pain without any identifiable
biological symptoms. There are two methods to address this:

1. Active coping– Remaining active and ignoring the pain.

2. Passive coping– Reduced activity and social withdrawal.
Somatization disorder- people with multiple, recurrent or chronic bodily complaints.
They tend to present their complaints in an exaggerated or dramatic way.
e.g. headaches, fatigue, heart palpitation, fainting spells, vomiting and allergies.
People with this disorder believe that they are sick, provide long history of their
illness and consume large quantities of medicines.

Conversion disorder- symptoms are reported loss of part or all of some basic
body functions. Paralysis, blindness, deafness and difficulty in walking are the
generally reported symptoms after a sudden stressful/traumatic experience.
Hypochondriasis- is diagnosed if a person has a persistent belief that s/he
is suffering from a serious illness, despite the medical reassurance, lack of
physical findings.
Hypochondriacs have an obsessive preoccupation and concern with the condition of
their bodily organs and they continuously worry about their health.

Dissociative Disorders-

Dissociation can be viewed as severance of the connections between ideas and

emotions. It involves feeling of unreality, estrangement, depersonalization and
loss or shift of identity.
They are of 4 categories:

1. Dissociative Amnesia: Extensive but selective memory loss that has no

known organic cause like head injury or anything due to overwhelming stress.
Symptoms- inability to remember the past or specific people, events, places, names.

1. Dissociative fugue: due to unexpected travel away from home or workplace,

people sometimes assume new identity and inability to recall the previous
identity. The fugue usually ends when person returns to regular life or wakes
up.
 2. Dissociative identity disorder: often referred to as multiple personalities is
the most dramatic of these disorders. It is often associated with traumatic
experiences in childhood.
3. Depersonalization: Involves a dreamlike state in which the person has a
sense of being separated from self and reality both.

Mood Disorder
Disturbance in mood or prolonged emotional state. Main type of mood disorders
include: depressive, manic and bipolar disorders.

1. Depressive disorder: The most common mood disorder is depression.

Factors that disposition towards depression could be majorly genetic, heredity.
Age and gender are also the factors. Eg. Women are more susceptible during
young adulthood and men during middle age.
Symptoms: Depicts depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in most activities,
together with symptoms which include change in body weight, constant sleep
problems, tiredness, inability to think clearly, agitation, greatly slowed behaviour. At
times even thoughts of death and suicide. Feeling of worthlessness or excessive
guilt.

1. Mania: Maniac episodes rarely appear by themselves, they usually alternate

with depression.
Symptoms: People suffering from mania become euphoric, extremely active,
excessively talkative and easily distractible.

1. Bipolar: When mania and depression alternately appear, sometimes they are
interrupted by periods of normal mood. This is referred as bipolar mood
disorder, earlier referred as maniac – depressive disorder.
Symptoms: Suicide attempt is the highest. Several risk factors influence this
behaviour- mental disorder, age, gender, ethnicity (Japanese), recent occurrence of
serious life event.

Teenagers and those over 70 years are more at risk. Men contemplate suicide
attempt more than women.

Q: How can suicides be prevented?

A: Suicides can be prevented by staying alert to some of the symptoms which

include:

Changing in eating and sleeping habits.

Withdrawal from friends, family and regular activities.
Violent actions, rebellious behaviour, running away.
Drug and alcohol
Marked personality change
Persistent boredom
Difficulty in concentration
Complaints about physical symptoms
Loss of interest in pleasurable activities.
Paying attention to such symptoms and seeking timely help by professional
counsellor/psychologist can help to prevent the likelihood of suicide.
Schizophrenia Disorders
Schizophrenia is the descriptive term for a group of psychotic disorders in which
personal, social and occupational functioning deteriorates as a result of disturbed
thought processes, strange perceptions, unusual emotional states and motor
abnormalities.

Symptoms: can be grouped into 3 categories- Positive ( i.e. excesses of thought,

emotion and behaviour), Negative ( deficit of thought, emotion and behaviour) and
psychomotor symptoms.

1. Positive Symptoms: pathological excesses or bizarre additions to a person’s

behaviour.
Symptoms: Delusions, disorganized thinking and speech, heightened perception
and hallucinations.

Q: What are Delusions:

Delusions – false belief that is firmly held on inadequate grounds.
Delusions of persecution- They believe plotted against, spied on, slandered,
threatened, attacked or deliberately victimized.
Delusions of reference- in which they attach personal meaning to the actions,
objects and events
Delusions of grandeur-They believe themselves to be specially empowered.
Delusions of control- They believe their thoughts, feelings and actions are
controlled by others.

Q: What are Hallucinations?

A: Perceptions that occur in absence of external stimuli.

They are of several types-

Auditory Hallucinations: Patients hear sounds or voices that speak directly to

them.
Tactile Hallucinations: Tingling, burning sensations.
Somatic: Something happening inside the body, such as snake crawling inside
stomach.
Visual: Distinct visions of people and objects.
Gustatory: Food or drink taste strange.
Olfactory: Smell of poison or smoke.

1. Negative symptoms: are pathological deficits and include Alogia (reduction in

speech content or poverty of speech), Blunted effect– Less expression of
sadness, joy, anger and other feelings.

Flat effect- No emotions and feelings

Loss of volition- Apathy or inability to start or complete any work.
Social withdrawal- become focused on their own ideas and fantasies.
1. Psychomotor symptoms: Less spontaneous, make odd grimaces and
gestures. Types:
Catatonic stupor: remain motionless and silent for long durations.
Catatonic rigidity: maintain a rigid upright posture for hours.
Catatonic posturing: assuming odd, awkward positions.
Behavioural and Developmental disorders:
These disorders are specific to children and if neglected can lead to serious
consequences later in life.

Why Children: Children have less self-understanding and they have not developed
a stable sense of identity. Nor do they have adequate frame of reference regarding
reality, possibility and value. As a result they cannot cope with the stressful events
effectively and hence it reflects in their behaviour and impacts their development.
Other childhood disorders:
Pervasive Developmental Disorders: in addition children may also suffer from
more serious developmental disorder called Pervasive Developmental Disorders.
Autistic Disorder (Autism)- These children have marked difficulties in social
interaction, sharing emotions, communication skills, interests in activities. 70% of
autistic children have chances of being mentally retarded. Such children may reflect
repetitive behaviours such as lining up objects or stereotyped body movements such
as rocking. These movements are self stimulatory.
Eating Disorder:
Anorexia nervosa– Individual has a distorted body self-image and may think s/he is
overweight. Hence avoid eating, starve and over exercise compulsively to lose
weight.

Bulimia Nervosa; Individuals eat excessive amounts of food. Then purge with help of
eating medicines like laxatives or diuretics or by vomiting.

Binge eating: There are frequent episodes of out of control eating.

Substance use disorders:

Substance dependence – Intense craving, withdrawal symptoms, compulsive
drug/alcohol intake.

Substance abuse- There are recurrent and adverse consequences of taking these
substances and damage their social, family relationships and performance at work.

Alcohol impact:
All alcohol beverages contain Ethyl Alcohol.
This chemical is absorbed in the blood and carried into central nervous system
and spinal cord.
It depresses those areas in brain that control judgement, inhibition.
People become talkative, friendly, lose inhibitions and feel more confident and
happy.
They also become more emotional, loud and aggressive.
Speech becomes unclear, memory falters and physical movements can
become unsteady.
Therefore drinking and driving is not allowed under laws.

Intellectual disability: People with IQ less than 70 show deficit or impairment in

adaptive behaviour. Lower functional, academic skills.
Ch-5 Therapeutic approaches and counselling

Psychotherapy is a voluntary relationship between the one seeking treatment or the

client and the one who treats or the therapist.
1) Purpose: To help the client to solve the psychological problems being faced by
her or him.
2) Aim: To change the maladaptive behaviours, decrease the sense of personal
distress, and help the client to adapt better to his/her environment.
3) The relationship is conducive for building the trust of the client so that problems
may be freely discussed.

Characteristics:
1. There is systematic application of principles underlying the different theories of
therapy.
2. Only persons who have received practical training under expert supervision can
practise psychotherapy.
3. The situation involved a therapist and client who seeks and receives help for
his/her emotional problems (this person is the focus of attention in the therapeutic
process).
4. The interaction of the therapist and the client results in the consolidation or
formation of the therapeutic relationship. This is a confidential, interpersonal, and
dynamic relationship.

Goals:
(i) Reinforcing client’s resolve for betterment.
(ii) Lessening emotional pressure.
(iii) Unfolding the potential for positive growth.
(iv) Modifying habits.
(v) Changing thinking patterns.
(vi) Increasing self-awareness.
(vii) Improving interpersonal relations and communication.
(viii) Facilitating decision-making.
(ix) Becoming aware of one’s choices in life.
(x) Relating to one’s social environment in a more creative and self-aware manner.
Therapeutic Relationship:
The special relationship between the client and the therapist is known as the
therapeutic
relationship or alliance.
Components:
1. Contractual Nature of the Relationship: Two willing individuals, the client and the
therapist, enter into a partnership which aims at helping the client overcome his/ her
problems.
2. Limited Duration of the Therapy: This alliance lasts until the client becomes able to
deal with his/her problems and take control of his/her life.

Properties:
(i) It is a trusting and confiding relationship.
(ii) The high level of trust enables the client to unburden herself/himself to the
therapist and confide her/his psychological and personal problems to the latter
BEHAVIOUR THERAPY

• Focused on the behaviour and thoughts of the client in the present.

• The past is relevant only to the extent of understanding the origins of the faulty
behaviour and thought patterns, not relieved.
• Behaviour therapies are clinical application of learning theories.
• Consists of a large set of specific techniques and interventions—symptoms of the
client and the clinical diagnosis are the guiding factors in the selection of the specific
techniques or interventions to be applied.
• Open therapy, i.e., the therapist shares his/her method with the client.

Method of Treatment:
(i) The client is interviewed with a view to analyse his/her behaviour patterns.
(ii) Behavioural analysis is conducted to find:
(a) Malfunctioning Behaviours: Behaviours which cause distress to the client.
(b) Antecedent Factors: Those causes which predispose the person to indulge in that
behaviour
(c) Maintaining Factors: Those factors which lead to the persistence of the faulty
behaviour.
(iii) Aim: To eliminate the faulty behaviours and substitute them with adaptive
behaviour patterns.
(a) Antecedent Operations: Control behaviour by changing something that precedes
such a behaviour.
(b) Establishing Operations: Induce a change in behaviour by increasing or
decreasing the reinforcing value of a particular consequence.
(c) Consequent Operation: i.e., Giving reinforcement eg. Praise.

Behavioural Techniques:

1. Negative Reinforcement: Following an undesired response with an outcome that is

painful or not liked.
2. Aversive Conditioning: Repeated association of undesired response with an
aversive consequence present reality.
3. Positive Reinforcement: Given to increase the deficit if an adaptive behaviour
occurs rarely.
4. Token Economy: Give a token as a reward every time a wanted behaviour occurs,
which can be collected and exchanged for a reward.
5. Differential Reinforcement: Unwanted behaviour can be reduced (negative
reinforcement) and wanted behaviour (positive reinforcement) can be increased
simultaneously.
The other method is to positively reinforce the wanted behaviour and ignore the
unwanted behaviour—less painful and equally effective.
6. Systematic Desensitization: A technique introduced by Wolpe for treating phobias
or irrational fears.
(i) The client is interviewed to elicit fear provoking situations.
(ii) With the client, the therapist prepares a hierarchy of anxiety—provoking stimuli
with the least anxiety-provoking stimuli at the bottom.
(iii) The therapist relaxes the client and asks the client to think about the least
anxiety-provoking situation.
(iv) The client is asked to stop thinking of the situation if tension is felt.
(v) Over sessions, the client is able to imagine more severe fear provoking situations
while maintaining the relaxation.
(vi) The client gets systematically desensitized to the fear.
Operates on the principle of reciprocal inhibition—the presence of two mutually
opposing forces (relaxation response vs. anxiety-provoking scene) at the same time,
inhibits the weaker force.
The client is able to tolerate progressively greater levels of anxiety because of
his/her relaxed state.
7. Modelling: The procedure wherein the client learns to behave in a certain way by
observing the behaviour of a role model or the therapist who initially acts as the rok;
model. Vicarious learning, learning by observing others, is used and through a
process of rewarding small changes in the behaviour, the client gradually learns to
acquire the behaviour of the model.

C. COGNITIVE THERAPY
1. Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) (Albert Ellis):
• Irrational beliefs mediate between the antecedent events and their consequences.
• The first step in RET is the antecedent-belief-consequence (ABC) analysis.
Antecedent events, which caused the psychological distress, are noted.
(ii) Client is interviewed to find out irrational beliefs, which distorting the
(iii) The therapist encourages this by being accepting, empathic, genuine and warm
to the client.
(iv) The therapist conveys by his/her words and behaviours that he/she is not judging
the client and will continue to show the same positive feelings towards the client
even if the client is rude or confides all the ‘wrong’ things that he/she may have done
or thought about. This is the unconditional positive regard which the therapist has for
the client. The clinical formulation is an ongoing process. Formulations may require
reformulations as clinical insights are gained in the process of therapy. Distorted
perception of the antecedent event due to the irrational belief leads to the
consequence, i.e., negative emotions and behaviours.
• Non-directive questioning: Process by which irrational beliefs are refuted by the
therapist.
(i) Nature of questioning is gentle, without probing or being directive.
(ii) Make the client think deeper into his/her assumptions about life and problems.
• Client changes the irrational beliefs by making a change in his/her philosophy about
life—rational belief system replaces the irrational belief system.
2. Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy:
(i) Childhood experiences provided by the family and society develop core schemes
or systems, which include beliefs and action patterns in the individual.
(ii) Critical events in the individual’s life trigger the core, leading to the development
of negative automatic thoughts.
(iii) Negative thoughts are persistent irrational thoughts characterised by cognitive
distortions.
(iv) Dysfunctional Cognitive Structures: Patterns of thought which are general in
nature but which distort the reality in a negative manner.
(v) Repeated occurrence of these thoughts leads to the development of feelings of
anxiety and depression.• The therapist uses questioning, which is gentle, non-
threatening disputation of the client’s beliefs and thoughts.
• The questions make the client think in a direction opposite to that of the negative
automatic thoughts whereby she/he gains insight into the nature of her/his
dysfunctional schemas, and is able to alter her/his cognitive structures.

3. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT):

• Short, comprehensive, effective treatment for a wide range of psychological
disorders such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks and borderline personality.
• Adopts a biopsychosocial approach to the delineation of psychopathology.
• Combines cognitive therapy with behavioural techniques.
• Rationate—distress has its origins in the biological, psychological, and social
realms.
• Addresses the biological (relaxation procedures), psychological (behaviour and
cognitive therapy) and social (environmental manipulations) aspects.

D. Humanistic-Existential Therapy

Self-actualizationn is defined as an innate force that moves the person to become

more complex, balanced, and integrated; integrated means a sense of whole, being
a complete person.

1. Self-actualization requires free emotional expression:

(a) The family and society curb emotional expression, as it is feared that a free
expression of emotions can harm society by unleashing destructive forces.
(b) When emotionally expression is curbed, destructive behaviour and negative
emotions by thwarting the process of emotional integration.
2. Healing occurs when the client is able to perceive the obstacles to self-
actualization in his/her life and is able to remove them.
3. Therapy creates a permissive, non-judgemental and accepting atmosphere in
which the client’s emotions can be freely expressed.
4. The client has the freedom and responsibility to control his/her own behaviour; the
therapist is merely a facilitator and guide. The chief aim of the therapy is to expand
the client’s awareness.

1. Existential Therapy [Logotherapy (Victor Frankl)]:

• Treatment for the soul.
• Meaning making: Process of finding meaning even in life-threatening
circumstances, the basis of which is a person’s quest for finding the spiritual truth of
one’s existence.
• Spiritual Unconscious: The storehouse of love, aesthetic awareness and values of
life.
• Existential Anxiety: Neurotic anxiety of spiritual origin (spiritual anxieties leading to
meaninglessness).
• Goal: To help the patients find meaning and responsibility in their life irrespective of
their life circumstances.
• The therapist emphasizes the unique nature of the patient’s life and is open (shares
his/her feeltngs, values and own existence).
• Emphasis is on here and now, the therapist reminds the client about the immediacy
of the present.

2. Client-centered Therapy (Carl Rogers):

• Introduced the concept of self and freedom and choice as the core of one’s being.
• Provides a warm relationship in which the client can reconnect with his/her
disintegrated feelings.
• The therapist:
(i) Shows empathy—understands the client’s experience as if it were his/her own—
sets up an emotional resonance between client and therapist.
(ii) Warmth—the client feels secure and can trust the therapist.
(iii) Has unconditional positive regard, i.e., total acceptance of the client as he/she is,
indicates that the positive warmth of the therapist is not dependent on what the client
reveals or does in the therapy sessions.
• Client feels secure enough to explore his/her feelings; therapist reflects the feelings
of the client in a non-judgemental manner the reflection is achieved by rephrasing
the statements of the client, i.e., seeking simple clarifications to enhance the
meaning of the client’s statements.

3. Gestalt Therapy (Frederick and Laura Pearl):

• Goal: To increase an individual’s self-awareness and self -acceptance.
• Client is taught to recognize the bodily processes and the emotions that are being
blocked out from awareness.
• Therapist encourages the client to act out fantasies about feelings and conflicts can
also be used in group settings.
Factors Contributing to Healing:
1. Techniques adopted by the therapist and the implementation of the same with the
client, e.g., CBT for an anxious client—relaxation procedures and cognitive
restructuring contribute to the healing.
2. The therapeutic alliance, which is formed between the therapist and the patient/
client, has healing properties, because of the regular availability of the therapist, and
the warmth and empathy provided by the therapist.
3. Catharsis: A process of emotional unburdening by a client when he/she is being
interviewed in the initial sessions of therapy to understand the nature of the problem.
4. Non-specific Factors: These factors occur across different systems of
psychotherapy and across different clients/patients and different therapists.
(i) Patient Variables (motivation for change, expectation of improvement).
(ii) Therapist Variables (positive nature, good mental health, absence of unresolved
emotional conflicts).

Ethics in Psychotherapy:

1. Informed consent needs to be taken.

2. Confidentiality of the client should be maintained.
3. Alleviating personal distress should be the goal of all attempts of the therapist.
4. Integrity of the practitioner-client relationship is important.
5. Respect for human rights and dignity.
6. Professional competence and skills are essential.

F. ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES Yoga:

• An ancient Indian technique detailed in the Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali’s Yoga

Sutras.
• Refers to only the asanas (body posture component) or to pranayama (breathing
practices).
• Techniques enhance well-being, mood, attention, mental focus, and stress
tolerance.
• Reduces the time to go to sleep and improves the quality of sleep.
• Proper training by a skilled teacher and 30-minute practice everyday maximises the
benefits.
Meditation refers to the practice of focusing attention on breath or on an object or
thought of a mantra.
A. SudarshanaKriya Yoga (SKY)
(i) Rapid breathing techniques induce hyperventilation.
(ii) Beneficial, low risk, low cost.
(iii) Used as a public health intervention technique to alleviate PTSD in survivors of
mass disasters.
(iv) Reduces depression (research conducted at the National Institute of Mental
Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).
(v) Reduces stress levels in substance abuse patients, e.g., alcoholics.

B. KundaliniYoga
(i) Effective in treatment of mental disorders and OCD.
(ii) Combines prandyama (breathing techniques) with chanting of mantras.

C. VipasanaMeditation
(i) Mindfulness-based meditation; no fixed object or thought to hold to attention.
(ii) Person passively observes the various bodily sensations and thoughts that are
passing through in his or her awareness.
(iii) Helps prevent repeated episodes of depression.
(vi) Helps patients process emotional stimuli better and prevents biases in the
processing of these stimuli.

Rehabilitation of the Mentally ill:

• Aim: to empower the patient to become a productive member of society to the

maximum extent possible.
• Many patients suffer from negative symptoms such as disinterest and lack of
motivation to do work or to interact with people—rehabilitation is required to help
such patients become self-sufficient.
• In rehabilitation, the patients are given:
(i) Occupational Therapy: teaches skills such as candle making, paper bag making
and weaving to help them to form a work discipline
(ii) Social Skills Training: Develops interpersonal skills through role play, imitation
and instruction; objective is to teach the patient to function in a social group.
(iii) Cognitive Retraining: Improves the basic cognitive functions of attention, memory
and executive function.
(iv) Vocational Therapy: Once the patient improves sufficiently, gains skills
necessary to undertake productive employment.
Ch-6 Attitude and Social cognition
Social Psychology is a branch of Psychology which investigates how the behaviour
of individuals is affected by others and the social environment.
We form attitudes or develop ways of thinking about specific topics and people. We
form impressions about persons we meet. We are also interested in why people
behave in the ways they do-attribution.
The combination of social processes like attitude, impression formation, attribution
and pro social behaviour is called social cognition.
Social cognition refers to the mental activities related to the gathering and
interpretation of information about the social world.
Social cognition of all’ the individuals is affected by the social environment (Societal
conditions in the society peace, harmony, trust or aggression, frustration,
disharmony and distrust towards individuals, groups, peoples, relationship and social
issues.)
Because of social influences, people form attitudes or ways of thinking about specific
topics and people. Impression formation is when we make inferences about personal
qualities of people we meet. Attribution is when we assign causes to the behaviour
shown in specific social situation.

Attitude:
• Attitude is a state of the mind, a set of views or thoughts, regarding some topic
(called the ‘attitude object’), which have an evaluative feature (positive, negative or
neutral quality).
• The thought component is referred to as the cognitive aspect, the emotional
component is known as the effective aspect, and the tendency to act is called the
behavioural (or conative) aspect. A-B-Ocomponents (Affective-Behavioural-Cognitive
components) of attitude.
Beliefs refer to the cognitive component of attitudes and form the ground on which
attitudes stand, such as belief in God, or belief in democracy as a political ideology.
Values are attitudes or beliefs that contain a ‘should’ or ‘ought’ aspect, such as moral
or ethical values. One example of a value is hard work or honesty. Values are
formed when a particular belief or attitude becomes an inseparable part of the
person’s outlook on life.

Features of Attitude:
(i) Valence (positivity or negativity).
(ii) Extremeness indicates how positive or negative an attitude is.
(iii) Simplicity or Complexity (multiplexity) refers to how many attitudes there are
within a broader attitude. An attitude system is said to be ‘simple’ if it contains only
one or a few attitudes and ‘complex’ if it is made up of many attitudes.
(iv) Centrality: This refers to the role of a particular attitude in the system much more
than non-central (or peripheral) attitudes would.
Attitude Formation:
In general, attitudes are learned through one’s own experiences, and through
interaction With others.
Process of Attitude Formation:
• Association, e.g., a positive attitude towards a subject is learned through the
positive association between a teacher and a student.
• Reward or punishment increases/decreases the further development of that
attitude.
• Modelling observing others being rewarded or punished for expressing thoughts, or
showing behaviour of a particular kind towards the attitude object.
• Group or Cultural norms through the norms of our group or culture which may
become part of our social cognition, in the form of attitude.
• Exposure to information, e.g., positive and negative attitudes are formed through
the media.

Factors that Influence Attitude Formation:

(i) Family and School Environment particularly in the early years of life.
(ii) Reference Groups indicate the norms regarding acceptable behaviour/ways of
thinking, reflect learning of attitudes through cultural norms, noticeable during
beginning of adolescence.
(iii) Personal Experiences (direct).
(iv) Media-related Influences. Technological advances have made audio-visual
media, school level textbook and the Internet very powerful sources of information

Attitude Change:
Attitudes that are still in the formative stage, and are more like opinions, are much
more likely to change compared to attitude that have become firmly established and
have become a part of the individual’s values
.
1. Balance or P-O-X triangle (Fritz Heider) represents the relationships between
three aspects or components of attitude.
• P is the person whose attitude is being studied,
• O is another person
• X is the topic towards which the attitude is being studied (attitude object). It is also
possible that all three are persons. The basic idea is that an attitude changes if there
is a state of imbalance between the P-O attitude, O-X attitude, and P-X attitude. This
is because imbalance is logically uncomfortable.
Imbalance is found when all three sides are negative, or two sides are positive, and
one side is negative. Balance is found when all three sides are positive or two sides
are negative, and one side is positive.

2. Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger) emphasises on the cognitive component.

Cognitive components of an attitude must be ‘constant’ (opposite of‘dissonant’), i.e.,
they should be logically in line with each other. If an individual finds, that two
cognitions in an attitude dissonant, then one of them will be changed in the direction
of consonance.
Both balance and cognitive dissonance are examples of cognitive consistency which
means that two components or elements of the attitude, or attitude system, must be
in the same direction. If this does not happen, then the person experiences a kind of
mental discomfort, i.e. the sense that ‘something is not quite right’ in the attitude
system.

3. The Two-Step Concept (S.M. Mohsin): According to him, attitude change takes
place in the form of two steps:
(i) The target of change (person whose attitude is to be changed) identifies with the
source (person through whose influence the attitude is to be changed). Identification
means that the target and the source have a mutual regard and attraction.
(ii) The source himself/herself shows an attitude change, by actually changing
him/her behaviour towards the attitude object. Observing the source’s changed
attitude and behaviour, the target also shows an attitude change through behaviour.
This is a kind of imitation or observational learning.
Factors that Influence Attitude Change:

• Characteristics of the Existing Attitude: All four properties of attitudes

mentioned earlier, namely, valence (positively or negatively), extremeness, simplicity
or complexity (multiplexity), and centrality or significance of the attitude, determine
attitude, determine attitude change. Positive, less extreme, peripheral (less
significant) and simpler attitudes are easier to change.
In addition, one must also consider the direction and extent of attitude change.
Congruent (same direction of the existing attitude) or incongruent (direction
opposite). Moreover, an attitude may change in the direction of the information that is
presented, or in a direction opposite to that of the information presented.

• Source Characteristics: Source credibility and attractiveness. Attitudes are more

likely to change when the message comes from a highly credible source rather than
from a low- credible source.

• Message Characteristics: Attitudes will change when the amount of information

that is
given about the topic is just enough, neither too much nor too little. Whether the
message contains a rational or an emotional appeal, also makes a difference. The
motives activated by the message and the mode of spreading the message (face-to-
face transmission is more effective than indirect transmission).

• Target Characteristics: Qualities of the target, such as persuasibility (open and

flexible personality), strong prejudices, self-esteem, more willing because they base
their attitude on more information and thinking.
Attitude-Behaviour Relationship:
Psychologists have found that there would be consistency between attitudes and
behaviour when—
(i) the attitude is strong and occupies a central place in the attitude system.
(ii) the person is aware of his/her attitude.
(iii) there is very little or no external pressure for the person to behave in a particular
way.

Prejudice and Discrimination:

Prejudices are usually negative attitudes against a particular group, and in many
cases, may be based on stereotypes (the cognitive component) about the specific
group. A stereotype is a cluster of ideas regarding the characteristics of a specific
group. The cognitive component of prejudice is frequently accompanied by dislike or
hatred, the affective components of prejudice are more difficult to change.

Sources of Prejudice:
• Learning: Prejudice can also be learned through association, reward and
punishment, observing others, group or cultural norms and exposure to information
that encourages prejudice. The family, reference groups, personal experiences and
the media may play a role in the learning of prejudices. People who learn prejudiced
attitudes may develop a ‘prejudiced personality’.

• A strong Social Identity and in Group Bias: Individual who have a strong sense
of social identity and have a very positive attitude towards their own group boost this
attitude by holding negative attitudes towards other groups.

• Scapegoating: This is a phenomenon by which the majority group places the

blame on minority group for its own social, economic or political problems. The
minority is too weak or too small in number to defend itself against such accusation.

• Kernel of Truth Concept: Sometimes people may continue to hold stereotypes

because they think that there must be some truth, or ‘Kernel of truth’ in which
everyone says about the other group.

• Self-fulfilling Prophecy: The group that is the target of prejudice is itself

responsible for continuing the prejudice by behaving in ways that justify the prejudice
or confirm the negative expectation.

Strategies for Handling Prejudice

The strategies for handling prejudice would be effective if they aim at:
(a) minimising opportunities for learning prejudices,
(b) changing such attitudes,
(c) de-emphasising a narrow social identity based on the in-group, and
(d) discouraging the tendency towards self-fulfilling prophecy among the victims of
prejudice.

These goals can be accomplished through:

• Education and information dissemination, for correcting stereotypes related to
specific target groups, and tackling the problem of a strong in-group bias.
• Increasing intergroup contact that allows for direct communication, removal of
mistrust between the groups, and discovery context, there is close interaction and
they are not different in power or status.
• Highlighting individual identity rather than group identity, thus weakening the
importance of group (both in-group and out-group) as a basis of evaluating the other
person.
Social Cognition refers to all those psychological processes that deal with the
gathering and processing of information related to social objects (processes that help
in understanding, explaining and interpreting social behaviour). Social cognition is
guided by mental units called schemata
Chapter 7- Social Influence and Group Processes

Group: An organized system of two or more individuals who are interacting and are
interdependent, who have common motives, have set role relationships amongst the
members and have norms that regulate the behaviour of members. Salient features:
Sense of belonging to the group
Common motive/goal
Interdependence amongst members/group
Satisfying a need through the association
Ability to influence each other
Governed by set of norms/rules

Crowd: is also a collection of people but by chance not with a purpose or specific
role and responsibility like in a structured group.

Team: is a special kind of group in which in addition to all the salient features of a
group, members have:
Complimentary skills
Committed to a common goal/purpose
Mutual accountability towards the purpose
Collective and coordinated responsibility
Team work and synergy

Audience: is also collection of people who have assembled for a special purpose.
May be to watch theatre or cricket match. features:
Generally passive
No inter-involvement
Only under frenzy, behaves like mob and gets polarized

Q: Why do people join groups?

Security- Sense of comfort and protection. Less vulnerable to threats.

Status-Associating to an important/powerful group gives one a sense of pride
and power.
Self-esteem– feeling of self worth, positive social identity
Satisfaction of social/psychological needs– Sense of belonging, needs of
attention, love and power.
Share knowledge and information- groups supplement knowledge by
providing forum to share n exchange thoughts.
Goal achievement– Power of majority, support on meeting goal.

Group formation:
Groups are formed due to contact and some form of interaction under following
conditions:

Proximity: Repeated interactions with same set of individuals, chance to know

them, their interests, attitude. Common interests and attitudes bring people together
causing groups.
Similarity: People group up with people with similar interests, due to two reasons
(as explained by psychologists). 1. Similar views and interests makes it easier for
people two connect and get closer. 2. It also helps individuals in validating their own
views and that makes them feel self-assured of their interests and choices.
Common Motives and Goals: When people have common goals to achieve which
they cannot pursue alone, they get together and form a group. This helps them in
their goal achievement.

Stages of group formation:

As per Tuckman groups pass five developmental sequences:

1. Forming- Group members first meet, try to know eachother, go through

uncertainty about achievement of goal.
2. Storming- Deals with conflict among the members on how and what all needs
to be done to achieve the target. Who will control what all, roles, hierarchy and
leadership.
3. Norming- In this stage group forms norms related to behaviour. This leads to
develop a positive group identity.
4. Performing- By this stage structure of the group is evolved, moving towards
goal achievement. This could be a last stage as may complete with goal
meeting.
5. Adjourning- is the last stage in formal groups where the groups are disbanded
formally after the task is accomplished.

Structure of a Group:

4 important elements of group structure:

Roles- responsibilities defined for individual members to fulfil under specific
conditions.
Norms- expected standards of behaviour and beliefs established/agreed upon or
enforced to the members of the group.
Status- is the relative social status given to the group members by virtue of their
role, seniority or skill set relevant to the group goal.
Cohesiveness- Togetherness, binding, mutual attraction among group members.
More people think, feel and act alike in a group, more cohesive it is. (the
phenomenon is called Groupthink)

Type of Groups:

1. Primary and Secondary groups

2. Formal and Informal
3. Ingroup and Outgroup

Primary and Secondary

1. Primary groups are pre-existing formations which are given to the individuals
whereas the Secondary groups are those an individual joins by his/her own
choice.
2. Primary- more face to face, direct interaction, close proximity and
bond. Secondary –relationships are impersonal, indirect and less frequent.
 3. Primary – group plays an important role in the development of values and
beliefs of individual. Secondary- groups do not contribute much to the
individual.
4. Primary group– Individuals do not have the option to choose the group or
members. Secondary– It is relatively easier to choose to join and exit the
group.

Eg: Primary– Family, religion, caste groups etc

Secondary– Political party, club

Formal and Informal Groups:

Formal- Functions of the group are explicitly stated as in case of an organization.

Roles assigned to members are well defined in explicit manner.
Are more structured.
Informal- No rules, laws or a formal structure. Members share an informal and close
relationship.

Ingroup and Outgroup

The term Ingroup refers to one’s own group and Outgroup refers to another group.
The members of ingroup refer to themselves as ‘We’ and for outgroup members are
referred as ‘They’.

Influence of Group on Individual behaviour

Group Influence is of 2 types:

Social Facilitation- When a person is doing a job alone in presence of others.

The theory suggests that presence of others leads to arousal and motivates
individuals to enhance their performance ,specially when they are individually
evaluated.

Social Loafing- is a phenomenon of Diffusion of responsibility in which individuals

start making less effort when working in a group than as individual. .i.e one in which
outputs are pooled with those of other group members.
e.g. tug of war. You can never identify who s making how much effort.

Such situations give opportunity to individuals to relax and become free riders.

Reasons of same: Social loafing can happen if

Group members feel less responsible for the overall task and exert less.
Motivation of members decreases when they know their contribution will not be
evaluated individually.
The performance of one group is not to be compared with other.
There is improper coordination or no coordination in the group
When belonging of same group is not important for members.

Q: How to reduce social loafing?

Making the efforts of each member identifiable.
Increasing the pressure to work hard
 Making group members committed to successful task performance
Increasing the apparent importance or value of a task
Making people feel that their individual contribution is important
Strengthening group cohesiveness which increases the motivation for
successful group outcome.

Group Polarization:
We all know important decisions are taken by groups and not by individuals. But
there is also a phenomenon observed that groups are more likely to take extreme
decisions than individuals alone. This is referred as group polarization.

Reasons

If you have a certain view of a situation and the group members also share the
similar opinion, this makes you more strongly favourable towards your belief.
If group shares your opinion you feel you also have public validation. This is a
sort of bandwagon effect.
With conformity of your views by majority, your own views become
strengthened.