ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

Course: Educational Psychology and Guidance (6501)

Semester: Spring, 2022
Level: M.A/M.Ed.
Registration No. 0000274658

Assignment 2
Q. 1 Compare Maslow's theory of self-actualization with Murray's theory of motivation. Which
theory provides more realistic and comprehensive picture of motivation and how?

The Maslow motivation theory is one of the best known and most influential theories on
workplace motivation. Here is one of our Manage in a Minute pages, with a short introduction to
the basics of this well known theory.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow first developed his famous theory of individual development and
motivation in the 1940’s. He suggested that human beings have a hierarchy of needs. That is, that all
humans act in a way which will address basic needs, before moving on to satisfy other, so-called
higher level needs.
Maslow represented this theory as a hierarchical triangle. This shows how basic needs must be met
before one can “climb” the hierarchy, to address more complex needs. For example, first one must
meet the basic, physiological need for food, water and warmth. After that the focus would be on the
need to be safe, then the need to belong to social groups, and so on up the hierarchy.
The important thing to recognize is Maslow’s contention that one’s sense of well-being. i.e. the
‘feelgood factor’ increases as the higher level needs are met.
Maslow Motivation Theory: the Hierarchy of Needs
The Maslow motivation theory is typically represented by 5 steps:
 Physiological needs – such as hunger, thirst and sleep
 Safety needs – such as security, protection from danger and freedom from pain.
 Social needs – sometimes also referred to as love needs such as friendship, giving and
receiving love, engaging in social activities and group membership.
 Esteem needs – these include both self-respect and the esteem of others. For example, the
desire for self-confidence and achievement, and recognition and appreciation.
 Self-actualization – This is about the desire to develop and realize your full potential. To
become everything you can be.
Understanding Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy
To understand Maslow’s thinking it’s worth noting some of his main assertions:

 Broadly, as one set of needs is met, the next level of needs become more of a motivator to
an individual.
 A satisfied need is not a motivator.
 Only unsatisfied needs motivate an individual. We have an innate desire to work our way up
the hierarchy, pursuing satisfaction in higher order needs.
  Self-actualization stimulates a desire for more due to what Maslow explained as “peak
experiences”, created by the overall effect of reaching one’s full potential.
Transcending Maslow’s Original Theory
Later in his life, Maslow discussed an added motivational need: transcendence. This in some ways
added to or refined the self-actualisation level of his hierarchy. Transcendence relates to personal
fulfillment beyond simply being one’s best. It comes from commitment to things beyond the self. For
example through spiritualism, community engagement, charitable work or anything inspired by
altruistic intent.

Critiques of Maslow’s Theory

There have been numerous academic criticisms of the theory. These are largely based on the relative
narrowness of his original research data, and arguably subjective selection of the sample. Maslow’s
original work was based on observations of healthy, college students, representing only 1% of the
overall population.

The theory has also been criticised for overlooking cultural factors. Inferring the fixed rankings of a
universal human hierarchy of needs from his research ignores a wide range of social factors which
differentiate people all across the world. We have illustrated several examples of this in our
motivational stories, especially in our article: Benefits of Time Management.

Finally, critics have argued that Maslow’s theory does not allow for changes in personal
circumstances or attitudes. These may occur due to changes or pressures from any external factors,
often categorised in the PESTLE tool. For example, one’s perception of the importance of a
motivational factor may well be influenced by the economics of a recession, or the privations of a
war.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will certainly have changed people’s perceptions of what’s
important in life. And arguably, the numerous examples of people caring and contributing to the
needs of neighbours, regardless of their own welfare or financial security, may make us think again
about the rigid hierarchy of the model.

More on Maslow
If you wish to find out more you can read Maslow’s original article here. Or you may like to read
some of our articles related to this topic, for example on flow. You may also find it useful to look at
the detailed discussions in some of our related articles, such as Positive Attitude in the Workplace.

Q.2 Explain some ways to measure individual differences among students. How as a teacher will
you manage individual differences in your classroom?
Around the world, every public school system is faced with the challenge of educating large numbers
of students efficiently while also meeting the needs of each student. The waves of
international migration taking place today make this challenge particularly daunting: Schools,
teachers, and school systems have to respond to an increasingly diverse student body and very
different needs.
The fundamental question is this: How can we ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn
and reach their full potential—regardless of their place of birth, family of origin, religion, gender or
cognitive abilities?
One common response to this challenge has been to group students with similar achievement levels
into courses, study programs, or schools – a practice known as tracking. The aim is to create more
homogeneous groups of students, with the assumption that this will make it easier for teachers to
tailor instruction to students’ needs.
Tracking exacerbates educational inequalities
Most school systems in developed countries practice some form of tracking, in particular in
secondary schools. In several European countries (e.g. Germany, Switzerland, Belgium), students of
different achievement levels even attend separate secondary schools. In other countries (e.g. the US,
the UK, Portugal), students go to the same school but are grouped by ability for some or all of their
subjects.
While tracking is motivated by worthy goals, its effectiveness has been the subject of heated debate
among both policymakers and researchers. There is empirical evidence that tracking exacerbates
educational inequality. With less demanding curricula, lower instructional quality, lower
expectations, and fewer resources, lower tracks provide less opportunity to learn. Even more
alarming, the assignment to a given track is often biased by race or social class. So tracking is hardly
an ideal solution for dealing with student heterogeneity.
So what to do? Policymakers and researchers are beginning to recognize that the success of a school
system is determined less by its structure or institutional arrangements – such as tracking – than by
what actually happens in the classroom. In recent years, more and more policymakers have been
urging schools to personalize learning, individualize instruction and adapt teaching to students’
needs in heterogeneous classrooms.
Researchers, too, have argued in favor of adaptive teaching, an approach that requires teachers to
“micro-adapt” their instruction on a continuous basis. After assessing students’ strengths and
weaknesses, teachers capitalize on strengths and compensate for weaknesses, with the ultimate
goal of teaching students to become self-regulated learners.
Is adaptive teaching the better solution?
This approach is very different from what most of us experienced when we were in school. In an
adaptive classroom, the teacher doesn’t convey the same content to all students; instead, students
may be working on different tasks at the same time. Some may be working independently, while
others are engaged in learning with their peers, and still others are being introduced to new subject
matter by the teacher. Low-achieving students will receive more guidance and structured support
from teachers than high-achieving students, who are more capable of working on their own.
To determine how much structure students need and how much difficulty they can handle, adaptive
teachers are careful to determine what each student already knows, by engaging in informal
teacher-student interactions, reviewing students’ assignments or conducting more formal
assessments. The goal is to gradually reduce the amount of structure so that students can become
more independent learners.
So is adaptive teaching the best way to deal with students’ individual differences and provide equal
learning opportunities for all? We don’t know. There is very little empirical evidence on the
effectiveness of adaptive teaching. From a theoretical point of view, adaptive teaching may be a
promising response to an increasingly diverse student population.
But we should also note that adaptive teaching involves certain risks. It places significant demands
on teachers, and as a result they may be overburdened and less likely to provide high quality
instruction, in particular for the low-achieving students who need more guidance. While adaptive
teaching certainly seems promising, it is imperative to identify the conditions under which it is likely
to be effective.
Letting practice inform research
Because adaptive teaching is still relatively uncommon, it has been difficult to conduct systematic
observations. There are, however, a number of innovative schools around the world that are
applying a micro-adaptive approach to teaching.
Interestingly, these schools are often located in areas with a highly diverse population, and in some
cases they have made classrooms even more heterogeneous by creating mixed-age groups or
including students with special needs. Such schools have moved far beyond the current debate
among policymakers and researchers.
Maybe it’s time to let practice inform research, rather than the other way around. How do these
schools deal with students’ individual differences? What does adaptive teaching look like in
practice? Are students better able to reach their full potential in such classrooms? Is learning more
successful than in regular classrooms? Let’s find out.
Q.3 How as a teacher, can you detect maladjustment among students. What are some common
defense mechanism students with maladjustment may exhibit in the classroom?
Everyday life can be incredibly challenging for a maladjusted child. Children who are maladjusted
lack the social skills necessary to interact effectively with peers and engage in healthy, cooperative
activities. While maladjustment is not something that can be rectified over night, with help,
maladjusted children can operate as effective members of society. By assisting a maladjusted child in
navigating the complex web of social relationships, you can help prepare the pupil for future
interactions with others.
Adjustment is the process by which a living organism maintains a balance between its needs
and the circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs.
An individual‘s adjustment
is adequate, wholesome or healthy to the extent that he hasestablished harmonious
relationship between himself and the conditions, situations and persons who comprise
his physical and social environment.
Maladjustment refers to disharmony between the person and his
environment. Contrary to adjustment, maladjustment represents a condition or a state
in which one feels that one‘s needs are not fulfilled and he has been a failure
in establishing harmony with his self and the environment.
Causes of maladjustments:
The causes of one‘s maladjustment to his self and the environment
may be both of personal as well as environmental
Following are the causes of maladjustment:
1. Unhealthy
home environment – Include separated family, divorced family, step parent, drunkard
or drug addicted parents, single parenting, low moral and social standard of family.
2. Heredity
causes – One may feel inferior because of inherited defective mental set up,
physiological structure, colour of the skin (dark) which could lead to
maladjustment.
3. Poverty
– When poor children meet rich children in the school, they sometimes develop
jealousy, worry and inferiority complex which lead to emotional disturbance.
4. Environment
causes – The forces of the environment begin to play their role from the conception
of the child in the womb of the mother in the form of defective nourishment available
to him. Uncongenial physical environment, adverse physical environment leads to
maladjustment.
5. Faulty
method of teaching – Faulty method of teaching do not motivate students. The
becomes dull and drudgery. Student begin to hate every process of education.
It creates emotional tension which lead to mental illness.
6. Strict
Discipline – Some traditional schools impose strict discipline, such schools
are just like jails and the teachers jailors. Those students are always suffering
from fear and worry.
7. Lack of equipments (facility)- In some schools,
there is lack of furniture and proper equipments. Over crowded classes and poor
facilities leads to frustration and mental tension.
8. Lack
of guidance and counseling – Mastery over content and subject matter only without
caring for the interest of students causes maladjustment. No guidance is provided
for various areas at different levels. Students became confused, frustrated and
become maladjusted.
9. Lack
of recreational facilities – Children who do not get facilities after class
in the forms of play, library, debates, discussion, puzzles etc. may have adjustment
Problems.
10. Mass
media – Children are exposed to mass media, explosion of knowledge, adult issues
now a days. It the child witnesses films which depict low sexuality and violence,
it may lead to maladjustment.
11. Social
laws and bindings – The social laws and legal binding are the most common source
of frustrations in one‘s life. Similarly restrictions imposed by parents, teachers,
ethical and other groups are common sources of maladjustment.
12. Bad
company / neighborhood – Neighbourhood is an important conditioner of child‘s
behaviour. Many of our youngsters develop delinquencies because such patterns of
behaviour are seen in their neighborhood patterns like lying, stealing, obscene
talk, promiscuous sex interest.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES OF MALADJUSTMENT
Following are the measures
which prevent maladjustment;
1. Proper
encouragement – Parents and teachers should speak daily with the child about
his daily activities. So the child can begin to learn the principles of socialization.
2. Proper
appreciation – Parents and teachers should directly praise the child for the
good things he has done.
3. Delegating
responsibility – Parents and teachers should assign some responsibility to the
child. This responsibility should evolve tasks which the child perceives as real
and important.
4. Provision
of entertainment – Provide entertainment facilities like parks, sports clubs,
amusement places, theaters, museum to children. We should encourage the child to
engage in playing with his peers.
5. Testing
– Refer the child for special education testing. In some instances, maladjusted
children are eligible for special education services.
6. Pattern
of relaxation – The teacher should set a pattern of calmness. Yoga, meditation,
stress management courses plays very important roles in preventing maladjustment.
7. Informing
progress – Teacher should inform the child of the progress he is making.
8. Timely
help – Teacher should help the child when he needs it and not only when he asks
for it. If the teacher is wise enough to know when the child requires help, he may
be able to help him avoid many traumatic failure experiences.
9. Moral
Education – School should provide value education through various methods. Self
confidence, co-operation, caring and sharing are the values that can be inculcated
through co- curricular programmes.
10. Guidance
and counseling – If the teacher works as a guide and counselor for parents and
children, many of the negative situations can be turned into positive ones which
are beneficial to students.
Q.4 What are the factors that influence the organization of guidance programs in schools? As a
head of a school how would you evaluate school guidance program?
1. Role of School Guidance Service
2. Need and Importance of Organisation of School Guidance Service
3. Objectives of Organisation of School Guidance Service
4. Scope of Organisation of School Guidance Service
Role of School Guidance Service:
As an integral part of education, guidance plays an important role in the schooling system. Attending
school is not our only target in the modern and complex world. Rather present school should take a
lot of initiatives and responsibilities to build its students properly. For which they would be able to
shoulder their carriers in the right direction utilizing their potentialities to the maximum extent in
relation to their limitations.
Otherwise they would not make themselves fit to adjust and cooperate positively and perfectly in
educational, occupational, personal as well as social life. It is keenly observed that without proper
guidance services- no student has ever been able to maximize his talents and potentialities. So that
organisation of guidance services in the school has become an urgent need for the present society.
Mainly guidance services given in the school include all sorts of school guidance activities and
programmes which are meant for students in order to maximize their potentialities, achieve self
realization, self direction and self development, choose suitable career plan, carry a satisfactory
occupation, get job satisfaction, make better adjustment in the home, school and community.
In fact the organisation of guidance programme in the school is not a recent attempt by the
developed countries of the world. But in India, it has not got any clear picture and due status like
other developed countries. Only suitable saying and mere attempt of the same will not contribute
fruitful result to students as well as nation.
That is why careful attempts should be taken by the Government, related agencies, schools and
concerning personnel’s to receive grand success in the organisation of the guidance programmes in
the schools.
Need and Importance of Organisation of School Guidance Service:
In past, school was considered as an institution to meet the literary ambition, to satisfy thirst for
theoretical information and knowledge, to spend leisure hours of the pupils.Unfortunately, at
present the same achievements are not sufficient for the students to sui-vive in the ever changing
world. Keeping this in view now- a-days school should act for the preparation for the goals of stu-
dents as well as education.
So it is natural that education should become a purposeful activity. It is not possible in the part of an
immature student to determine right goal of life and as such the goal of education. In this context,
Toynbee rightly remarks “a civilization survives only so long as it makes adequate response to the
challenges of its times”. So the students need effective school guidance services which would be
organised smoothly in right way.
The school guidance service is essential at primary as well as secondary school level due to
following needs:
(i) It enables teachers to know the talents and potentialities of the students.
(ii) It enables guidance workers to recognize the field and degree of interest and potentialities of the
students.
(iii) It gives ample opportunities to find essential, reliable and authentic and scientific data on
students.
(iv) It gives hints to the students to choose an appropriate career plan for future.
(v) It helps students to find out a suitable occupation by which they can get maximum job
satisfaction.
(vi) It offers adequate information and knowledge to the students for better adjustment in the
school and its surroundings.
(vii) It provides proper knowledge and information to the school going children to adjust in the home
and its sphere.
(viii) It provides knowledge and information the students to adjust in the community satisfactory.
(ix) It helps parents and relatives to make a suitable career plan for better future of the children.
(x) It helps in studying and understanding the students in regards to their natures, needs and
physical, intellectual, emotional and social abilities.
(xi) It helps concerning staff of the school to utilize and develop their knowledge, skill, self interest,
and training abilities for the same.
(xii) It helps guidance personnel’s of school guidance programme in considering their activities and
functions.
(xiii) It gives ample opportunities to the students for achieving self realization, self direction and self
development for a bright future.
(xiv) It is a joint and concentrated venture of the headmaster, teacher, guidance personnel and
parents for the upliftment of students and society considering best possible use of available
community resources.
(xv) It saves time, energy and money if the school guidance programmes are systematically
organised.
Objectives of Organisation of School Guidance Service:
In-fact the students are the best human assets for the society. Aspiring for a better future of the
students and as well as nation it has become an urgent need to organize school guidance services in
the school keeping certain objectives. We can have a developed nation if the human resources of
the country are properly utilized and developed.
Feeling this importance in the mind recently the school guidance services are taken into
consideration for this high time.
Certain aims and objectives of organisation of school guidance service are stated below:
(i) To understand the needs, demands, potentialities, interests, attitudes, aspiration and position of
the students.
(ii) To assist students to understand themselves and develop self concepts within them.
(iii) To help students in framing future education plans.
(iv) To assist students in determining their occupational choices.
(v) To help students for satisfactory adjustment in the home.
(vi) To assist students for better adjustment in the school.
(vii) To help students for suitable adjustment in the community.
Scope of Organisation of School Guidance Service:
Like education, guidance is a continuous and a lifelong process. So that the organisation of guidance
and counselling services are most important in the life of students. Actually the same services have
wider scope covering various activities, programmes, situations of life and solution of faced
problems by the students.
The organisation of school guidance service is a specialized service meant for the students to know
various necessary data about them and to guide and suggest accordingly for their educational,
occupational, personal, as well as social developments.
For this very purpose, information’s are collected regarding students abilities, intelligence, interests,
aptitudes, attitudes, personality traits and extra talent of special field etc.
The collection of said data can be possible taking the help of different tests such as intelligence test,
aptitude test, achievement test, interest inventory, adjustment inventory, attitude scale, interview,
schedules, observation, rating scale, check list, questionnaire and sociometric technique, clinical
studies etc.
In order to keep and record the data regarding students systematically cumulative record card and
anecdotal record are used at the time of organisation of guidance programmes in the schools.
The organisation of guidance services comprise various occupational information’s needed for the
benefit of the students relating to a better job or occupation.
For the purpose of collection of occupational information’s, the help of different institutions and
centers like colleges, universities. State Bureau of Guidance, Employment Exchange, Institute of
Vocational Guidance, Union Public Service Commission, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,
NCERT and Ministry of Education and Social Welfare etc. are taken.
With this the help of career talk, career conference, career corner, demonstrations are taken into
consideration to avail more job information’s and training facilities provided in the country and
abroad. Besides this the collection of more occupational information’s is possible through certain
publications like Employment News, Employment Bulletins, Vocational Journals, Notices and
Pamphlets etc.
Now-a-days the role of Radio, Television programmes and Internet relating to this cannot be ignored
in this context.
Counselling is an important guidance service which deals with educational, scholastic, vocational,
personal problems as well as adjustment problems of pupils. It includes establishment of good
rapport or some other way of personal contact which help in knowing and solving the faced
problems of the students.
In order to organize guidance and counselling services in schools trained teachers and counsellors
are required. For them in-service training, pre-service training and other training facilities should be
given to initiate the school guidance programmes.
The organisation of school guidance services includes programmes for parent education and
parental awareness. Besides this, the organisation of school guidance programmes include different
periodic seminars and workshops and conferences for all concerning members for the smooth
running of the programmes.
Q.5 Differentiate between counselling and psychotherapy. What are the characteristics of a good
counsellor?
Spelling differences in American and British English are widespread and well-documented.
From consonant doubling to -ise and ize suffixes, American writers and British writers are likely to
spell many common words differently, even when these writers may be referring to the same thing.
Counseling and counselling are two spelling variants of the same word. Each language community
prefers a different spelling. While this might be a confusing difference for international therapists,
most of us only need to consider who our audience is before deciding which version to use. Continue
reading to learn more about this word.
What is the Difference Between Counselling and Counseling?
In this post, I will compare counselling vs. counseling. I will use each of these words in example
sentences, so you can see how they appear in context.
I will also show you how to use a mnemonic device to easily choose counseling or counselling.

When to Use Counseling

What does counseling mean? Counseling is a verb. It is the present participle conjugation of to
counsel, which means to give guidance.
For example,
 The master cake decorator is counseling his young protégé in the ways of cake decorating.
 “For years, I have been counseling you to avoid giving straight answers to the press,” said
the politician’s media coach.
Counseling is also a gerund, which is a verb that can function as a noun in
sentences. Counseling means guidance or a type of therapy as a noun.
Here are some example sentences,
 Jill goes to the clinic each week for grief counseling.
 Group counseling can be an effective delivery tool for social skills training for adolescent
boys.
 The late Roger Ailes ran Fox News for two decades, all the while counseling Republican
politicians on their careers — part of his previous professional life. –The Washington Post
When to Use Counselling
What does counselling mean? Counselling is an alternative spelling of the same word.
Where counseling is used in American English, counselling is used in British English.
 Counselling and other psychological therapies can do more harm than good if they are of
poor quality or the wrong type, according to a major new analysis of their outcomes. –The
Guardian
Interestingly, counseling was more common for a brief period in the 20th century, before
counselling regained its current, commanding lead.
Counselling is used exactly the same way as counseling in sentences. Here are some examples,
 It took years of counselling for Amanda to get over the loss of her sister.
 When counselling children, it is important to remember that their developmental level is not
as high as yours.
This same American, British preference applies to the words counselor and counsellor.
Trick to Remember the Difference
Counseling and counselling are spelling variants of the same word. The difference between them
comes down to your intended audience:
 Americans prefer counseling.
 Those who use British English are used to seeing counselling.
Since counselling has an extra L, and the British city of London starts with an L, this letter will be your
clue that counselling is the British spelling of this word.
Summary
Is it counselling or counseling? Counseling is a verb that means giving guidance or therapy. It can
also be used as a noun, where it refers to this guidance or therapy.
 Counseling is an American English spelling.
 Counselling is the British English spelling of the same word.