Search Previous Year Questions

Adjustment is a harmonious relationship with the environment which involves the ability to satisfy most of one’s needs and meet most of the physical and social demands of the environment.

• In other words, adjustment is a compromise between the needs of the individual and the demands of the society in which he lives.

Key PointsImportance of Adjustment:

• Work efficiency increased when a person is well adjusted.
• Adjustment is needed for harmonious existence in one’s environment.
• The person is psychologically comfortable and does not manifest fewer signs of anxiety or depression.
• The adjustment adds to quality and efficiency.

Hence, being free from neurotic fears and anxiety promotes adjustment.

Additional Information Indicators of maladjustment are -

• Acute anxiety
• Obsessive thought of guilt
• Fear of illness

Gifted children are those who show consistently remarkable performance in educational endeavors. They possess superior intellectual ability within the range of the upper two to three percent of the population.

• According to some psychologists, academically gifted students are those who are within the top 15% to 20% in the schools.

Key PointsGifted students may have the following characteristics:

• Learning commensurates with that expected of older students, often reading at an earlier. than average age
• Knowing about things of which other students are unaware
• High ability for abstract and symbolic thinking
• Curiosity is indicated by asking serious questions
• Large vocabulary and mature expressive ability
• Requires limited exposure and fewer repetitions to learn
• Ability to apply knowledge to unfamiliar situations
• Novelty in ideas and expression
• Good problem-solving ability
• Attention span is long for the age
• Dislike rigid time schedule
• Annoyance with details
• Intense interest in one area
• Spontaneous and diverse interests

Hence, Novelty in expression and Curiosity are the characteristics of gifted children

Intelligence refers to a set of different cognitive abilities to think rationally, act purposefully, resolve problems, and deal with the demands of the environment.

Key Points

• In 1912, Terman suggested the concept called Intelligent Quotient (IQ).
• It refers to the score of a standardized test that assesses and measures human intelligence.

An individual’s Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is determined by the formula given below,

\({\bf{Intelligence}};{\bf{Quotient}};\left( {{\bf{IQ}}} \right) = \frac{{{\bf{Mental}};{\bf{Age}};\left( {{\bf{MA}}} \right);}}{{{\bf{Chronological}};{\bf{Age}};\left( {{\bf{CA}}} \right)}} \times 100\)

Where,

• Mental Age is based on intellectual development.
• Chronological Age is the number of years a person has lived.

Important Points

I.Q. Table Based on differences related to I.Q.: 

Hence, it could be concluded that formula of I.Q. was given by Terman.

Learning disability is any one of a diverse group of conditions, believed to be of neurological origin, that cause significant difficulties in perceiving and /or processing auditory, visual or spatial information, or any combination of these information forms.

Key PointsDyslexia: It is a Reading disability, which is not due to mental retardation, brain damage, or a lack of intelligence. It is caused by an impairment in the brain’s ability to translate images received from the eyes or ears into understandable language.

Characteristics of the learners with Dyslexia:

• They are unable to correct the letters if reverse letters are provided to them.
• Read the words oppositely.
• Unable to recognize mirror images of the letters.
• They are unable to recognize words, and spelling and can not decode letters.
• Students found confusing while reading, they are unable to figure out the correct letter.
• Reading wrong due to lack of understanding of the words and letters.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that Ravi has Dyslexia.

Important Points

• Dysgraphia: Writing disability, inability to write properly, illegible handwriting.
• Dysphasia: Speech and language disorders.
• Dyscalculia: Mathematics disability, difficulty in learning mathematical concepts and organizing numbers in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
• Dyspraxia: Difficulty with motor skills, non-verbal learning disability, motor clumsiness, and poor visual-spatial skills.

Learning is a continuous life-long process that is not inherited but can begin right from birth by providing constant interaction and stimulation received from the physical, social, and cultural environment and it does not stop till the end.

• Learning is a process of continual adaptation to the environment and assimilation and accommodation of new information and knowledge to fit in with pre-existing knowledge structures

 Key Points B. F. Skinner (1904 - 1990) was an American. His experiments on operant conditioning won him worldwide fame.

• Learning is a process of progressive behavior adaptation said - Skinner, 1960.
• Skinner defined operant conditioning as the process of learning that elicits operant behavior.

Hence, “Learning is a process of progressive behavior adaptation" is said by BF Skinner.

Important Points

• BF Skinner's Operant Conditioning: Operant conditioning refers to a learning paradigm where the desired behavior is taught to the organism by discriminatively reinforcing the correct responses.

Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. Learning occurs when we are able to: gain a mental or physical grasp of the subject. 

• The influence that learning one task may have on the subsequent learning of another is called transfer of learning. Sometimes the transfer of learning could be positive or negative.

Key PointsTypes of Transfer of Learning -

Positive Transfer: Positive transfer of learning is when learning on one task does facilitate learning another.

• Shrishti was able to use the basic concepts of mathematics practically while shopping in the market which indicates the positive transfer of learning.

Negative Transfer: When one learning interferes with others, it is called negative transfer of training. 

Hence, the above example is a positive transfer of learning.

Additional Information

• Bilateral Transfer: One special kind of transfer is called bilateral transfer for example learning to do a thing with one hand facilitates (transferred) learning with the other hand.
• Zero Transfer: When one learning has no influence on the other.

Conflict:- Conflict refers to disagreement between two or more people or ideologies. It is a situation in which the goals, values, interests, and perceptions of one individual or group are incompatible with another individual or group.

• Conflict exists everywhere.
• One individual can have two desires at the same which are opposite to each other.
• No two persons are the same. Hence they may have individual differences. And the differences may be because of values or otherwise, lead to conflict.

Key Points  Characteristics of Conflict:-

• Conflict is an essential outcome of differences in ideology, personality, ability, goals, and values.
• Conflict is a Process;
• Conflict is Inevitable.
• Conflict is a Normal Part of Life.
• Conflict may occur within an individual, between two or more individuals, groups, or between organizations.
• Conflict occurs only when some kind of interaction takes place.

Thus, it is concluded that  Two opposing desires present in an individual at the same time are Conflict.

Hint 

• Frustration:- a feeling of anger or annoyance caused by being unable to do something.
• Anxiety:- Anxiety is a normal emotion that causes increased alertness, fear, and physical signs, such as a rapid heart rate.
• Pressure:- Pressure is the psychological stress associated with expectations to perform well in a situation.

Reinforcement: Reinforcement as a term refers to the psychological process of motivating a person. Though used synonymously, there is a slight difference between motivation and reinforcement. 

• Reinforcement is something that enhances the strength of the response and prompts repetitions of the behavior that preceded reinforcement.

Key Points BF Skinner, an American psychologist proposed the Theory of operant conditioning in 1938. B. F. Skinner's experiments on operant conditioning won him worldwide fame. Skinner defined operant conditioning as the process of learning that elicits operant behavior. 

• Operant conditioning can be defined as a principle of learning in which behavior is maintained or changed through its positive or negative consequences.
• The basic principles of operant conditioning are that when a behavior occurs and is followed by reinforcement, it is more likely to occur again in the future.
• Dr. Skinner actually mapped out schedules of reinforcement in thousands of studies showing how the strength of reinforcement changed as a function of how often the reinforcer occurred.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that theory of reinforcement is also called the Operant conditioning theory proposed by B. F. Skinner.

Important Points Let us understand these two types of reinforcement.

• Positive Reinforcement: ​A behavior that is associated with a positive consequence or desirable outcome in the past will increase the chances of the behavior occurring again. This is called positive reinforcement.
• For example, Irfan, a new manager in a company, began praising workers for submitting their reports on time. In a couple of weeks, this reinforcement by praise greatly increased on-time reports.
• Negative reinforcement: Learning can also take place if an undesirable consequence is avoided because of an action taken. This is called negative reinforcement. It can be used for children with Special Needs.
• For example, if a student does not prepare for exams and gets fail marks (painful) and understands that studying can help avoid it in the future, then we can say he is negatively reinforced to study.

Motivation: It is a general term applied to the entire class of drives, desires, needs, wishes, and similar forces.

• Motivation is the driving force behind an action. This is probably the simplest explanation of motivation. Motivation can be considered the state of having encouragement to do something.

Key Points Motivation involves the basic psychological reasons for a person’s actions and behavior. These are the forces or factors that cause a person to act in a certain way or to behave in the manner that they do. There are various types of motivations that can influence a person:

Intrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money or grades.

• Motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task.
• for example, Megha is exploring various resources for her project because she loves learning new things.

Thus by all these references, we can conclude that Megha is exploring various resources for her project because she loves learning new things is an example of intrinsic motivation.

Important PointsExtrinsic Motivation: 

• Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.
• An extrinsically motivated person will work on a task even when they have little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some reward. The rewards can be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like fame or fortune.
• For example, an extrinsically motivated person who dislikes math may work hard on a math equation because he wants the reward for completing it. In the case of a student, the reward would be a good grade on an assignment or in the class.

Associative theory of learning is a form of conditioning, a theory that states behavior can be modified or learned based on a stimulus and a response. This means that behavior can be learned or unlearned based on the response it generates.

Key Points Classical Conditioning Theory:

• It was proposed by Ivan Pavlov. According to classical conditioning, we learn by making associations and relationships among various stimuli. During classical conditioning, organisms acquire information about the relations between various stimuli, not simple associations between them.
• The subjects of learning in this theory are always some kind of automatic, involuntary, or reflexive responses such as heart rate, salivation, vomiting, pupil dilatation, etc.

Stimulus-Response Theory

• It was proposed by Edward Thorndike, who believed that learning boils down to two things: stimulus, and response. It is a theory that proposes that all learning consists primarily of the strengthening of the relationship between the stimulus and the response.
• According to him, learning is by the association between the stimulus (presence of the lever) and the response (pressing the lever). Mainly these theories emphasize providing a conducive and supporting environment to facilitate learning with intelligently manipulated reinforcements.

Operant Conditioning Theory:

• Skinner propagated an operant conditioning theory related to the stimulus-response relationship and reinforcement. In his view, learning is a change in behavior. As the learner learns, his\her responses in terms of changed behavior increase.
• Learning is, therefore, formally defined by him as a change in the likelihood or probability of a response. Operant conditioning is a learning force that affects the desired response more frequently by providing a reinforcing stimulus immediately following the response.

Kohler demonstrated the following experiment based on insight:

• He kept chimpanzees in a closed room where food was kept out of their reach, and items like boxes, the stick was there.
• The chimpanzee would roam inside the room to reach the food.
• They would ‘suddenly’ stand on a box and use the stick to bring food close to them.
• It should be noted that it was not the result of trial and error instead, the chimpanzee suddenly came up with the idea to use boxes and stick.

Thus we can conclude that B.S Bloom is not related to the theory of learning.

Hint Dr. Benjamin S.Bloom has classified the behavior into three categories or domains called learning domains. These are:

• Cognitive Objective: All those activities that deal with the recall and recognition of knowledge.
• Affective Objective: It deals with attitude, interests, emotions, values, and mental tendencies.
• Psychomotor Objective: It deals with manipulative and motor skill areas. It involves handwriting, playing, drawing figures, using the equipment, etc.