EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Meaning, Nature and Scope of Educational Psychology

What is Psychology?

The word, ‘Psychology’ is derived from two Greek words, ‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’. Psyche means ‘soul’ and ‘Logos’ means ‘science’. Thus psychology was first defined as the ‘science of soul”.

According to earlier psychologists, the function of psychology was to study the nature, origin and destiny of the human soul. But soul is something metaphysical. It cannot be seen, observed and touched and we cannot make scientific experiments on soul.

In the 18^th century, psychology was understood as the ‘Science of Mind’. William James (1892) defined psychology as the science of mental processes. But the word ‘mind ‘ is also quite ambiguous as there was confusion regarding the nature and functions of mind.

Modern psychologists defined psychology as the “Science of Consciousness”. James Sully (1884) defined psychology as the “Science of the Inner World”. Wilhelm Wundt (1892) defined psychology as the science which studies the “internal experiences’. But there are three levels of consciousness – conscious, subconscious and the unconscious and so this definition also was not accepted by some.

Thus psychology first lost its soul, then its mind and then its consciousness. At present only its behaviour exists. William McDugall (1905) defined psychology as the “Science of Behaviour”, W.B. Pillsbury (1911) and J.B. Watson (1912) also defined psychology as the science of behavior.

Behaviour generally means overt activities which can observed and measured scientifically. But one’s behaviour is always influenced by his experiences. So when we study one’s behaviour we must also study his experiences.

Psychology should, therefore, be defined as a “science of behaviour and experiences on human beings” (B.F. Skinner)

According to Crow and Crow, “Psychology is the study of human behaviour and human relationship’”.

What is Educational Psychology?

Educational psychology is that branch of psychology in which the findings of psychology are applied in the field of education. It is the scientific study of human behaviour in educational setting.

According to Charles. E. Skinner, “Educational psychology deals with the behaviour of human beings in educational situations”.

Thus educational psychology is a behavioural science with two main references– human behaviour and education.

Education by all means is an attempt to mould and shape the behaviour of the pupil. It aims to produce desirable changes in him for the all-round development of his personality.

The essential knowledge and skill to do this job satisfactorily is supplied by Educational Psychology. In the words of E.A. Peel, “Educational psychology helps the teacher to understand the development of his pupils, the range and limits of their capacities, the processes by which they learn and their social relationships.”

In this way, the work of the Educational Psychologists resembles with that of an Engineer, who is a technical expert. The Engineer supplies all the knowledge and skill essential for the accomplishment of the job satisfactorily… for example, construction of a bridge.

In the same way Educational Psychologists, who is a technical expert in the field of Education, supplies all the information, principles and techniques essential for understanding the behaviour of the pupil in response to educational environment and desired modification of his behaviour to bring an all-round development of his personality.

Thus, Educational Psychology concerned primarily with understanding the processes of teaching and learning that take place within formal environments and developing ways of improving those methods. It covers important topics like learning theories; teaching methods; motivation; cognitive, emotional, and moral development; and parent-child relationships etc.

 

NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Its nature is scientific as it has been accepted that it is a Science of Education. We can summarize the nature of Educational Psychology in the following ways:

1. Educational Psychology is a science. (Science is a branch of study concerned with observation of facts and establishment of verifiable general laws. Science employs certain objective methods for the collection of data. It has its objectives of understanding, explaining, predicting and control of facts.) Like any other science, educational psychology has also developed objective methods of collection of data. It also aims at understanding, predicting and controlling human behaviour.

2. Educational Psychology is a natural science. An educational psychologist conducts his investigations, gathers his data and reaches his conclusions in exactly the same manner as physicist or the biologist.

3. Educational psychology is a social science. Like the sociologist, anthropologist, economist or political scientist, the educational psychologist studies human beings and their sociability.

4. Educational psychology is a positive science. Normative science like Logic or Ethics deals with facts as they ought to be. A positive science deals with facts as they are or as they operate. Educational psychology studies the child’s behaviour as it is, not, as it ought to be. So it is a positive science.

5. Educational psychology is an applied science. It is the application of psychological principles in the field of education. By applying the principles and techniques of psychology, it tries to study the behaviour and experiences of the pupils. As a branch of psychology it is parallel to any other applied psychology. For example, educational psychology draws heavily facts from such areas as developmental psychology, clinical psychology, abnormal psychology and social psychology.

 

SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The scope of educational psychology is ever-growing due to constantly researches in this field. The following factors will indicate the scope of educational psychology:

1. The Learner. The subject-matter of educational psychology is knitted around the learner. Therefore, the need of knowing the learner and the techniques of knowing him well. The topics include – the innate abilities and capacities of the individuals, individual differences and their measurements, the overt, covert, conscious as well as unconscious behaviour of the learner, the characteristics of his growth and development and each stage beginning from childhood to adulthood.

2. The Learning Experiences. Educational Psychology helps in deciding what learning experiences are desirable, at what stage of the growth and development of the learner, so that these experiences can be acquired with a greater ease and satisfaction.

3. Learning process: After knowing the learner and deciding what learning experiences are to be provided, Educational Psychology moves on to the laws, principles and theories of learning. Other items in the learning process are remembering and forgetting, perceiving, concept formation, thinking and reasoning, problem solving, transfer of learning, ways and means of effective learning etc.

4. Learning Situation or Environment. Here we deal with the environmental factors and learning situations which come midway between the learner and the teacher. Topics like classroom climate and group dynamics, techniques and aids that facilitate learning and evaluation, techniques and practices, guidance and counselling etc. For the smooth functioning of the teaching-learning process.

5. The Teacher: The teacher is a potent force is any scheme of teaching and learning process. It discusses the role of the teacher. It emphasizes the need of ‘knowing thyself’ for a teacher to play his role properly in the process of education. His conflicts, motivation. Anxiety, adjustment, level of aspiration etc. It throws light on the essential personality traits, interests, aptitudes, the characteristics of effective teaching etc so as to inspire him for becoming a successful teacher.

Though the entire scope of Educational Psychology is included in the above mentioned five key-factors, it may be further expanded by adding the following:

6. It studies Human Behaviour in educational situations. Psychology is the study of behaviour, and education deals with the modification of behaviour; hence, educational psychology pervades the whole field of education.

7. It studies the Growth and Development of the child. How a child passes through the various stages of growth and what are the characteristics of each stage are included in the study of educational psychology.

8. To what extent Heredity and Environment contribute towards the growth of the individual, and how this knowledge can be made use of for bringing about the optimum development of the child; form a salient feature of the scope of educational psychology.

9. Educational psychology deals with the Nature and Development of the Personality of an individual. In fact, education has been defined as the all-round development of the personality of an individual; personality development also implies a well-adjusted personality.

10. It studies Individual Difference: Every individual differs from every other individual. It is one of the fundamental facts of human nature which have been brought to light by educational psychology. This one fact has revolutionised the concept and process of education.

11. It studies the nature Intelligence and its Measurement. This is of utmost importance for a teacher.

12. It Provides Guidance and Counselling: Education is nothing but providing guidance to the growing child.

We can conclude by saying that Educational Psychology is narrower in scope than general psychology. While general psychology deals with the behaviour of the individual in a general way, educational psychology in concerned with the behaviour of the learner in an educational setting.

 

 

Cognitive Development

Cognitive development refers to the gradual growth in what are called cognitive abilities (ability to attend, perceive, discover, recognize, imagine, judge, conceptualize, remember, learn and to indulge in meaningful speed) and also to consequent growth in knowledge and adjustment to the environment. Cognitive development is influenced by nutritional, emotional and social factors.  In turn cognitive development affects emotional and social development of the child.

The infant’s first intellectual response is to stimuli from ‘within’ and gradually as powers of perceiving and attending develop, it begins to take in stimuli from the outside world.  It’s intellectual activities broaden as its powers of imagery grow and powers of retention of past sensory experiences and their recall develop.  ‘Imagination’ gets expressed through play activities by about the age of 3 and it also serves as a means of intellectual development.  Language, particularly mother tongue helps in preserving as well as fostering intellectual growth which continues to accelerate as children develop the ability to judge, to reason and to solve problems, starting from the concrete level to abstract level.

Attending

Modern psychologists, who believe in the integrated functioning of the mind, do not consider ‘attention’ as an independent faculty or unique power of mind.  As it is a process of an activity of the mind, it is better to speak of ‘attending’ rather than ‘attention’.  It we are clear that what we are speaking of, is an on going process or activity, then it is alright to use either of these terms synonymous, for the same of easy expression and convention.  Whenever we are awake or conscious, we seem to be attending to something or other, as the mind when active, has to attend on some stimulus.  As William James pointed out, field of attention and consciousness are not identical; only a few contents in the field of our consciousness are selected and attended to.  Others though experienced by us, may not be clearly and distinctly felt by us.  Figuratively, we can speak of a margin (fringe) and focus (central area of clearness) in our field of consciousness.  The terms ‘Figure’ and ‘Ground’ used by Gestalt Psychologists almost correspond to the focus and margin respectively.  Stimuli that are attended to are in the focus while others lie in the margin of our conscious field.  The focus and margin alternate; i.e. the stimulus now in focus may drift to the margin and may be replaced by some other stimulus, which was earlier in the margin.

 

Bruner’s

Bruner’s Cognitive Development Theory

According to Jerome S. Bruner, “A theory of instruction, in short, is concerned with how, what one wishes to teach, can best be learned, with improving rather than describing learning”.

Bruner in his book ‘The process of Education’ explained the theories of instruction.  According to him it is prescriptive since it prescribe rules for achieving knowledge or skills and guiding techniques for measuring or evaluating the outcomes.  It will be of normal type since it aims at goals to be achieved and deals with conditions to meet them.

Bruner has also suggested four important features of the theory of instruction.  They are:

1.     Predisposition to Learn : Predispose means, “liable before the event”. This theory is concerned with the experiences and contexts which will tend to make the child willing and able to learn when he enters the school.

2.     Structure of Knowledge: It must prescribe the ways in which a body of knowledge is to be structured so that it will be easily learnt by the learner.

3.     Sequence : A theory of instruction would specify the most effective sequence in which the learning materials are to be presented to the students effectively.

4.     Reinforcement : A theory of instruction must specify the nature of rewards, moving from extrinsic rewards to intrinsic rewards.

The developmental aspect of Bruner’s theory centres around his interest in cognitive development.

CONCEPT FORMATION

Meaning :
The process by which we discover the feature or features which are ‘common’ to a large number of objects and associate these with a symbol which thereafter may be applied to other similar objects is called ‘Concept formation’.

Stages / Steps

The process of formation of concepts involves four elements.  Experience (exploration), abstraction, generalization and analysis.

Experience is the process of direct participation in an action.

Generalization is the process of extending the concept to include objects which possess a quality in common with other objects but which have not been experienced as any of the objects in the abstracting process.  Quite obviously, a concept is learned through trial and error reaction to objects, situations or events.  This refinement and enrichment of a concept depends upon the number and variety of trial and error reactions of experiences involved in the development of the concept.

Analysis is the systematic procedure applying techniques for analysis of academic content which are similar in intent to those employed by task analysis in designing sequences for a job.

Bruner’s Cognitive Development Theory

According to Jerome S. Bruner, “A theory of instruction, in short, is concerned with how, what one wishes to teach, can best be learned, with improving rather than describing learning”.

Bruner has also suggested four important features of the theory of instruction.  They are:

1.     Predisposition to Learn : Predispose means, “liable before the event”. This theory is concerned with the experiences and contexts which will tend to make the child willing and able to learn when he enters the school.

2.     Structure of Knowledge: It must prescribe the ways in which a body of knowledge is to be structured so that it will be easily learnt by the learner.

3.     Sequence : A theory of instruction would specify the most effective sequence in which the learning materials are to be presented to the students effectively.

4.     Reinforcement : A theory of instruction must specify the nature of rewards, moving from extrinsic rewards to intrinsic rewards.

The developmental aspect of Bruner’s theory centres around his interest in cognitive development.

Concept Map 

            It is a great use having the concept map in explaining the general principles formed out of many related ideas.  Concept map is also used to explain the mutual relationships existing between the various general principles.  The relationship between various ideas putforth in a lesson and the way they lead to the general principles are understood with the help of concept map.

As already told, concept map helps to understand how the different general principles are themselves related.  It is very useful in preparing a classified summary of the ideas learnt in a lesson. Here, in the concept map, starting from a general principle, every idea has to be put in a hierarchical order. ‘Linkage’ and Cross Linkage’ between the different general principles are to be indicated.  In preparing the lesson for his class, the teacher is helped to a large extent by this concept map.

Psychologists use the term concept formation, or concept learning, to refer to the development of the ability to respond to common features of categories of objects or events. Concepts are mental categories for objects, events, or ideas that have a common set of features. Concepts allow us to classify objects and events. In learning a concept, you must focus on the relevant features and ignore those that are irrelevant (Bourne & colleagues, 1986). For instance, paperbacks and hardcover editions are all books. But you must also discriminate on the basis of relevant features: a stack of papers is not a book. What is the crucial feature of a book? Usually it is the presence of a binding. Most concepts, however, cannot be identified on the basis of a single critical feature.Most of the words we use refer to concepts and not to particular things. Proper nouns such as “William James” and “California” are exceptions. In learning some of their first concepts, children commonly focus not on names but on the functions of objects. For example, a spoon is something to eat with, and a pan is something to cook in. Other early concepts are based on groupings of objects that are similar in some respect: liquid things, moving things, or soft things. Several theories have been proposed to explain how we learn concepts. The stimulus-response association theory was proposed by Clark Hull (1920). He argued that we learn to associate a particular response (the concept) with a variety of stimuli that define the concept. For instance, we associate the concept “dog” with all of the characteristics of dogs (four legs, fur, tail, and so on) and are able to generalize the concept to unfamiliar dogs.The hypothesis testing theory was proposed by Jerome Bruner and his colleagues (1956). Bruner believed that we develop a strategy of testing our hypotheses about a concept by making guesses about which attributes are essential for defining the concept. While this tends to be the method used by subjects in an experiment, it might not be appropriate in everyday life (perhaps because we often use natural concepts rather than formal concepts in everyday life). Eleanor Rosch (1978) suggested that the natural concepts in everyday life are learned through examples rather than abstract rules. Her exemplar theory proposes that we learn the concept of “dog” by seeing a wide variety of dogs and developing a prototype of what the typical dog is like. Busemeyer and Myung (1988) studied prototype learning in college students by presenting a series of exemplars and asking the subjects to reproduce the prototype. This type of study allows researchers to gain an understanding of the concept learning process. Over the years, everyone is faced with an infinite number of complex stimuli. How we choose to group and sort them into concepts will depend upon our interests, beliefs, values, and experiences with the environment. Consider the concept “job.” To one person it may mean an unpleasant task, while to another it is a means of achieving fulfilment. Concept formation is a form of thinking that helps us to better understand the world we live in, as well as ourselves.

 

Concept Mapping

Social scientists have developed a number of methods and processes that might be useful in helping you to formulate a research project. I would include among these at least the following — brainstorming, brainwriting, nominal group techniques, focus groups, affinity mapping, Delphi techniques, facet theory, and qualitative text analysis. Here, I’ll show you a method that I have developed, called concept mapping, which is especially useful for research problem formulation.

Concept mapping is a general method that can be used to help any individual or group to describe their ideas about some topic in a pictorial form. There are several different types of methods that all currently go by names like “concept mapping”, “mental mapping” or “concept webbing.” All of them are similar in that they result in a picture of someone’s ideas. But the kind of concept mapping I want to describe here is different in a number of important ways. First, it is primarily a group process and so it is especially well-suited for situations where teams or groups of stakeholders have to work together. The other methods work primarily with individuals. Second, it uses a very structured facilitated approach. There are specific steps that are followed by a trained facilitator in helping a group to articulate its ideas and understand them more clearly. Third, the core of concept mapping consists of several state-of-the-art multivariate statistical methods that analyze the input from all of the individuals and yields an aggregate group product. And fourth, the method requires the use of specialized computer programs that can handle the data from this type of process and accomplish the correct analysis and mapping procedures.

Although concept mapping is a general method, it is particularly useful for helping social researchers and research teams develop and detail ideas for research. And, it is especially valuable when researchers want to involve relevant stakeholder groups in the act of creating the research project. Although concept mapping is used for many purposes — strategic planning, product development, market analysis, decision making, measurement development — we concentrate here on its potential for helping researchers formulate their projects.

So what is concept mapping? Essentially, concept mapping is a structured process, focused on a topic or construct of interest, involving input from one or more participants, that produces an interpretable pictorial view (concept map) of their ideas and concepts and how these are interrelated. Concept mapping helps people to think more effectively as a group without losing their individuality. It helps groups to manage the complexity of their ideas without trivializing them or losing detail.

A concept mapping process involves six steps that can take place in a single day or can be spread out over weeks or months depending on the situation. The first step is the Preparation Step. There are three things done here. The facilitator of the mapping process works with the initiator(s) (i.e., whoever requests the process initially) to identify who the participants will be. A mapping process can have hundreds or even thousands of stakeholders participating, although we usually have a relatively small group of between 10 and 20 stakeholders involved. Second, the initiator works with the stakeholders to develop the focus for the project. For instance, the group might decide to focus on defining a program or treatment. Or, they might choose to map all of the outcomes they might expect to see as a result. Finally, the group decides on an appropriate schedule for the mapping. In the Generation Step the stakeholders develop a large set of statements that address the focus. For instance, they might generate statements that describe all of the specific activities that will constitute a specific social program. Or, they might generate statements describing specific outcomes that might occur as a result of participating in a program. A wide variety of methods can be used to accomplish this including traditional brainstorming, brainwriting, nominal group techniques, focus groups, qualitative text analysis, and so on. The group can generate up to 200 statements in a concept mapping project. In the Structuring Step the participants do two things. First, each participant sorts the statements into piles of similar ones. Most times they do this by sorting a deck of cards that has one statement on each card. But they can also do this directly on a computer by dragging the statements into piles that they create. They can have as few or as many piles as they want. Each participant names each pile with a short descriptive label. Second, each participant rates each of the statements on some scale. Usually the statements are rated on a 1-to-5 scale for their relative importance, where a 1 means the statement is relatively unimportant compared to all the rest, a 3 means that it is moderately important, and a 5 means that it is extremely important. The Representation Step is where the analysis is done — this is the process of taking the sort and rating input and “representing” it in map form. There are two major statistical analyses that are used. The first — multidimensional scaling — takes the sort data across all participants and develops the basic map where each statement is a point on the map and statements that were piled together by more people are closer to each other on the map. The second analysis — cluster analysis — takes the output of the multidimensional scaling (the point map) and partitions the map into groups of statements or ideas, into clusters. If the statements describe activities of a program, the clusters show how these can be grouped into logical groups of activities. If the statements are specific outcomes, the clusters might be viewed as outcome constructs or concepts. In the fifth step — the Interpretation Step — the facilitator works with the stakeholder group to help them develop their own labels and interpretations for the various maps. Finally, the Utilization Step involves using the maps to help address the original focus. On the program side, the maps can be used as a visual framework for operationalizing the program. on the outcome side, they can be used as the basis for developing measures and displaying results.

 

Horizontal – Vertical illusion

Illusion is caused by simultaneous perception of two straight lines, one horizontal and the other vertical.

4.     Hallucination

A stimuli which is perceived without an object is called ‘hallucination’.  It is only a sense experience in the absence of an appropriate external stimuli.  Hence it is a misinterpretation based on imaginary experience as real perception.   Dinosaur may be cited as perfect example for hallucination.

Educational Implications

1.     Like attention, perception is also one of the important factors in influencing the behaviour of students.

2.     It is necessary to have accurate perception of objects and events for effective learning and adjustment.

 

Perception

            Perception is the process by which we become aware of changes (objects, qualities or relations) by sense organs.  Mere sensation does not give us knowledge.  They should be interpreted and defined.  When a sensation gets meaning it is called perception.  Therefore,

                                             Perception = Sensation  +  Meaning

            Though perception depends on sensation, the accuracy of perception depends more on experience, the memories and ideas we get from the past experiences. Perception is the way we perceive and understand things, objects, persons and events.  The behaviour of a person depends upon his perception.  For example, if a student perceives that he is studying well in his school days, it will give him a hope for better future and he will involve himself completely in his / her school studies.

Definition

According to  S.S. Sargent, “in a psychological sense the word ‘Perception’ means both the physical act of receiving sense impressions (seeing, hearing, smelling etc.) and interpreting these impressions’.

According to R.S. Woodworth and D.G. Marquis, Perception is the process of getting to know objects and objective facts by the use of the senses”.

 

 

Characteristics

1.     Perception is meaningful

2.     Perception is selective

3.     Our past experience determines the nature of perception.

4.     It is a synthetic activity

5.     There is analysis also in perception

6.     Both the aspects of analysis and synthesis occur at the same time.

Factors Laws

Perception is sensation strengthened by ideas of various kinds.  We derive the meaning from sensations by combining them into longer wholes. We call this process as organization or synthesis.  There are external and internal factors that determine the organization of the field of perception.

Figure and Ground Relationship

Figure and ground relationship is an important factor of perceptual organization.  This means that when we perceive a certain thing we divide the perceptual field into (i) Figure which is primary and important aspect, and (ii) Ground which is a secondary or unimportant aspect.  In other words, we always perceive a figure in its background.  For example, we perceive words in a page, pictures in a wall and moon in the sky.  In these cases words, pictures and moon are figures and pages, wall and sky are grounds. Look at the figure.  What do you perceive? You may perceive two human faces.  Look at the figure continuously for sometime.  Now what do you perceive? You may perceive a vase.  When you perceive twins,  the faces become figure and the vase becomes the ground.

External Factors

§  Proximity 2) Similarity  3) Continuity  4) Closure

§  Proximity :

Proximity means nearness.  Objects that lie closer form a whole.

A  B                    C  D                     E  F                     G  H

Lines A & B form one group C & D another group and so on.  Here the factor isnearness.  We do not see B & C or D, A & E forming a group.

2 Similarity : Elements that are similar in structure or appearance form a group.           In the above figures, there are two types of dots.  Because of similarity in figure A we see them as vertical and in figure B we see them as horizontal.

3.Continuity : When dots lie along a straight lie or curve, they are seen together.  We ignore the gaps.  Here, the principle involved is continuity.

 

 

4.     Closure :

Though the figure seems like 3 lines it resembles a triangle.  Actually it is an incomplete triangle.  Similarly minor errors are not corrected while in proof reading also.

 

 

Internal Factors :

1.     Past Experience

            The experiences we have acquired plays an important role while we organize the field of perception into meaningful wholes.  The world will be nothing but a confusion if we fail to reckon the past experiences.  Past experience is retained in the form of images, concepts and ideas of various kinds.  They are all chiefly the internal condition of the perceiving mind.  If we fail to take the lessons from past experiences, the world will be a mass of confusion.  A foreign language is a mere jumble of sound and noises, when we hear it for the first time.  But if we listen repeatedly, we can make sense out ot them.  Experience and ideas make us familiar with the object.  So, familiarity is an important factor that helps us to organize the field of perception.  When we look at the clouds on the sky we can see illusions of Elephants and Human faces.  We accept these figures sine we are familiar with them.

2.     Attitude or Mental Set

Another important mental condition that determines our perception is attitude or mental set. A thirsty man sees at a distance a vague figure as a pot of water.

Errors in Perception

Perception may not be always correct and it may go wrong when a stimulus is interpreted correctly it is called perception and if it is wrongly interpreted it is called misperception or error in perception.  If we look at a rope as necklace, we misunderstand a stimulus. This wrong perception is called illusion.  Errors in perception occur due to internal or external, known or unknown reasons.

There are two types of errors in perception namely (i) illusion and (ii) Hallucination

3.     Illusion

Illusion means “that which does not really exist”.  Hence illusion is a wrong perception.  Optical illusion can be quoted as an example.Seeing a rope as a snake is visual illusion.  But if one hears the voice of a person without seeing him and comes to a conclusion that the voice is a friend’s voice.  It is auditory illusion.

 

Piaget’s

PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) a Swiss psychologist was the first to make a systematic study of how children develop understanding and thinking.  In other words, what are the cognitive processes that enable a child to know about the world.  From countless observations of the thought processes of the children at different ages,  Piaget traced four concepts and four stages of cognitive development.

Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development are :

1.     Sensory Motor Stage

2.     Pre-Operational Stage

3.     Concrete Operational Stage

4.     Formal Operational Stage

 

1.Sensory – Motor Stage (Birth to 2 years)

Immediate experience through the senses is the basis of this sensory motor stage and the chief intellectual activity is sensory interaction of the environment.  The child’s activities are physical and without language, to label experiences.  This stage is characterized by:

1.     Development of sensory, motor and perceptual skills.

2.     Coordination of motor activities.

§  At first, for a child an object ‘out of sight’ is out of kind’. But towards the close of the second ear it learns ‘Object permanence’ in space and time.

1.     Development of rudimentary memory;

2.     Gradual progression from reflex behaviour to intentional behaviour;

3.     Development of curiosity, and trial and error exploration of immediate surroundings;

§  Able to differentiate itself from objects and this is the basis of self-concept.

Thus, in the sensory motor stage, practical intelligence like seeing, grasping, sucking etc. is developed by the child to deal with objects in the environment and symbolic operations at this stage cannot be utilized.

2.     Pre-operational stage (2 to 7 years)

The thinking of pre-operational child is characterized by

1.     Ego-Centrism : (Employing words which have unique meaning for the child, which limits the child’s ability to comprehend the views of others);

2.     Animism : (Thinking and treating inanimate, lifeless things as living objects. For example, children used to deal with their lifeless dolls as if they are alive.)

§  Realism : (Considering dreams as true and real e.g. children at this stage pretend stuffed toys are real, have imaginary friends etc.)

1.     Centring : (the child can concentrate on only one aspect of a thing at a time).

2.     Due to centring they can not understand that objects are Conserved even if they change their positions or their shapes altered.

(For instance, If the child is shown two identical jars A and B containing same quantity of water, it will accept that they have same amount but it cannot admit if the water from B is poured into a wide jar C as equal.  The child considers the height of water column alone without taking into account the breadth of the jar.  On transferring water from C to B back, again the child will say A and B are equal.)

1.     Cannot understand reversibility (e.g. what is at your back? The child answer ‘dog’. Who is in front of the dog? The child says ‘nobody’).   Irreversibility and ego centricism are related.

§  Consider their parents as omnipresent and omnipotent.

§  Inability to play any game, following the rules.

3. Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years)

The child begins to perform logical manipulations and masters various conservation concepts during this concrete operational stage.  Classification and seriation become possible at this stage.  He can also form a mental representation of a series of acts.  But this is limited to those objects which are perceivable in the real world.  The child cannot think beyond their self experiences. (For example, a child of 5 or 6 years age will be able to lead us to an address asked but may not be able to explain the route, thought it is familiar with those routes}

Other hallmarks of this stage are:

1.     transversibility is known; i.e. if A=2B and A=2C, then they can understand B=C

2.     understand ‘decentring’ (think of more than one quality at a time);

3.     can play any game according to rule;

4.     evaluate crime in terms of magnitude and not in terms of motive

5.     think that their point of view alone is possible and real and do not believe that there could be other points of view

6.     their thinking is very rigid; do not understand relativistic ideas (e.g. they believe that morality will be the same in all cultures, at all places, for all the times).

4. Formal operational stage (11 years to adulthood)

            1) Thought becomes increasingly flexible and abstract during this stage of formal operations.  He can carry out systematic experiments and keep a record of the track of what has been done, consider hypothetical objects and events, understand abstract ideas and principles.  Theorising and critical evaluation as well as “putting the possible against the real” are evident at this stage.

2) Children at this formal operation stage are able to deal with any problem in a logical sequence.  Like Scientists they work at it systematically and maintain a record and ultimately find the solution.

3) The following characteristics are also exhibited by the children of formal operation stage.

1.     i) Start evaluating acts in terms of underlying motives.

2.     ii) Understand that the rules of any game or social system are developed by man by mutual agreement and hence could be changed or modified.

iii) They start to believe that there could be many points of view on any problem though they cannot knowing them all

1.     iv) Understand that nothing is absolute; everything is relative and therefore search for the better alternatives is continuously tried, found out and came with an ideal one.

 

 

 

 

REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Reasoning : Meaning

Reasoning is a step-wise thinking with an objective mind.  Reasoning is highly conscious, directed, controlled, active, intentional, forward looking and goal-oriented thought.  It starts with a definite problem and continues till a solution.

Defining

Munn, “reasoning is combining past experiences in order to solve a problem which cannot be solved by mere reproduction of earlier solutions.”

Gates and others, “It is a productive thinking in which previous experiences are organized or combined in new ways to solve a problem”..

Reasoning : Types

1.     Inductive reasoning

This type of reasoning implied collection of a large number of facts.  These facts may be based on the personal experiences of the individual or he might have collected as a part of his personal study from other sources.  Before reaching a final decision to act in a particular way the individual carefully observes facts, tries mentally to experiment with them and finally reaches his decision to act in a particular way the individual carefully observes facts, tries mentally to experiment with them and finally reaches his decision to act in a particular way.

2.     Deductive reasoning

This type of reasoning is different from the inductive reasoning.  Here individual has a readymade rule of action or truth about life.  He has only to apply that rule on his own problem.  Thus, deductive reasoning is a “method of application and proof”.

Infact, in our actual thinking process we sometimes use the one and at other times the other method.  Sometimes we also combine both these methods.

Problem Solving : Meaning

The highest level of learning is considered to be problem solving.  It guides one to solve problems efficiently.  Changes occur frequently.  Hence an individual is facing never type of problems for which never ideas are necessary for solutions.  Hence creation, instead of their repetition, is emphasized in problem solving.

Problem Solving : Steps

John Dewey suggested the following steps in problem solving :

1.     Awareness of the Problem : An individual has to be well aware of the problem.  If he is well-aware there will be no problem.  If he senses that there is problem he will know the way to solve it. E.g. what will happen to a boy who is absent continuously?

2.     Recognition of the Problem : The individual has to comprehend the problem in detail.  He has to understand the problem by comparing his past experiences he faced with the present problems E.g. All students recognize the problem as to what has happened to their favorite monitor.

3.     Collection of data : Collection of data plays an important part in solving the problems.

E.g. One of the boys who lives near the monitor’s village goes there.  He learns that his monitor is suffering from malarial fever.

4.     Formulation of Hypothesis : Hypothesis means “idea or suggestion, put forward as a starting point for reasoning or explanation”. Hence a hypothesis may be right or wrong, accepted or rejected after its validity is verified completely.

1.     Evaluation or Testing of Hypothesis : The hypothesis formulated is tested when the monitor comes back to school after recovery from the malarial fever.  He tells that there is a big pond near his house where water stagnates and breeds mosquitoes. He also tells that one night he did not use mosquito net because it was a very hot night.

2.     Making of Generalization : finding a general principle to a particular situation is called making of generalization.  The following are the generalizations.

A.   One should not sleep without a mosquito net at night in swampy areas,

B.   One should maintain good habits so that the/she may not be attacked by a disease.

Problem Solving : Role of the Teacher

The growth rate and skill in solving the problem is most essential in a student’s life.  Hence the teacher has to consider the following to inculcate the problem solving skill in the students.

1.     Moderate Motivation : Motivation is an essential factor for effective teaching, but extreme motivation will lead to unwanted emotional tension which may hinder productive thinking.  Hence, the teacher has to create moderate motivation throughout the classes.

2.     Encourage Divergent Thinking : Divergent thinking rather than conformity in the behaviour of students is to be encouraged. The students may be given freedom to deal with the problem in different ways.

3.     Problem should be presented as a whole :The students may be allowed to perceive the problematic situation as a whole.  This will pave the way to solve the problem in an efficient manner.

4.     Level of Difficulty : The problems may be according to the age and intelligence level of the students.  Extremely easy or difficult problems should not be given to students.

5.     Active Manipulation : The students may be encouraged to participate actively in finding out the solution to the problem. Diagrams, figures and other materials may be presented before the students at the time of necessity.

6.     Practice : The students may be provided with required number of similar and related problems which will provide opportunity to the students for practice

7.     Incomplete Solution of Problems : The teacher may leave solution as incomplete so that the students will be tempted to find out the ways to complete the task.

META COGNITION

In the field of educational psychology, meta cognition is an emerging concept.  Meta cognitive activities are there in everyone’s daily life.  Meta cognition enables an individual to become a successful learner.  It is being associated with intelligence. Meta cognition refers to higher order of thinking which involves active control over the cognitive process engaged in learning.  Activities such as planning how to approach a given learning task, monitoring comprehension and evaluating process towards the completion of a task are meta cognitive in nature.  Meta cognition is often referred to as thinking about thinking and it can be used to help students ‘Learn how to Learn’.  In this way, meta cognition is an essential aspect in the process of learning.  The gradual growth of cognitive abilities such as ability to attend, perceive, discover, recognize, imagine, conceptualize remember etc. is referred as the development of cognitive skills.  It also refers to consequent growth in knowledge and adjustments to the environment.  The nutritional, emotional and social factors of the learners influence the cognitive development.

Implication of  meta cognition

In successful learning, meta cognition plays a crucial role.  The study of meta cognitive activity and development is essential to determine how students can be taught to better apply their cognitive resources better through meta cognitive control.  There are several factors such as inadequate prior knowledge, poor study skills, problems in sustained attention, cultural or language difference etc affects the successful between cognitive and meta cognitive strategies concerning the improvement of learning process.

 

Theories

Psychological Theories of Attention

Some of the important psychological theories have been briefly discussed below : Selection theory of attention

This theory describes as selection among items not yet in consciousness, a selection of some to enter consciousness while others remain excluded.  Through such selective action of this mental process, ‘a psychological environment’ is created out of the physiological environment.  It is said that Reticular activating system (R.A.S) of the brain is physiologically responsible for this selection, through a process called ‘Sensory gating’as R.A.S. filters incoming messages and alerts the higher centers of the brain when important messages are received.

Hebb’s Theory

This theory considers attention as the activity of the cerebral cortex.  Hebb considers attending as an autonomous cerebral process which acts as a rein forcer of sensory processes.  Reinforced response alone appear for being attended.  Though our brain may experience many sensory inputs from different stimuli, it allows only the select response of a particular stimulus get out for being attended.  Thus ‘attending’ is a process of selection, not of stimulus but of response.

Broadbent’s Theory

This theory based on the present day ‘information theory’, stressed stimulus selection, as the core of the attentive process.  He uses such terms like ‘input’.  ‘Short term store’, ‘filter’, ‘limited capacity channel’, and ‘output’ of the information theory while explaining the basis of attending.  Broadbent says that the function of attention is to prevent ‘over-loading’ of the individual’s information processing capacity.  Attention is a filter interposed between sensory input and processing system.  The filter is all or none, admitting the contents of one input channel at a time and completely blocking the remainder though it can rapidly shift between channels.

All the theories agree that in attending, a process of selection takes place’; they differ only with respect to ‘how much’ and at what stage.  However Broadbent’s filter model seems to be the most comprehensive interpretation of attention available though it still has certain deficiencies.

Experimental Findings on ‘Attending’

Span of Attention

Span of attention refers to the number of independent, distinct or separate stimuli that can be attended to by an individual, at a glance viz. in a very brief period of time.  Span of attention (also known as perceptual span) denotes the number of objects that can exist in the focus at a time.

Determining ‘Span of attention’ experimentally:

Span of visual attention is found out by using a simple apparatus called ‘Tachistoscope’ which exposes visual material to the subject seated in front of it, for a very brief period of time (say one second).  Cards using dots of different numbers are used in such experiments, showing one at a time.  The maximum number of dots that a person can correctly report three times in the experiment denotes his span of attention.  This experiment reveals that the adult span of attention is between 6 to 8, for ungrouped dots.  This implies that the number of objects that one could attend at any given moment is limited.  In using flash cards for recognition this has to be borne in mind by the teacher.  For this reason only, fast moving automobile vehicles are given registration numbers with digits ranging from 4 to 6.  Similarly telephone numbers and postal pin code numbers are also of 6 or 7 digits.  If numbers containing more digits are used, then they may not be attended to by us.

 

Shifting of Attention

We can not be continuously attending on any object for more than 10 seconds, because attention is characterized by ‘fluctuation’.  It shifts from one object to another or one aspect of the object to another aspect.  For example, when a student is attending to the lesson taught in the class, his attention now and then shifts to events that take place and passers by outside the class but every time returning to the classroom lesson.  Such kind of shifting in attention is unavoidable.  Fluctuation in attention is explained as due to sensory fatigue, brain fatigue, periodic muscle waves etc.

If a teacher wants his pupils to attend to a subject, he should take care to introduce variety, new points of view, varied illustrations etc. so that wherever their attention shifts, it would still be related to the subject of instruction.

Division of Attention

Experiments reveal that division of attention is not possible.  We cannot attentively do two things at the same time.  In conscious simultaneous performance of two activities, both suffer.

Experiment: An individual is asked to practice writing alphabets from Z down to A.  Let his practice as many times as possible for a minute.  After this, he is asked to count aloud in steps of 5, like “3, 8, 13, 18, 23, 28, 33…” and write the number counted last at the end of a minute.  After this, he is asked to do both writing alphabets and counting numbers alternatively for a time duration of 1 minute.  Comparing his present and previous performances it could found that his efficiency in writing alphabets as well as counting numbers has suffered due to interference.

However some of us may appear to attend to two activities simultaneously like talking while knitting a woolen sweater and reading a newspaper while eating.  However, analysis of the activities will reveal that knitting is done by a girl habitually without requiring any attention and she attends to talking only; whenever a mistake occurs in the knitting work, then only she stops talking and attend to knitting.  Similarly those who had special training will be able to take on two or more activities simultaneously as they could integrate all activities into a single unit and alternatively attend to the components of this single unit rapidly.

TYPES OF ATTENTION

Determinates of attention

                                                                        |

Objective factors	Subjective factors
1. Size	1. Interest
2. Intensity	2. Need
3. Change	3. Mental set
4. Contrast	4. Mood
5. Novelty	5. Physiological condition

 

External Factors of Attention

Even if a person is not interested in any event or object, certain characteristics of the object or event may compel him to attend to it.  Such object – related factors are external factors of attention: They are :

1.     Size : Objects of big size, arrest our attention immediately. Full page advertisements in newspapers capture our attention more easily than quarter page advertisements.  For the same reason, people compete in putting up large cut outs of political leaders, advertisement boarding etc. along the roadside.

2.     Intensity : As size is to figure, so is the intensity to the quality of the stimulus, with high intensity like loud sound, deep striking colors, pun chant smell etc, are highly successful in attracting our attention. While taking a class, if the teacher raises his tone he can overcome the disturbing noises coming from outside and retain the attention of his pupils on the on going lesson in the class.

3.     Change : Whenever there occurs sudden change in a stimulus, it immediately attracts our attention. For example when the fan suddenly stops, everyone in the class looks up and see the fan.  Similarly a student sleeping in the class wakes up immediately when silence suddenly descends on the class.  On entering into our house, we quickly notice the changed positions of tables and chairs in the hall.  This implies that if a teachers talks with proper modulation in his voice, he can easily capture the attention of the students.

4.     Contrast : When a stimulus presents itself as a contrast in the midst of other stimuli, it turns out to be an attention winner e.g. A black dot in a white shirt looks predominant. The reason for drawing the median line on the tar road in yellow colour, men wearing a deep coloured trouser and light coloured shirt, writing on the blackboard with white chalk etc;  is to capture our attention through the contrasting nature of the stimuli involved.  To arrest the attention of students in the class, the teacher should use contrasting activities like lecturing, questioning, using charts and writing on the blackboard while teaching.

5.     Novelty : When a stimulus is presented in a novel or unusual way, it attracts the attention of everyone. For example, we used to see usually the notice “No admission” in offices; but in an office when we see the same notice in a different manner like “Admission with permission only” it immediately strikes our attention and retained in memory for long.  Similarly, when we see the writing “Don’t kiss me please” on the back of a lorry instead of the usual writing “Please keep sufficient distance”, it quickly arrests our attention.  In a similar way, while teaching in the class if the teacher instead of using the examples given in the text book, presents illustrations from his personal experiences, and that too relating to pupils’ immediate environment, then students’ attention will not get out of the class.

6.     Movement : As compared to stationary objects, moving objects easily attracts our attention. For this reason only, the mother of a crying child, to divert its attention, points out to the child moving objects like a crow, car, aeroplane and the like.  Similarly to win the attention of the people, advertisers display boarding’s with neon lights that alternately light up and put off so as to give the appearance of movement.  The classroom teacher should also present stimulus variation like moving to the blackboard to write, moving towards students while questioning, using appropriate gestures while talking etc. and win the attention of the pupils.

7.     Repetition : a stimulus, even of low intensity if appears repeatedly, it succeeds in winning our attention. The same business advertisement is repeated many times in mass media like T.V, Radio and news papers only to attract the attention of consumers.  Human nature is to notice that stimulus which appears again and again.  To focus the attention of the students on any important concept of the lesson the teacher should explain it two or three times with the use of different illustrations and that too through different words.

8.     Systematic Form : Objects with systematic form are easily attended to and retained long in our memory as compared to objects which are incomplete or irregular in form. (e.g. We listen to a faint tune even in noisy surroundings). To enlist the attention of the students, the teacher before starting the lesson should give an over-view of the entire lesson so that the students get a proper and complete idea of the lesson.

 

 

Internal Factors of Attention:

The following are some of the important factors of attention which operate from ‘within’ us.

1.     Interest: This pays an important role in eliciting the attention of the grown up adults. One attends to something when it matters to him intensely even though none of the objective factors are present.  One’s interest which composes one’s dominant motivational system determines what one attends to.  The attention of violinist walking along the bazaar is struck at the shop selling musical instruments, particularly violins.  Every student during admission to college applies to courses of his interest.  Students develop certain skills on the basis of their interest.  (e.g. Musical talent, vocational skill, mathematics ability, science talent etc. get developed on the basis of interest of individual students).  Interested students keenly observe the lessons in the class.  Teachers should always teach in such a way as to kindle the interest of the students.

2.     Need or Value : Another important subjective factor determining attention is ‘Need’, For example, the attention of a person waiting for bus of a particular route will always be restricted to buses of that route only. A hungry person easily spots the name board of a restaurant, though it is a small in size, appears dull, but the name board of a near by bookshop which is big in size may not catch his attention.  Hence if the teacher before starting a lesson in the class points out the utility of the concepts to be taught, then students will follow the class with much attention.

3.     Mental Set : One’s mental set or disposition of readiness to react to a particular stimulus, is another subjective factor of attention. For example the attention of a person who goes to railway station to receive his friend will always be on spotting the friend in the midst of others; He may not even hear if somebody nearby calls him.  The reason for this is that his mind is set only to receive his friend.  For this reason only, Herbart stressed the importance of preparing the students for the lesson at the start of the class, before actually teaching the lesson.

4.     Physiological condition: The physiological condition of one’s body also determines the level of attention students suffering from headache, stomachache, fever etc., and will be unable attend to the lesson taught in the class. It is always better to provide rest for those students who do not feel well, instead of compelling them to attend the class.

Types of Attention

Attention are of two types

1.     Involuntary or Non-Volitional Attention

2.     Voluntary or Volitional Attention

 

 

Involuntary Attention

Involuntary attention is spontaneous, free, natural and passive.  Not much effort is needed for this type of attention.  Attention of young children is of this nature.

Voluntary Attention

This type of attention involves some effort or will.  Some times we have to force ourselves to attend to object s or events in which we lack interest.  In such cases, we take efforts to set our attention on the stimulus in question.  Thus we can say voluntary attention is Intentional.

Sometimes effort is required to initiate or start attending, which once it has got a start through effort, then goes on effortlessly.  For example, it may require effort on our part to start reading a new book.  Once started reading, we may be absorbed in reading, if the book is well written.  This type of attention triggered by effort, is known as ‘Implicit Volitional Attention’.  In another type of voluntary attention, effort may be required continuously to start as well as sustain attention through out the activity.  Such type of attention is called ‘Explicit Volitional Attention’.  Most of the activities carried out without much interest, belong to this category.

What is sometimes referred to as ‘habitual attention’ is akin to involuntary attention, as habitually attending to something may make it automatic after some time. (e.g. the bus drivers attending to traffic signals).  Even in voluntary attention, interest is present, as without some interest we will not attend.  In such cases, interest is of an indirect nature rather than direct and immediate.

Inattention and Distraction

            Inattention means, not paying attention to a particular stimulus or to any stimulus. We do not pay attention to a particular stimulus because we are not interested in it.  Inattention is caused by the absence of objective and subjective factors that determine one’s attention.  For example, lack of interest, motivation, or need on the part of the individual cause inattention.

Distraction, on the other hand, refers to attending to irrelevant stimuli that are not part of the main assigned task.  A student would like to attend to the lecture in the classroom but he may be distracted because of the noise coming from outside.  Distraction results in poor productivity and wastage of energy resulting in fatigue.

Role of Interest and Effort in Attention

            Interest may refer to the motivating force that impels us to attend to a person, a thing or an activity or it may be the effective experience that has been stimulated by the activity itself.  In other words, interest can be the cause of an activity and the result of participation in the activity – Crow and Crow. According to Bhatia, “Interest means a difference.  We are interested in certain objects because they make a difference to us, because they concern us”.

INTEREST AND ATTENTION ARE INTERRELATED.  We are always ready to attend to objects which are of interest to us and when we under take a task in which we have more interest, we attend to it with much involvement.  Thus it could be said “interest is latent attention’ attention is interest in action (McDougall).  No effort is required to attending an object in which we have interest (Involuntary attention).  Even in the case of voluntary attention where effort is required to attending, some interest is present (indirect rather than direct and immediate) as without some interest we will not attend.  For example we take efforts to learn a subject (say Mathematics) which at times schemes to be tough and uninteresting. We do this because, the study of that subject though not interesting We do this because, the study of that subject though not interesting, help us to learn and master another subject (say engineering) of our choice.

Summing up all these facts it could be said that we attend to tasks of interest involuntarily.  Tasks in which we have no direct interest, require our voluntary attention through deliberate efforts.  Thus it could be concluded that attention is not possible without interest.

Ways and Means of securing better attention in the class

1. To secure attention of pupils, teacher has to first of all remove certain obstacles to attention.  Poor physical conditions of pupil, fatigue, sensory defects. etc. interfere with attention. Unhygienic seating, uncomfortable furniture, inadequate lighting, etc. also hinder attention.

2.     The teacher has to make good use of the objective factors of attention in his class. Loud voice, striking diagrams, clear blackboard work, use of coloured chalks, varied activities, novel illustrations, repetition of basic ideas, etc. are all of such nature.

3.     At the elementary stage the teacher has to appeal to the involuntary attention by using concrete aids, direct experiences, play activities, appealing to the children’s curiosity, etc. At the middle school level teachers can use suitable techniques of motivation by stimulating acquired interest of pupils, their hobbies, etc. to evoke voluntary attention and foster sentiments of love for various school subjects and activities. At the adolescent level voluntary attention has to be evoked by appealing to the long term interests of students and banking on their self-regard.

4.     During classroom teaching, the teacher has to tell his pupils what to attend to at the stage of introduction itself by providing the over-view of the lesson. While explaining a new concept, the teacher should relate it to the previous knowledge of the students and give examples which are familiar to them (preferably spotting them from the day to-day life situations).

5.     The teacher should harness the natural interests of pupils to the class lesson and also create new interests of educational value. Children’s interests vary with age; but generally all children are interested in creative, productive, free and life-like activities.  So there is need for play way methods, projects, discovery, approach to teaching, activity based curriculum, etc.

Sensation

The other name for sense organs is “Gateways of knowledge”.  Knowledge is realized through sense organs.  A blind man cannot realize colour.  The information of the world is realized by our senses. Hence sense organs are the receptors of external stimuli.  Tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing and touching are enjoyed through tongue, nose, eyes, ears and skin.  Incoming stimuli are realized by sense organs.  The sense organs respond to particular type of physical energy.

The table gives an idea of sense organs :

Name of the sense organ       Name of the sense                     Sensation

Eyes                                       Visual sense                                 Vision

Ears                                       Auditory sense                              Hearing

Nose                                      Olfactory sense                              Smell

Tongue                                  Gustatory sense                             Taste

Skin                                       Sense of touch                               Touch

Eyes : The eyes are very delicate organs.  Our eyes help us to see and recognize every thing that is around us.

Ears  : Our ears help us to hear and recognize the different sounds we hear

Nose  : The nose is the organ of smell.  We are able to find out the smell of pleasant and unpleasant things with our nose.

Tongue : The tongue is the organ of the taste.  There are taste buds on the tongue.  The taste buds tell us whether the food we eat is sweet, sour, salty or bitter.

Skin  : Our bodies are covered with skin.  The skin is the organ of touch.  With the sense of touch we can feel heat, cold, pressure and pain.  It also helps us to feel soft and hard objects.

Through our sense organs we can realize the objects, things, persons and events.  The life and world will be meaningless if the sense organs are absent.  The conscious mind will be aware of the environment only if the five sense organs are functioning properly.  The normal functioning of five senses is called ‘sensation’. It comprises of elementary, base and conscious experiences.  They form the first step in the acquisition of knowledge.

Vision helps us to see the crowded streets and realize the beauty endowed by nature on flowers.  Hearing plays on important role in communication with people.  We can avoid the spicy food drinks etc. by using nose and tongue (chemical senses).  The sense of touch enables one to feel pain, coldness, hotness, softness, hardness etc. Types not avl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Self -Test

Cognitive Development

CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER :

1.     ‘The action which selects a particular stimulus’ is called

a. Memory        b. Interest        c. Attention        d. Sensation

2.     The basic factor of attention is

a. Stimulus  b. Response    c. Sense organs      d. Interest

3.     An example for the objective factor of attention is

a. Change  b. Intention   c. Interest    d. Mind set

4.     An example for the subjective factor of attention is

a. Novelty     b Interest        c. Intention     d. Mental set

5.     Perception Means

a. Sensation + Meaning                    b. Sense Organs + Meaning

c. Visual Sense + Visual Stimulus        d. Visual Sense + Visualization

6.     That happens continuously in our mind is

a. Fear   b. Interest     c. Thinking      d. Anger

7.     The Instrument used to measure span of attention is

a. Periscope   b. Kalaidoscope      c. Tachistoscope     d. Endoscope

8.     Attention is oscillating from one object to other, This is

a. Division of attention        b. Span of attention

c. Distraction of attention     d. Sustained attention

9.     Reading while eating is

a. Division of attention         b. Span of attention

c. Distraction of attention      d. Change of attention

10.            The Perception which does not correspond to the Physical Reality is called

a. Mental image      b. Sensation     c. Illusion      d. Hallucination

11.            The muscle and glands are

a. Preceptors   b. Effectors     c. Nervous System       d. Declass glands

12.            The nervous system is mainly divided into

a. Three parts  b. Four Parts       c. Five Parts      d. Ten Parts

13.            Who said “Attention is a process of getting an object of thought clearly before the mind”

a. Walace    b. Root       c. Ross         d. Adams

14.            One of the External Factors of Perception is

a. Proximity     b. Interest     c. Attention      d. Mental Set

15.            One of the Internal Factors of Perception is

a. Repetition    b. Nearness      c. Attitude      d. Movement

16.            Wrong Perception is also called as

a. Configuration      b. Illusion     c. Hallucination      d. Mental Image

17.            Seeing a rope as a snake is

a. Hallucination       b. Illusion      c. Mental Image     d. Perception

18.            Who said “Interest is latent attention and attention is interest in action”

a. Ross    b. McDougall      c. Crow and Crow     d. Drever

19.            Collecting large Number of facts and formulating general rule from them is called

a. Inductive Reasoning       b. Deductive Reasoning

c. Conditioned Reasoning     d. Categorical Reasoning

20.            Application of general rule to various circumstances and situation is called

a. Inductive Reasoning      b. Deductive Reasoning

c. Conditioned Reasoning    d. Categorical Reasoning

21.            Who conducted the experiment on optical illusion

a. Crow and Crow     b. Muller Lyer    c. David  MagClelland      d. Erickson

22.            Appearance of Mirage in the desert is called

a. Illusion    b. Hallucination     c. Insight    d. Visual Image

23.            Piaget’s Learning Concept is

a. Cognitive Development    b. Attitude Development

c. Aptitude                d. Interest

24.            Who designed the Eight Steps of Learning theory

a. Gagne     b. MagClelland     c. Bruner    d. Muller Lyer

25.            The following one is the Bruner’s Cognitive Development Theory

a. Sensory Motor Stage      b. Pre-Operational Stage

c. Sequence                  d. Formal Operational Stage