Psychology of Learning and Human Development

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RAJAMUTHU M | DBSE | NPRCE

CORE PAPER-2

PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (UDAB)

UNIT-1

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

The term “Psychology” derives from two Greek words:

Psyche-means “soul,mind or self”

Logos-means “study”

Psychology is thus the study of the self as it manifests itself in action-that is,in

behaviour.

AIMS OF PSYCHOLOGY:

The major aims of psychology are:

To understand and describe behaviour.

To control behaviour.

To predict future behaviour.

MAJOR SUBFIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY:

1.clinical psychology: A branch of psychology that studies diagnosis,causes,and

treatment of mental disorders.

2.counselling psychology:A branch of psychology that assists individual in dealing

with many personal problems that do not involve psychological disorders.

3.Developmental psychology:A branch of psychology that studies how people

change physically ,cognitively,and socially over the entire life span.

4.Educational psychology:A branch of psychology that studies all aspects of the

educational process.

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5.Experimental psychology:A branch of psychology that studies all basic

psychology processes,including perception,learning and motivation.

6.Cognitive psychology:A branch of psychology that studies all aspects of

cognition such as memory,thinking,reasoning,language ana soon.

7.Industrial/organizational psychology:A branch of psychology that studies all

aspects of behaviour in work settings.

8.Psychobiology and Evolutionary psychology:A branch of psychology that

investigates biological bases of behaviour and the role of evolution in human

behaviour.

9.Social psychology:A branch of psychology that studies all aspects of social

behaviour and social thought-how we think about and interact with others.

UNIT-2

Methods of psychology

1.Introspection method

2.Genetic method

3.Observation method

4.Interview method

5.case study method

6.Experimental method

7.sociometry

1.INTROSPECTION METHOD:

Introspection is a method to study the private or personal or subjective

behaviour of an individual.

2.GENETIC METHOD:

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Genetic method is a study of human behaviour as manifested at different

periods of life,and in different grades of life.

3.OBSERVATION METHOD:

Observation is a method to study carefully a significant behaviour of a

particular individual.

Types of observation:

1.uncontrolled observation or naturalistic observation.

2.controlled observation or systematic observation.

4.INTERVIEW METHOD:

The interview is,in a sense,an oral questionnaire.Interview is a face-to-

face method to collect information orally from the subject(s) or student(s).

5.CASE METHOD:

Case method is a detailed and indepth study of a single individual who

has a behavioural problem or difficulty.

6.EXPERIMENTAL METHOD:

The experimental method is used when the experimenter wants to

measure precisely the effect of independent variable upon dependent variable

under controlled conditions.

7.SOCIOMETRY:

Sociometry method can be used to:

To identify informal leaders(stars)

To identify social rankings

To identify isolated individuals.

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UNIT-3

HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Growth versus development:

Growth usually refers to a simple increase in height,weight or other aspects of

physical size.Growth occurs due to maturation.

Developmental tasks

Developmental tasks of Adolescents(12-18years)

Making new-relations with age-mates of both sexes.

Accepting one’s sex-role-accepting a masculine or feminine role.

Realising and accepting one’s own abilities and talants.

1.physical development:

It refers to bodily growth.It is basic to all the other aspects of development

and it is under almost complete genetic control.However,children must get

adequate nutrition and exercise.physical development arises from the growth of

an anatomical structures.

2.cognitive development:

Cognitive development(in ordinary language “intellectual developmental”)

refers to activities that involve thinking,perceiving and problem-solving.

3.social Development:

It refers to any form of behaviour that involves relations with others.

4.Emotional Development:

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It refers to feelings and attitudes.It is often called by psychologists as

affective development.

Erikson’s eight stages:

Stages Developmental crisis

1.infancy Trust vs mistrust

2.Toddlerhood Autonomy vs shame and Doubt

3.Early childhood Initiative vs Guilt

4.Middle childhood Industry vs inferiority

5.Adolescence Identity vs Role diffusion

6.young Adulthood Intimacy vs Isolation

7.Adulthood Generativity vs Self-absorption

8.Aging Integrity vs Despair

Cognitive Development:Attention

Attention is the consciousness or heightened awareness of a limited range of

objects neglecting others in the environment.

External factors of Attention

1.Intensity

2.size

3.Repetition

4.change

5.movement

6.contrast

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7.Novelty

Internal factors of Attention

1.Interest

2.Mood

3.Attitude

Types of Attention

1.Involuntary Attention

2.voluntary Attention

3.Habitual Attention

Span of Attention

The number of items that can be perceived in a single glance is known as span

of attention or apprehension.

Division of Attention

The fundamental fact regarding attention is that only one thing can be

attended to at a time,and that attention cannot be divided and directed on two or

more activities at the same time.

Distraction of Attention

Distraction is any stimulus that draws away from the object to which a person

wishes to attend.Distraction of attention may be due to internal and external

factors.

UNIT-4

Learning of concepts

A concept is a class of objects,events or persons which have common

characteristics.A concept is usually known by its name or label.

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Teacher,student,school,book,love,peace,war,women,politician-all are examples

of concepts.

Types of concepts

There are three types of concepts.

Conjunctive concepts

Disjunctive concepts

Relational concepts

Development of concept

Perception

Abstraction

Generalisation

Discrimination

Sensation and perception

Sensations=sense organs+External stimuli

Perception

Perception=sensation+interpretation

Thinking

“Thinking is often loosely defined as “the action of the mind”,or “reasoning” or

“being” logical”.

According to Gray,thinking is language or symbolic behaviour,although all

symbolic behaviour is not thinking.

Types of thinking

1.perceptual Thinking

It is the first step towards cognition.It is the lowest form of thinking.

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2.conceptual thinking

It develops in a child next to perceptual thinking.

3.Recall thinking

If a person makes a simple description of past events and remote places,and

things,it is called “Recall thinking”.

4.Reasoning

It refers to logical thinking leading to new understanding.

5.convergent and divergent thinking

Convergent thinking is concerned with a particular single answer or solution.

Divergent thinking is concerned with a variety of thoughts and responses.

Modern cognitive Theories of Learning

PIAGET:stages in cognitive development

1.sensori-motor stage(from birth to 2 years)

2.pre operational stage(2 to 7 years)

3.concrete operations(7 to 11 years)

4.Formal operations(12 and above)

Sensori-motor stage

In this stage,the infant explores the world primarily with senses and motions.

Pre-operational stage

It includes pre-conceptual stage(2-4 years) and perceptual stage(4-7 years).

pre-conceptual stage is dominated by symbolic play,but perceptual stage is

dominated by imitation.

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3.concrete operations

The child is able to engage in “operations” or mental activities.The child can

deal with concrete facts logically,but cannot yet think abstractly.

4.Formal operations

During this period the child acquires the ability to think abstractly.

BRUNER:Modes in cognitive development

Enactive mode(0-3)

Iconic(3-7 or 8)

Symbolic(7 or 8-more)

1.Enactive mode(0-3)

The first of Bruner’s modes of representation.It extends from birth to age

three.

2.Iconic mode(3-7 or 8)

The second of Bruner’s modes of representation.It extends from about age

three to age seven or eight.

3.symbolic mode

The third of Bruner’s mode of representation,which begins at about 7 or

eight.In this mode,children use symbols to think abstractly.

GAGNE:Learning Types

1.signal learning

2.stimulus-response learning

3.chaining-of-behaviour learning

4.verbel association learning

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5.multiple discrimination learning

6.concept learning

7.principle or rule learning

8.problem-solving

1.signal learning

The child mechanically performs a conditioned response or emotional

response to a new stimulus or signal.It is similar to classical conditioning.

2.stimulus-response learning

The child makes specific response to a particular stimulus.Here the child uses

“precise movements of the muscles to make a response”.

3.chaining-of-behaviour learning

The child makes a series of responses that are linked together.

4.verbal association learning

The child associates words to objects

5.Discrimination learning

The student learns to differentiate many similar appearing stimuli and to

respond to them in as many different ways.

6.concept learning

The student classifies objects,events or ideas into classes or categories on

the basis of common abstract qualities.

7.principle learning

The student acquires a clear understanding of a statement by relating two

or more concepts.

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8.problem solving

The student applies principles to arrive at new principles.

UNIT-5

Learning

Classification of learning theories

1.Earlier theories

2.Modern theories

Earlier theories

1.Thorndike(Trial and error)

2.pavlov(classical conditioning)

3.kohler(insight learning)

4.Lewin(field theory)

Modern theories

Types:

1.Behavioural approach - skinner(operant conditioning)

2.cognitive approach – piaget

Bruner

Gagne

Ausubel

Transfer of Learning

Meaning of transfer learning

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The process of carrying over habits of thinking,knowledge,skills and

abilities,and attitudes from one learning situation to another is called ‘transfer of

learning’.

Kinds of Transfer

1.positive transfer

2.Negative transfer

3.zero transfer

Positive transfer

Previous Learning Facilitates Present learning

Negative transfer

Previous learning

Hinders

present learning

Zero transfer

Previous learning

Has no effect on

present learning

The learning curve

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It refers to any graphical representation that shows progress in learning with

practice.

Causes of plateau

Plateau refers to a period of no apparent progress.It is plotted as a small

horizontal line in the learning curve.

UNIT-6

Learning and Forgetting

Forgetting refers to the amount of material lost over a period of time.Forgetting

is failure to retain and recall or recognize what was once learned.

Measuring Learning:Retention and Forgetting

Retention refers to the amount of material remaining over a period of time.

Forgetting is the amount of material last over a period time.Retention and

forgetting are related to learning.

Retention and forgetting curve

The first significant study of forgetting was made by Ebbinghaus.In his study

Ebbinghaus used as a subject.He learned seven different lists of nonsense syllabus

with a time interval of 20 minutes.1hour,9hours,24hours,2hours,6days and

31days respectively.He relearned the same seven lists again with the same

specified time intervals.He found the saving scores in percentages for all the

lists.A graph was drawn between time and saving score.This graph is known as

retention or forgetting curve.

UNIT-7

Learning and Remembering

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Much of education is concerned with encouraging remembering.The process

of remembering consists of three interrelated phases:

1.Learning a material

2.Retention of the learned material over a period of time

3.Recall:the learned material is brought back into attention out of long term

memory.

Meaning of memory

Memory is the mental power by which past experience are both recalled and

recognised.

Motivation

Motivation is any inner conditions of the individual that directs or activates his

behaviour towards a goal.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation

It refers to the internal forces that originate within and impel the learner to

learn a given instructional goal.

Extrinsic motivation

It refers to the external forces existing outside of the learner that press him

to undertake a given learning task.

Maslow’s theory of motivation

SELF-ACTUALIZATION NEEDS

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SELF-ESTEEM NEEDS

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LOVE AND BELONGING NEEDS

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SAFETY NEEDS

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PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS

1.Physiological needs

The need for food,water,sleep,thrist,etc,are physiological needs.These are

lower needs of human being.

2.Safety needs

It includes the need for protection from bodily harm and security from

threats.They also include freedom from anxiety.

3.Love and Belongingness needs

These are the need for acceptance,the need for affection,the need for

approval and the need for affiliation.

4.self-esteem needs

When the above needs are satisfied,a need for self-esteem and the esteem of

the others will arise.

5.self-actualization needs

At the top of the hierarchy,maslow places the need for self-actualization.

Achievement motivation

According to David McClelland,achievement motivation refers to “the desire

to achieve and to avoid failure”.It is a desire for attaining some specific standard

of excellence.

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Hull’s drive reduction theory

Hull(1940)proposed the Drive Reduction Theory.Hull’s theory is meant to be a

general theory of learning.

Hull developed a version of behaviourism in which the stimulus(S)affects the

organism(O)and the resulting response(R)depends upon the characteristics of

both o and s.

Levels of Aspiration

According to Hurlock,level of aspiration is the standard a person expects and

hopes to reach in a given performance.

Methods of studying levels of aspiration

1.studies of wishes

Studies of wishes of an adolescent give clues about both immediate and

remote goals.

2.studies of ideals

Studies of ideals tell something about what the adolescent is aspiring to

be,either in now or in the future.

3.studies of resolution

Resolutions imply that the adolescent is dissatisfied with himself and his

achievements and is aspiring to improve.

4.Laboratory Experiments

In the labouratory,the adolescent is assigned a task and informed of his level

of performance.

UNIT-8

Intelligence

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Several theories of intelligence have been put forward.

1.The two-factor theory

2.Group-factor theory

3.structure-of-intellect model(sI)

Cattell’s Theory of Intelligence

Cattell(1963)proposed the human intelligence consists of two major clusters

of mental abilities.He termed them as:

Fluid intelligence

Crystallized intelligence

Intelligence quotient(IQ)

Terman was the first to suggest the term intelligence quotient.

Intelligence quotient is the ratio between mental age(MA) and chronological

age(CA) and multiplied by 100.

IQ=MA/CA*100

Intelligence quotient is used in reporting intelligence test scores.

Creativity

It is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas,alternative, or

possibilities that may be useful in solving problems,communicating with

others,and entertaining ourselves and others(Franken,2003).

Steps in creative process

There are five stages in creative process.They are

1.preparation

2.Incubation

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3.Illumination

4.Evaluation

5.Revision or verification

Theories of creativity

1.cognitive approach

2.social approach

3.confluence approach

Lateral thinking

De Bono defines lateral thinking as methods of thinking concerned with

changing concepts and perception.

UNIT-9

Personality

The term “personality” is derived from the latin word persona,which means

“mask”.

Personality is a dynamic organization,inside the person of those psycho-physical

systems that determine a person’s characteristic patterns of

behaviour,thoughts,and feelings.

Approaches to understanding personality

There are four major theoretical approaches to an understanding of personality.

They are:

1.Trait theory

2.Psycho-analytic theory

3.social learning theory

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4.Humanistic theory

Trait theory describes personality in terms of a number of limited distinctive

characteristics.

Psycho-analytic theory assumes that personality is composed of id,ego and

super ego.The id is irrational and impulsive,seeking immediate gratification.The

ego is realistic and logical,postponing gratification until it can be achieved in

socially acceptable ways.The super ego imposes moral codes.

Social learning theory assumes that personality differences result from

variations in learning experience.

Humanistic theory views personality as the development of the individual’s self-

concept,his personal view of the world and his push toward growth of self-

actualization.

Assessing personality traits

1.The sixteen personality factor questionnaire(16 P.F)

It was developed by cattell.The 16P.F.is used to measure several personality

traits simultaneously.

2.Maudsley personality Inventory

It was designed by H.Eysenck.It is used to measure only two dimensions of

personality namely,neuroticism and exteroversion-introversion.

3.Bell’s adjustment inventory

It has been designed to measure personal adjustment in four areas-home

adjustment,health adjustment,social adjustment and emotional adjustment.

4.Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory(MMPI)

The important feature of MMPI is its empirical validity.MMPI measures

abnormal traits.

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5.Allport-vernon-lindzey scale

It measures a person’s major values and interests: theoretical,economic,

esthetic, social,politician and religious.

Projective Tests

Projective tests are used to assess personality.

Types of projective tests

Three of the most widely used projective tests to assess personality are

Rorschach Test,Thematic Apperception Test,and sentence completion test.

Integrated personality

According to Hurlock,a person with integrated personality is one who can

gratify his needs,interests,and aspirations through behaviour that conforms to

social expectations.

Characteristics of integrated personality

According to Hurlock(1974)the following are the most common characteristics

of integrated personality.

1.Realistic self-appraisals

The well-adjusted person reveals the ability to appraise themselves

realistically.

2.Realistic appraisal of situations

They take a realistic approach to situations.

3.Realistic evalution of achievements

They reveal the ability to evaluate their achievements realistically.

4.Acceptance of reality

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One of the characteristics of a well-adjusted person is his willingness to

accept reality instead of running away from it.

5.Acceptance of responsibility

The well-adjusted person is a responsible person.They are not revealing the

“Let-John-do-it” tendency.

Group dynamics

A group consists of two or more persons.They:

Interact with one another

Have shared goals.

Are interdependent.

View themselves as members of the group.

Social psychologies describe any group having these characteristics as ‘social

group’.

Group behaviour

It refers to the situation where people interact in large or small groups.

It refers to small group that may reach consensus and act in a coordinated way.

Competition and cooperation

Competition:

Many of the things we value most-a good job,a nice home,a high status- are in

short supply.There is a competition between social groups over valued

commodities or opportunities.

Cooperation:

According to Ted panitz(1996),”Cooperation is a structure of interaction

designed to facilitate the accomplishment of an end product or goal.”

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Leadership Traits

According Drucker(1954),”leadership is lifting of man’s vision to higher

sights,the raising of man’s performance to a higher standard,and the building of

man’s personality beyond its limitation”.

Types of leadership

Autocratic leadership

Democratic leadership

Free-reign leadership

Classroom climate

It refers to the psychological oremotional environment that prevails between

the teacher and students in the classroom.

UNIT-10

Mental Health

It refers to personal adjustments relatively free of behaviour disorders.Mental

health also refers to the ability maintaining satisfying personal adjustments with

various types of situations in one’s life.

Conflicts

1.Approach-Approach conflict

2.Avoidance-Avoidance conflict

3.Approach-Avoidance conflict

Frustration

Frustration is a feeling of failure in fulfilling one’s needs.

Defense or mental mechanisms

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Defense mechanisms are typical behaviours that a person displays

unconsciously at the time of anxiety-producing situations in order to avoid or

lessen anxiety.

Guidance and counseling

Guidance is the process of helping individuals achieve the self-

understanding and self-direction necessary to make the maximum adjustment to

school,home and community.

Counseling refers to the face-to-face relationship between the counsellor

and the student.In counseling,the student is helped by the counselor to get over

his personal,emotional,social,educational and vocational problems.

Psychoanalysis

‘psychoanalysis’ is a kind of therapy developed by Freud.It focuses on helping

individuals gain insight into their inner conflicts and repressed wishes.

Psychodynamic therapies

Psychodynamic therapies are based on the idea that mental disorders stem

primarily from the kind of hidden inner conflicts as described by Freud.

Types of psychodynamic therapy:

1.Free association

2.Resistance

Psychodynamic Therapy

Freud’s psychoanalysis is rarely practised today.

However,Freud’s students and the neo-freudians have modified the classical

psychoanalysis and use the modified version of it.

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Psychology of Learning and Human Development

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