User talk:Arullawrence

[View source↑]
[History↑]

HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

NATURE Vs NURTURE Individual differences occurring under the same heredity may be attributed to the operation of different environmental factors. Similarly, when the environments are sufficiently alike, dissimilarities of behaviour indicate differing heredity. A significant question in developmental psychology is the relationship between innateness (Nature or heredity) and environmental influence (Nurture) in regard to any particular aspect of development. This is often referred to as "nature versus nurture" or nativism versus empiricism. A nativist account of development would argue that the processes in question are innate, that is, they are specified by the organism's genes. An empiricist perspective would argue that those processes are acquired in interaction with the environment. Today developmental psychologists rarely take such extreme positions with regard to most aspects of development; rather they investigate, among many other things, the relationship between innate and environmental influences.

Nature and Nurture Defined Nature refers to heredity: the genetic makeup or "genotypes" (i.e., information encoded in DNA) an individual carries from the time of conception to the time of death. Heredity may range from genetic predispositions that are specific to each individual and that therefore potentially explain differences in individual characteristics (e.g., temperament), to those supposedly specific to certain groups and that therefore account for group differences in related characteristics (e.g., gender and height), and to those that are theorized to be shared by all humans and are generally thought to set humans apart from other species (e.g., the language acquisition device in humans). The notion of nature, therefore, refers to the biologically prescribed tendencies and capabilities individuals possess, which may unfold themselves throughout the course of life. Nurture, by contrast, refers to various external or environmental factors to which an individual is exposed from conception to death. These environmental factors involve several dimensions. For example, they include both physical environments (e.g., secondhand smoking and prenatal nutrition) and social environments (e.g., the media and peer pressure). Also, environmental factors vary in their immediacy to the individual; they involve multiple layers of forces, ranging from most immediate (e.g., families, friends, and neighborhoods) to larger contexts (e.g., school systems and local governments) to macro factors (e.g., international politics and global warming). To complicate matters even further, the factors in each of these layers influence and are influenced by elements within and outside of these layers. For example, the kind of peers a child is exposed to may depend on his or her parents' view of what ideal playmates are like, the local government's housing policies, and the history of race relations. What Is the Controversy? Despite its nomenclature, the nature-nurture controversy in its current state is less dichotomous than commonly believed. In other words, the term "nature-nurture controversy" suggests a polarization of nature and nurture; continuity and interaction, however, more aptly describe the central processes involved in this controversy. Therefore, it is not about whether either heredity or environment is solely responsible for observed outcomes. Rather, it is more about the extent to which these factors influence human development and the ways in which various factors influence each other. For example, following the fifteen-person massacre committed by two boys at Columbine High School in Colorado in April 1999, the media were flooded with people offering their interpretations of what drove these high school students to commit this heinous and violent act. Some were quick to attribute the boys' actions to such environmental factors as inadequate parenting practices in their families and the violence prevalent and even glorified in the American media. Others, by contrast, were convinced that these boys were mentally ill as defined in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and that their ability to make responsible judgments had been impaired, perhaps due to a chemical imbalance to which they were genetically predisposed. Which argument is "correct," according to most researchers? Probably neither. Most theorists agree that both nature and nurture are intertwined and influence most aspects of human emotion, behavior, and cognition in some ways. Given the prevailing views in current psychology, most researchers would agree that the violent acts committed by these boys probably stemmed from an unfortunate interaction among various hereditary and environmental factors. Researchers, however, may disagree on (1) the extent to which heredity and environment each influences particular developmental outcomes and (2) the way in which a mixture of hereditary and environmental factors relate to each other. In other words, the controversy involves the extent of contribution as well as the nature of interaction among a variety of genetic and environmental forces. How do researchers address these issues? Exploring Heredity and Environment: Research Methods Since as early as the 1930s, researchers have attempted to estimate the contribution of hereditary and environmental factors to various aspects of human cognition, by comparing pairs of individuals varying in genetic relatedness. These studies are often called kinship studies, and twin studies and adoption studies represent two of the most common types of such studies. They have been extensively conducted to estimate the heritability of a wide variety of human characteristics. Twin Studies In traditional twin studies, monozygotic (identical) twins and dizygotic (fraternal) twins are compared in terms of their emotional, behavioral, and cognitive similarities. In the process of cell divisions upon formation of a zygote, sometimes the resulting cells fully multiply and produce two identical babies; they are called monozygotic twins, since they come from a single zygote and are genetic "carbon copies." In other words, any genetic information concerning physical and psychological predispositions should be exactly the same for these twins. By contrast, dizygotic twins develop from two separate zygotes, as a result of two eggs being fertilized by two sperms independently. Consequently, the genetic profiles of the resultant babies are similar only to the extent that they share the same set of biological parents. By comparing the correlations of a particular dimension, such as intelligence test scores, between identical twins and those between fraternal twins, researchers can theoretically compute the relative influences of nature and nurture on the dimension. For example, Sandra Scarr reported an interesting finding in the book Intelligence, Heredity, and Environment. She found a correlation for IQ test scores of .86 for identical twins and .55 for fraternal twins, indicating that identical twins' scores are more like one another than those of fraternal twins. Some influence of heredity, therefore, is evident. If IQ scores were 100 percent genetically determined, however, the correlation for identical twins would have been 1.00. In this example, therefore, heredity appears to play an important, but not definitive, role in explaining the determinants of what is measured through IQ tests. In addition to these heritability estimates, researchers also study concordance rates: the rates at which both twins develop the same, specific characteristics. The absence or presence of a particular mental illness would be a good example. If both twins had clinical depression in all pairs examined in a study, then the concordance rate would be 100 percent for this sample. On the other hand, if all twins in a study had one individual with clinical depression and another with no depression, then the concordance rate is 0 percent. Reportedly, concordance rate for clinical depression is reportedly about 70 percent for identical twins and about 25 percent for fraternal twins. This appears to demonstrate a sizable genetic contribution involved in the development of depression. Despite scholars' consensus that genetic contributions are not to be ignored, these correlational data are often believed to be exaggerated. Identical twins are genetically predisposed to a great deal of similarities, and, through a process known as reactive correlation, people around them tend to treat them similarly, which may help lead the twins to be similar beyond what their genetic profiles may warrant. The correlation of .86 between the IQ scores of identical twins, for example, may be contaminated with this reactive correlation. Identical twins encounter environmental experiences that are extremely similar to each other's, as the environment tends to react similarly to those who are genetically similar. As a result, for instance, adults and peers may treat identical twins similarly, and teachers may also develop similar expectations about these twins in terms of their emotional, behavioral, and cognitive functions. This similarity in environmental influences and expectations, therefore, may cause heritability estimates and concordance rates to be exaggerated. Furthermore, the process of active correlation (or niche-picking) suggests the possibility that children's genetic predispositions cause them to seek particular environments, causing the differences in hereditary predispositions to be enhanced by the subsequent environmental exposure. If a child has the genetic predisposition to enjoy cognitive challenges, for example, that may prompt the child to seek situations, friends, and activities that suit this particular predisposition—provided that such choices are offered to the child. This child, therefore, may start out with a small genetically prompted inclination to want to use his or her "brains," but such a tendency would subsequently be magnified through environmental influences. Given the varying degrees of genetic similarities between identical and fraternal twins, these sources of confusion may theoretically become more consequential when twins grow up in the same family. This is because twins reared in the same family are typically subject to the same resources, parenting philosophy, living environments, and so on. Their genetic predispositions, therefore, are most likely promoted—or inhibited—in similar ways. For example, if a pair of twins share the hereditary predispositions for musicality and their upper-middle-class parents own a piano and are interested in fostering musicality in these children, their musical potential will perhaps be cultivated in very similar ways. Specifically, their parents will probably get the same or similar piano teacher(s) for them, and they will probably be encouraged to practice equally. Therefore, the genetic similarities between the twins are magnified by virtue of them growing up in the same household. How does one address these concerns? Adoption studies provide some answers. Adoption Studies Compared to traditional twin studies, adoption studies are theorized to offer better alternatives for separating hereditary influences from genetic ones. There are typically two variations in adoption studies: ones involving comparisons of identical twins reared apart and ones comparing the degree of similarity between adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents. Identical twins reared apart share genetic patterns with each other, yet they do not share the same environmental experiences. Adopted children, by contrast, typically share with the rest of the adoptive family similar environmental experiences but do not share any genes with them. The advantage of adoption studies is that researchers can reasonably estimate the heritability by comparing the heritability estimates and concordance rates of pairs of individuals varying in genetic relatedness and in environmental distance. A typical adoption study may involve, for instance, comparing the concordance rates for the following two pairs: a child and her biological parent (shared genes but not environments) versus the same child and her adoptive parents (shared environments but not genes). Though the estimates of hereditary influences are generally lower in adoption studies than in twin studies, adoption studies provide results that are largely consistent with twin studies. In a 1983 study, Sandra Scarr and Richard Weinberg found that the IQ scores of adopted children showed higher correlations with the IQ scores of their biological parents than with those of their adopted parents. Similarly, John Loehlin, Lee Willlerman, and Joseph Horn demonstrated through a 1988 study that in the area of clinical depression, adopted children tended to have much higher concordance rates with their biological relatives than with their adoptive relatives. Still, many scholars argue that heritability may be overestimated in these studies. First, the reactive and active correlations discussed earlier would occur, to a degree, even if the twins were reared separately, as the twins share all of the hereditary predispositions. Second, one must also examine the possibility that parents may systematically treat their adoptive children differently than they do their biological children, which may explain the less-than-expected resemblance between children and their adoptive parents. Given that biologically related individuals tend to share greater hereditary similarities, it is fair to state that heritability estimates may be thrown off by environmental effects induced by particular genetic predispositions. Beyond Heritability As illustrated so far, most psychology researchers are in agreement that heredity and environment both play significant roles in the development of various human traits. Researchers may disagree, however, on the extent to which heredity and environment contribute to the development of a particular dimension, and on how various factors may affect each other to create a certain human characteristic. Neither heritability estimates nor concordance rates provide useful information on the latter type of disagreement: how various hereditary and environmental factors interact with each other to result in a particular characteristic. Mental health, education, and applied psychology researchers are especially concerned about optimizing the developmental outcomes among people from all backgrounds. To this end, knowing that there is a .86 heritability estimate for IQ scores among identical twins, for example, is not particularly helpful in terms of establishing ways of maximizing the life choices and opportunities for individuals. In attaining such goals, it is crucial to understand how various factors relate to each other. Naturally, in order to do so, one must first identify which factors are involved in the development of a given trait. Unfortunately, researchers have had very limited success in identifying specific genetic patterns that influence particular psychological and behavioral characteristics. Nevertheless, this is not to suggest that one should ignore the role of heredity as reflected in heritability estimates altogether and focus on optimizing the environmental factors for every child. Heredity, as has been examined, undoubtedly contributes to the development of various human traits. Also, researchers exploring environmental influences have found that contrary to what most theorists expected, environmental factors that are shared by reared-together twins do not appear to be relevant in explaining the development of particular traits. It is therefore unlikely that exposing every child to a "one size fits all" environment designed to foster a particular trait, would benefit everyone equally. Some may react favorably to such an environment, while others may not react to it at all; there may be yet others who react negatively to the same environment. The notion of "range of reaction" helps us conceptualize the complex relationship between heredity and environment; people with varying genetically influenced predispositions respond differently to environments. As suggested by Douglas Wahlsten in a 1994 article in Canadian Psychology, an identical environment can elicit different reactions in different individuals, due to variations in their genetic predispositions. In a hypothetical scenario, Wahlsten suggested that increasing intellectual stimulation should help increase cognitive performances of some children. Moderate, rather than high, levels of intellectual stimulation may, however, induce optimal cognitive performances in others. By contrast, the same moderate levels of stimulation may actually cause some children to display cognitive performances that are even worse than how they performed in a minimally stimulating environment. In addition, the "optimal" or "minimal" performance levels may be different for various individuals, depending on their genetic makeup and other factors in their lives. This example illustrates the individual differences in ranges of reaction; there is no "recipe" for creating environments that facilitate the development of particular characteristics in everyone. Heredity via environment, rather than heredity versus environment, therefore, may better characterize this perspective. These views are consistent with the 1990s' backlash against the view that was prevalent in the mid- to late twentieth century among many clinical psychologists, social workers, and educators, who focused solely on environmental factors while discounting the contributions of hereditary factors. Among the theories they advocated were that gay males decidedly come from families with domineering mothers and no prominent masculine figures, that poor academic performances result from lack of intellectual stimulation in early childhood, and that autism stems from poor parenting practices. Not surprisingly, empirical data do not support these theories. Still, people often continue to believe, to some extent, that proper environments can prevent and "cure" these non-normative characteristics, not realizing that heredity may play significant roles in the development of these traits. Some scholars believe that this "radical environ-mentalist" view found its popularity in the 1950s as a reaction to racist Nazi thinking, which held that some groups of individuals are genetically inferior to others and that the undesirable traits they are perceived to possess cannot be prevented or modified. These assumptions are harmful, as they limit the opportunities for advancement of some people, strictly because of their membership in a stigmatized group. It is nevertheless important to reiterate that individual differences, as opposed to group differences, in genetic predispositions are evident in the development of most emotional, behavioral, and cognitive traits. With this in mind, it is also important to realize that focusing on optimizing environmental influences while ignoring hereditary influences may lead to the neglect of the developmental needs of some individuals, and it may be just as harmful in some cases as focusing exclusively on hereditary influences.

HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT MEANING The meaning of words ‘growth and development’ is understood interchangeably. Terminology wise ‘Growth’ means increase and enlargement of the body or some parts of the body e.g. body has become heavier and larger etc. Thus growth is a change in the organism which can be observed and measured in quantitative term. `Development’ means more advancement, greater unfolding and growing forward to greater maturity. It refers to changes over time which is not subject to quantitative measurement but express themselves through certain behaviour pattern.

DEFINITION • Development means a progressive series of changes that occur in an orderly predictable pattern as a result of maturation and experience - E.B. Hurlock. • Development means whole sequence of life from conception to death - Pearsy London • Development is more important than ordinary change. Development can be observed and to certain extent it can be measured and evaluated. Its evaluation and measurement can be done in three ways – Anatomic, Physiological and Behavioral. Behaviour signs provide elaborate indices of the individual’s power and his level of development – Gessel. To sum up the above meaning ‘development’ is comprehensive in terms whereas `growth’ is one of the aspects of development which refers to increase caused by becoming larger and heavier in size and weight. ‘Development’ of the child can be defined as the emergence and expansion of his capacities to provide greater facility in functioning. This development is achieved through the process of growth, maturation and learning which has two aspects of change; those of quantity and quality.

GROWTH The term ‘Growth’ is used in the physical sense. It generally refers to increase in size, length, height and w eight. Changes in quantitative aspects, which could be objectively observed and measured, come into the domain of growth. Growth is one of the components of developmental process. Ina sense development in its quantitative aspect is termed as growth.

Characteristics of Growth: 1. Hereditary factor is the cause. 2. Physical factors play a dominant role. 2. Expansion is height and weight is its apparent result. 3. It is quantitative, additive and augmentative. 4. Growth stops at a particular point of life. 5. Growth need not necessarily cause development in all the cases. 6. Rate of growth is distinct and unique. 7. Individual difference in growth is apparent and obvious.

DEVELOPMENT Development is a qualitative and integral change occurring at physical and mental levels improving the efficiency or functional ability.

Characteristics of Development: 1. Development is a result of experience and maturation. 2. It is a continuous process. 3. It does not halt at puberty. 4. It increases the intellectual, moral, social qualities. 5. It is predictable and environment plays a dominant role. 6. Learning is presupposition for development. 7. It is difficult to measure in quantitative measures. 8. Mental development could occur even without physical growth.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT:

Sl. No. Growth Development 1. Growth is quantitative and it shows an increase in size, weight and height. Development is both quantitative and qualitative. 2. It is pertaining to physical and biological aspects. It is pertaining to increasing the functional ability of an individual. 3. It is directional. It is sequential and progressive. 4. It stops after the peak maturational level It is a lifelong process. 5. It could be objectively measured and exactly measured. It cannot be measured easily. Yet keen and continuous observation could reveal developmental levels. 6. Motor and physical domain plays a dominant role. Cognitive and affective domains play a vital role. 7. It is not affected by learning. Learning and experience has a lot of impact on development. 8. It is automatic in the sense that it does not demand much effort. Development requires constant, continuous and guided efforts. 9. Growth need not necessarily lead to development. It may or may not. Development is integrative and includes mental, emotional, moral aspects. 10. Individual differences exist among children and it could be treated by Physicians and therapeutic techniques. Individual differences do exist in the learning skills and can not be improved by clinical methods.

Conclusion: Though there exists many differences between growth and development, they are interrelated, intertwined, complementary and not contradictory.

PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT INTRODUCTION There is a set of principles that characterizes the pattern and process of growth and development. These principles or characteristics describe typical development as a predictable and orderly process; that is, we can predict how most children will develop and that they will develop at the same rate and at about the same time as other children. Although there are individual differences in children's personalities, activity levels, and timing of developmental milestones, such as ages and stages, the principles and characteristics of development are universal patterns.

PRINCIPLES 1. Development proceeds from the head downward: This is called the cephalocaudal principle. This principle describes the direction of growth and development. According to this principle, the child gains control of the head first, then the arms, and then the legs. Infants develop control of the head and face movements within the first two months after birth. In the next few months, they are able to lift themselves up by using their arms. By 6 to 12 months of age, infants start to gain leg control and may be able to crawl, stand, or walk. Coordination of arms always precedes coordination of legs. 2. Development proceeds from the center of the body outward: This is the principle of proximodistal development that also describes the direction of development. This means that the spinal cord develops before outer parts of the body. The child's arms develop before the hands and the hands and feet develop before the fingers and toes. Finger and toe muscles (used in fine motor dexterity) are the last to develop in physical development. 3. Development depends on maturation and learning: Maturation refers to the sequential characteristic of biological growth and development. The biological changes occur in sequential order and give children new abilities. Changes in the brain and nervous system account largely for maturation. These changes in the brain and nervous system help children to improve in thinking (cognitive) and motor (physical) skills. Also, children must mature to a certain point before they can progress to new skills (Readiness). For example, a four-month-old cannot use language because the infant's brain has not matured enough to allow the child to talk. By two years old, the brain has developed further and with help from others, the child will have the capacity to say and understand words. Also, a child can't write or draw until he has developed the motor control to hold a pencil or crayon. Maturational patterns are innate, that is, genetically programmed. The child's environment and the learning that occurs as a result of the child's experiences largely determine whether the child will reach optimal development. A stimulating environment and varied experiences allow a child to develop to his or her potential. 4. Development proceeds from the simple (concrete) to the more complex: Children use their cognitive and language skills to reason and solve problems. For example, learning relationships between things (how things are similar), or classification, is an important ability in cognitive development. The cognitive process of learning how an apple and orange are alike begins with the most simplistic or concrete thought of describing the two. Seeing no relationship, a preschool child will describe the objects according to some property of the object, such as color. Such a response would be, "An apple is red (or green) and an orange is orange." The first level of thinking about how objects are alike is to give a description or functional relationship between the two objects. "An apple and orange are round" and "An apple and orange are alike because you eat them" are typical responses of three, four and five year olds. As children develop further in cognitive skills, they are able to understand a higher and more complex relationship between objects and things; that is, that an apple and orange exist in a class called fruit. The child cognitively is then capable of classification. 5. Growth and development is a continuous process: As a child develops, he or she adds to the skills already acquired and the new skills become the basis for further achievement and mastery of skills. Most children follow a similar pattern. Also, one stage of development lays the foundation for the next stage of development. For example, in motor development, there is a predictable sequence of developments that occur before walking. The infant lifts and turns the head before he or she can turn over. Infants can move their limbs (arms and legs) before grasping an object. Mastery of climbing stairs involves increasing skills from holding on to walking alone. By the age of four, most children can walk up and down stairs with alternating feet. As in maturation, in order for children to write or draw, they must have developed the manual (hand) control to hold a pencil and crayon. 6. Growth and development proceed from the general to specific: In motor development, the infant will be able to grasp an object with the whole hand before using only the thumb and forefinger. The infant's first motor movements are very generalized, undirected, and reflexive, waving arms or kicking before being able to reach or creep toward an object. Growth occurs from large muscle movements to more refined (smaller) muscle movements. 7. There are individual rates of growth and development: Each child is different and the rates at which individual children grow is different. Although the patterns and sequences for growth and development are usually the same for all children, the rates at which individual children reach developmental stages will be different. Understanding this fact of individual differences in rates of development should cause us to be careful about using and relying on age and stage characteristics to describe or label children. There is a range of ages for any developmental task to take place. This dismisses the notion of the "average child". Some children will walk at ten months while others walk a few months older at eighteen months of age. Some children are more active while others are more passive. This does not mean that the passive child will be less intelligent as an adult. There is no validity to comparing one child's progress with or against another child. Rates of development also are not uniform within an individual child. For example, a child's intellectual development may progress faster than his emotional or social development.

CONCLUSION An understanding of the principles of development helps us to plan appropriate activities and stimulating and enriching experiences for children, and provides a basis for understanding how to encourage and support young children's learning.

CHARACTERISTICS, DIMENSIONS OF DEVELOPMENT 1. Physical, 2. Cognitive, 3. Emotional, 4. Social and 5. Moral.

PHASES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

             The entire life span of the individual is divided into various stages. We know that development is a continuous process. All individuals have to pass through these following stages of development.

PERIOD OR STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT APPROXIMATE AGE PRENATAL PERIOD (From Conception to Birth) 1. Germinal Period First two weeks from fertilization 2. Embryonic Period From Third to Eighth weeks 3. Fetal Period From Ninth week to birth POSTNATAL PERIOD (From Birth to Death) 1. Infancy From birth to 2 years 2. Childhood From 3 years to12 years or up to the onset of puberty a. Early Childhood From 3 years to 6 years b. Later Childhood From 7 years to 12 years or up to the onset of puberty 3. Adolescence From 13 years to 19 years or from onset of puberty till attainment of maturity a. Early Adolescence From 13 to 16 years b. Later Adolescence From 17 to 19 years 4. Adulthood From 20 years to 60 years a. Early Adulthood From 20 to 40 years b. Later Adulthood From 41 to 60 years 5 Old Age From 61 years to death

INFANCY INTRODUCTION: o MEDICAL CIRCLES: An infant is referred to a person who is incapable of speech and is thus helpless. o LEGALLY: A person is regarded an infant until he reaches the age of eighteen. A minor, according to the law, is thus an infant. o PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH CENTRES: Refer to the first 2 years of life as infancy. o ELIZABETH B. HURLOCK has spanned INFANCY from birth till 2 weeks and attributed the term BABYHOOD from the period extending from the end of the second week after birth until the end of the second year of life. o GENERALLY: Infancy refers to the period of development that begins at birth and ends about 18 months to 2 years of age with early language use.

MODERN UNDERSTANDING OF INFANCY: Although it comprises only 2 percent of the life span, infancy is one of the most remarkable and busiest times of development. The new born baby or neonate, (refers to infants from birth through the first month of life) enters the world with surprisingly sophisticated perceptual and motor abilities, a set of skills for interacting with people, and a capacity to learn that is put to use immediately after birth. By the end of infancy, the small child is a sociable, self-assertive, purposeful being who walks on her own, has developed refined manual skills, and is prepared to acquire the most unique of human abilities-language. Our view of the infant has changed drastically over this century. At one time, the new born baby was considered to be a passive, incompetent being whose world was, in the words of turn-of-the-century psychologist William James, “A blooming, buzzing confusion”. Recently developed methods and equipments permitting researchers to test the young baby’s capacities have shown this image to be wrong. It is now well accepted that the infants, from the outset, are skilled and capable beings who display the beginnings of many complex abilities.

GENERAL NOTIONS OF INFANCY: • ‘Age of Dependence’: The infant is totally dependent on the caretaker to fulfill all its needs. • ‘Age of Rapid Growth and Change’: Growth is both physical and psychological. The bodily movements are more coordinated and the infant is able to recognize and identify people and objects, • ‘The Foundation Age’: At this period of time, the foundations of many behaviour, patterns, attitude to others and self and emotional expressions are being established. • ‘A Shy Age’: The infant’s world is limited to the family and to significant people. It shies away from strangers and unfamiliar surroundings. • ‘A Hazardous Age’: The child is prone to physical illnesses and accidents. The high infant mortality rate is evidence of this. Also psychological damage. • ‘An Appealing Age’: Adults as well as older children find the infant appealing because of its helplessness, dependency and easy to manage feeling that one gets.

NEWBORN REFLEXES: A reflex is an inborn, automatic response to a particular form of stimulation. Reflexes are the neonate’s most obvious organized patterns of behaviour. Like breathing and swallowing, some newborns reflexes have survival value. Infants come into the world with dozens of them. They are as follows: 1. Rooting (Head turns toward source of stimulation) 2. Sucking (Infant sucks finger rhythmically) 3. Swimming (Baby paddles and kicks in swimming motion) 4. Eye blink (Infant closes eye lids quickly) 5. Withdrawal (Foot withdraws, with flexion of knee and hip) 6. Babinski (Toes fan out and curls as foot twists in) 7. Moro (Infant makes an ‘embracing’ motion) 8. Palmar grasp (Infant grasps adult finger) 9. Tonic neck (Infant assumes a ‘fencing position’) 10. Body righting (Rest of body turns in same direction) 11. Stepping (Infant lifts one foot after another in stepping response) PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT: • At birth, the average infant weighs 7.5 pounds and measures 19.5 inches in length. • During the 1st 6 months, growth continues at a rapid rate and then begins to slow down in the second year. • In the 1st year there is increase in weight to approximately 21 pounds and in the second year the height increases between 28 and 30 inches. • Head growth slows down while trunk and limb growth increases. • The number of bones increases and ossification begins. • Out of the 20 temporary teeth, about 16 appear by the age of 2 years. • Growth in the nervous system consists primarily of the development of immature cells present at birth, rather than the formation of new cells. • Eye muscles are well coordinated. Can distinguish colours. Skin stimuli are highly responsive because of the thin texture of the skin.

Pattern of Motor Control: i) Head region:- (a) Eye control (b) Starts smiling (c) Can hold the head erect. ii) Trunk region:- (a) Can roll over completely by 6 months. (b) Is able to sit by 7 months. iii) Arms:- Can reach objects and can pick up small objects by 1 year. iv) Legs:- Can walk without support at 14 months. Pre-speech forms of Communication: (1) Crying (2) Babbling (3) Gesturing with words (4) Emotional expressions

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Common Emotional Patterns: o Anger: When interfered with its movements, unable to do a task, for not being understood, the child reacts by screaming, kicking, waving the arms, jumps up and down, et al. o Fear: Any stimulus which occurs suddenly or unexpectedly or which is different from what the infant is accustomed to gives rise to fear. o Curiosity: Anything new or unusual acts as a stimulus to curiosity. They express curiosity mainly through their facial expressions. o Joy: is stimulated by physical well-being and friendly responses of others. They are expressed through smiling, laughing, baby coos, gurgles or even shouts with glee, and all bodily movements are intensified. o Affection: Family members, toys and family pets stimulate the infant’s affection which it expresses by hugging, patting and kissing.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Infancy is centered round home and therefore it is here that the foundations for later social behaviour and attitudes are formed. A happy environment at home enhances the social adjustability while infants who cried excessively tend to become aggressive. Socialising Behaviour of the Infant: • At birth it makes no difference who takes care of its physical needs. • By 2-3 months it distinguishes people from inanimate objects. • By 4-5 months loves to be picked up and reacts differently to friendly and angry voices. • 6-7 months is the beginning of the ‘shy age’. It smiles at ‘friends’ and shows fear in the presence of ‘strangers’. It is attracted to other babies. • 8-9 months it attempts to imitate the speech, gestures and simple acts of others. • 20-24 months it co-operates in routine activities like being dressed, fed, and bathed. Is interested in playing with other babies and uses play materials to establish social relationship with them.

MENTAL DEVELOPMENT: According to Piaget this is the ‘Sensorimotor Stage’ in conceptual development. Its earliest perceptions come through sensory exploration. It understands by: • Looking, listening, smelling and tasting anything that comes its way. • Tries to discover meaning through simpler forms by asking the questions ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’. • It associates ideas with objects and situations resulting in the development of concepts. Develops concepts of space, weight, time, self, social, beauty and comic.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT: The infant is non-moral as his behaviour is not guided by moral standards. The rightness or wrongness of its actions is judged by the ‘Pleasure-Pain Principle’ it has on him. It perceives the act as good or bad if it brings him pleasure or pain respectively. It has no sense of guilt as it has no concept of personal property. Therefore, it does not feel bad in taking the things of others. The infant is in the 1st stage of moral development which Piaget terms as ‘Morality by Constraint’.

CONCLUSION: It is in infancy that the reservoir of security is formed, from which love, affection and compassion may be drawn all the rest of life. It is also in infancy that the basic orientation towards learning is established. The nature and condition of the child’s learning may alter as it grows older, but the first learning’s appear to be fundamental and at least to a degree determine the later attitudes. The relevance of basic trust to later living and learning implies that adequate loving care in infancy may be a potent factor in the ultimate realization of full human potential. CHILDHOOD INTRODUCTION Education aims at the all round harmonious development of an individual. The development of a nation depends upon the development of its children and there is no doubt that the childhood is the foundation upon which the development of an individual depends. Childhood, the period between three and twelve years of age, is an extremely impressionable age, where all the little things that the child learns in the starting years will be carried over with him into adulthood. This period is divided into the period of early childhood and the period of late childhood.

A. Early Childhood:

This period of early childhood ranges from 3-6 years. From the point of view, childhood is a period of consolidation of infancy and babyhood. Generally parents consider the ‘Early Childhood’ a problem age or troublesome age. Educators consider it pre-school age or toy age. While some psychologists’ name it pre-gang age, some call it exploratory or questioning age and most of them say it imitative age or creative age. Characteristics: • Physical development continues at a slower rate because of which his hunger may decrease temporarily. • Muscles are more evenly distributed and muscular coordination is increased. The control of elimination moves towards perfection in these years. • The bones develop in size and shape. • The nervous system becomes more mature. • There is rapid increase in vocabulary and the child can express his thoughts and emotions in simple sentences. He can relate stories. • The power of imitation is very active. • The child seeks to gain control over his environment. His instincts such as curiosity, self-display, and acquisition become active. • The child learns to make social adjustments. He develops emotional attachment to his parents and other family members, and learns primary social manners. • The child has imaginary friends. There is an increase in the fear of imaginary creatures, the dark, and the animals. • The child in this stage learns `I’, `me’, and `you’.

B. Late Childhood: The period of 6 -12 years is considered as late childhood period. This age is known by the educators as elementary school age and psychologists call it gang age and play age. Characteristics: • Increase in the size of the body is the main characteristic of this stage. Physical growth becomes slow and steady. There is remarkable growth in height, weight and improvement in motor skills. • The major development is building up friends with peer team spirit. Social development takes place through the social experiences. • Maturity occurs rapidly. Girls mature faster than boys. • At this age children move from egocentric to socialized speech and thoughts. • The self-concept emerges in children. • The children show interests in comics, movies, and television. • Moral development also takes place. The child’s conscience begins to develop in identification with parents. • Affection, sympathy, and cooperation among the group members emerge during this period. • Emotional stability in the conduct and behaviour of the child takes place. He learns to have control over his emotional expressions. • Control over the mind is also an important aspect of this stage. Most children enjoy the feeling of having learned new and difficult things. AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT 1. Physical development: Physical development can be defined as the series of anatomic and physiologic changes taking place between the beginning of pre-natal life and senility. 1. The child begins to assume the body proportions for an adult. 2. Height: Generally after two and half years the child gains 2-2.5 inches every year up to 12 years. Approximately the height of male child becomes 45 inches and female 43 inches. 3. Weight: There is steady increase in weight, average growth per year 5 to 6 pounds. 4. Legs growth is rapid and represent about half of ones total height 5. The head is slow in growth but the trunk grows a little faster. 6. Towards puberty girls are a bit lighter and shorter. 7. At this age muscle develops at rapid speed.

2. Motor development: Motor development means development of strength, speed and accuracy in the use of muscular parts of the body such as arms, eyes, legs and neck muscles. Motor abilities involve bodily movements of various organs and coordinated functions of nerves and muscles. o Motor development adopts two directions - from head to foot and from the centre of the body to outward. o Motor development occurs in four major areas - the head region, the trunk, the arms and hands, and legs and feet. o Childhood is called the ideal age of learning motor skills. There are three reasons. 1. Young children enjoy repetition and are willing to repeat an activity until they have acquired the ability to do it well. 2. Young children are adventuresome. 3. Young children learn easily and quickly because their bodies are still pliable. o Spontaneous catching a ball, throwing a ball begins at 2-5 years onwards. o Painting, writing. o Standing, walking, running, climbing, skipping, hopping jumping and kicking the ball etc.

3. Emotional development: The word ‘emotion’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Emovere’ which means to stir up, to agitate or to excite. According to R.S. Woods Worth (1945) “Emotion is a moved or stirred up state of an organism. It is a stirred up state of feeling that is the way it appears to the individual himself. It is a disturbed muscular and glandular activity- that is the way it appears to an external observer.” Every child is born with the potential expression. Emotion is a label for vast range of psychosomatic states which involve feeling, perception, or awareness of an event or circumstances. The word emotion covers conditions of both positive and negative character. The condition in which an individual is eager, zestful, jubilant and moved is referred to as positive condition, while on the other hand the condition in which an individual feels disturbed, distressed and moved away is referred as negative condition. Common childhood emotions: 1. Fear: As the children pass from the pre-school to the elementary school they are faced with certain fears.  Children of six years show fear for the supernatural beings such as ghosts and witches.  By seven years children show fear for quarrels, wars and spies etc.  Fear of failure and not being liked by people is common among the children of 8 years. Ten to 12 year olds are fearful of things as being in the dark, animals. 2. Anger and rivalry against siblings 3. Jealousy 4. Joy and pleasure 5. Love and affection

4. Mental or intellectual development: Mental development implies the progressive changes in the mental process which goes on from birth to death. Mental development includes various aspects such as development of concepts, perception, language, memory, reasoning, thinking, intelligence and imagination. Mental growth continues in childhood also. The child seeks to satisfy his voracious curiosity by asking an infinite variety of questions to his parents. That is why this age is called a questioning age or an exploratory age. • At this stage reflex actions and instincts develop • Child’s interests grow in number and extents. • Child develops interests in reading short stories. • Child spends much time in reading history and visiting new places. • At this time power of memory increases. • At 6 years child displays ability to distinguish between right and left, to count up to 13 or 14 objects, to solve problems. • At 7 years child develops to distinguish between two objects. • At 8 years child is able to repeat sentences containing 16 to 17 words. • At 9 years child becomes conscious of day, time, date, recognizes coins of various denominations. Thus new concepts are picked up. • At 10 years child points out mistakes in short sentences and repeats 60-70 words in three minutes. • At 11 years child can recognize similarity and differences, make comparisons, distinguish between male and female, as well as birds and animals. • At 12 years child points out the cause of a thing and provides his own explanation. 5. Language development: A major feature that distinguishes the human being from animal is their ability to use vocal speech as a means of communication. Towards the end of babyhood 2-3 years child begins to use words and forming sentences. At 4-5 years child improves to form sentences considerably and is able to use grammar. After 5 he achieves comprehension of meanings of the words, builds up new vocabulary e.g. good, bad, this, that and learns to have correct pronunciation, identifies sound of the certain difficult letters e.g. Z, W, Sh, Stir etc. Language development according to Scissore is as follows: Age in years Words 4 5,600 5 9,600 6 14,700 7 21,200 8 26,300 10 34,300

Hyder brothers concluded from their studies that a. linguistic development is faster in the case of girls than that of boys b. girls construct longer sentences than boys c. girls are more skilled in expressing their thoughts coherently. The child learns three forms of language namely spoken, written and gesture. The individual’s linguistic development is profoundly influenced by the community, home, school, and the family’s social and economic status. Besides these important factors affecting are his intelligence, health, maturation, sex and personality.

6. Social development: 1. Social development is the process of learning to conform to group standards - Freeman and Showel. 2. Social development means acquisition of the ability to behave in accordance with social expectations - Crow and Crow. 3. Social development means the attaining of maturity in social setting- E.B. Hurlock. A social child behaves in a socially approved manner, plays the role which society prescribes for him and has favourable attitude towards people and social activities. • Between 2-6 years children learn to make social contacts and get along with people outside home, especially with children of their own. • In childhood, children have strong desires to be with children and to be accepted by them. • Peer groups have greater impact on some children than on others. • Children show kindness to others and defend the rights of younger children • Friendship at late childhood can easily be made and broken. • Maintain individual friendships. • Girls have groups. • 8-10 years (gang age) often reject adult’s standard. Characteristics of social development

1. Early social response 2. Response to other children 3. Group activities 4. Social perception 5. Resistant behavior 6. Sympathy 7. Fights and quarrels 8. Cooperation 9. Competition

7. Moral development: The term moral comes from the Latin word mores which means manners, custom, and folkways. Moral behaviour means human behviour in conformity with moral code of social group. It is carried out in a voluntary way. Moral behaviour is accompanied by a feeling of a personal responsibility for one’s acts. In this respect the young child’s intellectual development has not yet reached the point where he can learn or apply abstract principles of right and wrong. The child has to learn what is good and what is bad which is a slow process. Piaget has divided moral development into three parts of childhood in which the child learns such behaviour: 1. During this period (4-5) he begins to imitate the actions of parents and others who are in close touch with him. 2. At 5-8 years he learns to respect parents, teachers, and other adults. Morality of obedience and duty is inculcated happily and spontaneously. 3. At this age (9-13) there is the morality of cooperation through free, reciprocal relationship with his peers. Child develops a morality of mutual respect and cooperation. This stage is considered as the golden year of life because experiences of the child of this period remain life long. Moral development of child implies inculcation in the child a number of qualities for which curriculum provides ample opportunities. E.g. Honesty in words and deeds, truthfulness, self respect and desire to respect others, righteousness, self control, duty consciousness and compassion. In spite of hazards the child develops conscience. Here the role of discipline is very essential in the moral development of the child.

CONCLUSION Childhood is the time when the individual’s basic outlooks, values and ideals are to a great extent shaped. The experiences a child has at school, home and larger community during these formative years well determine, for example, whether he is to be a fearful child or a one possessed with confidence in himself or whether he will be tolerant or intolerant towards others. ‘No period during the life cycle is more important than childhood from an educational point of view.’

ADOLESCENCE -------------------------------

DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS & EDUCATION

Definition: Each cultural group recognizes that certain skills and behaviour patters can be mastered at certain age. These skills are necessary for the individual’s adjustment in social life. So, the cultural group expects its member to master certain skills and acquire cetain approved patterns of behaviour at various ages during the life span. These are known as the developmental task. Havighurst (1972) defines a developmental task is ‘a task which arises at or about a certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness, social disapproval, and difficulty with later tasks. Three forces work together in mastering developmental task. They are 1. Physical maturation, 2. Cultural pressures of society and 3. Personal values & aspirations of the individual. For e.g. motor skills like walking develop largely as a result of physical maturation. Learning to read develops from the cultural pressure of the society. Choosing and preparing for a career grows out of the personal values and aspirations of the individual. According to our biopsychosocial model, the first source corresponds to the "bio" part of the model, the second to the "psycho," and the third to the "social" aspect. Havighurst has identified six major age periods: 1. Infancy and Early Childhood (0-5 years), 2. Later Childhood (6-12 years), 3. Adolescence (13-18 years), 4. Early Adulthood (19-29 years), 5. Middle Adulthood (30-60 years), and 6. Later Maturity (61+).

Purposes: Developmental task serve three very useful purposes. 1. Developmental task is the guidance that enables a person to know what society expects from them at a given age. 2. Individuals are motivated to do what the social group expects them to do at (certain ages) different periods of the life span. 3. It indicates what lies ahead and what will be expected to do when they reach the next stage of development.

Hazards: There are three very common potential hazards related to developmental tasks. 1. The first one is the inappropriate expectations; either individual themselves or the social group may expect the development of behaviour that is impossible at the time because of physical or psychological limitations. 2. The second one is the Bypassing of a stage of development as results of failure of master the tasks for that stage of development. 3. The crises individuals experience when they pass from one stage to another comprise the third one.

Factors influencing mastery of developmental task: 1. A retarded developmental level 2. Lack of opportunity to learn developmental tasks or lack of guidance in their mastery 3. Lack of motivation 4. Poor health 5. Physical defects 6. A low intellectual level

Implications: o The concept of developmental task is very helpful in specifying course’s content and its objectives. o The pupil can know in advance, what the society expects from his/her at that age. o Parents and teachers can guide the children to acquire skills to live in the society. o The teachers and parents can prepare appropriate climate or atmosphere to achieve a developmental task.

DEVELOPMENTAL TASK OF INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD (From 0 to 5 years) 1) Learning to walk: Once the basic skills are mastered, he learns during later years to run, jump, and skip. 2) Learning to take solid foods: The way the child is treated during the weaning period, the schedule on which he is fed, and the age and suddenness of weaning, all have profound effects upon his personality. 3) Learning to talk: Between these ages of twelve and eighteen months, the great moment of speech arrives. The two theories agree to this extent, namely (1) that the human infant develops a repertory of speech - sounds without having to learn them, and (2) that the people around him teach him to attach certain meanings to these sounds. 4) Learning to control the elimination of body waste: To learn to urinate and defecate at socially acceptable times and places. Toilet training is the first moral training that the child receives. The stamp of this first moral training probably persists in the child's later character. 5) Learning sex differences and sexual modesty: The kinds of sexual behavior he learns and the attitudes and feelings he develops about sex in these early years probably have an abiding effect upon his sexuality throughout his life. 6) Achieving physiological stability: It takes as many as five years for the child's body to settle down to something like the physiological stability of the child. 7) Forming simple concepts of social and physical reality: And, when his nervous system is ready, he must have the experience and the teachers to enable him to form a stock of concepts and learn the names for them. On this basis his later mental development is built. 8) Learning to relate oneself emotionally to parents, siblings, and other people: The way he achieves this task of relating himself emotionally to other people will have a large part in determining whether he will be friendly or cold, outgoing or introversive, in his social relations in later life. 9) Learning to distinguish right and wrong and developing a conscience: During the later years of early childhood he takes into himself the warning and punishing voices of his parents, in ways that depend upon their peculiar displays of affection and punishment toward him. Thus he develops the bases of his conscience, upon which a later structure of values and moral character will be built. DEVELOPMENTAL TASK OF LATER CHILDHOOD (From 6 to 12 years) 1. Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games: To learn the physical skills that are necessary for the games and physical activities that are highly valued in childhood--such skills as throwing and catching, kicking, tumbling, swimming, and handling simple tools. 2. Building a wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing organism: To develop habits of care of the body, of cleanliness and safety consistent with a wholesome, realistic attitude which includes a sense of physical normality and adequacy, the ability to enjoy using the body, and a wholesome attitude toward sex. Sex education should be a matter of agreement between school and parents, with the school doing what the parents feel they cannot do so well. The facts about animal and human reproduction should be taught before puberty. 3. Learning to get along with age-mates: To learn the give-and-take of social life among peers. To learn to make friends and to get along with enemies. To develop a "social personality." 4. Beginning to develop appropriate masculine or feminine social roles: To learn to be a boy or a girl--to act the role that is expected and rewarded. The sex role is taught so vigorously by so many agencies that the school probably has little more than a remedial function, which is to assist boys and girls who are having difficulty with the task. 5. Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing and calculating: To learn to read, write, and calculate well enough to get along in society. 6. Developing concepts necessary for everyday living: The task is to acquire a store of concepts sufficient for thinking effectively about ordinary occupational, civic, and social matters. 7. Developing a conscience, a sense of morality and a scale of values: To develop an inner moral control, respect for moral rules, and the beginning of a rational scale of values. Morality or respect for rules of behavior is imposed on the child first by the parents. Later, according to Piaget, the child learns that rules are necessary and useful to the conduct of any social enterprise, from games to government, and thus learns a "morality of cooperation or agreement" which is a true moral autonomy and necessary in a modern democratic society. 8. Achieving personal independence: To become an autonomous person, able to make plans and to act in the present and immediate future independently of one's parents and other adults. The young child has become physically independent of his parents but remains emotionally dependent on them. 9. Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions: To develop social attitudes those are basically democratic. Attitudes are learned mainly in three ways; (1) by imitation of people with prestige in the eyes of the learner; (2) by collection and combination of pleasant or unpleasant experiences associated with a given object or situation; (3) by a single deeply emotional experience--pleasant or unpleasant--associated with a given object or situation. DEVELOPMENTAL TASK OF ADOLESCENCE (From 13 to 18 years) 1. Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both sexes: To learn to look upon girls as women and boys as men; to become an adult among adults; to learn to work with others for a common purpose, disregarding personal feelings; to learn to lead without dominating. 2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role: To accept and to learn a socially approved adult masculine or feminine social role. 3. Accepting one's physique and using one’s body effectively: To become proud, or at least tolerant, of one's body; to use and protect one's body effectively and with personal satisfaction. 4. Achieving emotional independence from parents and other adults: To become free from childish dependence on parents; to develop affection for parents without dependence upon them. 5. Achieving assurance of economic independence: To feel able to make a living, if necessary. This is primarily a task for boys, in our society, but it is of increasing importance to girls. 6. Selecting and preparing for an occupation: To choose an occupation for which one has the necessary ability; to prepare for this occupation. 7. Preparing for marriage and family life: To develop a positive attitude toward family life and having children; and (mainly for girls) to get the knowledge necessary for home management and child rearing. 8. Developing intellectual skills and concepts necessary for civic competence: To develop concepts of law, government, economics, politics, geography, human nature, and social institutions which fit the modern world; to develop language skills and reasoning ability necessary for dealing effectively with the problems of a modern democracy. Individual differences in mental development show themselves principally as differences in: (a) acquiring language and meanings, (2) acquiring concepts, (3) interests and motivation. 9. Desiring, accepting and achieving socially responsible behavior: To participate as a responsible adult in the life of the community, region, and nation; to take account of the values of society in one's personal behavior. 10. Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide behavior - developing an ideology: To form a set of values that are possible of realization; to develop a conscious purpose of realizing these values; to define man's place in the physical world and in relation to other human beings; to keep one's world picture and one's values in harmony with each other.

CONCLUSION The developmental tasks concept has a long and rich tradition. Its acceptance has been partly due to recognition of sensitive periods in our lives and partly due to the practical nature of Havighurst's tasks. Knowing that a youngster of a certain age is encountering one of the tasks of that period (learning an appropriate sex role) helps adults to understand a child's behavior and establish an environment that helps the child to master the tasks. Another good example is that of acquiring personal independence, an important task for the middle childhood period. Youngsters test authority during this phase and, if teachers and parents realize that this is a normal, even necessary phase of development, they react differently than if they see it as a personal challenge.

Arul Lawrence (talk)‎

NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGY

Meaning The word psychology was used for the first time in 1590 by Rudolf Geockle. It is made up of two Greek words: “Psyche” which means ‘soul’ and “logos” which means ‘study’ or ‘science’. Therefore, literally psychology means “science of soul”. 1. Science of Soul: In the beginning psychology continued to be studied as the science of soul. But such an inscrutable and imperceptible object as the soul has not been discovered or identified yet. Scientists have failed to locate and identify the entity of soul. Therefore this definition of psychology as the science of soul was not accepted. 2. Science of Mind: Later Psychology was considered as the “science of the mind”. This definition too gave rise to such questions as: Can the mind be studied scientifically? How can the functioning of the brain be rendered concrete? Can it be studied in the laboratory? Secondly, it is not clear what is mind. It can be interpreted in various ways. So, this definition of psychology also was abandoned as it was unacceptable. 3. Science of Consciousness: Man is a conscious being and because of this consciousness he reacts to the environment. Therefore, Psychology was considered ‘a science of consciousness. Psychologists have established that consciousness does not have any impact upon behaviour and psychology studies not merely the consciousness but also the sub-conscious and the unconscious. Therefore, this definition of psychology also was not acceptable. 4. Science of behaviour: At the beginning of 20th century as a result of many new hypotheses psychology was called ‘the science of behaviour’. Broadly, anything that an organism does, including overt physical action, internal physiological and emotional processes and implicit activity is called behaviour. In fact action, reaction and interaction is called behaviour. It includes all the activities of an organism which can be observed by another person or by means of an experimenter’s instruments. Thus, as Woodworth ironically puts it – “First psychology lost its soul, then it lost its mind, then it lost its consciousness, it still has behaviour of sort.”

Definition o Psychology is the science of human behaviour - W. B. Kolesnik o Psychology is the study of adjustments of organism, especially the human organism to changing environment - C.V. Good. o Psychology is the scientific study of the activities of the individual in relation to his environment - Woods Worth. o Psychology is the study of human behaviour and human relationships -Crow and Crow. o Psychology gives scientific analysis of the working of human mind –Russell. o Psychology as a discipline falls in the category of pure sciences: 1. It is empirical; experimental. 2. It is a systematic study. 3. It uses measurements and tools of measurement. 4. It arrives at generalizations, principles, laws and theories. 5. It has definitions of terms. o Psychology is an art. The application of knowledge to practical problems is an art.

METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is considered as a science. Scientific methods are now used in Educational Psychology. The most important methods are following:

1. Introspection: In the ancient times, introspection was used for studying educational psychology. Introspection means ‘looking inside oneself’. According to Titchener “seeing inside oneself is introspection”. In this method, we attempt to see our own mental processes. We use this method often in our daily life. Merits: o In this method, the psychologist does not need any laboratory. o The second advantage is that no economic means is required for it. o The mental processes cannot be studied by any other method; their study is possible by only this method. o We can use this method anywhere; it doesn’t require any special arrangements. Demerits: o Some psychologist stated that introspection is an impossible mental activity. o In this method, the observer and observed material are one and the same. o Introspection is an unnatural mental process. 2. Observation: The second important method of educational psychology is observation. In introspection man studies his own mental process, in observation he studies the behaviour of another person to find out his mental condition. Careful study of a manner, activity or behaviour using ones sense organs is called observation. It can be used to study several mental activities and these studies are quite standardized too. Observation has important role in educational psychology. Observation helps much in studying the external behaviour of a person or group. Merits: o It is a simple method; it does not have the complexity of other method. o It is an authentic (reliable) method of receiving knowledge. o It is the most helpful in studying the behaviors of children, animals and abnormal people. o It can be used to study several people together. o This method is extremely reliable and the conclusions derived from this method are more real than other method. Demerits: o The person or child observed by it becomes conscious of it and he does not allow surfacing his common behaviour and natural form. o It is doubtful, if the behaviors of an abnormal or faulty person are possible or not. o Some times we can not observe the innate character. 3. Interview: It is one of the oldest and most widely used and is also very popular due to its simplicity and flexibility. There are two types of interviews namely, Formal and Informal Interviews. 4. Experimental method: The most reliable and scientific method of educational psychology can be termed as the experimental method. According to Jahoda, “Experiment is a method of testing of imagination”. According to Eysenck, “Experiment is in which variables are increased or decreased as per plan to observe them. The method based on the planned experiments of this kind is called the experimental method”. In this experimental method there are two groups are involved. 1. Control group 2. Experimental group Merits: 1. This is most scientific and objective method. 2. The result will be more accurate. 3. We can conduct in physical sciences which or generally conducted on inorganic or dead subjects. 4. We can prove at anywhere. So that it has more reliability. Demerits: 1. It is a costly and time-consuming method. 2. We cannot perform experiments for all the problems that are raised in the subject matter of psychology. 3. Behaviour under laboratory controlled conditions may be or is different from spontaneous or natural behaviour. So it becomes artificial when produced in laboratory. 5. Differential method: It is based on individual differences. It is also called as normative survey method or the field survey method. The statistical techniques become the major devices for studying individual differences, so that it is also called Statistical method. There are two types of main approaches or designs, which are made into use in differential method. They are, I. Correlation method II. The Longitudinal and Cross-sectional method 6. Clinical method: It is used primarily for diagnosing and treating a problem case and is used extensively in abnormal psychology and educational psychology. The concept of this method is contained in the concept of clinical psychology. It is the art and technology of dealing with the adjustments problem of the individual. Merits: 1. Clinical method is applicable to an individual case. 2. It is an art as well as science and a technology. 7. Case Study: A case study is an In-depth intensive investigation of an individual or a small group of people. Case studies often include psychological testing, a procedure in which a carefully designed set of questions is used to gain some insight into the personality of the individual or group being studied. BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY: The various branches of psychology are, 1. Cognitive Psychology: Cognitive Psychology is a framework in which to understand the mind more than a subject area although it has traditionally focused on certain aspects of psychology. Perception, learning, problem solving, memory, attention, language and emotions are all well researched areas. Cognitive Psychology is based on a school of thought known as cognitive. 2. Clinical and Counseling Psychology: Clinical Psychology is the application of psychology to the understanding, treatment and assessment of psychopathology, behavioral or mental health issues. Clinical psychologists may focus on the clinical management of patients with brain injury. This is known as clinical neuropsychology and typically involves additional training in brain function. 3. Developmental Psychology: It seeks to understand how people come to perceive, understand and act within the world and how these perceptions change as we age. This may focus on intellectual, cognitive, neural, social, or moral development. Developmental psychologist also study other times of rapid change such as adolescence and old age. 4. Educational Psychology: Educational psychology largely seeks to apply much of this knowledge and understand how learning can best take place in educational situations. 5. Health Psychology: Health psychology is concerned with the psychology of a much wider range of health related behaviour including healthy eating, the doctor patient relationship, a patients understanding of health information and beliefs about illness. Health psychologists may be involved in public health campaigns, examine the impact of illness or health policy on quality of life or in research into the psychological impact of health and social care. 6. Industrial and Organization Psychology: Involved with the application of psychology to the world of business, commerce and the function of organizations, industrial and organizational psychology focuses to varying degrees on the psychology of the workforce, customer and consumer. 7. Neuropsychology: Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes. Often neuropsychologists are employed as scientists to advance scientific or medical knowledge. It is the application of neuropsychology for the clinical management of patients with neurocognitive deficits. 8. Social Psychology: Social psychology aims to understand how we make sense of social situations. Social cognition is a common approach and involves a mostly cognitive and scientific approach to understanding social behaviour. Social psychology is also called Group psychology. 9. Experimental Psychology: In this branch of psychology, scientific experiments are carried on in controlled or laboratory situations to study mental processes and behaviour. 10. Environment Psychology: It considers the relationship between people and their physical environment including how our physical environment affects our emotions and the amount of stress we experience in a particular setting. 11. Para psychology: It is one of the recent developments of psychology and concerned with extra sensory perception, telepathy and allied problems. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY Meaning: Educational psychology is combination of two words ‘Education’ and ‘psychology’. It is one of the branches of applied psychology. It consists of the applications of the psychological principles and techniques to human behaviour in educational situations. In general, educational psychology is a study of the experiences and behaviour of the learner in relation to educational environment. Educational Psychology has a very short history. It has developed only recently. Previously, it was simply an application of the principles of General Psychology to Education. It took a definite shape only in 1920. Since then, it is a separate and independent science having its own field of investigation. It is only in its infancy. EDUCATION: Meaning The word ‘education is derived from its Latin root o “educere” which means to lead out, to draw out – the innate capacities in man. o “educare” means to bring up, to raise – from one level to another. o Also “educatum” means the act of teaching/training. o ‘E’ means ‘from inside’ and ‘Duco’ means ‘to bring out’. Definitions o Education is the manifestation of perfection already present in man - Swami Vivekananda o By Education, I mean, an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man – body, mind and spirit - Mahatma Gandhi. o Education is a process by which the child makes the internal external - Froebel. o Education is life; Life is education - John Dewey. o Education is a natural, harmonious, progressive development of man’s innate powers – Pestalozzi. Life is a long continuous process of learning and adjustment, of interaction between the individual and his environment, and education may be defined as the changes brought about in the individual as a result of that interaction. In a very broad sense all life is education and the individual continues to learn throughout his life. Education is to facilitate, to ease and to further this process. Education is growth and development. It is a process in which, and by which, the knowledge, character and behaviour of the young are shaped and moulded.

DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: o Educational psychology is (i) the investigation of psychological problems involved in education, together with the practical application of psychological principles to education (ii) a study of nature of learning - C.V. Good. o Educational Psychology is a systematic study of educational growth - J.M. Stephon. o Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning – Skinner. o Educational psychology describes and explains the learning experiences of an individual from birth through old age -Crow and Crow. NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY o Educational Psychology is an applied form of psychology. The application of the principles of Psychology to education is Educational Psychology. It is the basic science of Psychology used to help to solve the practical problems of education. o Educational Psychology is a practical science, the utility of which is measured by the changes brought about in behaviour through education. o Educational Psychology became a positive science after adopting the principles of psychology. o Educational Psychology is helpful in the achievement of the practical ideals of life. o Educational Psychology is a field of knowledge with which students, teachers and parents must be familiar. o Educational Psychology is a systematic study. o Educational Psychology collects facts and data using the scientific methods especially through observation of phenomenon under natural and under controlled conditions. o Educational psychology is an applied branch of the subject psychology. o Psychology deals with all the behaviour of all individuals. But educational psychology deals only the behaviour of the students. o It gives the technical guidance to the pupil in a satisfactory way. o Educational psychology is not a perfect science. o It employs scientific method and adopts scientific approach to study the behaviour of an individual in educational situation. o Educational psychology mainly focused the following concept, 1. The learner 2. The teacher 3. The learning process 4. The learning experiences and learning Situation

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY IS DIFFERENT FROM GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY: The field of General Psychology is wider. It deals with every kind of human behaviour and with every kind of problem related to life. All forms of life processes, adjustments, activities and experiences of the organism may become the scope of General Psychology. Educational Psychology deals with the behaviour and experiences which are related to education only. It selects from the whole field of General Psychology those facts and principles that are specific to teaching and learning. In other words, General Psychology is basically academically oriented and consists of general principles of behaviour. Educational Psychology is professionally oriented and interested in finding out practical solutions to educational problems. Thus, Educational Psychology is just a specialised branch of General Psychology. SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: Educational psychology is a practical science which takes the aid of psychology in solving educational problems. Its field of study consists of and comprehends any and every situation in which psychology becomes applicable to education. As a discipline it is a collection of the facts and principles of behaviour. It studies human behaviour in the educational environment. In 1945, the Department of Educational Psychology in the American Scientific Council set up a committee to determine the field of Educational Psychology. After numerous surveys and considerable thought the fields of educational psychology were determined as follows: 1. Human Growth and Development: The field of educational psychology comprehends within itself the scientific study of the various stages in human development. It studies the process as well as the stages of this development. It studies: o Heredity and environment. o General growth and development. o Social, mental and emotional development o Motivation o Individual differences on the basis of knowledge. o Intelligence, aptitudes, interests and o Frames programmes for guidance. 2. Learning: In this sphere educational psychology undertakes the study of the many activities involved in a child’s learning, i.e., the principles underlying such learning and various factors which influence learning. o General nature of learning o Factors influencing learning o Motivation and devices in teaching o Skills o Reasoning and problem solving o Attitude o Learning of particular school steps o Transfer of training. 3. Personality and Adjustment: Educational Psychology also makes a study of the personality of students and teachers as well as the problems related to them. An individual’s personality is not the outcome of one factor, cause or tendency but a product of many different traits. Educational Psychology, therefore, comprehends the study of such problems as the formation or development of personality. o Emotions o Mental life of the pupils o Mental health of the teacher. o Exceptional children o Social interaction o Character. 4. Measurement and Evaluation: Educational psychology pays considerable attention to the measurement of the educational achievement, determination of standards, etc. In this context it also makes a study of: o Measurement of intelligence an aptitudes. o Measurement of learning o Measurement of adjustment o Applications on results of measurement o Measurement of changes resulting form evaluation. 5. Techniques and Methods of study: Educational psychology as a discipline is still in its developmental stage. The existing methods of study have been found to be wanting in many situations. Hence, one major sphere of concern for educational psychology is the development of new methods and their establishment as standard techniques; for – o Scientific study of educational problems o Statistical techniques o Implementation of research for the class-room teacher.

     In short, whatever is educational or whatever touches the child in his class-room behaviour comes within the scope of educational psychology.  All the above 5 areas come within the scope of educational psychology.

UTILITY / IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY Educational Psychology has two aspects: (i) Theoretical (ii) Practical. As a discipline it has theoretical as well as practical importance for educators, learners and parents. Educational Psychology helps teachers in accomplishing the following aims which are also its goals and objectives. Firstly, Educational Psychology aims at helping the teacher in widening and enriching his own personal life by the enrichment of his knowledge, by the edification of his thought level, by modification of his attitudes, his goals, his ideals, his standard of values, his conduct and his feelings. It develops a sense of realization in the educator. It helps the teacher to cultivate in him right attitudes towards human development and pupil learning. In this way educational psychology tries to discharge the cultural aim. Secondly, educational psychology aims at helping the teacher in bringing about improvement in the quality of his instructions and in promoting increased improvement in the teaching services at schools. It trains the teacher professionally. It aims at promoting effective learning and teaching and at fostering the growth and development of wholesome personality and thereby changing social order. It enables the educator to understand the human nature better. It helps a teacher to motivate the child effectively and direct him suitably towards learning and growth. It helps the teacher with the information and suitable methods to improve his teaching skills, and ensure desirable growth in the personality of the pupil. This is the professional aim of educational psychology. Educational Psychology has helped the teacher by providing him with a point of view on the educational process, on educational product and on educational situations of the learner. Without the knowledge of these a teacher would have groped in the dark. Educational psychology has endowed the educator with an appreciative mind with which he is able to maintain an atmosphere in the class-room that is conducive to good mental health in pupils. The importance and usefulness of educational psychology can be elaborated in the following areas: 1. Child-centered education: In ancient times the focus of education was the teacher, not the students. Teaching went on regardless of the child’s interest, tendencies and aptitudes. Now the concepts of education and teaching have changed. It is the child who has become the focus and centre of education. Today, syllabi and methods of teaching are developed in accordance with the ability, capacity, interest and aptitude of the learner. 2. Change in the methods of teaching: In the past the main emphasis in the process of teaching was on cramming or learning by rote. Teachers believed that cramming improved and developed the mind. However psychological tests have established that cramming is among the most inappropriate methods of teaching. Today, many new psychologically sound methods of teaching have been evolved which bring about the development of the powers and capacities lying in the child’s personality. These methods enable the child to express and magnify his true capacities. Among such teaching methods are the Dalton plan, the Project method, Kindergarten, Basic education – which bring about the comprehensive development of the learner. It has provided the “non-directive” point of view to the class-room teacher. 3. Curriculum: Before the intrusion of psychology into the educational field, it was generally told that a curriculum should be a difficult one, necessitating a lot of practice on the learner’s part. So, traditionally mathematics was taught by posing the most difficult questions. Methods of teaching have changed under the impact of psychology. Psychology has made a distinct contribution to education through its analysis of pupils’ potentialities and differences as revealed by means of various types of psychological tests. Today in creating a curriculum attention is focused primarily on the child’s interest, aptitude, growth, maturation, etc. It is evident in the scheme of Basic education in India and in Pragmatic education of Dewey in the United States. Curriculum has become child-centered rather than subject-matter-centered. Today the curriculum is for the child and not the child for the curriculum. 4. Time-Table: As a consequence of the influence of educational psychology, when a time-table is being framed in a school, considerable thought is devoted to the order in which teaching of different subjects is arranged. In the past no attention was devoted to children’s attention, rest, exhaustion and other factors. The time table was framed to suit the convenience of teachers, not to confirm to the learners’ ability and capacity. Now in framing time tables efforts are made to take into consideration such factors as climate, the interest and aptitude of children, their individual differences, etc. 5. Co-curricular activities: Because of the development of educational psychology, the curriculum of today incorporates various kinds of co-curricular activities. In the past, it was generally held that whatever a child did apart from studying meant a waste of time but now this foolish conviction has been refuted. Debates, discussion, competition in essay and story writing tours, expeditions, students union activities, games, staging of plays, music and a host of other co-curricular activities have been recognized as important and this has contributed significantly to the comprehensive development of children. 6. Discipline: As soon as psychology entered the domain of education, it immediately refuted the ancient axiom “spare the rod and spoil the child”. Educators have now come to believe that the use of the rod, threats and corporal punishment are the most unsuitable methods of achieving the comprehensive development of students. That is why in the modern age, if a child commits some crime within or without the classroom, the teacher, instead of making repressive use of the stick, tries to discover the causes of the deviant behaviour and then bring about a permanent cure. These methods lay a great emphasis upon maintaining stable and permanent discipline by relying on democratic methods. 7. Healthy Environment: Rabindranath Tagore, describing a school he had seen, mentioned that its walls were shabby and black and, it lacked both a ventilator for air and seats for the children. Today, on the contrary, it is being realized that for the healthy education of healthy children, it is essential to create a healthy environment which can stimulate the children’s desire to learn. In school efforts are made to create an environment favouring the transfer of acquired knowledge to the sphere of practical life. It should also be conducive to the mental and physical health of children. 8. Research: As educational psychology is a new science, there is ample scope for research in it and in fact, many research projects have already been conducted and are being conducted at present. The result obtained from them can be translated into practical technique by the teachers in order to increase his professional skill. These new researches increase the teacher’s loyalty and dedication to his profession and acquaint him with latest techniques of teaching. Through these, he can bring about the comprehensive development of his students. 9. Formation of opinion on educational problems: Educational psychology provides us with occasions to reflect upon, analyse, find solution and also form opinions on a variety of educational problems which have given rise to many a social evil. The basis or foundation of such problems as juvenile delinquency, backwardness, problem children, indiscipline and student unrest in the school and it is the duty of teachers that these problems must be solved. 10. Measurement and evaluation: Another sphere in which educational psychology has made valuable contributions is that of use and development of measurement and evaluation. Efforts are made to ensure that a child’s educational achievement and his capacities are measured accurately and an accurate assessment of his progress is made possible. The new methods of measurement have helped in removing wastages and stagnation form the field of education. Today, the child’s interest, ability, aptitude and innate capacity are first measured and he is then given a particular direction in which he can progress, making the best use of his innate capacities and talents. This helps the child to find the most suitable direction in life, besides, he can achieve the maximum possible development of his abilities and capacities. 11. Emphasis upon individual differences: In psychology, the basic unit is the individual. It does not regard similar behaviour in two individuals as the outcome of an action-reaction pattern. In a single class, while some students easily and quickly grasp something taught by one teacher, other students fail to comprehend what he says. It is obvious then, that, since students have their individual differences, they require individual teaching. It is for this reason that psychology insists upon education being imparted separately to mentally retarded, gifted, handicapped and problem children. 12. An aid in achieving educational objectives: On the whole, educational psychology concentrates upon the behaviour of the educator and the learner and thus proves an invaluable aid in achieving the goals of education. According to Skinner educational psychology provides knowledge to the educator on the basis of which the educator achieves his educational objectives.

Educational psychology is useful in: 1. Educational administration 2. in the curriculum 3. in the teacher training. It helps to answer question: (i) How of the learning process (ii) Why of the learning process (iii) What of the learning process (iv) When of the learning process. The impact of educational psychology on the teacher and the teaching process has been varied and deep. Without its help education will be non-psychological and lack romantic and human background. In sum educational psychology has given a new direction to education. In fact, it has given rise to a revolution. IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY TO TEACHERS: 1. To know the learner: Educational psychology helps the teacher for understanding the child in the following different ways: • Students interest, attitudes, aptitudes • the stages of development • adjustment problems • creativity and motivation pattern • level of aspiration • his conflicts and mental health

2. To select and organize the subject matter or learning experiences: The teacher should know the characteristic of the learner at each stage of his development, the nature and laws of learning. 3. To suggest art and techniques of learning as well as teaching: Educational psychology explains the process of learning and suggests the means for effective and permanent learning. It also suggests that not a single method or technique is suitable for all kinds of learners in all circumstances. A teacher should select a proper device or method according to the learning situations. 4. To arrange learning situations or environment: The educational psychology helps the teacher for taking care of the desirable learning situations or environment. 5. To explain him with the mechanism of heredity and environment: The growth and development of the students is very essential for the teacher. So that, the teacher can teaches according to their mental ability. 6. Helping in maintaining discipline: It helps the teacher to have a creative type of discipline as it acquaints him with the nature of the child, his strength and weakness. 7. Giving Guidance and Counseling: Educational psychology helps the teacher to give guidance and counseling to the students. The guidance may be educational, personal and vocational. With the help of the educational psychology, the teacher can show the right direction to his pupils for their total development. 8. Helping in Evaluation and Assessment: In educational psychology, as applied behavioural science, evaluation, measurement and appraisal find its place which makes the teacher well-equipped in the task of evaluation with proper professional skill. 9. Solving Class-room problems: The study of the characteristic of the problem children, the dynamics of the group, behavioural characteristics and adjustment etc. equip the teacher to solve the actual class-room problems. 10. Knowing about himself: It helps the teacher to know about himself. His own behaviour pattern, personality characteristics, likes and dislikes, motivation, anxiety, conflicts, adjustment etc. the teacher also learns the psychology of being and characteristics of effective teaching.

Arul Lawrence (talk)‎

PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Introduction Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was one of the 20th century’s most influential researchers in the area of developmental psychology. He was a child prodigy who published his first article at the age of 11. He originally trained in the areas of biology and philosophy and considered himself a “genetic epistemologist.” He was mainly interested in the biological influences on “how we come to know”. And believed that what distinguishes human beings from other animals is our ability to do “abstract symbolic reasoning.” While working in Binet’s test lab in Paris, Piaget became interested in how children think. He noticed that young children's answers were qualitatively than older children. This suggested to him that the younger children were not less knowledgeable but, instead, answered the questions differently than their older peers because they thought differently. This implies that human development is qualitative (changes in kind) rather than quantitative (changes in amount).

What is Cognition? o How people think and understand. o The act or process of knowing in the broadest sense; specifically, an intellectual process by which knowledge is gained from perception or ideas-Webster's Dictionary.

What is Cognitive Development? o The acquisition of the ability to think, reason, and problem solve. o It is the process by which people's thinking changes across the life span. o Piaget studied cognitive development by observing children in particular, to examine how their thought processes change with age. o He pioneered a way of thinking about how children grow psychologically. o It is the growing apprehension and adaptation to the physical and social environment.

Cognitive Structure

Process of Cognitive Development As a biologist, Piaget was interested in how an organism adapts to its environment (Piaget described this ability as intelligence.) o Schema: To know an object one must act upon it either physically or mentally. The representation in the mind of a set of perceptions, ideas, and/or actions, which go together. o Organization: The way cognitive acts are grouped and arranged to form sequences, mental “folders” or schemata. o Assimilation: The process of using or transforming the environment so that it can be placed in preexisting cognitive structures. For Example: an infant uses a sucking schema that was developed by sucking on a small bottle when attempting to suck on a larger bottle. o Accommodation: The process of changing cognitive structures in order to accept something from the environment. For Example: the infant modifies a sucking schema developed by sucking on a pacifier to one that would be successful for sucking on a bottle. o Equilibration: This adaptation is driven by a biological drive to obtain balance between schemes and the environment.

STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Stage One: Sensory motor Stage (birth to 2 years - Infancy) o It is centered on the infant trying to make sense of the world. o An infant’s knowledge of the world is limited to their sensory perceptions and motor activities. Sub-stages of the Sensory motor Stage: It can be divided into six separate sub-stages. o Reflexes (0-1 month): the child understands the environment purely through inborn reflexes such as sucking, grasping and looking. o Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months): It involves coordinating sensation and new schemas. For example: A child may such his or her thumb by accident and then later intentionally repeat the action. These actions are repeated because the infant finds them pleasurable. o Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months): The child becomes more focused on the world and begins to intentionally repeat an action in order to trigger a response in the environment. For example: A child will purposefully pick up a toy in order to put it in his or her mouth. o Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months): The child starts to show clearly intentional actions. The child may also combine schemas in order to achieve a desired effect. For example: A child might realize that a rattle will make a sound when shaken. o Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months): Children begin a period of trial-and-error experimentation. For example: A child may try out different sounds or actions as a way of getting attention from a caregiver. o Early Representational Thought (18-24 months): Children begin to develop symbols to represent events or objects in the world. The child is clearly developing mental representation, that is, the ability to hold an image in their mind for a period beyond the immediate experience.

Stage Two: Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years - Toddler and Early Childhood) o The child is capable of more complex mental representations (i.e. words and images). o Now that the child has mental representations and is able to pretend, it is a short step to the use of symbols. o A drawing, a written word, or a spoken word comes to be understood as representing a real dog. The use of language is, of course, the prime example, but another good example of symbol use is creative play, wherein checkers are cookies, papers are dishes, a box is the table, and so on. o Cannot yet use logic or other organized thinking processes. o The child has very narrow thinking. o Does not understand Conservation - that objects can have the same basic properties even if it appears differently. o Find difficulty with Reversibility-realizing that an action can be reversed by other actions. o Ability to solve conservation problems depends on an understanding of three basic aspects of reasoning: identity, compensation, and reversibility. o With mastery of 1. Identity: The student realizes that material remains the same if nothing is added to or subtracted from the material. 2. Compensation: The student realizes that changes in one dimension can be offset by changes in another. 3. Reversibility: The student realizes that a change may be canceled out by mentally reversing the steps and returning to the origin. 4. Centrism: Focuses completely on one point, and so cannot see the bigger picture. 5. Egocentrism: Thinks that everyone sees things from his/her point of view. E.g.:” If I can’t see you, you can’t see me!” 6. Animism: Treating inanimate objects as living ones. E.g.: Children bathing, dressing and feeding their dolls as if they are alive.

Stage Three: Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 12 years - Childhood and Early Adolescence) o The word operations refer to logical operations or principles we use when solving problems. In this stage, the child not only uses symbols representationally, but can manipulate those symbols logically. o The child learns classification and seriation (putting things in order) in this stage. o Able to form a mental representation of a series of acts. o Transversibility is known i.e., If A=2B and A=2C, then can understand B=C. o Can play any game according to rule. o Develops abstract thinking, problem-solving ability good at the use inductive logic, but not the deductive method. o Continue to show narrow thinking when abstract reasoning is required, cannot think “outside of the box!”. o Masters various conservation and reversibility concepts and begins to perform logical manipulations. o The children develop the ability to conserve number, length, and liquid volume. Conservation refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance. For examples: 1. We show a child four marbles in a row, then spread them out, the preoperational child will focus on the spread, and tend to believe that there are now more marbles than before. o 2. We have two five inch sticks laid parallel to each other, then move one of them a little, she may believe that the moved stick is now longer than the other.

Stage Four: Formal Operational Stage (from 11 to 12 years and up - Adolescence and Adulthood) o The most complete stage of development. o Thought becomes increasingly flexible and abstract, i.e., can carry out systematic experiments. o The ability to systematically solve a problem in a logical and methodical way. o Understand that nothing is absolute; everything is relative. o Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning develop inductive as well as deductive logic. o Understand that the rules of any games or social system are developed by man by mutual agreement and hence could be changed or modified. o The child’s way of thinking is at its most advanced, although the knowledge it has to work with will change.

Educational Implications o Emphasis on discovery approach in learning. o Curriculum should provide specific educational experience based on children’s developmental level. o Arrange class room activities so that they assist and encourage self-learning. o Do not treat children as miniature adults; they think and learn differently from adults. o Practical learning situations. o Simple to Complex and Project method of teaching. o Co-curricular activities have equal importance as that of curricular experiences in the cognitive development of children. o Major goals of education are equal to the creative and critical thinking. An important implication of Piaget's theory is adaptation of instruction to the learner's developmental level. The content of instruction needs to be consistent with the developmental level of the learner. The teacher's role is to facilitate learning by providing a variety of experiences. "Discovery learning" provides opportunities for learners to explore and experiment, thereby encouraging new understandings. Opportunities that allow students of differing cognitive levels to work together often encourage less mature students to advance to a more mature understanding. One further implication for instruction is the use of concrete "hands on" experiences to help children learn. Additional suggestions include: • Provide concrete props and visual aids, such as models and/or time line • Use familiar examples to facilitate learning more complex ideas, such as story problems in math. • Allow opportunities to classify and group information with increasing complexity; use outlines and hierarchies to facilitate assimilating new information with previous knowledge. • Present problems that require logical analytic thinking; the use of tools such as "brain teasers" is encouraged. Huitt and Hummel (1998) assert that "only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally during adulthood". This is significant in terms of developing instruction and performance support tools for students who are chronologically adults, but may be limited in their understanding of abstract concepts. For both adolescent and adult learners, it is important to use these instructional strategies • Use visual aids and models. • Provide opportunities to discuss social, political, and cultural issues. • Teach broad concepts rather than facts, and to situate these in a context meaningful and relevant to the learner.

Arullawrence (talk)‎

Thread title	Replies	Last modified
HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT	0	15:12, 10 December 2017
NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY	0	15:10, 10 December 2017
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT	0	15:20, 25 October 2013

User talk:Arullawrence

Contents

HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Navigation menu

Personal tools

Namespaces

Variants

Views

Actions

Search

Navigation

Community

Print/export

Tools