MPC-002 Solved Question Paper of December 2021 Term End Exam held in March 2022

Q1. Explain information processing approach to cognitive development.

Answer:

The Information Processing Model is another way of examining and understanding how children develop cognitively. This model, developed in the 1960’s and 1970’s, conceptualizes children’s mental processes through the metaphor of a computer processing, encoding, storing and decoding data.

By ages 2 to 5 years, most children have developed the skills to focus attention for extended periods, recognize previously encountered information, recall old information and reconstruct it in the present.

Part of long-term memory involves storing information about the sequence of events during familiar situations as “scripts”. Scripts help children understand, interpret and predict what will happen

in future scenarios. During the age group of 6-11 years, they are far more better at handling information, encoding it and storing it for the time when they can retrieve it. They are also very good at making strategies which can help them decode and utilize the information at the time of need.

Information processing theorists suggest that concrete logic is a result of perception, memory and problem solving:

Attention: Attention is attending to relevant information and ignoring irrelevant information. During school years attention improves but it is far better after the age of 11 or 12. Children show marked use of attention when they insist on telling one story more than the other and choosing one dress in comparison to other.

Perception: Concrete operational children are not very good at reversibility tasks. They are also not very much able to differentiate between figure and ground. It improves remarkably after the age of 11 or 12.

Information processing is the modification of information that is visible by others. It is any change in information. The information processing is a process in which information from outer world comes in the sensory register, then it is stored in some way, either it can be stored for a short period of time or for longer span, then it is retrieved in time of need. Sometime we see, hear, or feel many things but we are not aware of them. We become aware of them when we attend to them voluntary. When we attend to something voluntarily, they are stored in working memory.

Q2. Discuss the psychosocial changes during early adulthood.

Answer:

Early adulthood is the period which covers the age group from 20 to 40 years of age. The early adulthood is full of energy and enthusiasm. The main focus is towards work, romance, family, ailing parents, etc. Early adulthood is full of vitality. This stage comes next to adolescence where the thinking was very rigid and dualistic i.e. absolute. Early adults are more responsible and have the ability to understand abstract concepts. In early adulthood, one achieves a sense of independence. Initially, they are very busy in settling down and taking social roles but later during 30s they feel that their responsibilities are decreasing slowly.

Eric Erikson’s Theory

A very important theory, Theory of Psychosocial development by Erik Erikson is a landmark into understanding psychosocial development during lifespan of an individual. Erikson describes eight stages of psychosocial crisis that people experience during different phases of their life.

Since we are discussing early adulthood here, the relevant stage given by Erikson is as follows:

Intimacy versus Isolation: According to Erikson, intimacy requires an individual to involve others or a particular person on the cost of one’s independence. While most of the people remain successful in finding partners and doing adjustments in their privacy, some may remain isolated. These are the individuals who find their life to be very precious. They do not want to change themselves for others for many reasons. Therefore, those who are able to find intimate life partner are adjusted but those who are not able to find partner in the marriageable age, feel crisis of isolation.

If the person is able to find an intimate partner, he goes on to indulge in generativity. Those people who are not able to get intimate with anyone are still not able to be involved in generativity and they feel the crisis of stagnation. This crisis is felt in the 30s to 40s. stagnation is felt by those who have been productive but they have not been able to come out of their responsibilities and moving ahead in their career. Especially females feel this crisis when they are not able to rejoin their profession due to responsibilities related to children.

Levinson’s Seasons of Life Theory

Daniel Levinson’s theory of seasons of a man’s life has a central feature that of a life structure. According to Levinson, a person’s life is shaped mainly by social and physical environment. He states that “A person’s life primarily involves family and work. There are two important concept in his theory”.

(a) Stable Period: A time when a person makes important decision of his lifetime.

(b) Transition Period: Transition period is considered to be end of an ongoing stage and beginning of a new one.

There are six stages in Levinson’s seasons of love theory. They are as follows:

1. Early Adult Transition
2. Entering the Adult World
3. Age 30 Transition
4. Settling Down
5. Mid Life Transition
6. Entering Middle Adulthood.

Attachment Patterns and Romantic Relationships

The attachment patterns in the early adulthood govern the patterns of attachment in later adulthood too. They also govern what the parenting style of an individual would be. Various types of attachments are discussed below:

1. Secure Attachment: People who have secure attachment are considered to be those who are trusting, affectionate and open to others. These people turn to the partner for solution of problems and for important decisions. They have a good sexual life as well.

2. Avoidant Attachment: People who are very much demanding, distrusting and very private are considered to be in avoidant attachment. These people always have doubts, asks many questions and find little or no joy in most of the things.

3. Resistant Attachment: Includes people who are unpredictable or unfair. These people experiences a lot of ups and downs on different moments. They have low interaction patterns, low empathy and low positive attitude.

Q3. Give a comparative account of Piaget and Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.

Answer:

Piaget’s Ideas about Moral Development

Piaget studied many aspects of moral judgment, what he was able to coin about moral development in middle childhood was a two-stage theory. Piaget stated that children younger than 10 or 11 years think about moral dilemmas in just one way and the older children consider them differently. In general, younger children regard rules as fixed and absolute. They believe that rules are made by adults or by God and that one cannot change them. This morality of younger children, he called as Heteronomous morality or moral realism.

The older child’s view is more relativistic. He/ she understands under some circumstances, rules can be changed. Rules are not sacred and absolute but are facts which humans use to get along cooperatively.

Piaget states, that around age 10 or 11 years, children’s moral thinking undergoes other shifts. In particular, younger children base their moral judgments more on consequences, whereas older children base their judgments on intentions. This

morality, Piaget gave the name of autonomous morality or morality of cooperation. In few classic examples situations, he tried to evaluate their actions. When, for example, the young child hears about one boy who broke 15 cups trying to help his mother and another boy who broke only one cup trying to steal cookies, the young child thinks that the first boy did worse. This is because the child can only thing in terms of loss not intent.

There are many other aspects of Piaget’s work on moral judgement but what he claims is that between the ages 10 and 12, the child goes through a series of changes and he enters the general stage of formal operations.

Intellectual development, however, does not stop at this point. This is just the beginning of formal operations which has a long way to go at least until age 16. Accordingly, one might expect these children to keep talking to themselves and judge various situations throughout adolescence.

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg was very much agreeable of Piaget’s work on moral development but he wanted to extend his work further. Therefore with the help of many stories (which Piaget also used), questions and interview, he did further research work in the field of moral development.

The basic interview consists of a series of dilemmas such as the following:

Heinz Steals the Drug (Title of the Story)
“In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug-for his wife. Should the husband have done that?” (Kohlberg, 1963, p. 19)

Kohlberg asked a series of questions such as:

1.Should Heinz have stolen the drug?

2.Would it change anything if Heinz did not love his wife?

3.What if the person dying was a stranger, would it make any difference?

4.Should the police arrest the chemist for murder if the woman died?

Kohlberg used the series of above-mentioned questions to elicit the responses from the children about what they think should be the answer. He was not much interested in what the child replied say “yes” or “no” but he was much interested in the reasoning the child gave for what made him reply in that manner.

Kohlberg gave six stages of moral judgment which are accepted widely:

Level I: Preconventional/Premoral

Moral values reside in external events, or in bad acts. The child is responsive to rules and evaluative labels. He/she views them in terms of pleasant or unpleasant consequences of actions, or in terms of the power of authority who impose the rules.

Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation

• Children obey rules to avoid punishment.
• Objective responsibility.

Stage 2: Reward Orientation

• Children conform to obtain rewards.
• Children behave to have favours returned.

Level II: Conventional Morality/Role Conformity

Moral values reflect in performing the right role, in maintaining the conventional order and expectancies of others as a value in its own right.

Stage 3: Good-boy/Good-girl Orientation

• Orientation to approval, to pleasing and helping others.
• Conformity to stereotypical images of majority or natural role behaviour.
• Conforms to avoid disapproval of others.

Stage 4: Authority Orientation

• Orientation to “doing duty” and to showing respect for authority and maintaining the given social order.
• Regard for earned expectations of others.
• Differentiates actions out of a sense of obligation to rules from actions for generally “nice” or natural motives.

Level III: Postconventional/Self-Accepted Moral Principles

Morality is defined in terms of conformity to shared standards, rights, or duties apart from supporting authority. There is internal and action-decisions that are based on an inner process of thought and judgement concerning right and wrong.

Stage 5: Social Contract/Legalistic Orientation

• Actions guided by principles commonly agreed on as essential to the public welfare.
• Principles upheld to retain respects of peers and thus self-respect.

Stage 6: Ethical Principle Orientation

• Orientation not only towards existing social rules but also toward the conscience as a directing agent, mutual trust and respect, and principles of moral choice involving logical universalities and consistency.
• Action is controlled by self-chosen ethical principles that exert a pressure to act accordingly regardless of the reactions of others in the immediate environment.
• If one acts otherwise, self-condemnation and guilt result.

Moral Judgements and Moral Behaviour

During middle childhood, the children may be able to pick out moral of a particular story but they may not be able to implement it in their lives always. The application of morality comes gradually with practice and maturity. According to a classic study of 10,000 children, Hugh Hartshorn and Mark May found that students who support rigid moral standards do not necessarily behave in ethical and desirable ways.

Q4. Discuss the challenges and issues in ageing process.

Answer:

AGEING ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN EARLY ADULTHOOD

Early adulthood is the period of life from 20 to 40 years of age. It is considered to be the most responsible age. It is the time when the young adults are more productive than any other time period. The focus is more towards career, work, love, marriage and children. According to Erikson, there are crisis of intimacy versus isolation in the early 20s and generativity versus stagnation during 30s. Following issues and challenges can be felt in early adulthood:

Maturity: Children in their adolescence start learning new ways of thinking. They understand that there are some expectations out of them. They have to take important decisions of their lives like career and have to choose their partners in early 20s. They also have to balance their work life with child birth. They achieve a sense of maturity. With the birth of their child, they understand their parent’s perpective. They understand how they have behaved with their parents in all this years. Their parents also get surprised due to change in their way of thinking and dealing with others.

Multiple Selves: Early adults experience multiple selves in their personality. They experience that they have to be in different shoes at different times. Earlier where they were complaining all the time and throwing tantrums on every next person, they learn to compromise and be patient. They take on the world in their own stride. They understand that all these responsibilities are extended by themselves and they enjoy it. Sometimes, they also complain when they find resources less than demands. They develop intimacy with friends and life partner. This intimacy gives them a sense of completeness. They learn to rear children and develop a healthy bond with them and their own family. They also have to be a caregiver for their grandparents. The young adults can be often seen in multiple selves.

Peer Group and Friendships: As the early adults age, they feel new needs and stresses. They also feel that the peer group better understands their problem because they are also in same situations. Intimate bonding with friends develop in early adulthood. There is also factor of independence. They are responsible for engaging themselves in different appointments and also manage other things. They develop new identities and self-concept when they interact with peers. When they have problems in their life and discuss this with their friends. They get new solutions which they were not capable of reaching at. They feel glad and this gladness gives strength to the friendships.

AGEING ISSUES IN CHALLENGES IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

Middle adulthood is considered between the age group of 40 to 60 years. It is the period after the early adulthood and before the onset of old age. They experience mid life crisis. They are bound to get affected due to ageing in following ways:

Physical Appearance: There is marked change in physical appearance in middle adulthood. They lose the charm of the skin as it used to be in their early 20s. Their skin begin to sag. They develop wrinkles across the face and arms.

Health: There may be many health concerns in middle adulthood. These may be different for men and women. Men are more prone to heart disease, lung and kidney disease. Women are more prone to arthritis, osteoarthritis, breast and lung cancer. Both men and women have risk factor for diabetes but females have more chances of getting diabetes. The actual challenges of ageing depends on the health habits and lifestyle which the people follow. These challenges can be dealth with by maintaining healthy lifestyle and regular health check-ups. So that if there is onset of any disease, the cure can be started there and then.

Strength and Coordination: Due to ageing strength is compromised due to accumulation of fat. There is decrease in the flexibility due to joint stiffness. Reaction time is also increased due to delayed reflexes.

Sexuality: Women experience menopause during their 40s though some may feel earlier also. There are associated changes like loss of reproductive ability. There are changes in libido in men due to lack of production of testosterone.

Relationships: Middle adults who were able to marry spend their time with their spouse. They have developed understanding of each other’s needs and give support to each other. Those who were not able to get their life partner due to some reasons try out cohabitation with some friend or lover as a trial for marriage. Relationship at this age is very much important because due to physical decline, support from the loved one means a lot and helps in living life with pleasure.

Divorce: Many couples experience divorce in middle adulthood. They may feel that they are free from the responsibility of their children. They can depart as the young ones are settled. Again, there are issues of getting the hold of children from both sides. This involves lot of psychological trauma.

Friends: During middle age, friends tend to provide support but due to lot of responsibility in hand, the middle adults may not be able to get in touch with friends. They want to socialize but time is the constraint.

Children: In middle adulthood, there are also clashes between parents and their adolescents. This gives a hard time to parents. They get very agitated and seek social support to handle the issue.

Parents: Middle adults are also supposed to be caregiver to their ageing parents. They have to deal with their ailments, take some time out and take them to doctor. Middle adults are running short of time. They have to adjust everything out in limited time and they may feel crisis.

AGEING ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN LATE ADULTHOOD

Ageing is at different rate for all the individual. In the childhood when it is most of the time predictable that a child will behave in such a way or at a specific age, he/she will achieve a milestone but in old age, this prediction becomes difficult as these older adults have spent decades of their lives and have developed habits that have been so persistent and consistent. Due to these habits and lifestyle, they all are now a unique self. They differ extensively. Still following are some of the challenges that most of the older adults face due to ageing:

Wrinkles: The elasticity of the skin is lost due to the breakage of fiber in the skin. Therefore, the skin looks sagging and wrinkles appear on the face, arms and legs. The old skin is not able to retain fat. That is why all the older adults face is very thin.

Dry Skin: There is less sweating in older people. Therefore their skin looks dry. Due to dry skin, their skin looks more wrinkled.

Age Spots: Older people develop dark spots on the face. This is due to over exposure to sun. Since there age is much, their exposure to sun in their lifetime is also more. Therefore, the dark spots are inevitable though with the use of sunscreen lotions on appropriate time, these signs can be delayed.

Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome: In the old age the metabolism also decline. Therefore they are not able to digest food easily. During perimenopause and menopause, women gain weight on waist, thighs and buttock and men on tummy. The older adults should be given food free from saturated fats. They should not take alcohol much. Obesity can be handled by providing balanced diet and regular exercise schedule.

Arthritis: The incidence of arthritis is in at least half the population of old people. Older people should do regular excercising and should avoid overuse. They should also watch their weight.

Cancer: With ageing, the risk for several cancers increases as well. In women, there is more risk of endometrial cancer. In men, the risk is more for prostate cancer.

Vision and Hearing Loss: In the old age, there is increased risk of eye disease like mascular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma, older adults should get regular check-ups. Hearing loss also take a toll in old age. It is more evident in men. It can lead to depression as one loses quality of life.

Mental Health: Older people are bound to have depression due to isolation and other reasons. This depression should be diagnosed properly as it could be the symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. Proper mental health care should be provided to older people otherwise suicidal tendencies can emerge.

Q5. Explain identity and identity status according to James Marcia.

Answer:

Marcia’s Identity Statuses

James Marcia, a clinical and developmental psychologist, identified four identity statuses as follows:

(a) Foreclosure
(b) Diffusion
(c) Moratorium
(d) Achievement

These identity statuses are ways to resolve the identity crisis and then establish a commitment to this identity. In this context, the term crisis is a period of development where the adolescent experiences alternative identities and then chooses. The term commitment is the decision that the adolescent makes on what he or she is going to do. Commitments include occupation, sex roles, religion or personal standard of sexual behaviour.

Foreclosure: Foreclosure is the status where adolescents have decided on a commitment; however, they have not had an identity crisis. That is, the adolescent has not had any opportunity to experience alternatives. The adolescent accepts what others have chosen for him or her. Usually, this occurs when an authoritative parent passes on their commitment to the adolescent. These same adolescents will identify more closely to the same-sex parent. For example, if a father is a mechanic and owns his own business, then his son will become a mechanic and take over the business.

Diffusion: Diffusion is the status where adolescents have not experienced any identity crisis yet. They have yet to explore meaningful alternatives and they have yet to make any commitments. During this status, adolescents do not show interest in occupational or ideological choices.

Moratorium: Moratorium is a marginal period where the adolescent is on the verge of an identity crisis; however, the adolescent has not made any commitments yet. The term moratorium refers to a period of delay where someone had not yet made a decision. It is during this time that they experience different roles. During this period, adolescents and young adults will court one another, look at different career opportunities, explore philosophies and so on.

Achievement: Achievement is the final status where the individual has gone through a psychological moratorium and have made their decisions for life. These individuals have explored different roles and opportunities and have come to conclusions and made decisions on their own.

In short, James Marcia found that a person’s identity is not “set” and is quite fluid. Before a person’s identity is chosen, individuals go through a process, whether it is forced on them or not, to determine their identity. A person’s identity is made up of commitments made by the individual. These commitments are decisions made throughout one’s life that determines “who” that person will be.

Q6. Discuss the environmental influences during prenatal development.

Answer:

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

1. Mother’s diseases: The mother’s disease affect the child significantly. Diseases such as rubella, cytomegalovirus disease are the most dangerous which can risk healthy fetal growth. There are manifold adverse effects of rubella if the mother suffers with it in the early pregnancy and it crosses the placenta. Other diseases which can prove fatal for the fetus are polio, mumps and influenza. Gestational diabetes may also result in high risk for premature baby. It can also result in respiratory problems at the time of birth for the infant. In incidence of food poisoning or any other substance poisoning, this may result in premature delivery.

2. Age of the Mother: The age of the mother is also to be considered during pregnancy. The mothers who are above the age of 35 bear risks for serious defects like Down Syndrome, etc. There can be issues of hemorrhage and rupture of endometrial wall with regular menstrual cycle due to age of the mother. When the age of the mother is very young, there are risks of improper growth of reproductive system as a result of which there can be premature birth of child and can also result in low birth weight.

3. Abortion: Due to some complications, there may be abortions or miscarriages that a woman has suffered. Miscarriages also make the women’s body weak and there is high risk that more complications can arise in next pregnancies.

4. Nutrition: Nutrition is the first basic necessity during the pregnancy. There can be malnutrition due to improper food taken by the mother during pregnancy. If the mother is not taking milk and other nutrients, the fetus will not get enough nutrients to grow faster. There will be delay in formation of body parts or they can be very weak. Some mothers have nausea due to which they are not able to eat anything. In this condition also, the fetus health suffers. If the mother is weak due to some health condition, the fetus will also be weak. Therefore, the mother should be provided with ample nutrients.

5. Stress faced by mother: If the mother is facing stress during pregnancy, the child’s growth

can get hampered. The fetus also develops traits of stress intolerance slowly. Due to stress there is secretion of hormones such as adrenaline. Hormones can enter placenta and can affect the fetus too. Due to stress, there can be delay in the growth of fetus.

6. Substance abuse and Chemicals: The pregnant ladies are recommended not to consume alcohol. There are chances that fetus can have fetal alcohol syndrome and can become mentally retarded. Other drugs such as antihistamine, insulin, barbiturates, heroin, aspirin, thalidomide, quinine, lead, etc. are the drugs which can complicate the pregnancy and can adversely affect prenatal period. It can result in some body part missing in fetus. Smoking can also lead to premature delivery and low birth weight.

7. Radiation: In many instances, we see that during pregnancy it is prescribed to get ultrasound if there are any complications. Once or twice getting radiation does not affect much but getting larger doses of radiation can cause damage to fetus. Sometimes damage is also associated to eclipses during pregnancy due to radiation.

8. The Rh Incompatibility: During pregnancy, blood from the baby can cross into mother’s bloodstream, especially during delivery. If the mother is Rh-negative and the baby is Rh-positive, the mother’s body will react to the baby’s blood as a foreign substance. Mother’s body will create antibodies (proteins) against the baby’s Rh-positive blood. These antibodies usually don’t cause problems during a first pregnancy. This is because the baby often is born before many of the antibodies develop. However, the antibodies stay in the mother’s body once they have formed. Thus, Rh incompatibility is more likely to cause problems in second or later pregnancies (if the baby is Rh-positive). The Rh antibodies can cross the placenta and attack the baby’s red blood cells. This can lead to hemolytic anemia in the baby.

Q7. Discuss the identification and management of ADHD.

Answer:

ATTENTION DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a disorder in which a child is very distractible, impulsive, restless, talking in situations that is not appropriate. Due to these behavioural issues, the child is not able to get along well in the class and home setting and displays improper learning as compared to his peers.

Children with ADHD can be either predominantly hyperactive or predominantly inattentive or combined type. Children with ADHD show following symptoms:

• Children with ADHD are all the time engrossed thinking about their own desires. They cannot wait for their turns.
• They have difficulty in organizing the tasks. They have difficulty in following directions. They are not able to sit on their seats for long periods of time.
• They do not sit patiently in seat, keep moving, standing very often.
• They do not like tasks that require hard work and patience.
• They are easily distractible.
• They talk more than necessary.

Attention deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a disorder in which the child is very distractible and hyperactive that it affects his daily life activities. ADHD can be predominantly attention deficit and predominantly hyperactivity and combined types. The caretaker, teachers, neighbours can get into difficult situations due to these ADHD children. These children affect themselves also as they are not able to concentrate on their studies. They also create problems due to their behaviour at social situations such as malls, roads, restaurants etc. The reason behind ADHD is neurological and needs medical management. Medicines are generally prescribed for management of hyperactivity. Programs needed for management of ADHD children in schools and families:

Medical Management: There is a team of teacher, parents psychiatrist, and counsellor who work together. The role of teacher and parents is in providing the information about the child. The counsellor try to counsel the child and the parents. The psychiatrist judge whether there is need of medication for management of hyperactivity or it can be managed with counselling.

Individualized Education Plan: Children with ADHD require individualized education plan because they need customized instruction. Depending on the needs of the particular child, there should be development of the instructional plan.

Teaching Memory Skills: The teachers should be trained enough in teaching memory tricks, heuristics so that these children acquire skills and feel interested in learning.

Teaching Social Skills: Counsellor come in contact with ADHD children and teach them the right way to behave in social situation. They show them presentation of such situations from time to time. They are trained in behaving in socially acceptable manner and slowly they learn to behave in that manner. They are reinforced when they behave nicely.

Q8. Discuss the characteristic features of concrete operational stage of cognitive development.

Answer:

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development:

Concrete Operation

Piaget referred to the cognitive development occurring between ages 7 and 11 as the concrete operations stage. Piaget used the term operations to refer to reversible abilities that the child has not yet developed. By reversible, Piaget referred to mental or physical actions that can occur in more than one way, or in differing directions. While in the concrete operations stage, older children are yet not able to think both logically and abstractly. School-age children are limited to thinking concretely—definite, exact, and physical terms— based on real and concrete experiences rather than on abstractions.

Older children do not use magical thinking and are not as easily misled as younger children. Unlike pre-schoolers, school-age children know better than to ask their parents to take them flying in the air just like the birds do.

Piaget noted that children’s thinking processes change significantly during the concrete operations stage. School-age children can engage in classification, or the ability to group according to features, and serial ordering, or the ability to group according to logical progression. These children between 6-11 years of age are able to understand cause and effect relationships and become adept at mathematics and science. Regarding the concept of stable identity—that one’s self remains consistent even when circumstances change—is another concept grasped by older children.

Decentration

Decentration is the ability of the children to take into account several aspects and opinions of others into account. They do not just think in terms of their own opinions. They understand that different people have different point of views of their own. They have several hierarchies of the world in their minds, and they understand that a given thing can fall in more than one dimension at the same time.

Conservation Tasks

In Piaget’s view, children at the beginning of the concrete operations stage demonstrate conservation or the ability to see how physical properties remain constant as appearance and form change. Unlike pre-schoolers, schoolage children understand that the same amount of clay molded into different shapes remains the same amount. A concrete operational child will tell you that 10 pencils and 10 pens are in number but when you write with pencil it can be erased and it cannot be erased when you write with a pen but they will almost take same space when you keep them in a pencil box. This shows that they can acknowledge various qualities of things.

Piaget gave conservation tasks based on the following concepts to the children:

Number: Which line has more marbles: Preconservative child will say longer line has more and conserving child will say both have same number.

Substance: Do the two pieces have the same amount of clay? Preconserving child will say no. Conserving child will say yes.

Length: Which stick is longer? Preconserving child will say one is longer. Conserving child will say both are the same length.

Area: Do the two pieces of cardboard have the same amount of open space? Preconserving child will say no. Conserving child will say yes.

Weight: Which object weighs more? Preconserving child will say vertical shape weighs more. Conserving child say both weigh the same.

Volume: Do the pieces of clay displace the same amount of water? Perconserving child will say no. Conserving child will say yes.

A New Egocentrism

Piaget believed that pre-operational cognitive abilities are limited by egocentrism—the inability to understand the point of view of others. But egocentrism is not found in children in the concrete operations stage. By the school years, children have usually learned that other people have their own views and beliefs.

Logical Reasoning

School age children are capable of using inductive reasoning. Induction means reasoning from specific observation to general principle. This reasoning helps children in forming empathy. The reasoning is far better during school years but it is still concrete.

Deductive logic still does not appear until the stage of formal operations i.e. after the age of 12.

Q9. Compare the stage theories and contextual theories of human development.

Answer:

Stages Vs Contextual Approach

Stage Approach: Stage approach says that development is a series of age-related changes that occur across the lifespan of an individual and that development is a series of stages. It means that stage approach assumes the following:

1.Each individual has to pass through same stages.

2.Each new stage builds capacities evolved in the previous stage.

3.Development is age-related.

4.Development is discontinuous.

Famous theorists like Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud all favour stage theories and they have developed their own stage theories on different grounds.

Contextual Approach: Contextual approach states that the development of each individual is influenced by context. This is to imply here that development is governed by situations and experiences of an individual’s life. The experiences of all the people are different and therefore their development is also different. Contextual theorists believe that it is the environment that guides the development of an individual. The sum total of these situation all through the lifespan of an individual makes him a fully functional human being.

Famous psychologist like Lev Vygotsky and American psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner. According to Vygotsky, all the mental abilities and processes were reviewed in terms of their historical sequence of events that produced them. While Piaget believed that all development was a result of series of stages, Vygotsky argued that intellectual capacities were the result of the culture in which the child was raised. According to him development consist of gradual internalization primarily through language to form cultural adaptation. Vygotsky also gave the concept of “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD). He stated that what child was able to perform on his own was “level of actual development” and what the same child was able to perform with additional adult help was what he called zone of proximal development.

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Write short notes on the following :

Q10. High-risk behaviour in adolescence.

Answer:

“A lifestyle activity that places a person at increased risk of suffering a particular condition, illness or injury and prevents an individual from future success and development.”

Adolescents have been seen indulging in high-risk behaviour which lead them to bear undesired consequences which they do not consider before.

In late adulthood, adolescents are going through a transition from teenage to adulthood. In this period, Adolescent is experimenting with life. They do not want to listen to parents and other guardians. In late adulthood, peers are like God. They believe whatever peers say. They want to spend more and more time with the peers but they do not understand that peers are still immature. Their ways are not tested. They are also experimenting. When they have to pay for the consequences, till that time it is late. Let us discuss what high risks behaviours can adolescents induge in:

1. Drugs.
2. Alcohol.
3. Smoking.
4. Adventures
5. Ragging/Bullying.
6. Kidnapping.
7. Self injurious behaviour, violence and suicide.
8. Unhealthy dieting.
9. Teen pregnancy.

Remedial and Preventive Measures of High Risk Behaviour

1. Need of Dialouge: In adolescence, children usually have close relationship with their parents but since they are gaining independence, learning self-discipline, they want to take few decisions. In those times, it is the duty of the parents to understand and have dialogue with adolescents and do not just discipline them. If the parents exercise reasonable conversation from time-to-time, the adolescents feel that that they are being heard. They keep their point of view in front of them. It can relax the situation and can help in remedying the high risk behaviour.

2. Clear Communication of Expectations: Adolescents should be communicated with real expectations out of them. They should be guided at regular intervals and should be told about socially acceptable and unacceptable behaviours and their consequences. This process makes the adolescents aware of pros and cons of a particular behaviour.

3. Channelize: Parents should help adolescents to keep focus on important things and ignore what is unnecessary. They should be given some real life examples to make them understand.

4. Convey the responsibility of parenthood: Adolescents should be informed that parents’ role is to make them aware about the harsh reality of world. There may be some times when adolescents would not like their suggestions but they should understand that parents cannot all the times offer favours to be likened by children. They have to follow the path of righteousness.

5. Be Respectful: The parents should remember that in any circumstances, they should respect the children. Because it goes hand in hand. If they want respect, they should give respect.

6. Encouragement for healthy activities: One way to prevent high risk behavior is to indulge the youth in healthy sports and other better things which the youth enjoy. They should purposefully give rewards for such healthy activities.

7. Participation in Decision-Making: The parents should ask the youth about their opinion in home matters which gives them a sense of self-esteem that their opinions matters in the eyes of the parents.

8. Time and Affection: The adolescents need a lot of quality time with the parents and they want unconditional love which can hold them in crisis situation.

If the adolescents receive love and respect at home, they keep themselves tied to the family but if the family is all the time busy and ignorant to the changing needs of youth, they are bound to get attracted to some outward sources which can offer them something. No matter what the consequences are but they get attracted when they feel lonely.

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Q11. Value education.

Answer:

Value education is of prime importance in schools. Let us go through what intellectual people have said about value education:

Gandhiji said that “formation of character should have priority over the alphabet”.

Swami Vivekananda said that “Teaching of religion must be part and parcel of education which, according to him was essential to teach values”.

The introduction of value education should be done at very early stage because children’s minds are very fragile. Any impression made on them when they are very young lasts till lifetime. But unfortunately, over the years, value education has taken a back seat. According to Bertrand Russell, Education should aim at developing ideal character. He states ideal character can be assumed to have many virtues like:

Vitality: Vitality is the state of being healthy. The young children should be taught the manner in which they can maintain proper hygiene and stay healthy from the beginning. Vitality is part of a good character. Where there is vitality, there is pleasure in living.

Courage: Courage is the acting by eliminating fear. Children should be told that they should have courage of expressive their ideas. They should try to learn what is wrong and what is right. They should take guidance from elders in such matters.

Sensitiveness: For a character to be deem appropriate, an individual should be sensitive to others. If an individual is very successful but he is very harsh and rude, his character is not good. Therefore, in value education, it is taught through stories that we should be sensitive to others’ needs and wants.

Intelligence: Intelligence is an aptitude for acquiring and manipulating information. It can be acquired by information and practice. Intelligence can be inculcated by giving direction to the curiosity of children in different ways through thoughtful curriculum and value education.

Q12. Effective teaching strategies for children with intellectual disability (MR).

Answer:

Effective Teaching Strategies

(i) All the children should get same instructional program but mentally retarded children may need some more time and efforts to learn.

(ii) The teacher should take into account the factor of individual differences and she should not harass the children due to disability.

(iii) The teacher can modify the functional tasks such as she can give moderate difficulty section of reading to normal children and easy section of reading to disabled children for doing silent reading.

(iv) The teacher should speak loudly, present material sequentially and should reinforce the children for correct responses.

(v) The teacher should encourage the students and she should evaluate the program from time to time to ensure if there is any need for any changes.