Q.1.Discuss different stages and aspects of cognitive development.

Critically analyze the role of

heredity and environment in this regard?.

Ans..The most well-known and influential theory of cognitive development is that of French psychologist
Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Piaget’s theory, first published in 1952, grew out of decades of extensive
observation of children, including his own, in their natural environments as opposed to the laboratory
experiments of the behaviorists. Although Piaget was interested in how children reacted to their
environment, he proposed a more active role for them than that suggested by learning theory. He
envisioned a child’s knowledge as composed of schemas, basic units of knowledge used to organize past
experiences and serve as a basis for understanding new ones.

Schemas are continually being modified by two complementary processes that Piaget termed
assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation refers to the process of taking in new information by
incorporating it into an existing schema. In other words, people assimilate new experiences by relating
them to things they already know. On the other hand, accommodation is what happens when the
schema itself changes to accommodate new knowledge. According to Piaget, cognitive development
involves an ongoing attempt to achieve a balance between assimilation and accommodation that he
termed equilibration.

At the center of Piaget’s theory is the principle that cognitive development occurs in a series of four
distinct, universal stages, each characterized by increasingly sophisticated and abstract levels of thought.
These stages always occur in the same order, and each builds on what was learned in the previous stage.
They are as follows:

• Sensorimotor stage (infancy): In this period, which has six sub-stages, intelligence is
demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols. Knowledge of the world is
limited, but developing, because it is based on physical interactions and experiences. Children
acquire object permanence at about seven months of age (memory). Physical development
(mobility) allows the child to begin developing new intellectual abilities. Some symbolic
(language) abilities are developed at the end of this stage.
• Pre-operational stage (toddlerhood and early childhood): In this period, which has two sub
stages, intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols, language use matures, and
memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is done in a non-logical, non-reversible
manner. Egocentric thinking predominates.

• Concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence): In this stage, characterized by
seven types of conservation (number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, and volume),
intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to
concrete objects. Operational thinking develops (mental actions that are reversible). Egocentric
thought diminishes.
• Formal operational stage (adolescence and adulthood): In this stage, intelligence is
demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Early in the
 period there is a return to egocentric thought. Only 35 percent of high school graduates in
industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally during
adulthood.

The most significant alternative to the work of Piaget has been the information-processing approach,
which uses the computer as a model to provide new insight into how the human mind receives, stores,
retrieves, and uses information. Researchers using information-processing theory to study cognitive
development in children have focused on areas such as the gradual improvements in children’s ability to
take in information and focus selectively on certain parts of it and their increasing attention spans and
capacity for memory storage. For example, researchers have found that the superior memory skills of
older children are due in part to memorization strategies, such as repeating items in order to memorize
them or dividing them into categories.

Infancy

As soon as they are born, infants begin learning to use their senses to explore the world around them.
Most newborns can focus on and follow moving objects, distinguish the pitch and volume of sound, see
all colors and distinguish their hue and brightness, and start anticipating events, such as sucking at the
sight of a nipple. By three months old, infants can recognize faces; imitate the facial expressions of
others, such as smiling and frowning; and respond to familiar sounds.

At six months of age, babies are just beginning to understand how the world around them works. They
imitate sounds, enjoy hearing their own voice, recognize parents, fear strangers, distinguish between
animate and inanimate objects, and base distance on the size of an object. They also realize that if they
drop an object, they can pick it up again. At four to seven months, babies can recognize their names.

Q.2. Explain the nature and causes of maladjustment? Discuss different adjustment mechanism and
their characteristics with the help of examples. How guidance and counselling can help in adjustment
of students?

Anss . The term “adjustment” originates from the biological term “adaptation”. Biologists used
the term “adaptation” strictly for the physical demands of the environment, but psychologists
use the term “adjustment” for varying conditions of social or inter-personal relations in the
society.

Adjustment means the reaction to the demands and pressures of social environment imposed
upon the individual. The demand to which the individual has to react may be external or
internal.

Psychologists have viewed adjustment from two important perspectives—“adjustment as an

achievement”, and “adjustment as a process”.
Adjustment as achievement:

‘Adjustment as achievement’ means how efficiently an individual can perform his duties under
different circumstances.

If we perceive adjustment as achievement, we have to set criteria to judge the quality of

adjustment. Four criteria have been evolved by psychologists to judge the adequacy of
adjustment. They are the following:

• Physical health
• Psychological comfort
• Work efficiency, and
• Social acceptance

Adjustment as process:

‘Adjustment as a process’ lays emphasis on the process by which an individual adjusts to his
external environment. It is important, especially from teachers’ point of view. Students’
adjustment largely depends on their interaction with the external environment in which they
live. They always try to adjust to it. Piaget has studied the adjustive process from different
angles.

Piaget uses the term assimilation and accommodation to represent the alternation of oneself or
environment as a means of adjustment.

A person who carries his values and standards of conduct without any change and maintains
these in spite of major changes in the social climate is called assimilator.

The person who takes his standards from his social context and changes his beliefs in
accordance with the altered values of the society is called accommodator.

In order to adjust successfully in society a person has to resort to both the devices i.e.
assimilation and accommodation.

Characteristics of a well adjusted person:

A healthy and well-adjusted person should possess/display some observable behavioral
patterns. These behavioral patterns must be according to the social expectations of an
individual. These patterns are as follows:

• Maturity in thinking
• Emotional balance
• Warm and understanding towards others
• Free from tension due to routine events
• Independent in decision making

Elements in adjustment:

There are certain prime elements for fulfillment of needs necessary for healthy adjustment of a
person. They are as follows:

• Satisfaction of needs
• No obstacle in achieving needs
• Strong motives in realizing needs
• Feasible geographical atmosphere to fulfill needs

What is Maladjustment?

‘Maladjustment’ is a process whereby an individual is unable to satisfy his biological,

psychological or social needs successfully and establishes an imbalance between his personal
needs and expectation of the society resulting in the disturbance of psycho-equilibrium.

Characteristics of a Maladjusted Person:

As a school teacher, you might have noticed a few such maladjusted students in your classroom
too. At times, you might have even thought of seriously the reasons for their maladjusted
behavior. There are numerous reasons in and out of the school which create frustration, that
lead to maladjustment. Let us analyze the symptoms one by one. If a student is:

Withdrawn and timid: Frequent withdrawals from difficult situations may make individual timid
and weak in facing real life situations.
Shy and self-conscious: Shyness is usually associated with the self-consciousness, concern with
the impression one gives to other people, and concern with their negative evaluation. A shy
individual has low self-esteem and tends to anticipate adversities, thus often keeping silent and
avoiding eye contact.

Fearful: Fear is a strong emotion involving perception of danger, unpleasant agitation and often
a desire to hide from meeting students of higher classes, being alone in a room, and fear of
dogs, strange noises, the dark, etc.

Anxious: Anxiety is a personality trait. It results from conflict, which is an invitable part of life.
Anxiety describes the individual’s level of emotionality. We see many students who are tense
and worried (highly anxious) and those who are cool (hardly anxious). Since anxiety is an
inferred emotional state of an individual, it cannot be directly observed. It can be measured
through psychological tests/techniques.

Delusions: Delusion is an irrational and obstinate belief that the individual actively defends, e.g.,
a child does not work hard for the final examination and thinks that it is the God only who can
get him through the examination and he fails. This shows the delusion in him which makes him
maladjusted.

Q.3 . Different between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation by providing examples. How would
you , as a teacher enhance motivation of your students by using intrinsic and extrinsic
motivational techniques?.

Ans. Motivation is a very important for an organization because of the following benefits it
provides:

1. Puts human resources into action

2. Every concern requires physical, financial and human resources to accomplish the goals.
It is through motivation that the human resources can be utilized by making full use of
 it. This can be done by building willingness in employees to work. This will help the
enterprise in securing best possible utilization of resources.
3. Improves level of efficiency of employees
The level of a subordinate or a employee does not only depend upon his qualifications
and abilities. For getting best of his work performance, the gap between ability and
willingness has to be filled which helps in improving the level of performance of
subordinates. This will result into-

a. Increase in productivity,
b. Reducing cost of operations, and
c. Improving overall efficiency.
4. Leads to achievement of organizational goals
The goals of an enterprise can be achieved only when the following factors take place :-

a. There is best possible utilization of resources,

b. There is a co-operative work environment,
c. The employees are goal-directed and they act in a purposive manner,
d. Goals can be achieved if co-ordination and co-operation takes place
simultaneously which can be effectively done through motivation.
5. Builds friendly relationship
Motivation is an important factor which brings employees satisfaction. This can be done
by keeping into mind and framing an incentive plan for the benefit of the employees.
This could initiate the following things:

a. Monetary and non-monetary incentives,

b. Promotion opportunities for employees,
c. Disincentives for inefficient employees.
In order to build a cordial, friendly atmosphere in a concern, the above steps should be
taken by a manager. This would help in:

a. Effective co-operation which brings stability,

b. Industrial dispute and unrest in employees will reduce,
 c. The employees will be adaptable to the changes and there will be no resistance
to the change,
d. This will help in providing a smooth and sound concern in which individual
interests will coincide with the organizational interests,
e. This will result in profit maximization through increased productivity.
2. Leads to stability of work force
Stability of workforce is very important from the point of view of reputation and
goodwill of a concern. The employees can remain loyal to the enterprise only when they
have a feeling of participation in the management. The skills and efficiency of employees
will always be of advantage to employees as well as employees. This will lead to a good
public image in the market which will attract competent and qualified people into a
concern. As it is said, “Old is gold” which suffices with the role of motivation here, the
older the people, more the experience and their adjustment into a concern which can
be of benefit to the enterprise.

From the above discussion, we can say that motivation is an internal feeling which can be
understood only by manager since he is in close contact with the employees. Needs, wants and
desires are inter-related and they are the driving force to act. These needs can be understood
by the manager and he can frame motivation plans accordingly. We can say that motivation
therefore is a continuous process since motivation process is based on needs which are
unlimited. The process has to be continued throughout.

We can summarize by saying that motivation is important both to an individual and a

business. Motivation is important to an individual as:

1. Motivation will help him achieve his personal goals.

2. If an individual is motivated, he will have job satisfaction.
3. Motivation will help in self-development of individual.
4. An individual would always gain by working with a dynamic team.Similarly, motivation is
important to a business as:
1. The more motivated the employees are, the more empowered the team is.
 2. The more is the team work and individual employee contribution, more profitable and
successful is the business.
3. During period of amendments, there will be more adaptability and creativity.
4. Motivation will lead to an optimistic and challenging attitude at work place.
Motivation is often referred to as the “dynamic of behavior”.
The term ‘dynamic’ means energies or forces which produce motion in physical bodies. In
psychology and administration, it means the mental engaging force or motive that activates the
organism.