1 Crore+ students have signed up on EduRev. Have you? |
•Individual differences refer to distinctiveness and variations among people’s characteristics and behaviour patterns.
• Approaches explaining individual differences in psychological functioning.
1. Trait Approach: Personal traits cause change in behaviours. [INTERNAL FACTORS]
2. Situationism is a view which states that situations and circumstances in which one is
placed to influence one’s behaviour. [EXTERNAL FACTORS]\
3. The situationist perspective views human behaviour relatively more as a result of influence of external (situational) factors than personality traits.
• Assessment:
• Formal Assessment: Objective, standardised, organised’psychologists are trained in making formal assessment.
• Inforinal Assessment: It varies from case to case/one assessor to another—open to subjective interpretation.
• Attributes:
• Some Domains of Psychological Attributes
• Assessment Methods
1. Wechsler:
2. Gardner and Sternberg:
A. Psychometric Approach:
1. Uni/One-Factor Theory (Alfred Binet):
2. Two-Factor Theory (Charles Spearman) [1927]:
(i) G-Factor: It includes mental operations which are primary and common to all performances.
(ii) S-Factor: It includes specific abilities which allow individuals to excel in their respective domains
3. Theory of Primary Mental Abilities (Louis Thurstone):
(i) Verbal Comprehension (grasping meaning of words, concepts, and ideas).
(ii) Numerical Abilities (speed and accuracy in numerical and computational skills).
(iii) Spatial Relations (visualizing patterns and forms).
(iv) Perceptual Speed To speed in perceiving details).
(v) Word Fluency (using words fluently and flexibly).
(vi) Memory (accuracy in recalling information).
(vii) Inductive Reasoning (deriving general rules from presented facts).
4. Hierarchical Model of Intelligence (Arthur Jensen):
Abilities operates at two levels:
Level I – Associative learning. [output is equal to input, rote memory]
Level II – Cognitive competence. [output is more than input]
5. Structure of Intellect Model (J.P. Guilford) [1988]:
(i) Operation: what the respondent does, e.g., cognition, memory retention.
(ii) Contents: the nature of materials or information on which intellectual
(iii) Products: the form in which information is processed by the respondent, e.g., relations, systems, transformations.
B. Information-Processing Approach:
1. Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner):
(i) Linguistic: The capacity to use language fluently and flexibly to express one’s thinking and understand other. Persons high on this ‘word-smart’, eigi, poets and writers.
(ii) Logical-Mathematical: Skills in problem solving, thinking logically and critically and abstract reasoning , eigi, scientists.
(iii) Spatial: The abilities involved in forming, using and transforming mental images (visual images and patterns), eigi, sculptors, painters, architects, interior decorators.
(iv) Musical: The capacity to produce, create and manipulate musical rhythms and patterns.
(v) Bodily-Kinaesthetic: The use of the whole body or portions of it creatively and
flexibly for display, construction of products and problem solving, eigi, athletes, dancers, actors. .
(vi) Interpersonal: Skill of an individual to understand the needs, motives feelings and behaviours of other people for better understanding and relationship. High among psychologists counsellors politicians.
(vii) INTRA PERSONAL: Refers to the awareness of one’s own feelings, motives, desires, knowledge of one’s internal strengths and limitations and using that knowledge to effectively relate to others, eigi, philosophers.
(viii) Naturalistic: Complete awareness of our relationship with the natural world and sensitivity to the features of the natural world, eigi, botanists, zoologists.
2. Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (Robert Sternberg) [1985]:
(i) Componential Intelligence/Analytical Intelligence: The analysis of informa¬tion to solve problems
Three components:
(a) Knowledge Acquisition—responsible for learning and acquisition of the ways of doing things.
(b) Meta or Higher Order Component—planning concerning what to do and how to do it.
(c) Performance Component—actually doing things .
(ii) Experiential/Creative Intelligence: Using past experiences creatively to solve novel problems.
— Ability to integrate different experiences in an original way to make new discoveries and inventions.
— Quickly find out what information is crucial in a given situation.
(iii) Contextual/Practical Intelligence: The ability to deal with environmental demands encountered on a daily basis—
— may be called ‘street smartness’ or ‘business sense’
— easily adapt to their present environment/select a more favourable environment, modify the environment to fit their needs.
3. Planning, Attention-arousal and Simultaneous-Successive (PASS) Model of Intelligence (J.P. Das, Jack Nagliery, Kirby) [1994]
(i) Arousal/Attention:
— Arousal and attention enable a person to process information.
— An optimal level of arousal focuses our attention to the relevant aspects of a problem.
— Too much or too little arousal would interfere with attention and attend to stimuli.
(ii) Simultaneous and Successive Processing:
— Simultaneous: Perceive the relations among various concepts and integrate – them into a meaningful pattern for comprehension, e.g., RSPM.
— Successive: Remember all the information serially so that the recall of one leads to the recall of another, e.g., learning of digits, letters. .
(iii) Planning:
— Allows us to think of the possible courses of action, implement them to reach a target, and evaluate their effectiveness.
— If a plan does not work, it is modified to suit the requirements of the task or situation.
Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) (Das and Nagliery):
Individual Differences in Intelligence:
The evidence for hereditary influences on intelligence comes mainly from studies on twins and adopted children.
CORRELATION OF INTELLIGENCE
1. Environmental deprivation lowers intelligence while rich nutrition, good family background, and quality schooling increases intelligence.
2. There is a general consensus among psychologists that intelligence is a product of complex interaction of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture).
3. Heredity sets a range within which an individual’s development is actually shaped by the support and opportunities of the environment.
• Assessment of Intelligence
1905: Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon made the first successful attempt to formally measure intelligence.
1908: Gave the concepts of Mental Age (MA) is the measure of a person’s intellectual development relative to people of her/his age-group.
Chronological Age (CA) is the biological age from birth.
Retardation was being two mental age years below the chronological age.
1912: William Stern, a German psychologist, devised the concept of Intelligence Quotient (IQ). IQ refers to ratio between MA and CA. Formula—mental age divided by chronological age, and multiplied by 100 (to avoid the decimal point).
Variations In Intelligence
1. Intelligence Deficiency (Mentally Retarded/Challenged):
The American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD) views mental retardation as significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behaviour and manifested during the developmental period.
In order to be judged as mentally retarded, a person must show:
(i) Significantly sub average intellectual functioning, e.g., IQ below 70.
(ii) Deficits in adaptive behaviour or the capacity to be independent and deal effectively with one’s environment.
Deficits must be observed during the developmental period, i.e., between 0-18 years.
Mild retardation—development is typically slower than that of their peers but they can function quite independently, hold jobs and families. Level of retardation increases—lag behind their peers in language and motor skills, need to be trained in self-care skills and simple social and communication skills.
2. Intellectual Giftedness:
Lewis Term an (1925): Study to show how intelligence was related to occupational success and life adjustment. These individual show higher performance because of their outstanding potentialities.
Giftedness is exceptional general ability shown in superior performance in a wide variety of areas.
Talent refers to remarkable ability in a specific field, e.g., social, and are often called prodigies.
Types of Intelligence Tests,
Individual or Group Test
Culture-Fair or Culture-Biased Tests
Verbal, Non-verbal or performance Tests
CULTURE AND INTELLIGENCE
A major characteristic of intelligence is that it helps individuals to adapt to their environment. The cultural environment provides a context for intelligence to develop. ‘
Culture is a collective system of customs, beliefs, attitudes and achievements in art and literature.
Sternberg:
Vygotsky (Russian psychologist):
(i) Cognitive capacity (sensitivity to context, understanding, discrimination, problem-solving and effective communication).
(ii) Social competence (respect for social order, commitment to elders, the young and the needy, concern about others and recognising others perspectives).
(iii) Emotional competence (self-regulation and self-monitoring of emotions, honesty, politeness, good conduct and self-evaluation).
(iv) Entrepreneurial competence (commitment, persistence, patience, hard work, vigilance and goal-directed behaviour).
Emotional intelligence is a set of skills that underlie accurate appraisal, expression and regulation of emotions. It is the feeling side of intelligence.
(i) Emotional Quotient (EQ) is used to express emotional intelligence in the same way as IQ is used to express intelligence.
(ii) Salovey and Mayer: The ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.
36 videos|62 docs|26 tests
|