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COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT
MODULE FOR EXIT EXAM (FIRST DRAFT)
PREPARED BY:
MOY TOPO (MA)
ABATE ASHENAFI (MA)
APRIL, 2024
JINKA, ETHIOPIA

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COURSE NAME:
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Meaning and Definition of Psychology
What is Psychology?
The term psychology was coined from two Greek words: Psyche meaning “soul” and logos
meaning “science”. The subject matter of psychology was shifted to the systematic study of
behaviour by J.B. Watson in 1878-1958. At present, psychology is defined as the scientific study
of human behaviour and mental processes. When we examine the above definition of
psychology, we can have three basic terms (i.e. science, behaviour and mental processes).
Science: - is a systematized body of knowledge which yields information by gathered
information through careful observation, experimentation, measuring and recording of events.
Behaviour: - whatever a person does that can be observed or overt activity.
Mental processes: - are mental activities like thinking, remembering, reasoning, perceiving
1.2. Goals of Psychology
As a science, psychology has four goals; description, explanation, prediction, and control.
Description: Description involves observing the behavior and noticing everything about it. It is a
search for answers for questions like ‗What is happening?‘ ‗Where does it happen? ‘‗To whom
does it happen?‘ And ‗under what circumstances does it seem to happen? For example, a teacher
might notice that a young freshman girl in his/her general psychology classroom is behaving
oddly. She is not turning to her homework, her results are slipping badly, and she seems to have
a very negative attitude toward the course. Explanation: Why is it happening? Explanation is
about trying to find reasons for the observed behavior. This helps in the process of forming
theories of behavior (A theory is a general explanation of a set of observations or facts). For
instance in the above example, to find out why the girl is doing all those things, the teacher
would most likely ask her parents about her home background, her friends and the like and may
come to an understanding that this girl was behaving the way she did because she was given
attention (in a way reward) by other people when she used to behave oddly. Prediction:
prediction is about determining what will happen in the future. In the above example, the case of
the freshman girl, the psychologist or counselor would predict (based on previous research into
similar situations) that this girl may never be able to reach her full learning potential.

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Control: How can it be changed? Control or modify or change the behavior from undesirable
one (such as failing in school) to a desirable one (such as academic success). In the example
above, certain learning strategies can be used to help the girl so that she will be successful in her
academic endeavor. Control can also be used in the sense that a psychologist tries to check out
the effects of certain undesirable factors in examining the relationship between two or more
behaviors. For example, in studying the relationship between intelligence and academic
performance in freshman courses, a psychologist needs to control the effect of socio-economic
status of the family.
1.3 Early and Modern perspectives in psychology
1.3.1. Early Approach
The growth of Psychology was marked by the emergency of different schools of thought or early
perspectives in psychology. These perspectives are structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis,
behaviourism and Gestalt psychology.
A. Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) founded the first psychological laboratory in 1879, in Leipzig
University of Germany. He believed that psychology is the study of “mental content of human
mind.” The structure of conscious experience (consciousness), he believed, could be broken
down into basic elements and compounds in the same way that in chemistry one can describe the
structure of water or air. Structuralists analyzed complex mental experience (conscious
experience) putting into three basic elements: images (used to describe experiences not actually
present), feelings (love, fear, joy, dislike etc) and sensations (sight, sound, smell, test, and touch
which arise from stimulation of sense organs). Structuralists devised a technique known as
Introspection to study elements of consciousness. Introspection is a method of asking people to
report what goes in their mind as they perform some activity and experience a particular object
or event.
B. Functionalism
In contradiction to the structuralist movement, William James (1842-1910) promoted a school of
thought known as functionalism, the belief that the real task of psychology is to investigate the
function, or purpose, of consciousness rather than its structure. James was highly influenced by
Darwin’s evolutionary theory that all characteristics of a species must serve some adaptive

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purpose. Functionalists used introspection and quantified (objective) observational method of
research.
C. Behaviourism
John B. Watson (1879-1956) shifted the attention of the study of psychology from non-
observable behaviour content of mind (unlike the former too) to then strictly measurable and
observable behaviour of human beings. Overt behaviour (the observable activity) is the one that
must be dealt with. Behaviourism rejects the influence of heredity in shaping human behaviour,
they believe on the influence of the environment.
Methods used by Behaviourists were:
• Conditioning –which involves making response to stimuli?
• Nurture-which is the environmental influence to behaviour.
D. Gestalt psychology
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) and his colleagues developed the gestalt view in 1912. Having the
German word gestalt to mean “form” or “configuration” or “whole”, this view believes that
psychology depends on what we perceive by giving meaning to our environmental encounters.
By patterning, organizing (i.e.by giving shape to) the external elements in our mind, we best
understand the world around us. Gestalt psychologists also describe the subject of psychology
based on their principles, which says “the whole matters more than its parts”. The method used
by the followers of this school of thought was experimentation.
E. Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) developed the idea of psychoanalysis by basing himself on the
experiences he got from his neurologically sick patients. Psychoanalysis mainly deals with the
study of unconscious which is one of the three layers of consciousness. They are:
• Conscious-what we are aware of now.
• Subconscious-the immediate past and the easily accessible part of consciousness.
• Unconscious- the hidden part where the actual personality is formed.
Since sexual and aggressive urges are the ones that drive a person to live, for Freud, and since
both are taboos in the society, human beings suppress these impulses in their unconscious and
yet highly influenced by them. Childhood aversive experiences are also suppressed in here.
Methods used were hypnosis, dream analysis, catharsis and also extensive case study of patients.

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1.3.2. Modern Approach
A. The Behaviourist View
The direction of the modern behaviourism is a little bit different from what J. B. Watson first
intended. However, this one also rejects the contribution of heredity in making up personality. In
the modern behaviourist approach, every element of personality is learned or acquired from the
world we live. So, if behaviour is rewarded, the likelihood that it is exhibited repeatedly is high.
This is how human beings learn to live and to cope up with their environment. Therefore, a key
factor in learning is reinforcing behaviour. Which is one among the majorly used behaviourist
principle. E.L. Thorndike also calls this “the low of effect” that states that behaviours followed
by a positive outcome are repeated while those followed by a negative outcome or none at all
extinguished.
B. The Biological Approach
According to this view, behaviour is the result of genetic endowment, the material we inherited
from our biological parents and ancestors. For this reason, all the inner biological processing
within us, like the juices secreted from the different glands in the body chemistry and the works
of the nervous system shape the behavioural characteristics of human beings.
C. The cognitive approach
Cognition is defined as mental processing in making relationships, comparisons & contrasts,
reasoning & logic, inferences and judgments, conclusion, etc. The cognitive approach or
perspective combines the Gestalt and Behaviourist approach of psychology. Like Gestalt
psychologists, they emphasize on the active role of mind in organizing perceptions in processing
information, and interpreting experiences. Thus, cognitive psychologists infer mental processes
from observable behaviours. They believe mental processes (thought, feelings) affect behaviour
(Jean Piaget).Perception of the external world by incoming information via our sensory receptors
into our brain and their processing is the underlined concept behind the approach.
D. The Humanistic View
Faced with a choice between psychoanalysis and behaviourism, many psychologists in the 1950s
and 1960s sensed a void in psychology conception of human nature. Freud had drawn attention
to the darker forces of the unconscious, and Skinner was interested only in the effects of
reinforcement on observable behaviour. Humanistic psychology was born out of a desire to
understand the conscious mind, free will, human dignity, and the capacity for self-reflection and

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growth. An alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviourism, humanistic psychology became
known as .the third force.
The humanistic movement was led by American psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham
Maslow. According to Rogers, all humans are born with a drive to achieve their full capacity and
to behave in ways that are consistent with their true selves. At about the same time, Maslow
theorized that all people are motivated to fulfil a hierarchy of needs. At the bottom of the
hierarchy are basic physiological needs, such as hunger, thirst, and sleep. Further up the
hierarchy are needs for safety and security, needs for belonging and love, and esteem-related
needs for status and achievement. Once these needs are met, Maslow believed, people strive for
self-actualization, the ultimate state of personal fulfilment. As Maslow put it, .A musician must
make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is ultimately to be at peace with
himself.
1.4 Branches of psychology
At present time, psychology is being used in almost all aspects of human life as it is very helpful
to understand and improve the existing conditions. It has a number of specialty/branches. Some
important branches of psychology are listed below:
1. Developmental Psychology: It is the branch of psychology that studies the development of
human beings from conception through various stages till death?
2. Educational Psychology: It is the branch of psychology that applies psychological findings to
help to improve curriculum, teaching methods and administrative procedures, learning teaching
environment. It is the study of the psychological aspects of educational settings. Educational
psychologists are usually involved with more general and less immediate problems.
3. School Psychology: It applies psychological knowledge to help individuals to improve their
academic performance and social behaviour of students in elementary, junior, and high schools.
School psychologists deal primarily with individual children, teachers, and parents in an effort to
asses and resolve academic/learning and emotional problems.
4. Clinical psychology: It applies psychological knowledge to the prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of mental illness, and other emotional/behavioural (psychological) disorders. E.g
Clinical psychologists can treat highly assaultive children. They are more likely to work in
mental hospitals, juvenile and adult courts, medical schools and prisons.

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5. Counselling psychology: It applies psychological knowledge to help individuals in dealing
with many personal problems of daily life.eg counselling psychologists assist individuals in
career planning, and in developing more effective interpersonal skills.
6. Health psychology: It applies psychological knowledge to the prevention and treatment of
physical illness. Psychologists have known for many years that emotional conditions such as
stress or depression often play a major role in development of physical illness such as ulcer, skin
diseases, stomach disorder, infectious diseases, and probably even cancer.
Health psychologists are also interested in such areas as assessing the psychological and physical
effects of stress, developing programs to help people reduce stress in their lives, studying coping
strategies for dealing with serious or characteristics illness, evaluating the impact psychological
factors on diseases such as cancer, and seeking to identify the factors that motivates people to
engage in health threatening activities such as smoking, overeating and under eating.
7. Personality psychology: It focuses on factors accounting for difference in behaviour and
enduring personal characteristics among individuals.
8. Social psychology: Studies how people affect one another’s thoughts, feelings and
behaviours. How we think about and interact with others.
9. Industrial-Organizational psychology: It applies psychological knowledge to increase
productivity in businesses, industries and governmental agencies.
Industrial/Organizational psychologists work to increase productivity by improving working
conditions, methods for hiring and training employees, and management techniques of
administrators.
10. Forensic psychology: It uses psychological knowledge and skill to improve the legal
activities in the legal system, including the work of juries.
11. Cross-cultural psychology: It examines the similarities and differences among various
cultures in psychological functioning. The influences of one cultural group practice over the
individual’s adaptive behaviour in a new situation.
12. Community psychology: Is one among the branches of psychology that applies
psychological knowledge to address and resolve social problem /issues that affects the
community well-being. They also treat people with psychological problems within the
community, initiate community action and develop community programs to enhance mental
health.

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Unit 3
Learning and Theories of Learning
What is learning?
Learning can be defined as the process leading to relatively permanent behavioural change or
potential behavioural change. In other words, as we learn, we alter the way we perceive our
environment, the way we interpret the incoming stimuli, and therefore the way we interact, or
behave. John B. Watson (1878-1958) was the first to study how the process of learning affects
our behaviour, and he formed the school of thought known as Behaviourism. The central idea
behind behaviourism is that only observable behaviours are worthy of research since other
abstraction such as a person’s mood or thoughts are too subjective.
Behavioural Psychology is basically interested in how our behaviour results from the stimuli
both in the environment and within ourselves. They study, often in minute detail, the
behaviours we exhibit while controlling for as many other variables as possible.
According to different psychologists learning can be defined in different ways. As a result, it is
very difficult to give a universally acceptable definition of learning due to difference in
theoretical perspectives. However, the most widely accepted definitions of learning is the one
that takes into account the opposing views of different theoretical groups is given in the
following ways.
"Learning is a relatively enduring change in an individual's behaviour or knowledge which is a
function of experience and practice,” (Melvin H. Marx cited in Chauhan1978).
The analyses of the above definition have the following attributes. They are:
1. Learning is a change in behaviour or knowledge. This change may be for better or worth.
2. Learning cannot be directly observable but manifests in the activities of the individual
because, it is an internal mental process.
3. Learning results in some change of enduring nature or relatively permanent modifications in
behaviour. The term typically does not include temporary (short term) changes in behaviour
that are due to factors other than learning, such as decline in performance resulting from
illness, fatigue, lack of effort or use of intoxicants.
4. Learning is a result of practice or experience. It tried to distinguish between long-lasting
performance change due to practice or experience through interaction with the environments.
5. Learning depends on interest or individual motivation to understand

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1. Operant theory of learning
Operant Conditioning was pioneered by American psychologist, B. F. Skinner. An emphasis on
environmental consequences is at the heart of Operant Conditioning (also called Instrumental
Conditioning), the second type of conditioning studied by Behaviourists. The term "Operant"
refers to how an organism operates on the environment, and hence, operant conditioning comes
from how we respond to what is presented to us in our environment. It can be thought of as
learning due to the natural consequences of our actions.
Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of
learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behaviour. Through operant
conditioning, an association is made between a behaviour and a consequence for that behaviour.
Reinforcement
The term reinforcement refers to any process that strengthens a particular behaviour or which
increases the probability of a specific response - that is, increases the chances that the behaviour
will occur again. For example, if you want your dog to sit on command, you may give him a
care for every time he sits for you. The dog will eventually come to understand sitting when
instructed to do so. There are two types of reinforcement: positive and negative.
A. Positive reinforcement: is a method of strengthening behaviour by following it with a
pleasant stimulus or favourable events.
B. Negative Reinforcement: is a method of strengthening behaviour by following it with
the removal or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus or the removal of unfavourable
events.
Reinforcement Schedules
In operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement are an important component of the learning
process. A reinforcement schedule is a rule that specifies the timing and frequency of reinforcers.
When and how often we reinforce behaviour can have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate
of the desired response. Certain schedules of reinforcement may be more effective in specific
situations. There are two types of reinforcement schedules:
1. Continuous Reinforcement: - In continuous reinforcement, the desired behaviour is
reinforced every single time it occurs. Generally, this schedule is best used during the initial
stages of learning in order to create a strong association between the behaviour and the

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response. Once the response is firmly attached, reinforcement is usually switched to a partial
reinforcement schedule.
2. Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement: - In partial reinforcement, the response is reinforced
only part of the time, if the desired behaviour occurs. Skinner soon tried rewarding only
some instances of the desired response and not others—a schedule known as partial
reinforcement.
Partial reinforcements are based either on the ratio of the behaviour of the organism or on
elapsed time; they can be set either at a fixed rate or can vary according to a randomized
program. Partial reinforcement schedules are often more important to strengthen already
established habits and behaviour.
There are two main types of partial reinforcement schedules:
I. Ratio Schedules:- refers to the reinforcement given by considering the number of responses
made. It is categorized as fixed-ratio and variable ratio.
A) Fixed-Ratio Schedules: - are those where a response is reinforced only after a specified
number of responses are made. Individuals receive a reinforcer each time they make a fixed
number of responses. For example, A rat might receive a food at every third time it picked a
key: here, for a fixed ratio of 1:3, every third behavior will be rewarded. This type of schedule
usually produces a stop-and-go pattern of responding: This schedule produces a high, steady rate
of responding with only a brief pause after the delivery of the reinforcer.
B) Variable-ratio Schedule: - occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable
number of responses are made. Individuals must also make a number of responses before
receiving a reinforcer, but the number is variable and unpredictable. Slot machines, Instant
lottery, Bingo and other forms of gambling are examples of variable-ratio schedules. Behaviours
reinforced on these schedules tend to occur at a rapid, steady rate, with few pauses. Thus, many
people will drop coins into a slot machine over and over again on the chance of winning the
jackpot, which serves as the reinforcer.
II interval schedule: in interval schedule reinforcement is given by considering the amount of
time that elapsed or passes between reinforcers. It categorized in to fixed-interval and variable
interval schedule.
A) Fixed-interval schedule:- Individuals receive reinforcement for their response only after a
fixed amount of time elapsed or passed since the last reinforcement. For example, in Skinner’s

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experiment the rat going to rewarded after every 5 minute passed, at least five minute must
elapse between the deliveries of the reinforcer. Any responses that occur before five minute has
passed have no effect. The overall response rates are relatively low. Because the response rate
increase as the time for reinforcement approaches, then drops after reinforcement. Students
watch the clock only occasionally at the start of a class period, but they watch more and more as
the end of the period gets nearer.
B) Variable-interval schedules: - means that reinforcers will be distributed after a varying
amount of time, if a desired behaviour occurs. It requires the passage of time before providing
reinforcement, but the amount of time is variable and unpredictable. Behaviour on these
schedules tends to be steady, but slower than on ratio schedules. Because the organism do not
knows (in terms of time, or “interval”) when the reinforcement will arrive. For example, a person
trying to call someone whose phone line is busy may redial every few minutes until the call gets
through.
Unit 2
MEMORY AND FORGETTING
3.1. Meaning and nature of memory
Memory is the retention of information over time. Psychologists study how information is
initially placed, or encoded into memory, how it is retained, or stored after being encoded, and
how it is found, or retrieved for a certain purpose later. The processes of encoding, storing,
retrieving information are necessary for the memory to operate successfully; they do not describe
the specific manner in which material is entered into memory. The memory systems vary in
terms of their function, the length of the time information is retained and their capacity to retain
information.
Memory and information processing: Similar steps are required in the information processing
of computers. Information is encoded (entered in some form the computer is able to use), then;
stored on disk, and later retrieved on the screen. You would not be able to retrieve the material if
you had failed to enter it, if a power failure occurred before you could save what you had
entered, or if you forgot which disk or file contained the needed information. Of course, human
memory is far more complex than even the most advanced computer systems, but computer
processing provides a useful analogy to memory, if not taken too literally.
3.2. Processes of memory

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What must occur to enable us to remember a friend's name, a fact from history, or an incident
from our past? The act of remembering requires the successful completion of three processes:
encoding, storage, and retrieval.
 The first process, encoding, involves transforming information into a form that can be stored
in memory. Sometimes we encode information automatically, without any effort, but often
we must do something with the information in order to remember it.
 The second memory process, storage, involves keeping or maintaining information in
memory. For encoded information to be stored, some physiological change in the brain must
take place-a process called consolidation. Normally consolidation occurs automatically, but if
a person loses consciousness for any reason, the process can be disrupted and a permanent
memory may not form. That is why a person who has been in a serious car accident could
awaken in a hospital and not remember what has happened.
 The final process, retrieval, occurs when information stored in memory is; brought to mind.
To remember, we must perform all three processes-encode the information, store it, and then
retrieve it. Memory failure can result from the failure of anyone of the three memory
systems.
3.3 Memory systems
1. Sensory memory
The first stage in the memory and information processing is the presentation of a stimulus. When
people see a stimulus like a sign on the road its image is held momentarily in their visual
sensory register, sensory registers hold information about a perceived stimulus for a split second
after the stimulus disappears, allowing a mental model or representation of it to remain in
memory briefly for further processing.
Sensory memory holds information from the world in its original sensory form for only an
instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory and other senses.
Sensory memory is very rich and detailed, but the information in it is very quickly lost unless
certain processes are engaged in that transfer it into working (short-term) or long-term memory.
Think about all sights and sounds you encounter as you walk to work on a typical morning.
Literally thousands of stimuli come into your fields of vision and hearing. We do not process all
of these stimuli, but we do process a number of them, the sensory registers retain this
information from your senses, including large portion of what you think you ignore. But the

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sensory register does not retain the information very long. Echoic memory (from the word echo)
is the name given to auditory sensory memory system in which information is retained up to
several seconds. Iconic memory (from the word icon, which means “image”) is the name given
to visual sensory memory in which information is retained only for about ¼ seconds.
2. Short term memory (working memory)
Also some time called working memory, is a limited capacity memory system in which
information is retained for as long as 30 seconds, unless the information is rehearsed, in which
case it can be retained longer. Compared to sensory memory, working memory is limited in
capacity but is relatively longer in duration. Short term’s limited capacity was examined by
George Miller (1956) in a classic paper with a catchy title, “The magical number of seven, plus
or minus two.” Miller pointed out that on many tasks individuals are limited in how much
information they can keep track of without external aids, usually the limit is in the range of the 7
+ 2 items. The most widely cited memory span, which is the number of digits an individual, can
report back in order after a single presentation of them. Characteristics of short-term memory:
 Short-term memory is active. Information remains in STM only so long as the person is
consciously processing, examining, or manipulating it. People use STM as a
“workspace” to process new information and to call up relevant information from long-term
memory.
 The second characteristics of short term memory, rapid access, is easily demonstrated, you
can probably repeat the last sentence you just read without looking back but would likely
take longer to recall the first characteristics of short-term memory (above) which is not
longer immediately available to consciousness and has to be accessed from long-term
memory. In this respect, the difference between STM and LTM is the difference between
pulling a file from the top of the desk versus searching for it on a file drawer, or between
searching for information in an open computer file versus a file stored on the hard drive.
 STM preserves the temporal sequence of information. Subjects provided with a list such as
“fly, ten, chair, foot, seven” will generally remember it (and repeat it if asked) in just that
order.
 Finally short-term memory has limited capacity. On the average, people can hold about
sever pieces of information is STM at a time, with a normal range from five to nine items.
Controlling information in short term memory

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Because STMs capacity is limited, use of this con scious workspace requires controlling the
information in it. In fact, two conscious processes allow more efficient use of STM: Rehearsal
and chunking.
Rehearsal
Rehearsal for STM involves repeating the information again and again to prevent it from fading.
This kind of rehearsal is called maintenance rehearsal, since its purpose is to maintain
information in STM.
Rehearsal is also important in transferring information to LTM. As we shall see, however,
maintenance rehearsal is less useful for storing information in LTM than thinking about, or
elaborating the information’s meaning while rehearsing, a procedure known as elaborative
rehearsal.
Chunking
Because STM’s capacity is limited to seven pieces of information, most people would find a
number like 1062363392 difficult to hold in mind. One way to increase the workspace, however,
is to store information in larger Chapters rather than as isolated letters or digits, a process known
as chunking.
3. Long terms memory
Long-term memory is a relatively permanent type of memory that holds huge amount of
information for a long period of time. Long-term memory appears to be composed of multiple
systems. Many psychologists now distinguish between two types of long – term memory,
Explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory, also called declarative memory, refers to
knowledge that can be consciously brought to mind and “declared.” Explicit memory is
conscious memory for facts and events. Explicit memory may be semantic or episodic.
Semantic memory refers to general world knowledge or facts, such as the knowledge that the
three systems of memory, H2o is the chemical formula of water or Nacl is the chemical formula
for table salt. Episodic memory consists of memories of particular episodes or events from
personal experience.
Implicit memory: Refers to a variety of phenomena of memory in which behavior is affected by
prior experience without that experience being consciously recollected. Because such as
finding implicit memory cannot be verbalized or consciously recollected, at least not in the form
of specific events or facts, it is also called Non-declarative memory. Examples of non-declarative

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(implicit) memory include the skills of playing tennis, riding a bicycle and typing. Non-
declarative memory also include perpetuate abilities, often called “priming” a product in a
grocery store shelf. The first time you purchase a certain kind of product it often takes a while to
find it on the shelf, even if you know that aisle to walk down. But with practice the product
“pops out” perceptually as you scan down the aisle. Another example of non-declarative
(implicit) memory is classical conditioning, as when a dog (or even you, yourself) begins to
salivate after hearing the dinner bell.
3.4. Forgetting and theories of forgetting
According to William James “if we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as
ill off as if we remembered nothing.” James believed that forgetting is adaptive because it
rids us of useless information that might impair our recall of useful information. But even
useful information that has been stored in memory is not always retrievable. We refer to this
inability to retrieve previously stored information as forgetting.
The first formal research on forgetting was conducted by the German psychologist Hermann
Ebbinghaus (1885) Ebbinghaus studied memory by repeating lists of items over and over until
he could recall them in order perfectly. The items he used were called nonsense syllables
(consisting a vowel between two consonants) such as VEM, because they were not real words.
He used nonsense syllables instead of words because he wanted a “pure” measure of memory,
unaffected by prior associations with real words. Ebbinghaus found that immediate recall is
worse for items in the middle of a list than for those at the beginning and end of a list. This
differential forgetting is called the Serial-position effect.
The better memory for items at the beginning of a list is called the primacy effect. And the
better memory for items at the end of a list is called the recency effect.
What accounts for the serial position effect? The primacy effect seems to occur because the
items at the beginning of a list are subjected to more rehearsal as a learner memorizes the list,
firmly placing those items in long-term memory. And the recency effect seems to occur because
items at the end of the list remain readily accessible in short term memory. In contrast, items in
the middle of the list are neither firmly placed in long term memory nor readily accessible in
short term memory.
3.5 Theories of forgetting
 Decay theory: The theory that forgetting occurs because memories naturally fade over time.

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 Interference Theory: Interference theory assumes that forgetting results from particular
memories’ interfering with the retrieval of other memories. There are two types of
interference Proactive interference, Retroactive interference. In proactive interference,
old memories interfere with new memories. That is when the materials that were learned
earlier disrupt the recall of material learned later. Remember that pro- means “forward in
time.” For example suppose you had a good friend 10 years ago named Mary and last night
you met someone at a party named Marie. You might find yourself calling your new friend
Mary because the old information (Mary) interferes with retrieval of new information
(Marie). Retroactive interference occurs when material learned later disrupts retrieval of
information learned earlier. Remember that retro-means “backward in time.” suppose you
have become friends with Marie (and finally have gotten her name straight) If you find
yourself sending a letter to your old friend Mary you might address it to Marie because the
new information (Marie) interferes with the old information (Mary).
 Motivation theory: Sigmund Freud claimed that we can forget experiences through
repression, the process by which emotionally threatening experiences, such as witnessing a
murder, are banished to the unconscious mind.
 Cue Dependency theory: Because the retrieval of long-term memories depends on adequate
retrieval cues, forgetting can sometimes be explained by the failure to have or to use them.
For example odors that we associate with an event can aid our recall of it. This is known as
cue- dependency theory. At times we might fail to find an adequate cue to activate the
relevant portion of a semantic memory network. Consider the tip–of–the tongue
phenomenon, in which you cannot quite recall a familiar word though you feel that you know
it.
Unit 3
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
Motivation: The word motivation comes from the Latin word “mover” which means to move,
however technically motivation is a term referring to the driving and pulling forces which result
in persistent or enduring behaviour directed towards certain goals.
Theories of motivation
1. Drive theory of motivation: Push theory of motivation

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Derive reduction theory of motivation indicates that when people luck some basic biological
needs such as water, food; derives to obtain these needs are produced. To this theory, behaviour
is pushed toward certain goals by deriving states with in the person. This theory emphasizes on
the interaction between inner pushes and external pulls. A drives is an internal state of tension
that motivates (pushes) an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension.
2. Incentive theory of motivation: Pull theory of motivation
This theory explains motivation in terms of external stimulus. For this theory of motivation
properties of external stimulus largely accounts for a person’s motivation. This theory suggested
that not only luck of biological needs produces behaviour but sometimes the goal itself attracts
behaviour.
3. Instinct theory
Instinct refers to inborn, automatic, unlearned involuntary goal directed behaviour that is
characteristics of an entire species. Instinct is biologically determined behaviour. According
to instinct theory to motivation, people and animals are born with pre-programmed sets of
behaviour essential to their survival. This instinct provides the energy that channels
behaviour in appropriate directions. For instance, birds learn to fly through nature or spiders
learn to spin webs in nature.
4. Opponent Process Theory
The opponent process theory takes a hedonistic view of motivation. Basic to this theory is the
observation that many emotional-motivational states are followed by opposing, or opposite
states. Opponent process theory of motivation seeks to explain the motivation behind such
phenomena as drug addiction and the psychological and emotional reactions that occur as a
result of extremes of physical danger, as in skydiving. According to this theory, stimuli that first
produce increases in arousal later produce an opposite calming reaction in the nervous system,
whereas stimuli that first produce decreases in arousal later produce an increase in arousal.
Moreover, with each exposure to a stimulus, the original response to the stimulus remains fairly
stable or perhaps even declines, while the opponent process- the reaction to the original
response- tends to grow in strength. In sum, opponent process theory helps explain why people
hold strong motivation for behaviour that on the surface has few benefits. It is frequently the
opponent process not the initial reaction, which maintains the motivation to carry out such
behaviour.

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5. Arousal theory
It suggests that each individual has an optimum level of arousal that varies from one situation to
another and over the course of the day. According to the theory, behaviour is motivated by the
desire to maintain the optimum level of arousal for a given moment. This theory states that
people try to maintain a certain level of stimulation and activity, increasing or reducing them as
necessary. Generally, this theory emphasize on the urge for an optimum level of stimulation.
6. Hierarchy theory
Abraham Maslow, a prominent humanistic theorist, proposes that human motives are organized
into a hierarchy of needs, a systematic arrangement of needs according to priority, which
assumes that basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused. Maslow’s model
considers different motivational needs to be ordered in a hierarchy, and it suggests that before
more sophisticated, higher order needs can be met, certain primary needs must be satisfied.
Means lower needs must be satisfied before higher needs are felt. This theory describes how
some motives are, if unsatisfied, more basic and compelling than others. The model can be
conceptualized as a pyramid in which the more basic needs are at the bottom and the higher
levels needs are at the top. The most basic needs are those described as primary drives: needs for
water, food, sleep, sex and the like. In order to move up the hierarchy, the person must have
these basic physiological needs met.
Safety needs come next in he hierarchy; Maslow suggests that people need a safe, secure
environment in order to function actively. Safety needs reflect concern about long-term survival.
Safety and security needs motivate adults to seek a stable job, to buy insurance, and to put
money in their savings accounts. Physiological and safety needs compose the lower order
needs. Only when the basic lower order needs are met can a person consider fulfilling higher
order needs, consisting of love and belongingness, esteem and self-actualization.
Love and belongingness needs include the need to obtain and give affection and to be a
contributing member of some group or society. After these needs are fulfilled the person strives
for esteem.
In Maslow’s thinking esteem relates to the need to develop a sense of self-worth by knowing that
others are aware of one’s competence and value. People with esteem needs become concerned
about their achievement, and the recognition and the recognition respect and status that they

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earn. Once these four sets of needs are fulfilled- no easy task- the person is ready to strive for
the higher level need, self-actualization.
Self- actualization is a state of self-fulfilment in which people realize their highest potential.
The important thing in self-actualization is that people feel at ease with themselves and satisfied
that they are using their talents to the fullest.
In a sense, reaching self-actualization produces a decline in the striving and yearning for greater
fulfilment that marks most people’s lives and instead provides a sense of satisfaction with the
current state of affairs.
Unit 4
BASIC CONCEPTS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
1.1 The Concept of Growth
Growth is sometimes used to refer all the quantitative changes brought about in the structure
and functions of the human anatomy and physiology. It more specifically refers to the
quantitative changes in size which include physical changes in height, weight, size, internal
organs, etc. Growth involves changes in body proportions as well as in overall stature and
weight. The term growth thus indicates an increase in bodily dimensions. But the rate of growth
differs from one part of the body to the other.
1.2 The Concept of Maturation
Maturation- is the unfolding of traits potentially present in the individual considering his
hereditary endowment (Gesell 1977). It is the sum of the gene effects operating in a self-limited
life style. It doesn’t only refer to change in physical characteristics but also in function, in the
capacity to perform or to behave, which are possible through changes in any part of the
organism. It rather refers to changes that take place in one’s body and behavior because one is
getting older, or because of age (Shaffer, 1996). A one-month-old baby is incapable of learning
to walk because he/she is simply not mature enough, not old enough to be capable of walking.
All humans are biologically programmed to mature at about the same rate, i.e. go through
changes at roughly the same time.
1.3 The Concept of Learning
Learning refers to a relatively permanent change that occurs in an individual as a result of
experience or practice (Slavin, 1997). In order to develop or change, we also need to learn how
to do things. We often talk of learners learning the multiplication tables but not developing an

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understanding of multiplication. This illustrates that the term learning is often used to refer to
short-term specific gains in knowledge, while development is used to refer to more long-term,
broader changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes and mental states. (Desforges, 1995). Learning is
the result of activities or day-to-day experiences on the child her/himself. Maturation and
learning complement one another in the development of an individual.
1.4 The Concept of Development
Development is the pattern of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional changes that begins at
conception and continues through the life span. Most development involves growth, although it
also eventually involves decay/dying (Santrock, 2011). It is a progressive series of qualitative
changes that occur as a result of maturity and experience. Thus at each stage certain
developmental processes bring changes in the individual in different aspects of life such as
physical, social, psychological and emotional. The speed of change varies from one individual to
another but it follows a definite and predictable pattern. Every individual has to go through the
various stages of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. The terms growth and
development are often used interchangeably. Actually they are conceptually different. Neither
growth nor development takes place all by itself. Human beings keep changing. During their
lives, they change in size, appearance and psychological makeup. The way they change differs
from individual to individual. But the fundamental underlying patterns of growth and
development remain more or less the same and take place in an orderly way.
1.5 Significant Facts about Child Development
Dear learners please carefully read each of the following significant facts about child
development such as continuity, sequentiality, generality to specifity, differentiality, and
development proceeds from the simple to the more complex and compare your answers.
1.5.1 Continuity
Development is a continuous process from conception to death. In the early years of life,
development consists of changes that lead the child to maturity not only of body size and
functioning, but also of behavior. Even after maturity has been attained, development doesn’t
end. Changes continue which lead to the period of life known as old age. These changes
continue until death ends the life cycle.
1.5.2 Sequentiality

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Most psychologists agree that development is sequential or orderly. Every species, whether
animal or human, follows a pattern of development peculiar to it. This pattern in general is the
same for all individuals. In prenatal development there is a genetic sequence, appearing at fixed
intervals with certain characteristics. Social and behavioural scientists increasingly have come to
see development as a relationship between organism and environment in a transaction or
collaboration. Individuals work with and affect their environment, and in turn the environment
works with and affects them. The directional sequence of development during both prenatal and
postnatal stages may either be (i) from head to foot, or (ii) from the central axis to the extremities
of the body. All children follow a development pattern with one stage leading to the next. Infants
stand before they walk; draw circles before they make squares. Even though development is
continuous, there is evidence that at different ages certain characteristics stand out more visibly
than others. Since development is continuous, what happens at one stage influences the
following stages.
1.5.3 Generality to Specificity
Development proceeds from general to specific. In all areas of development, general activity
always precedes specific activity. For example, the fetus moves its whole body but is incapable
of making specific responses. In early postnatal life, infants wave their arms randomly. They can
make such specific responses as reaching out for an object near them. In language, from genetic
sounds emerge words and then specific sentences with meaning. With respect to emotional
behavior, infants approach strange and unusual objects with some sort of a general fear response.
Later, their fears become more specific and elicit different kinds of behavior, such as crying,
turning away and hiding or pretending to be not afraid.
1.5.4 Differentiality
The tempo of development is not even. Individuals differ in the rate of growth and development.
Boys and girls have different development rates. Each part of the body has its own particular rate
of growth. Development does not occur at an even pace. There are periods of great intensity and
equilibrium and there are periods of imbalance. Development achieves a plateau and this may
occur at any level or between levels. Developmental changes do not always go forward in a
straight line. While the development of different physical and mental traits is continuous, it is
never uniform. Since the body has to attain its adult proportions, inequalities in rates occur. The
feet, hands and nose, for example, reach maximum development early in adolescence, while the

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lower part of the face and the shoulders develop more slowly. Mental abilities like verbal,
numerical, spatial, etc. develop at different ages. Creative imagination develops rapidly in
childhood and reaches its peak in early adolescence. Reasoning develops slowly. Rote memory
and memory for concrete objects and facts develop more quickly than memory for the abstract.
The point that you should remember here is that all these changes in individuals are not uniform.
These changes occur at different rates.
1.5.5 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 , 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 she/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.
1.5.6 Development proceeds from the simple 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 colour. 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 (both concrete thoughts) 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

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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.
COURSE NAME:
PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD
THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DURING CHILDHOOD PERIOD
2.1 Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Child Development
The psychodynamic perspective is most closely associated with the work of an Austrian
physician Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939). Freud's psychoanalytic theory viewed human
development interms of personality and emotional changes and he suggested that unconscious
forces act to determine personality and behaviour.

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2.1.1 Freud’s psychosexual development
In addition to providing an account of the various parts of the personality, Freud also suggested
the ways in which personality develops during childhood. He argued that psychosexual
development occurs as children pass through a series of stages in which pleasure, or
gratification, is focused on a particular biological function and body part. He suggested that

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pleasure shifts from the mouth (the oral stage) to the anus (the anal stage) and eventually to the
genitals (the phallic stage and the genital stage).
i) Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months). During the oral stage, the child is focused on oral
pleasures (sucking). At birth, the oral region is very sensitive to any kind of stimulation.
However, Freud noted that too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral
Fixation (Fixation is behavior reflecting an earlier stage of development due to an
unresolved conflict) or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with
oral activities.
This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eating,
biting his or her nails, etc. Personality wise, these individuals may become overly dependent
upon others, susceptible, and perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these
urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward others.
ii) Anal Stage (18 months to three years). The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on
eliminating and retaining feces. Society’s pressure, mainly parents, the child has to learn
to control anal stimulation. Anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with
cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive). On the opposite end of the spectrum,
they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive).
iii) Phallic Stage (ages three to six). During this stage, the pleasure zone (what is also called
the erogenous zone) switches to the genitals. Freud believed that during this stage boys
develop unconscious sexual desires for their mothers and girls go through a similar
situation, developing unconscious sexual attraction to their father. The boy becomes rival
with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection. During this time,
boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by
castrating ( losing testicles) them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex
(after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his
mother) and the Electra Complex for girls.
According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of his father, boys
eventually decide to identify with him rather than fight him. By identifying with his father, the
boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and represses his sexual
feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both
overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts

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iv) Latency Stage (age six to puberty). It is a time when sexual desires are directed to
relevant non sexual behaviors such as home/school related activities. It’s during this stage
that sexual urges remain repressed and children interact and play mostly with same sex
peers.
v) Genital Stage (puberty on). The final stage of psychosexual development begins at the
start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned
during the previous stages, adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex, with
the primary focus of pleasure is the genitals.
2.2 Piaget Cognitive Development Theory
Jean Piaget (1896–1980) is probably the best-known developmental psychologist in education.
Piaget proposed that children pass through an invariant sequence of stages, each characterized by
qualitatively different ways of organizing information and learning about the world. According
to Piaget, development is a qualitative change in the mind or knowledge or intelligence of people
from age to age.
He defined knowledge as the underlying cognitive structure that guides the thinking and
behaviour of children. The basic assumption of this theory is that development is a qualitative
change in mind or knowledge of a person from age to age. And knowledge, according to Piaget,
is our own construction and is not just poured from the environment. Piaget believes that
everybody makes his/her own knowledge.
2.2.1 Key concepts in Piaget’s Theory
a) Cognitive Structure – is a psychological unit of the mind that enables us to think and know.
Our cognitive structures develop because of two psychological mechanisms- adaptation and
organization.
b) Adaptation – consists of two processes called assimilation and accommodation
 Assimilation – refers to how human beings take things into their minds. It is the process of
taking objects, concepts, and events and changing them to fit to the already existing mental
structures. It refers to a kind of matching between the already existing cognitive structures
and the environmental needs as they arise. For example, if a six month infant is given with
a toy, it will take it to its mouth because the sucking schema already exists and thus it is
trying to assimilate the new experience with the already existing one. Another example to
elaborate the process of assimilation is that, while learning a new concept – say Piaget’s

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Theory of Development- we attempt to comprehend the new concept by using our
cognitive structure. In taking in this new concept, we try to assimilate it to the existing
structure.
 Accommodation – refers to a change in cognitive structure that produces corresponding
behavioral changes. This means that stimuli incorporated or assimilated into our minds also
produce mental changes. These mental changes are referred as accommodation. In the
process of accommodation one has to learn new ways of thinking and behaving by making
changes or modifications in one’s existing cognitive structures. The process of assimilation
and accommodation occur at the same time because at the same time we take something in
to our mind and change it fit to our existing cognitive structure (assimilation), we are also
changed by what we take in (accommodation). According to Piaget, the process of
assimilation or accommodation will help the individual to adjust to the environment. This
adjustment mechanism was called equilibration by Piaget. It refers to a balance between
assimilation and accommodation.
Organization – refers to the connections among cognitive structures. Organization and
adaptation are inseparable; rather they are two complementary processes of a single mechanism.
The mind does not consist of random sets of ideas rather a set of organized ideas. These
organized patterns of thought and action are referred to as schemas. For example the grasping
scheme, the sucking scheme, the kicking scheme, the throwing scheme.
2.2.2 Stages of Cognitive Development
i) Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)
Cognitive development during this stage comes mainly through the use of sense organs and
bodily movements as infants explore their environment. They use their mouths, hands, eyes, etc
to explore and understand objects around them. Babies in this stage are initially egocentric –
entirely centered on the self and unaware of the existence of other viewpoints. Before the age of
six months, babies believe that “out of sight is out of mind”. But afterwards, they develop object
permanence – a belief that objects out of sight still exist – and thus they continue to search for
them. Babies during this stage begin to distinguish their own actions as causes – a phenomenon
called causality. By moving from object to object, babies learn about space and time that takes
to move from one object to the others. Babies progress from reliance on reflexes (such as

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sucking and grasping) to a basic understanding of the world around them, (such as pleasant and
unpleasant) of the ability to represent the world through language.
To enhance the cognitive development of infants:
 Provide them with objects of various sizes, shapes, and colors to use. Furnish them with
toys and objects that are circular, square, soft, hard, stationary, or mobile. By manipulating
these objects, their physical actions form the cognitive groundwork of their cognitive lives.
 Allow them to actively engage themselves with environmental objects. They must touch
them, mouth them, push them, squeeze them, drop them, throw them, and perform any
other conceivable actions because they will learn through sensory and motor activity.
ii) The Preoperational Stage (2-7years)
According to Piaget operation refers to the actions individuals perform mentally to gain
knowledge. Comparing and noting similarities and differences, ordering, measuring,
joining together and taking apart, reversing, etc are mental operations. Preoperational,
thus, refers to children who have begun to use symbol (such as language) but are not yet
capable of manipulating them mentally. Features of preoperational thought include:
 Realism – a child at this stage slowly distinguishes and accepts a real world. Piaget
believed that young children initially confuse internal and external, they confuse thought
and matter. This confusion disappears at about age 7.
 Animism – is a child’s tendency to consider a large number of objects as alive and
conscious, although adults label them as inanimate. Comparison of one’s own thoughts
with the thoughts of others can slowly conquer animism. Piaget identified four stages of
animism:
 Almost everything is alive and conscious
 Only those things that move are alive
 Only those things that manifest spontaneous movements are alive
 Consciousness is limited to the animal world
 Artificialism – children at this stage assume that everything is the product of human
creation. As realism improves, artificialism declines gradually through this stage
 Transductive Reasoning – children at this stage use neither deductive nor inductive but
transductive reasoning – or reasoning from particular to particular e.g. the sun will not fall
down because it is hot, the sun stops there because it is yellow.

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Cognitive limitations of the preoperational stage include:
 Centering – refers to only part of an object or an activity. Children of this stage ignore
the relationships among the various parts.
 Egocentrism – refers to children’s tendency to see things as they want them to be. E.g.
a three year old child may cover her eyes and say “you can’t see me”. Egocentrism can
also be demonstrated by a three mountain task – table displaying three model
mountains with three perspectives and a child of this stage assumes others also see his
perspective.
 Irreversibility – refers to inability to reverse thinking. Children of this stage of
cognitive development may learn that 2+3=5. But they cannot yet grasp that 5-3=2.
To enhance preoperational children’s cognitive development, encourage them to imitate
what they have witnessed, to play, to draw pictures, to form mental images, to talk with
adults and with each other.
iii) The concrete operational stage (7-11 years)
Children at this stage overcome the limitations of preoperational thinking and group objects into
classes. The mental operations are, however, focused on concrete objects. This means that
concrete operational children are capable of logical thinking but with only the concrete or
tangible rather than with abstract subjects. They can now make use of inductive and deductive
approaches in terms of reasoning and arriving at conclusions.
Features of concrete operational thinking include:
 Conservation – refers to the realization that the essence of something remains constant
although surface features may change. Children of this stage can very well think that the
change in the appearance of an object does not alter either its quantity or its number. They
achieve conservation of number, liquids, length, substance, area, weight, volume, and the
like. Children of this stage use three arguments to conserve: a) the argument of identity – it
is the still the same thing, (b) the argument of reversibility – you will find the same if you
reverse it, and (c) the argument of compensation – the width is compensated by height and is
still the same.
 Seriation– is the ability to arrange objects by increasing or decreasing size. Children of this
stage can arrange things in ascending or descending order.

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 Classification – is the ability to group objects with some similarities within a large category.
If children of this stage are shown with six hens and four ducks and asked ‘are there more
hens than birds?’ they will not say hens as preoperational children do; rather they correctly
answer that both are birds.
 Number concept – refers to the children’s understanding of the meaning of numbers or “the
oneness of one”. That is children of this stage will understand one boy, one girl, one apple,
one orange are all one of something
iv) The Formal Operational Stage (11 + years)
During this stage logical, abstract thinking begins. The features of formal operational thinking
include:
 Understanding of possibility – adolescents are able to separate the real from the possible
 Propositional Thinking – Adolescent’s thinking is propositional. If you talk to a concrete
operational child as “if I had wing, I would fly”, then s/he will say “but you have no wing”.
But if you say the same thing to an adolescent, s/he would say “it is a possible assumption”.
 Hypothetico deductive reasoning – adolescents are able to combine as many propositions as
possible – which Piaget referred to as hypothetic-deductive reasoning.
Adolescent egocentric thinking – adolescents assume that everyone else thinks as they do and
shares their concerns. There are two types of egocentrism during adolescence: i) Imaginary
audience – is adolescent’s belief that others are as preoccupied with her/him as s/he is. (ii)
personal fable – is an adolescent’s sense of personal uniqueness and indestructibly.

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CHAPTER THREE
STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
3.1 Stages of pre-natal development
Dear learners! Life begins at conception, when a new organism is created with the mother’s
ovum fertilized by the father’s sperm. From that point till death, an individual keeps on growing
and changing. Such changes are not random but orderly and they generally follow a pattern. In
this section, we will examine the prenatal development comprising the germinal, embryonic and
fetal stages. This 9-month period is the most rapid time of change, during which a one-celled
organism is transformed into a human baby with remarkable capacities for adjusting to life in the
surrounding world.
3.1.1 Stages of prenatal development: The Onset of Development
The prenatal period consists of three phases: the germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages.
a) The Germinal Stage: Fertilization to 2 Weeks
In the germinal stage, the first and shortest stage of the prenatal period, the zygote begins to
divide and grow in complexity during the first 2 weeks following conception.
When fully developed, the placenta serves as a channel between the mother and fetus, providing
nourishment and oxygen via the umbilical cord. In addition, waste materials from the developing
child are removed through the umbilical cord.
b) The Embryonic Stage: 2 Weeks to 8 Weeks

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By the end of the germinal period—just 2 weeks after conception—the organism is firmly
secured to the wall of the mother's uterus. At this point, the child is called an embryo. The
embryonic stage is the period from 2 to 8 weeks following fertilization. One of the highlights of
this stage is the development of the major organs and basic anatomy. At the beginning of the
embryonic stage, the developing child has three distinct layers, each of which will ultimately
form a different set of structures as development proceeds. The outer layer of the embryo, the
ectoderm, will form skin, hair, teeth, sense organs, and the brain and spinal cord. The endoderm,
the inner layer, produces the digestive system, liver, pancreas, and respiratory system.
Sandwiched between the ectoderm and endoderm is the mesoderm, from which the muscles,
bones, blood, and circulatory system are forged. Every part of the body is formed from these
three layers. The head and brain undergo rapid growth during the embryonic period.
a) The Fetal Stage: 8 Weeks to Birth
The fetal stage starts at about 8 weeks after conception and continues until birth. The fetal stage
formally starts when the differentiation of the major organs has occurred. Now called a fetus,
the developing child undergoes amazingly rapid change during the fetal stage.
For instance, it increases in length some 20 times, and its proportions change dramatically. The
fetus also substantially increases in weight. At the same time, the developing child is rapidly
becoming more complex. Organs become more differentiated and start to work. By 3 months,
for example, the fetus swallows and urinates. In addition, the interconnections between the
different parts of the body become more complex and integrated. Arms develop hands; hands
develop fingers; fingers develop nails. As this is happening, the fetus makes itself known to the
outside world. The brain becomes increasingly sophisticated during the fetal stage. The two
symmetrical left and right halves of the brain, known as hemispheres, grow rapidly, and the
inter-connections between neurons become more complex. The fetus is also able to hear (and
feel the vibrations of) sounds to which it is exposed. In weeks 8 to 24 following conception,
hormones are released that lead to the increasing differentiation of male and female fetuses.
3.1.2 Challenge hazard during the prenatal period
 A miscarriage—known as a spontaneous abortion—occurs when pregnancy ends before
the developing child is able to survive outside the mother's womb. The embryo detaches
from the wall of the uterus and is expelled. Many occur so early that the mother is not even

33. 33
aware she was pregnant and may not even know she has suffered a miscarriage. Typically,
miscarriages are attributable to some sort of genetic abnormality.
 In abortion, a mother voluntarily chooses to terminate pregnancy. Involving a complex set
of physical, psychological, legal, and ethical issues, abortion is a difficult choice for every
woman.
 A teratogen is an environmental agent such as a drug, chemical, virus, or other factor that
produces a birth defect. Generally, teratogens have their largest effects during periods of
especially rapid prenatal development.
 Mother's Diet clearly plays an important role in reinforcing the development of the fetus.
A mother who eats a varied diet high in nutrients is apt to have fewer complications during
pregnancy, an easier labor, and a generally healthier baby than a mother whose diet is
restricted in nutrients (Gurling, 2007).
 Mother's Age: delay in childbirth has potential consequences for both mothers' and
children's health. Women who give birth when over the age of 30 are at greater risk for a
variety of pregnancy and birth complications than younger ones. Older mothers are also
considerably more likely to give birth to children with Down syndrome, a form of mental
retardation. The risks involved in pregnancy are greater not only for older mothers, but for
atypically young women as well. Women who become pregnant during adolescence—are
more likely to have premature deliveries.
 Mother's Prenatal Support: Young mothers often face adverse social and economic
factors that can affect infant health. Many teenage mothers do not have enough money or
social support, a situation that prevents them from getting good prenatal care and parenting
support after the baby is born.
 Mother's Health: Depending on when it strikes, an illness in a pregnant woman can have
devastating consequences. For instance, the onset of rubella (German measles) in the
mother prior to the 11th week of pregnancy is likely to cause serious consequences in the
baby, including blindness, deafness, heart defects, or brain damage. Several other diseases
such as syphilis, AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) may affect a developing
fetus, again depending on when the illness is contracted. Mothers who have the disease or
who merely are carriers of the virus may pass it on to their fetuses through the blood that

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reaches the placenta. However, if mothers with AIDS are treated with antiviral drugs such
as AZT during pregnancy, less than 5% of infants are born with the disease.
 Mother's Drug Use: Mother's use of many kinds of drugs—both legal and illegal—poses
serious risks to the unborn child. Even drugs prescribed by medical professionals have
sometimes had disastrous consequences. Birth control or fertility pills taken by pregnant
women before they are aware of their pregnancy can also cause fetal damage.
 Mother's Use of Alcohol and Tobacco: Mothers' use of alcohol can have profound
consequences for the unborn child. The children of alcoholics, who consume substantial
quantities of alcohol during pregnancy, are at the greatest risk. Smoking also produces
several consequences, none good.
3.2 Infancy and Babyhood Stages
3.2.1 Infancy and toddlerhood: from birth to 2 years
i) Birth: From Fetus to Neonate
The exact moment of birth occurs when the fetus, having left the uterus through the cervix,
passes through the vagina to emerge fully from its mother's body. In most cases, babies
automatically make the transition from taking in oxygen via the placenta to using their lungs to
breathe air. Consequently, as soon as they are outside the mother's body, most newborns
spontaneously cry. This helps them clear their lungs and breathe on their own. This refers to the
time the baby emerges from mother’s body until the cutting and tying of the umbilical cord.
Until this, the child is a parasite and makes no adjustments to the postnatal environment. What
happens next varies from situation to situation and from culture to culture.
ii) Period of neonate: (From birth to two weeks)
This refers to the period from the cutting and tying of umbilical cord to approximately the end of
second week of postnatal period. The infant is now separate, independent, individual and no
longer a parasite. During this period the infant begins to make adjustments to the new
environment outside the mother’s body. The neonate (birth to one month) displays:
 Several reflexes as well as skills which help the process of development.
 The new born infant responds to pressure or touch on the cheek by turning the head towards
the touch and opening the mouth. This automatic and involuntary response or reflex, known
as rooting reflex.

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 Feeding is further facilitated by sucking reflex by which the neonate sucks on objects
placed into the mouth.
 The rooting reflex disappears over the first few weeks of life and is replaced by voluntary
head turning.
 The sucking reflex is also gradually modified over the first few months of life as sucking
comes under voluntary control.
Much before birth, the fetus responds to sounds and within few hours after birth, the
neonate can discriminate between different sounds of language (e.g. /ba/ and /ga/ sounds)
and between mother’s voice and other human voice. This shows that human infants are
remarkably well prepared to receive spoken language and learn the same.
3.2.1.1 Characteristics of Infancy
This period brings dramatic changes in the body and brain that support the emergence of a wide
array of motor, perceptual, and intellectual capacities; the beginnings of language; and first
intimate ties to others. Infancy spans the first year; toddlerhood spans the second, during which
children take their first independent steps, marking a shift to greater autonomy. During infancy,
the physical and motor development is quite rapid. Primarily due to maturation, children show
regularity in development of locomotion and motor skills. They are able to raise their head by
about 2 months, sit with support by 4 months, walk with support by 9 months and walk on their
own by 10-12 months. The rate of growth is very rapid during the first two years. A normal two
year old infant grows to a height which is almost half of the adult height and the birth weight
increase nearly four times by that age. The body proportion also changes dramatically from birth
till adulthood. In general:
 A neonate is the shortest of all developmental periods. It is the time that the fetus must
adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the mother after approximately nine months. It
requires approximately two weeks to adjusting to the new environment outside the mother’s
body.
 Infancy is a plateau in development. The rapid growth and development which took place
during the prenatal period suddenly come to stop with birth. There is a slight regression such
as loss of weight, less strong and healthy than it was at the time of birth due to adjustment
issues to the postnatal environment.

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 Infancy is a preview of the later development. It is not possible to predict exactly what the
future development of the individual will be on the basis of the development at birth. We
notice only a clue of what to expect later on.
 Infancy is a hazardous period both physically and psychologically. Physically the infant
finds it difficult in making adjustments to the new environment. Psychologically the infant
suffers a little when the attitudes of significant people towards the infant radically changes.
3.2.1.2 Aspects of Development during Infancy
Can you mention, using your knowledge from theories of child development, the cognitive and
social emotional aspects of development during infancy?
 Physical Development: needs to be touched and held physically, feeding pattern is
established, has sucking and grasping reflexes, reaches toward objects and grasps them,
makes large muscle movements (arms and legs), is able to follow objects and focus, rolls
over, supports head, sleeps a lot and no bladder or bowel control rapid physical growth.
 Intellectual Development of Infant babies: vocalizes (makes cooing sounds and chuckles),
vocalizes spontaneously and discovers s/he has impact on environment (e.g., if s/he cries,
caregiver will come)
 Emotional Development of Infant babies: establishes attachment/bonding with caregivers
(caregiver and child get to know each other – learn to read each other’s cues and become
emotionally attached to one another), crying and smiling, comforts self with thumb or
pacifier learns to trust that basic needs will be met, concerned with satisfaction of needs.
 Social Development of Infant babies:recognizes caregivers, very dependent upon
caregivers for fulfillment of needs and initiates social contact (e.g., smiles when caregiver
appears)
 Moral Development of Infant babies:sees him/herself as the center of the world and has no
sense of right or wrong.
3.2.1.3 Major adjustment problems of Infants
 Change in temperature requires adjustment.
 Starting breathing by own creates problems. When the umbilical cord is cut the infant must
begin to breath eon its own.

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 Starting to suck and swallow is difficult for neonates. When the umbilical cord is cut off, the
child gets nourishment by the reflexes of sucking and swallowing instead of receiving it from
the mother through umbilical cord.
 Beginning the elimination of waste products also creates problems. Some infants are seen to
have trouble shooting with elimination matters.
3.3 Babyhood (From 2 weeks to 2 years)
3.3.1 Aspects of Development during Babyhood
 Physical Development during babyhood: feeds self with a spoon, stands and walks
“dances” to music, sits by him/herself, has precise thumb and finger grasp and can stack 2
or more blocks
 Intellectual Development during babyhood: uses one or two words to name things or
actions, says words like “Mama” and “Dada”, points to familiar things, points to at least one
body part, curious about everything (explores his/her world), realizes an object can exist
when out of sight and will look for it (e.g., drops things from high chair and looks for it
 Emotional Development during babyhood: At birth, the emotions appear in simple and
undifferentiated forms. In babyhood, the emotions are differentiated and they are aroused by
a number of stimuli. Emotions are more easily conditioned during babyhood than at latter
stage. This is due to the reason that the intellectual abilities of babies are limited. They
respond easily and quickly to stimuli. Anyhow there is hesitation to respond in some cases.
A babyhood hugs caregiver, does not like separation from caregiver, expresses several
emotions clearly but is unable to identify them, trusts caregivers and sees him/herself as
permanent with enduring qualities (e.g., male versus female.
 Social Development during babyhood: Early social experiences play a dominant role in
determining the baby’s future social relationships and patterns of behavior towards others.
Since the baby’s life is centered around home, it is here that the foundations for later
behavior and attitudes are laid. That is why good social foundations are so important during
the babyhood years. A babyhood plays simple games (e.g., peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake), extends
attachment to people other than caregiver developing some independence from caregivers
(can meet some of his/her own needs e.g., can feed him/herself and reach for objects)
 Moral Development during babyhood: sees him/herself as the center of the world and has
no sense of right or wrong

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3.4 Childhood Stage
3.4.1 Early Childhood (Preschool years)
Early childhood (sometimes called the preschool years) extends from the end of infancy to
about 6 years. During this period, children become more self-sufficient, develop school readiness
skills (such as learning to follow instructions and identify letters), and spend many hours with
peers. First grade typically marks the end of early childhood. This is the time during which the
child who has become mobile is able to widen the sphere of his/her activities beyond the
caregivers and the family. Through his/her interaction with the wider society and the
environment, the child learns the rules of appropriate social behaviour and develops mental
abilities which prepare him/her for formal education and schooling.
3.4.1.1 Aspects of Development during Early childhood
Early childhood is a time of tremendous growth across all areas of development. The dependent
newborn grows into a young person who can take care of his or her own body and interact
effectively with others. For these reasons, the primary developmental task of this stage is skill
development. Physically, between birth and age three a child typically doubles in height and
quadruples in weight. Bodily proportions also shift, so that the infant, whose head accounts for
almost one-fourth of total body length, becomes a toddler with a more balanced, adult-like
appearance. Despite these rapid physical changes, the typical three-year-old has mastered many
skills, including sitting, walking, toilet training, using a spoon, scribbling, and sufficient hand-
eye coordination to catch and throw a ball.
Between three and five years of age, children continue to grow rapidly and begin to develop
fine-motor skills. By age five most children demonstrate fairly good control of pencils, crayons,
and scissors. Gross motor accomplishments may include the ability to skip and balance on one
foot. Physical growth slows down between five and eight years of age, while body proportions
and motor skills become more refined. Physical changes in early childhood are accompanied by
rapid changes in the child's cognitive and language development. From the moment they are
born, children use all their senses to attend to their environment, and they begin to develop a
sense of cause and effect from their actions and the responses of caregivers.
Over the first three years of life, children develop a spoken vocabulary of between 300 and
1,000 words, and they are able to use language to learn about and describe the world around
them. By age five, a child's vocabulary will grow to approximately 1,500 words. Five-year-olds

39. 39
are also able to produce five-to seven-word sentences, learn to use the past tense, and tell
familiar stories using pictures as cues. Language is a powerful tool to enhance cognitive
development. Using language allows the child to communicate with others and solve problems.
By age eight, children are able to demonstrate some basic understanding of less concrete
concepts, including time and money.
However, the eight-year old still reasons in concrete ways and has difficulty understanding
abstract ideas.A key moment in early childhood socio-emotional development occurs around
one year of age. This is the time when attachment formation becomes critical. Attachment theory
suggests that individual differences in later life functioning and personality are shaped by a
child's early experiences with their caregivers. The quality of emotional attachment, or lack of
attachment, formed early in life may serve as a model for later relationships.From ages three to
five, growth in socio-emotional skills includes the formation of peer relationships, gender
identification, and the development of a sense of right and wrong. Taking the perspective of
another individual is difficult for young children, and events are often interpreted in all-or-
nothing terms, with the impact on the child being the fore-most concern. For example, at age five
a child may expect others to share their possessions freely but still be extremely possessive of a
favorite toy. This creates no conflict of conscience, because fairness is determined relative to the
child's own interests. Between ages five and eight, children enter into a broader peer context and
develop enduring friendships.
Social comparison is heightened at this time, and taking other people's perspective begins to play
a role in how children relate to people, including peers.
3.4.1.2 Characteristics of early childhood
 In childhood, behavior problems become more frequent and more troublesome than the
physical care problems in babyhood. Since the behavior problems dominate the early
childhood, the young children develop distinctive personalities and aspire for independence.
 Also, they are very often obstinate, stubborn, disobedient, protesting and antagonistic.
 They are often bothered by day dreams at night and irrational fears during day times and
suffer from jealousies.
 The dependency during babyhood changes to independence on attaining childhood age. In
many occasions, they seem to reject the help offered by elders.

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 Still, the early childhood is an age of playing with toys in most of the time. When the
children enter the first standard in school, they begin to be engaged in games and modified
form of sports without toys. Anyhow, when alone, the children are seen to play with toys.
 It is the pre gang age during which the children learn the foundations of social behavior. As a
general rule, during the preschool years, children find social contacts with members of their
own sex more pleasurable than those with members of the opposite sex.
 It is an exploratory age in the sense that they want to know what their environment is and
how it works, how it feels, and how they can be a part of it.
 It is an imitative age. Imitations of speech and actions of others are prevalent. Imitative
nature develops creative talents.
 It is an ideal age to learn various skills by repeated trials and adventurous attempts. The skills
are learned easily and quickly.
 Improvement in speech and comprehension is an important matter. Skills in building up a
vocabulary, mastering pronunciation and combining words into sentences are in rapid
growth.
 Moral development is on a slow level. This is because the intellectual development has not
reached the point where the children can learn or apply the abstract principles of right and
wrong.
 Children may be told not to do something one day but the next day or even the day after that,
they may have forgotten what they were told not to do so. Thus what may appear willful
disobedience is often only a case of forgetting. They obey rules without using reason or
judgment because they regard adults in authority in Omni point. They judge all acts as right
or wrong in terms of the consequences rather than in terms of motivation behind them. They
view a matter a wrong one in punishment.
Question asking behaviour is another important concern. The questions asked at beginning are
concerned with physical causality and then on diverse number of categories. If they are not
satisfied in the answer, they use to raise more and more questions in chain until they are
satisfied. Also they feel proud of themselves asking such questions with aspirations.
3.4.2 Late Childhood (Elementary school years)

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Late childhood (sometimes called the elementary school years) extends from about 6 to 11 years
of age. Historically, late childhood has not been considered an important stage in human
development. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory labeled this period of life the latency stage,
a time when sexual and aggressive urges are repressed. Freud suggested that no significant
contributions to personality development were made during this period.
However, more recent theorists have recognized the importance of late childhood for the
development of cognitive skills, personality, motivation, and inter-personal relationships. During
late childhood, children learn the values of their societies. Thus, the primary developmental task
of middle and late childhood could be called integration, both in terms of development within
the individual and of the individual within the social context.
Perhaps supporting the image of middle and late childhood as a latency stage, physical
development during middle and late childhood is less dramatic than in early childhood or
adolescence. Growth is slow and steady until the onset of puberty, when individuals begin to
develop at a much quicker pace. The age at which individuals enter puberty varies, but there is
evidence of a secular trend–the age at which puberty begins has been decreasing over time. In
some individuals, puberty may start as early as age eight or nine. Onset of puberty differs across
gender and begins earlier in females.
As with physical development, the cognitive development of middle and late childhood is slow
and steady. Children in this stage are building upon skills gained in early childhood and
preparing for the next phase of their cognitive development. Children's reasoning is very rule
based. Children are learning skills such as classification and forming hypotheses. While they are
cognitively more mature now than a few years ago, children in this stage still require concrete,
hands-on learning activities. Middle or late childhood is a time when children can gain
enthusiasm for learning and work, for achievement can become a motivating factor as children
work toward building competence and self-esteem. This stage is also a time when children
develop competence in interpersonal and social relationships. Children have a growing peer
orientation, yet they are strongly influenced by their family.
The social skills learned through peer and family relationships, and children's increasing ability
to participate in meaningful interpersonal communication, provide a necessary foundation for the
challenges of adolescence. Best friends are important at this age, and the skills gained in these
relationships may provide the building blocks for healthy adult relationships.

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Children at this stage master the fundamental skills of reading, writing, and math, achievement
becomes a more central theme, and self-control increases. In this period, children interact more
with the wider social world beyond their family. It is a troublesome age by which the children
are no longer willing to do what they are told to do. Older children, especially boys, are careless
about their clothes and other material possessions. Such an age is called as the sloppy age. Again
it is regarded as a quarrelsome age because we can see the boy child and girl child often indulged
in mini quarrels. It is at this stage that the children acquire the rudiments of knowledge that are
considered as essential for successful adjustment to adult life. Again there is a gang spirit in
which the major concern is the acceptance by the age-mates in a gang. There is a team spirit in
play activities and creative works. By 12, the child becomes sexually mature. For most young
children, there is a major change in the pattern of their lives. While adjusting to the new demands
and expectations, most children are in a state of disequilibrium. They are emotionally disturbed.
Many changes take place in attitudes, values and behavior.
3.4.2.1 Characteristics of Late childhood
 The child develops play skills, school skills, self-help skills, social help skills, hand skills,
speech skills, pronunciation skills, vocabulary skills and health maintenance skill
 Unpleasant emotions are socially unacceptable
 Expression of anger in moodiness
 Heightened emotional expressions
 Learning to curb external emotional expressions
 Boys have more extensive peer groups than girls
 Not satisfied with associates
 Aim for socio-metric status in age-mates
 Desire for leadership in peers
 Constructive play activities
 Exploring and collecting things
 Describe the role of family in early childhood development, noting direct and
indirect family, community and school influences, as well as the adaptable nature
of the societal structure.


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3.4.2.2 Aspects of Development During late childhood
 Physical Development during late childhood: the child can play sports and develop new
skills, are energetic, has a large appetite, height and weight increasing at a steady rate,
increased coordination and strength, body proportions becoming similar to an adult’s, and
fine motor coordination well-developed (e.g., writing and drawing skills).
 Intellectual Development during late childhood: the child is highly verbal (e.g., tells jokes,
makes puns), asks fact-oriented questions (e.g., wants to know “how,” “why” and
“when”)can deal with abstract ideas, judges success based on ability to read, write and do
arithmetic, wants to develop skills and become competent, enjoys projects that are task-
oriented (e.g., sewing, woodwork), learns to think systematically and generally about
concrete objects, and learns the concept of “past,” “present” and “future”.
 Emotional Development during late childhood: the child acts very independent and self-
assured but can be childish and silly at times, self is partly defined by school environment
(personality is more defined), likes affection from adults more independent but wants
caregivers to be present to help, can identify and label what s/he is feeling and can
distinguish between wishes, motives and actions
 Social Development during late childhood: the child participates in community activities,
enjoys working and playing with others, has friends plays mostly with same sex peers, can
be alone, strong group identity, learns to achieve and compete, and imitates and identifies
with same-sex adult.
Moral Development during late childhood: begins to experience conflict between parents’
values and those of peers, has strong sense of fairness, rules are important and must be
followed (i.e., breaking rules is bad).
TOPIC 3:
COURSE NAME
PSYCHOLOGYADOLESCENCE
 Theories are scientific explanations used as framework for understanding adolescent
development.
 Main theoretical views guide research
 Theories about adolescent development can be grouped in to five major perspectives in
general.

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 Biological perspectives
 Psychoanalytical perspectives
 cognitive and moral development perspectives.
 learning and social- learning perspectives
 Contextual/ecological
1.1. INTIMACY AS AN ADOLESCENT ISSUE
Meaning and process of intimacy development during adolescence
Probably the most important feature of adolescent friendships is intimacy. Intimacy is the degree
to which two people share personal knowledge, thoughts, and feelings. Adolescent friends
confide hopes and fears, and help each other understand what is going on with their parents, their
teachers, and peers to a far greater degree than younger children do.
Even though intimacy is an important concern throughout most of the life span, and close
relationships are important to people of all ages, the development of intimacy is especially
important during adolescence. There are a number of possible reasons that intimacy becomes an
important psychological concern in adolescence.
1. It is not until adolescence that truly intimate relationship characterized by openness, honesty,
self-disclosure, and trust-first emerge. For example, for a child, a friend is someone who likes to
do the same things he or she does. But for teenagers’, close friendships are more likely to have a
strong emotional foundation; they are built on the sorts of bonds that form between people who
care about, know and understand each other in a special way.
2. The changing nature of the adolescent’s social world: that is, during early adolescence the
increasing importance of peers in general and during middle and late adolescence, the
increasing importance of opposite sex peers in particular. During the course of pre-
adolescence and adolescence, relationships are gradually transformed from the friendly but
activity oriented friendships of childhood to the more self conscious, more analytical, and
more intimate relationships of adulthood.
Why do such important changes take place in close relationships during adolescence?
I. Puberty and its attendant changes in sexual impulses often raise new issues and concerns
requiring serious intimate discussion.
II. Advances in thinking- especially in the realm of social cognition- are related to the
development of intimacy during adolescence. These changes permit them to establish and