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 ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2017-2018)
M.P.C.-2
Life Span Psychology
Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the
Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private Teacher/Tutors/Authors for the help and guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions in given in the Assignments. We do not claim 100%
accuracy of these sample answers as these are based on the knowledge and capability of Private Teacher/Tutor. Sample
answers may be seen as the Guide/Help for the reference to prepare the answers of the Questions given in the Assignment.
As these Solutions And Answers are prepared by the Private Teacher/Tutor so the chances of error or mistake cannot be
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denied. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care has been taken while preparing these Sample

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Answers/Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer and for up-to-date

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and exact information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the
university.
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NOTE: All questions are compulsory
SECTION-A
Answer the following question in about 1000 words each
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Q. 1. Discuss psychosocial changes and linguistic development during infancy.
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Ans. Psychosocial Development in Infancy: Psychosocial development means the development of the infant that takes
place in social setting. It indicates how well a child is able to fit in the social context. There are different stages that an individual
goes throughout his/her life span. These stages are universal in nature. An individual who is able to master a stage and is

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successful in carrying out that stage feels satisfaction and enters the next stage. Though a person who is not able to successfully

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complete a stage faces a crisis situation and even if he enters the next stage, he has to resolve that crisis otherwise he will have

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feeling of inadequacy in him/herself.

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Erik Erikson has given a very impactful theory of psychosocial stages. His theory is the extension of Freud’s

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work. Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development considers the impact of external factors, parents and society on
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personality development from childhood to adulthood. According to Erikson’s theory, every person must pass through

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a series of eight interrelated stages over the entire life-cycle.

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Infant (Hope) – Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
1. Toddler (Will) – Autonomy vs. Shame
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2. Preschooler (Purpose) – Initiative vs. Guilt
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3. School-Age Child (Competence) – Industry vs. Inferiority
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4. Adolescent (Fidelity) – Identity vs. Identity Diffusion

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5. Young Adult (Love) – Intimacy vs. Isolation

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6. Middle-aged Adult (Care) – Generativity vs. Self-absorption
7. Older Adult (Wisdom) – Integrity vs. Despair
These eight stages, spanning from birth to death, are split in general age ranges. According to Erikson, an

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individual enters a stage and if he is able to successfully negotiate through a stage, he develops an ego identity but if
he is not able to negotiate successfully, he will face a crisis situation which needs to be resolved for the individual to
feel satisfied and successful.
In the context of infancy, the infant face two crisis situation as follows:
Basic Trust vs. Mistrust – Hope: During the first or second year of life, the major emphasis is on the mother
and father’s nurturing ability and care for a child, especially in terms of visual contact and touch. The child will
develop optimism, trust, confidence, and security if properly cared for and handled. If a child does not experience
trust, he or she may develop insecurity, worthlessness, and general mistrust to the world.
2. Toddler/Early Childhood Years–18 Months to 3 Years: Autonomy vs. Shame: The second stage occurs
between 18 months and 3 years. At this point, the child has an opportunity to build self-esteem and autonomy as he
or she learns new skills and right from wrong. The well-cared for child is sure of himself, carrying himself or herself
with pride rather than shame.
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 Therefore, in these two stages, the child is exerting efforts to gain support of his/her parents. In this event, if the
infant is able to trust his parents, he develops hope virtue in his life and this will continue through his lifespan. In the
second stage, if the child is able to monitor or control his activities and is given acceptance by the parents, he develops
the virtue of will. Because of this, he will have interest in doing things nor that he will do the things because he is
compelled to do so.
The successful completion of these two stages during infancy indicates that they will enter in the next stage of
childhood i.e. Initiative vs Guilt. If they successfully master it, they will develop purpose and enact towards achieving
them.
Other types of social behaviour: The social behaviour that infants learn in the initial stages of life are discussed
as follows:
Attachment: The little infants seeks attention from mother and family. The baby loves to be with the mother
most of the time and very for very little time with others. The baby shows discomfort by crying. This process of

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missing the mother while still being with some other people shows attachment. This early attachment is called
‘indiscriminate’. The child develops strong attachement in later childhood. He feels comfort and security when he is

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with the mother and father.
Smiling: Smiling is the way by which infants communicate with others. They smile at familiar face. The mother

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also smiles at the child. There are quite a lot of smile exchanges between mother and the infants. The baby develops
social smile at around 7 or 8 weeks of age. Smile forms a type of bonding between the infant and others.

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Anxiety: The child gets anxious whenever he sees his mother going away from him. He walks to each room

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where his mother goes. He cries when he is not able to find the mother in front of his eyes. When the infant gets

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discomfort when he is not able to find the mother, this shows that the child’s attachment is getting stronger.
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Fear of strangers: The child also gets anxious when he finds himself alone with some stranger. This anxiety is
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less when the child is in mother’s lap and another stranger exist in the room. This reaction is seen when the baby is
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very small. Slowly, they learn to acknowledge the strangers also with a smile. At the age of one, they learn that
visitors keep coming and they do not get anxious thereafter.
Linguistic Development in Infancy
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The toddler can now solve problems through symbolic means instead of trial-and-error. Representation allows

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deferred imitation-the ability to copy the behaviour of models who are not immediately present. Functional play is

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motor activity with or without objects during the first year and a half in which sensorimotor schemes are practiced. At
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the end of the second year, representation permits toddlers to engage in make-believe play.

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Initially, the children learn language by watching lip movements. They imitate the language of the adults. By the

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age of 4 months, they start babbling. They say baba-baba and certain words by accident. They slowly learn words like

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I, me, or my. They become aware of self and others. As they grow more older, their vocabulary also increases.
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Our working definition of language encompasses five structural components: phonology, semantics, syntax,

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morphology, and pragmatics:
(a) Phonology: According to Wikipedia, “Phonology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic

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organization of sounds in languages. From around birth to one year, the infant starts to make speech sounds. At

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around four months cooing turns into babbling such as baba-baba, papa-papa etc. Though the infants are able to
speak less but they understand more. By the end of 2 years, infants know how to pronounce familiar words correctly.
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(b) Grammar: Grammar consists of two parts morphology and syntax.
Morphology
Moving to the next level of language, we find the study of the smallest units of meaning, morphemes. Morphemes

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include base words, such as “hat,” “dog,” or “love,” as well as affixes, such as “un-,” “re-,” the plural “s” or “es,” and
the past tense “ed.” Knowledge of the morphology of our language is critical to vocabulary development and reflects
the smallest building blocks for comprehension.
Syntax
The study of how individual words and their most basic meaningful units are combined to create sentences is
known as syntax. As words are grouped together when we communicate, we must follow the rules of grammar for
our language, in other words, its syntax. It is the knowledge of syntax that allows us to recognize that the following
two sentences, while containing different word order and levels of complexity have the same meaning.
(c) Semantics: Not only does the grammatical structure of our language provide the needed clues for understanding,
we also have a wealth of figurative language and rich description that adds color and nuance to our communication.

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Semantics refers to the ways in which a language conveys meaning. It is our understanding of semantics that allows
us to recognize that someone who is “green with envy” has not changed hue, or that “having cold feet” has less to do
with the appendage at the end of our legs and more to do with our anxiety about a new experience. Because
semantics moves beyond the literal meaning of words and is culture-dependent, this is among the most difficult
aspects of language for individuals who are not native speakers and even those who speak the same language but
come from different cultures and convey meaning using words in unique ways. Anyone who has attempted to
converse with a teenager in his own vernacular can appreciate the importance of sharing a semantic base for
communicating clearly.
(d) Pragmatics:“‘Pragmatics’ refers to the ways the members of the speech community achieve their goals
using language.” The way we speak to our parents is not the same as the way we interact with a sibling, for example,
The language used in a formal speech may bear little resemblance to what we would hear at a lunch with five friends.

storybook to a toddler. Knowing the difference and when to use which style is the essence of pragmatics.
Q. 2. Elucidate the social changes during school years.
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The conversational style of day-to-day interactions is quite different from the language used, even when reading a

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Ans. During middle childhood, the children will shift gradually from their families towards their peers, teachers,
neighbours and social media. This shift requires competence. In the process, they gain an increasing awareness of

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whether they are able to fit in the network of relationships in their surrounding environments. Each child experiences

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events and daily interactions that either strengthen or weaken their feelings of self-competence.

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Relations with Peers: Throughout middle childhood, children develop their ability to look at things from others’
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perspectives also. In turn, their ability to develop more complex friendships—based on awareness of others’ thoughts,
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feelings, and needs emerges. Thus, complex and fairly stable networks of friendship takes form for the first time in
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middle childhood. Although skills such as cooperation and problem solving are learned in the peer group, close friendships

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also inculcate understanding and promote trust and reciprocity. Most socially competent children maintain and nurture
both close friendships and effective peer group interaction. As children move through middle childhood, friendship
begins to develop mutual trust and assistance and thus becomes more psychologically rather than behaviourally
based.

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In other words, school-age children may for choose best friends based on the emotional support. The concept of
friend is now converted from the playmate of early childhood to the confident of middle childhood. Violations of trust
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during this period are often perceived as serious violations of the friendship bond. As children enter middle childhood

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and later into adolescence, the role of intimacy and loyalty in friendship becomes even more pronounced. Moreover,

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children increasingly value mutual understanding and loyalty at times of conflict among peers.

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Team Play: The overall aggression during peer activities decreases during middle childhood, and there is

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development of friendly rule-based play activities. This transition is due to the continuing development of a perspective-

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taking ability (the ability to see a situation from another person’s point of view). In addition, most school-age children
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meet peers who differ in a variety of ways, including personality, ethnicity, and interests. School-age children are able
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to take their new understanding of others’ needs and want more and more interaction with peers. Thus, their
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communication and interaction reflects an enhanced ability to understand that there are varieties of people and their

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ways are also different. These developments facilitate the transition to many rule-based activities, such as team
sports. Though there are fights and indifferences with peers too, but still children in middle childhood involve into team

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sports to extract enjoyment and satisfaction. Participation in team sports during middle childhood may also have long-
term benefits. While participating in team sports, children also develop the capacity for cooperation, coordination,
delegation of responsibility and competition.
Home and Schooling: The transition is relatively easy for many students because schools typically present a
mainstream model for behaviour and learning. As most parents interact with their children, they condition and promote
the behaviour that will be acceptable in school. Children are taught that they should behave in socially acceptable
manner and follow courtesies, such as saying “thank you,” “excuse me” and “please”. Many parents also teach their
children the basic rules of the classroom, such as “sit in your chair” and “wait to speak until you are asked. Children
of such parents are often well prepared for the school environment because they have been trained like that. They
understand that there are certain rules which one has to follow to be accepted by others. Furthermore, the school
environment helps reinforce rules and skills taught in the home environment, just as the home environment helps
reinforce rules and skills taught in the school environment. So, there is reciprocity between the home and the school.

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 Q. 3. Examine Piaget’s and Kohlber’s theories of moral development.
Ans. Emotional Development: According to Wikipedia, “Emotion is a subjective, conscious experience
characterized primarily by psychophysiological expressions, biological reactions, and mental states.”
As per John D. (Jack) Mayer, “Emotions operate on many levels. They have a physical aspect as well as a
psychological aspect. Emotions bridge thought, feeling, and action – they operate in every part of a person, they
affect many aspects of a person, and the person affects many aspects of the emotions.”
Emotions are very vital in our life. All that we do is basically due to either eliciting or getting some emotion from
ourselves or others. Developmental stages have high relevance to emotional expression. It is very amusing that we
keep changing since childhood through old age and so do our emotional expressions. We derive no happiness by a
stimulus which used to elicit it once upon a time!
During middle childhood, children learn to hold and regulate their emotional responses and they also gain the
ability to understand other’s emotions by face.
Common Emotional Patterns

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Fear: During middle childhood, the fear responses are shifted from typical fears to general fears. They are more
frightened by supernatural, fanciful images. They are afraid of dark and assume some fear figure which they must
have seen on television or heard in any story:
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Anxiety: Anxiety is the fear of something which is not real or existing. In school years, anxiety can be because

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of some insecurities. The reason of anxiety can be many such as being short-tempered, restless sleep, mood swings,

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irritability, etc.

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Anger: Anger is seen in most of the school-year children. This is a natural response to situations in which the

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child has to control his immediate desires, unwanted comparison with other children, criticism of child’s habit etc.

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Children should be handled carefully and affectionately to ensure that they behave with patience.

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Curiosity: School years are considered to be full of curiosities. Many parents complain that their wards are full

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of questions. This is very natural for a school going child because he is still in the process of exploring his surroundings
and world as a whole.

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Joy, Pleasure and Delight: It is very easy to make young school children amuse with very little things. First,

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they express their emotions loudly whenever they feel. As the children grow, they learn to express their emotions of
joy according to social norms.

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Answer the following questions in about 400 words.

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SECTION-B

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Q. 4. Discuss the various cognitive changes during early adulthood period.
Ans. Early adulthood: The age group for early adulthood is said to be 20 to 40 years. This period consist of two
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decades and can be discussed as 20 to 30 and 30 to 40 for purpose of cognitive evaluation. During 20 to 30, early
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adults are exploring to the life possibilities to the maximum. They are full of energy and enthusiasm. Early adult years

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are full of health and vitality. The cognitive process are very fast and versatile. The reason being that early adults are
involved in different forms of training at school, colleges and companies. They are exploring alternatives. Most of

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them have chosen their preferred career and are working on it. They also have to settle down and extend their family.

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Then they have to balance their work and family. Quite a lot of expectations are laid during early adulthood.

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On one side, the early adults are enjoying the independence in matters of decision-making. On the other hand,

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they have to leave out having fun and frolic with peers. Most of them are involved in forming their identities and their
self-concept. Those who are able to develop their identity and come up to the level of expectations of significant
others find life meaningful. Those who are not able to form their identities, face crisis. This crisis can result in

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depression and can also result in developing inferiority complex.
During the 30s to 40s, there is marked stability in the behavioural patterns and cognitions as well. They have
moved towards their desired goals. They are involved in the completion of responsibilities levied upon them.
Cognitive Changes
According to K Warner Schaie, there are 5 stages of cognitive development throughout the lifespan which are as
follows:
K. Warner Schaie, developmentalist; 5 stages of cognitive development:
1. Acquisitive Stage
2. Achieving Stage
3. Responsible Stage

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 4. Executive Stage
5. Reintegrative Stage
Out of these five stages, first three stages belong to early adulthood and we will discuss them here. Later stages
will be discussed in middle adulthood and late adulthood.
1. Acquisitive Stage: This stage is characterized by by acquiring information and this stage goes on in entire
childhood and adolescence.
2. Achieving Stage: This stage is characterized by applying the intelligence to realize ones career goals and
extending family during early adulthood.
3. Responsible Stage: In this stage, the task is to attain mastery in career and understand the requirements of
family during and after the transition from early to middle adulthood.
Therefore, according to Warner Schaie, the cognitive changes in early adulthood are compatible with acquisition
of knowledge through training throughout childhood and adolescence. They are in a position of achieving their life

during early adulthood. The reaction time is less. The sensory processes are also very sharp.
Realistic and Pragmatic Thinking
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goals. For realizing their goals, they utilize their intelligence and thought processes. The cognitive abilities are at peak

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Early adults are supposed to have a fair lookout for problems. They are capable of looking at different aspects

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of a problem. Earlier they used to see things from their perspective only. This cognitive change comes with ageing.

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Fluid Intelligence: In early adulthood, the ability to memorize, identify pattern, relate different things (the so-
called fluid intelligence) is high but it decreases with age.
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Reflective and Relativistic Thinking
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There is a change in thinking from adolescence to early adulthood. Earlier as an adolescent, they used to have

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dualistic thinking which means to think in absolute terms like either good or bad, either right or wrong but during the

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transition to adulthood, it changes to relativistic and reflective thinking. Relativistic thinking implies that there can be

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many sides of an issue. To say this means that early adults are capable of thinking in multi-dimensions for an issue.
Q. 5. Explain the family life cycle during adulthood.
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Ans. The Family Life Cycle: The family cycle goes on from childhood till death. Earlier the children see their
parents performing their duties, slowly their parents get old and then they start taking care of them. Then they get old
and their children assume their responsibility and during this ongoing processes, several events take place like birth of

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children, marriages and death of spouse and parents etc. Likewise the family cycle goes on and on.

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Leaving home: For many reasons like education, job, training etc children leave home temporarily. Sometimes,
for reasons due to stress and chaos between family members also compel youth to leave home.
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Joining of families in marriage: According to the customs, family celebrate the marriages together. All family
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members plan for marriages and take meals together and perform rituals. This brings family member together and

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sometimes the situation gets very overwhelming for elders when they see whole family together. They enjoy reminiscing
old stories related to their children.

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Traditional marriages: The concept of traditional marriage is like that both husband and wife are two wheels

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of a same cycle. They should divide their responsibilities so that they are able to run hassle-free life. In traditional

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marriages, man were given the responsibility to earn the livelihood and women were given the responsibility of

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maintaining the household.
Marital Satisfaction: Out of both the sexes, men generate greater satisfaction from marriage as they get their
needs fulfilled in all the senses. Females derive less pleasure and they suffer more because they have to play various

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role and have more responsibilities as compared to men. Men try to resolve the issues by withdrawing from the
situation and women try to resolve by discussion their problems.
Parenthood: Now-a-days, becoming parent is the choice of the couple. Earlier, the elders used to force their
children to have children early. The decision to have children depends on financial stability, working conditions of the
couples etc. birth of children again brings happiness in children. For the parent couple, birth of a child brings lot of
responsibility and compromise in independence such as taking care of child, sleepless nights, cutting short of expenses
etc. Simultaneously, they have to look after the ageing parents as well. Sometimes, there is lot of stress due to
pressure of the responsibilities.
Establishing a career: During early childhood, men get earlier in vocations as compared to men. Also, men
have less social responsibility than women. Men give more importance to work. Qualities like sincerity and
competitiveness help in getting promotion. People who experience failure set lower goals for themselves.

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 Dual career marriage: Females who have to perform various roles and have to balance their career also, face
more problems as compared to those who stay at home. There are more conflicts in marital relationships, parenting
and other behavioural problems. In case of people who have low paying jobs, the condition worsens.
Q. 6. What is concept? Discuss the various signs of negative self-concept.
Ans. Self-concept and Self-esteem in Adolescence: In a layman’s language, self concept answers question
like “who am I”. Self-concept is a person’s set of belief about oneself which include his academic performance,
work efficiency, sexuality etc. A positive self-concept is important for psychological and emotional health.
Self-concept is way in which an individual perceives him/herself. Self-concept can be divided into three categories:
Personal Self-concept: Personal self-concept is the his/her opinion about oneself. For example
“I am very tall”, “I have black hair”.
Social Self-concept: It is one’s perception about what others think about him/her.
Self Ideals: Self-ideals are about how one would like to be.
Therefore, self-concept is aggregate of knowledge and understanding of an individual about him/herself.

self-concept is conceived as that individual’s summary formulation of his or her status.

Signs of Negative Self-concept in Adolescents
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Increased self-awareness is the foundation for learning to enhance more positive aspects of self. An individual’s

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There are by no means an exhaustive list of signs of negative self-concept:

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1. One of the most observable signs of low self-esteem is when an adolescent walks everywhere with their
head pointed downwards and their chin down towards chest. This is physical expression of shame and
embarrassment.

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2. Teens with low self-esteem often feel like they want to hide and get through public situations without being
noticed.
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3. Adolescents who have negative self-concept generally find it difficult to talk while looking into eyes of others.

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4. The language adolescents use will often convey themselves as hopeless or worthless. For example – phrases

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like “l am useless”, “I always make mistakes”.
5. Adolescents who feel bad about themselves, generally talk and feel bad about others too.
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7. They do poorly in studies.
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6. Adolescents who have negative self-concept generally apologize a lot. Apologizing a lot is usually associated
with feeling guilty.

8. They are afraid of trying out new things.

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9. They show feelings of jealousness.
10. They have very few friends.
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Apologising a lot is usually associated with feeling guilty. If an adolescent believes they get things wrong all the

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time measure up to expectations they will feel guilty for failing. It creates a cycle. The more guilty they feel, the

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worse they feel about themselves, and the worse they feel about themselves, the more guilty they feel. Constant
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apologizing comes from the excessive feelings of guilt a teen may feel.
Egocentrism in Adolescence
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David Elkind gave the concept of egocentrism which means that during adolescence, the adolescents considers
them as very special and unique. They think that they are quite different from others. They believe that they can
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change the world. They claim to have understood solution to big problems of the world. This kind of feeling gives

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them a sense of powerfulness, which is not real.
Elkind states that there are two types of belief systems in the egocentrism:

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(a) Imaginary audience
(b) Personal fable
Imaginary audience implies that adolescents feel that they are being watched by others all the time. They feel as if their
parents, friends, neighbours and even strangers all are observing them very closely. On the contrary, a very percentage of
people have interest in them but they would continuously get cautious due to this imaginary audience. This is the reason
they would do stupid things like they would become very much obsessive about their clothes, hairstyle and other accessory.
They just want to look perfect.
Personal fable is the belief that they consider themselves so special that no situation or person can affect them
no matter what they do. During adolescence, this is the reason why many of them indulge in high risk behaviours
without any fear. They think that nobody will come to know about what they have done.
This feature of egocentrism is universal in nature and found all across the globe in adolescents.

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 Q. 7. Discuss the various components of value education.
Ans. Value Education: Value education is of prime importance in schools. Let us go through what intellectual
people have said about value education:
Gandhiji said that “formation of character should have priority over the alphabet”.
Swami Vivekananda said that “Teaching of religion must be part and parcel of education which, according to him
was essential to teach values”.
The introduction of value education should be done at very early stage because children’s minds are very fragile.
Any impression made on them when they are very young lasts till lifetime. But unfortunately, over the years, value
education has taken a back seat. According to Bertrand Russell, Education should aim at developing ideal character.
He states ideal character can be assumed to have many virtues like:
Vitality: Vitality is the state of being healthy. The young children should be taught the manner in which they can

vitality, there is pleasure in living.

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maintain proper hygiene and stay healthy from the beginning. Vitality is part of a good character. Where there is

Courage: Courage is the acting by eliminating fear. Children should be told that they should have courage of

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expressive their ideas. They should try to learn what is wrong and what is right. They should take guidance from

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elders in such matters.
Sensitiveness: For a character to be deem appropriate, an individual should be sensitive to others. If an individual

through stories that we should be sensitive to others’ needs and wants.

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is very successful but he is very harsh and rude, his character is not good. Therefore, in value education, it is taught

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Intelligence: Intelligence is an aptitude for acquiring and manipulating information. It can be acquired by

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information and practice. Intelligence can be inculcated by giving direction to the curiosity of children in different
ways through thoughtful curriculum and value education.
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Q. 8. Explain Piaget’s theory on cognitive development?
Ans. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: Concerete Operation
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Piaget referred to the cognitive development occurring between ages 7 and 11 as the concrete operations

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stage. Piaget used the term operations to refer to reversible abilities that the child has not yet developed. By reversible,

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Piaget referred to mental or physical actions that can occur in more than one way, or in differing directions. While in
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the concrete operations stage, older children are yet not able to think both logically and abstractly. School-age children
are limited to thinking concretely—definite, exact, and physical terms—based on real and concrete experiences
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rather than on abstractions.

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Older children do not use magical thinking and are not as easily misled as younger children. Unlike pre-schoolers,

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school-age children know better than to ask their parents to take them flying in the air just like the birds do.
Piaget noted that children’s thinking processes change significantly during the concrete operations stage. School-
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age children can engage in classification, or the ability to group according to features, and serial ordering, or the ability

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to group according to logical progression. These children between 6-11 years of age are able to understand cause and

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effect relationships and become adept at mathematics and science. Regarding the concept of stable identity—that

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one’s self remains consistent even when circumstances change—is another concept grasped by older children.

Answer the following questions in about 50 words.

SECTION-C

w Q. 9. Crystalized intelligence
Ans. Crystallized Intelligence: Crystallized intelligence is the ability of verbal reasoning. This is the result of
accumulation of knowledge over the lifespan of an individual. Crystallized intelligence enables an individual to apply
the knowledge in day to day situation. Middle adults possess crystallized intelligence. But again there are factors like
education and culture of an individual which might affect the quality and quantity of crystallized intelligence in an
individual. This increase with age.
This is to remember here that it is not necessary that fluid intelligence will definitely decline with age. With
formal training, practice and teaching strategies, middle adults can also perform better after the initial decline. When
they get to know the trick, they also perform better on cognitive tasks.

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 Q. 10. Midlife crisis
Ans. Midlife Crisis: Midlife crisis was first cited by Levinson. According to this, during middle age, people re-
examine choices that they made during their lives, they recall their course of actions which result in a restructuring
of the personality. These changes are gradual. The women may feel midlife crisis around 50s to 60s while men may
feel during their 40s.
Q. 11. Triangular theory of love
Ans. In the social convoy model of social relations, individuals go through life embedded in a personal network
of individuals from whom they give and receive social support. Circles are used to separate people in terms of the
closeness of their relationship with an individual. In the health care setting, it can be used by healthcare professionals
to assess the effects of social isolation on a patient's health. Patient that have strong support networks tend live
happier and healthier lives. Support networks may be informal e.g. family, friends, loved-ones, etc., or, formal e.g.
healthcare professionals, informal carers, charity organizations, etc. The model can be used by healthcare professionals

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to assess the ability of an individual to cope with their illness, and to evaluate the important of healthcare professionals
to a patient's social network. Changes that occur over time can be explored to see the effects of ill health on the
patient's social network, as networks may grow in some areas e.g. due to contact with health services, and shrink in
others.
Q. 13. Growth spurt

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Ans. Most babies go through several growth spurts (also called frequency days) during the first 12 [Link]

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a growth spurt, breastfed babies nurse more often than usual (sometimes as often as every hour) and often act
fussier than [Link] increase in baby's milk intake during growth spurts is temporary. In exclusively breastfed

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babies, milk intake increases quickly during the first few weeks of life, then stays about the same between one and

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six months. As solids are gradually introduced after six months, baby's milk intake will gradually decrease. Physical
growth is not the only reason that babies may have a temporary need for increased nursing. Babies often exhibit the

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same type of behaviour (increased nursing with or without increased fussiness) when they are working on
developmental advances such as rolling over, crawling, walking or talking. Mom's milk is for growing the brain as

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Q. 14. Egocentrism

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Ans. Egocentrism in Adolescence: During this period, adolescents develop a new kind of adolescent
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adolescent development:

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egocentrism in which they become highly occupied by thinking about themselves. There are two concepts related to
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(i) Imaginary audience: Adolescents are pre-occupied with the thought that everybody is watching them even
when nobody is.
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(ii) Personal Fable: They consider themselves as unique human being and they think that nothing wrong can
happen to them.
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Q. 15. Exceptional children
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Ans. Exceptional Children: According to Kirk, an exceptional child is said to be one who is different from the

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normal child in following terms:

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(i) In neuromuscular or physical character- istics.

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(ii) In sensory abilities.
(iii) In mental characteristics.

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(iv) In social or emotional behaviour patterns.
(v) In multiple handicaps to an extent that he/she requires modification of school practices, or special education
services, in order to develop to the fullest potential.
Therefore, an exceptionality of child can be either due to vision, hearing, perceptual-motor movement related,
communication problems, mental characteristics or due to socio-emotional problems. It should be made clear here
that exceptionality may be taken either a positive direction or a negative direction. When it is positive, the child will be
gifted and talented. When it is negative, the child can be one out of these – handicapped, learning disabled, behavioural
issues and like. There is one more category which is known as ‘children at risk’ which currently have no problems or
issues but can develop some in near future. There may be many precipitating factors behind it, such as family
problems, biological issues, socialization issues, etc.

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 Special education especially designed instruction, support, and services provided to students with an identified
disability requiring an individually–designed instructional program to meet their unique learning needs. Special education
is provided to the following group of students:
Group A Group B
(1) Learning disabled Gifted and Talented
(2) Speech or language impaired
(3) Mentally Retarded
(4) Emotionally or behaviourally disturbed
(5) Autistic
(6) Deaf – Blind
(7) Traumatic brain disordered
(8) Severely Multiple handicapped
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(9) Developmental Delay

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Q. 16. Remedial programmes for learning disability.

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Ans. Remedial Programs for Ld: All the children do not possess the same degree of LD, therefore the

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education plan should also be customized according to the need of the child. There is a provision of individualized
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education plan now a days in schools. This promotes growth and development of all the children according to the need
of each child related to reading, writing, and arithmetic.
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1. Direct instruction: Direct instruction method is used for management of LD. This is highly organized and

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structured teaching strategy for treatment of LD. This is made after detailed analysis of the problem of the child.
There is development of a goal and step by step, the strategy goes to achieve the goal. Direct instruction method is
utilized in combination with Cognitive Instruction Method which includes attending, responding, rehearsing, giving

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feedback, again analyzing the response, etc.

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2. Multisensory Instructional Strategies: These strategies focus on senses like seeing, listening, speaking,
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benefit through some other sense.
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touching and movement. The educator clarifies the study material by means of projection slides, cassettes, DVDs to

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involve more than one senses. The child may be incompetent in handling one sense but not all. In this way, he/she may

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3. Social Skills Training: The educator teaches the child the technique of interacting with others. They are
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taught social etiquettes and the child who is incompetent in dealing with others benefits by such skills.

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4. Study Skill Training: The children are taught the smart skills of handling their notes, study material. They are
taught techniques of better memorizing abilities which help them in carrying out their daily requirement in school.

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They can be made aware of strategies like mnemonics, acronyms which can help them in improving their learning
styles.

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5. Inclusion Strategies: It has become mandatory to educate all the children together including those who are

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normal and also those who are learning disabled. There is an option of using extra equipment needed by the LD
children and special educator can also be present in the class. Inclusion is supported by the Right to Education and
other rights related to equality. LD children get motivation when they study with other normal children and they do not

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feel discriminated.
6. Peer-mediated Instruction and Computer assisted Instruction: Now-a-days, various strategies are
being implemented in schools to manage LD. One such strategy is peer mediated instruction. Normal children who
are very bright can help out the LD children. Computer can be used to provided automatic instructions to LD children.
There is an increased need of caution to be held by the teachers and school psychologists.
Q. 17. Role of a teacher for gifted and talented children.
Ans. Role of the teacher: The teacher should understand the fact that talented and gifted children spent more
of their time in studying and they have something to say related to the topic. These children should be given chance to
speak in front of other students. The teacher should encourage these children, so that they perform even better.
These children should be provided with reference material and computer resources.

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 Q. 18. Ethical aspects in the study of life span development.
Ans. Issues in Life Span Development: There are a number of issues which are of concern to life span
development. They are as follows:
(i) Nature vs Nurture: Whether the development is affected by heredity or environment? This is one of the
oldest debate and study of life span psychology attempts to find the answer to whether the genes have the more
important role to play in the development of an individual or the environment. For its clarification, many adoption
studies and twin studies have been done but still there is no sure answer to it. According to those who believe that
nature guides development, they believe that the development depends on the heredity and genetic makeup. They
believe the characteristics of father and mother will determine what kind of personality a child will develop. On the
other hand, those who believe that development is guided by nurture i.e. environment, they believe that though there
is role of genetics in forming a child and giving entity to a new individual, they still believe that it is the environment
which affects remarkably to what kind of person a child will become. For example: This can be confirmed with the

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adoption studies. The child who is born to an affluent and very civilized family and due to some circumstances, the
same child is raised in either orphanage or in a slum, will develop an accent quite different from his biological parents.

environment in which he is brought up.

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Not only the accent but all the habits, his outlook towards life and self will be tremendously influenced by the

(ii) Continuity vs Discontinuity: There is a question, whether the development is continuous or discontinuous?

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According to theorists who believe that development is continuous, they believe that it is relatively a smooth process
without any predetermined stages while on the other hand, the theorists who believe that development is discontinuous
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believe that each individual passes through definite stages and fixation at any stage results in haltered development.

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For example: The notion that development is continuous is confirmed by the fact that an individual accumulate small

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experiences at different point in time and all these experiences combine to form his identity or self- concept later in
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life. Therefore, it cannot be said that experience once felt by an individual will be lost after one stage ends, it has its
role to play in the longer run. a
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(iii) Stability vs Change: Stability versus change is another issue that asks whether a determinant of development
stays stable or change with due course of time? For example, whether a child who is extrovert in nature will remain
so across his lifespan or not? Whether a woman who remains anxious will endure these characteristic over her

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lifetime or she may become balanced in her attitude and become more relaxed. These questions raise doubts in the
study of development whether development is more stable or is bound to change. While some traits and attitudes are
there to change throughout lifetime, there are some things like temperament that is relative stable which remains
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same throughout life.

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