Elements of Educational Psychology (Иностранный язык в профессиональной сфере — психология). Учебное пособие

intelligence as “a general adaptability to new problems and conditions of life”. E.L. Thorndike considers it “as the power of good responses from the point of view of truth or a fact”. Robert Woodworth identifies it with general adaptability, the ability to adjust means to ends and to reach a goal. Many psychologists have defined it simply as the ability to learn. But most agree that it helps us meet new situations, adapt ourselves to changing environments and solve problems. It is a composite function of the mind and is innate. It is a mental alertness.

We may distinguish four distinct views about the nature of intelligence:

• there is the popular view describing intelligence as a general “all-pervading mental power” that helps us solve problems and make successful adjustments to new situations;

• it is an “all-round mental efficiency” which enables people to do equally well in all types of work;

Spearman calls it the monarchic view as it takes one supreme power directing the rest;

• the anarchic theory of Thorndike that can be considered as opposite to Spearman’s one regards intelligence as a general name for a number of specific abilities.

They have common elements but these common elements do not make up the same kind.

All specific abilities are independent of one another. Knowing a person’s ability in one direction, we can infer absolutely nothing of his ability in other directions. If a child is good at history, absolutely nothing can be judged from it about his achievements in chemistry, music and painting. This is an extreme form of the oligarchic view and accepts a limited group of abilities, regarding each mind as a sample group. Alfred Binet emphasized three distinct manifestations of intelligence; Godfrey H. Thomson urged that in any mental activity a number of mental qualities come into operation.

P.E. Vernon identifies three divisions of intelligence, namely:

•biological, meant for environmental adjustment;

•psychological, meant for carrying out abstract thinking;

•operational, meant for specifying intelligent behaviors.

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E.L. Thorndike suggests three types of intelligence which are used as:

•concrete intelligence, capable of grasping at concrete and substantial situations,

•abstract intelligence, capable of dealing with abstract and met-

aphysical contexts,

• social intelligence is the ability of an individual for a group life. The following synonymous statements can be addressed to

the term “intelligence”:

•it is the ability to profit from experience;

•it is the ability to perceive & discover relationships;

•it is the ability to puncture complacency;

•it is the problem solving ability.

E.L. Thorndike’s multifactor theory upholds that intelligence is a multitude of several elements each being a minute form of ability. Anymentalactinvolvesthejointworkingoftheseminuteelements.Не specifies the attributes of intelligence as levels, range, area, and speed.

L.L. Thurstone’s group factor theory of intelligence advocates that it is made up of six primary mental abilities, namely:

•number factor (N);

•space factor (S);

•verbal factor (V);

•word fluency factor (W);

•reasoning factor (R);

•memory factor (M).

The structure of the intellect in Guilford’s view is based upon the idea — an intellectual ability consists of doing a specific cognitive operation on a specific content to produce a specific product. The structure is having three dimensions:

1. The operation dimension:

•cognition (C);

•memory (M);

•divergent thinking (D);

•convergent thinking (C);

•evaluation (E).

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2.The content dimension:

• figural (F);

• symbolic (S);

• semantic (S);

• behavioral (B).

3.The product dimension:

• units (U);

• classes (C);

• relations (R);

• systems (S);

• transformations (T);

• implications (I).

Alfred Binet is supposed to be the father of intelligence measure-

ment because of his scientific, systematic and logical orientation for the said purpose. He considered:

•chronological age is the actual age of an individual, which is calculated from the date of birth;

•mentalageis the maturity level of an individual in terms of age

and experience;

• basalageis that age of an individual below which he is capable of passing all the intellectual intricacies relevant to that particular age group.

Intelligence quotient as conceptualized by Stern represents the degree of intellectual fertility sustained by an individual. The working formula for calculation of I.Q. is:

MC..AA..×100

In accordance with the nature of the intelligence tests, these are classified into two groups, namely:

•verbal tests, involving language, vocabulary, symbols etc.;

•non-verbal or performance tests, comprising some activities.

From the administration angles of consideration the two groups are:

•individual tests;

•group tests.

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The latest theory is that of Spearman and is known as the Two Factor Theory. He believes that a general intellectual behavior, which he calls g for abbreviation, influences to a greater or less degree the whole mental activity. But it does so in cooperation with a number of specific factors which he calls s.The general factor g is constant for any one individual, for example, talent for music, ability in mathematics or facility of expression, and so on. The individual intellectual performances of any one individual have a positive relation to each other and this grouping is due to the presence and working of g, the general factor. But each type of performance is determined by a specific factor s. there are many s’s but only one g for one individual. That is why people who show ability for one thing are likely, on an average, to show abilities in other directions as well. If a person is inferior in one line, he is likely to be so in others too, as he has a low degree of g. Besides, mental abilities derive their special characteristics from various kinds of abilities or qualities known as s factors.

Measuring Intelligence

Levels of intelligence have been recognized since a man began to be educated. There are degrees of resourcefulness, alertness or intelligenceandsomelearnersarebelievedtobe moregifted thanthe others. Every teacher ranges his class in order of merit and his judgement is based on observations of learners under varying situations. But even long acquaintance does not provide more than a rough basis for a judgement. At first, the teacher’s observation is not varied enough, and secondly, he often takes into account such qualities as cleanliness, manners, the color of the eyes etc. which have nothing with intelligence. His judgement, therefore, remains unscientific.

The first successful attempt to measure intelligence was made by Alfred Binet, a French psychologist. He was asked by the school authorities of Paris to devise a way of distinguishing the bright pupils from the dull. He saw that in order to distinguish intellectually normal children from the sub-normal, he should find out some means of measuring intelligence, that no single test would do, and that children increase in ability as they grow up. With this assumptions he devised

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(with the help of Simon) a number of tests, grated them in difficulty according to age and requiring information of a non-scholastic nature which every normal child of a particular age could be expected to possess.

Summary

1.Intelligence is a hypothetical construct and a very controversial concept. Generally, we mean by it the mental or a cognitive ability of an individual. It is defined as the aggregate capacity of an individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his environment.

2.The outcome of the intelligence tests serves the following purposes — for homogeneous grouping, for diagnosis of backwardness, for distinguishing gifted individuals, for giving educational guidance, vocational guidance, to estimate personality etc. It is also aimed at the following: how people should be taught knowledge and skills, how they should be helped to acquire habits, develop healthy attitudes, thinking, emotions and sentiments, what is the nature of their intelligence and how their personality develop.

Study questions and tasks

1.What is intelligence and what are the types of it?

2.What is I.Q.? Illustrate its calculation.

3.Discuss the various ways of measuring intelligence.

4.What are the educational implications of intelligence tests?

5.Give a comparison of verbal and performance tests on intelligence.

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Chapter 6

Motivation and Individual Differences Creativity

The Meaning and Nature of Motivation

Motivation is supposed to have been originated from the Greek word“movere”whichmeans“todriveforward”.So,motivationrefers to an aroused state of an organism to act in a specific manner and direction. A shrewd observation reveals that a behavior of the organism is the result of certain motives that initiate, control and guides all sorts of actions, behavior and functioning. A variety of motives do activate the organism all the time in various degrees depending upon the magnitude and urgency of those in different settings. Atkinson defines, “Motivation refers to the arousal of tendency to act or produce one or more effects”. Maslow states, “Motivation is a constant, never ending fluctuating process”.

There are two kinds of motivation — intrinsic or internal and ex­ trinsic or external motivation. Intrinsic or internal motivation develops from within the organism out of certain natural forces for which it is also otherwise called as natural motivation.

Internal or intrinsic motivation develops from within the organism out of certain natural forces for which it is also called as natural motivation. The various measures for developing intrinsic motivation in the pupils are: by specifying the aims and objectives of the learning materials, by curiosity, by involving the ego, providing knowledge of result, heightening the aspiration level of the pupils.

Extrinsic or external motivation develops from the environmental influences and can be also called an artificial motivation. The following factors like praise and blame, rewards and punishment, fascinating school environment, suitable curriculum, use of appropriate audio and visual aids etc. cause external motivation to grow.

Individual differences being a universal reality, magnificently affects the classroom climate, so, it deserves proper care and caution. The following provision should be stressed upon homogeneous group-

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ingofthelearners,recognitionofexceptionalchildren,arichandfertile school environment, resourceful staff, individualized instruction and adulteducation.Thesemeasurescanpalliatethekickbacksofindividual differences very much. Let us discuss some major measures. They are:

•resourceful staff;

•individualized instruction;

•adult education.

Resourceful staff: A band of resourceful and versatile teaching staff is highly indispensable since only well equipped school environment cannot in any circumstance bring satisfactory results. It is efficient and effective teacher whose talent of manipulation and management of the situations would be an utter success. The tactful handling of the various vulnerable situations by the veteran teacher ensures an accelerated pace of the pupils, entrusted to his care.

Individualized Instruction: The teacher should explore the possibilities of imparting individual based instructions in various contexts where such an approach is badly needed. The teacher should resort to the different and sophisticated techniques, procedures and methods to enhance his efforts in this direction. For such purposes procedures like project method, programmed learning, micro teaching, assignment method, supervised study etc. prove to be highly beneficial.

Adult education: The sensitivity and impact of individual differences should be disseminated among the parents and other adult members of the society who often influence the behaviour of the pupil. A working knowledge of this vulnerable fact of individual difference would enable them to deal effectively with the pupils.

The Meaning and Nature of Creativity

Every individual is creative in a broader consideration, although there are variations in terms of degree and dimensions. Generally, creativity is considered to be the capability to evolve something unprec­ edented and innovative.

Creativity is a very precious and unique quality in a man that enables him to go beyond learning and use his talents in solving new problems of in marvelous ways.

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Such steps as readiness or preparation, internalization or incubation, illumination or creation and verification or revision follow any creative act.

For fostering creativity in children, the following essential points should be pointed out: proper elaboration, free imagination, fearless expression, analogical exposition, divergent thinking, cautions etc.

Creativity is hindered by a number of factors originating from personal as well as social domains.

According to JameAdam’s specification the personal hindrances are — fear of taking risk, lack of tolerance for ambiguity, quick judgment and lack of imagination.

The hindering factors that emanate from social and domestic spheres include suppressions and restrictions, lack of opportunities, criticism and underestimations by persons of high esteem.

Instead of filling the creative talent of the child if it is repressed some adverse consequences are experienced. The child goes downer and downer, in certain cases psychosis and neurosis results.

Torrance’s test for measuring creativity comprises both verbal and figural features meant for testing fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration etc.The different dimensions of the test are ask and guess, produceimprovementunusualuse,justsuppose,pictureconstructions, incomplete figures and repeated figures.

Summary

1.Motivation is the undisturbed pursuance of a specific thing that matters much due to some motives inherent in it. It is always desirable onthepartofthelearnerstogetproperlymotivatedtowardsthe kindof learning materials they are subjected to. In fact, motivation is the prerequisite for all kinds of learning and once the learners are well motivated, half the battle of learning is supposed to be won. It is the prime task of the teacher to motivate the pupils towards his business of learning by adopting various techniques suitable to the contexts.

2.The functions of motivation can be highlighted in five “p” words: behavior is produced and prolified, promoted and pointed as well as pressurized and get penetrated into.

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3.Basically, there are two kinds of motivation — intrinsic or internal and extrinsic or external motivation. Intrinsic or internal motivation develops from within the organism out of certain natural forces for which it is also otherwise called as natural motivation.

4.Creativity is nothing but the ability to create something that must be new and unprecedented.Acreative individual is rich in divergent thinking, sustaining tremendous desire for exploration.Anumber of traits like fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, sensitivity to problems and openness to experience are raw materials for creativity.

Study questions and tasks

1.What is motivation?

2.Motivation as a prerequisite for learning. Explain it.

3.What are the types of motivation?

4.Discuss the various functions of motivation.

5.What is creativity? Give the definition of it.

6.What are the characteristics of a creative person?

7.What is an individual difference? What are the types of it?

8.Whatshould be donebytheteacherto improveexternalmotivation among the pupils?

9.How can intrinsic motivation be activated?

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Chapter 7

Attention and Interest

The General Nature ofAttention

Attention is always present in conscious life and is common to all types of mental activity — knowing, feeling and willing. It is the primary pre-condition of all of them. We must attend before we know, feel or act. It is a characteristic of all conscious life. But attention is more essentiallycognitive.Itistheconcentrationofconsciousnessuponone object rather than another. Attention is the heart of the conscious pro­ cess. It is an attitude of readiness or preparedness for an action.

Marks of theAttention Process

Perhaps the nature of attention can be better understood by describing its general characteristics.

At first, attention is neither a fixed state nor a faculty nor a power of mind. It is an activity, a growing process and like every mental act, it cannot be centered round any object to another.

Secondly, the process of attention has all the tree aspects of conscious life:

•knowing;

•feeling;

•willing.

Thirdly, attention is selective. We do not attend to everything that comes our way.

The Importance ofAttention

Attention is a preparatory attitude and involves important physical adjustments.

At first, attention increases efficiency.

Secondly, attention greatly improves sensory discrimination. It does so in two ways. Attention to some certain objects makes them ‘stand out’more conspicuously than the surrounding ones.

Thirdly, attention is necessary as a means to the acquisition of skill.

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