मानसशास्त्र Psychology

Quick summary

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings and behaviour are influenced by the real, imagined or implied presence of others. It studies topics such as social perception, attitudes, prejudice, groups, conformity, leadership, aggression and helping. It uses scientific methods like experiments, field studies, surveys and observation.

Key points

• Gordon Allport defined social psychology as an attempt to understand how the thought, feeling and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.
• Social psychology (सामाजिक मानसशास्त्र) studies the individual in a social situation, while sociology studies groups and society as a whole.
• In 1908, two early textbooks titled Social Psychology appeared — by William McDougall (psychologist) and E.A. Ross (sociologist).
• Norman Triplett (1898) did one of the first social psychology experiments: cyclists rode faster when racing with others (social facilitation).
• Floyd Allport's Social Psychology (1924) made the subject more experimental.
• Kurt Lewin is called the father of modern social psychology. He gave the formula B = f(P, E) — behaviour is a function of the person and the environment.
• Social psychology grew rapidly after World War II, studying prejudice, propaganda and obedience.
• It is scientific: it uses systematic observation, experiments and data, not common sense alone.

Important terms

• Social influence – the effect of others on a person's behaviour (conformity, compliance, obedience).
• Social cognition – how we think about and interpret social information.
• Social facilitation – better performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.
• Social loafing – reduced effort when working in a group (Ringelmann effect).
• Field experiment – an experiment done in a natural setting.
• Sociometry – method by J.L. Moreno to measure likes and dislikes among group members (sociogram).

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. Define social psychology.

Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals' thoughts, feelings and behaviour are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other people (Allport).

Q2. What is social loafing?

Social loafing is the tendency of people to put in less effort when working in a group than when working alone, because individual effort is not easily noticed.

Q3. Explain the nature of social psychology.

• Scientific study using systematic methods.
• Focus on the individual in social context.
• Studies both behaviour and mental processes (thoughts, feelings).
• Both pure and applied (education, health, law, organisations).
• Interdisciplinary: linked with sociology and anthropology.
• Studies real, imagined and implied presence of others.

Q4. Describe the scope (subject matter) of social psychology.

• Social perception and attribution.
• Attitudes and attitude change.
• Prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination.
• Groups, conformity, leadership.
• Aggression and prosocial behaviour.
• Applications: health, law, environment, organisations.

Q5. Explain the methods of social psychology.

• Laboratory and field experiments: IV, DV, control.
• Survey method: questionnaire and interview.
• Observation: participant and non-participant.
• Correlational and case study methods.
• Sociometry: sociogram of group choices.
• Ethics: consent, privacy, debriefing.

Exam tip

Quote Allport's definition and Lewin's formula B = f(P, E). Distinguish social psychology from sociology in one or two lines — it is a common short question.

Quick summary

The self is the way we think about and evaluate ourselves. Our self-concept and self-esteem are formed largely through other people — how they react to us and how we compare ourselves with them. Social psychologists study self-concept, self-esteem, self-presentation, self-serving bias and how culture shapes the self.

Key points

• Self-concept (स्वसंकल्पना) – the organised set of beliefs a person holds about himself ("I am hard-working, a good singer, shy").
• Self-esteem (स्वाभिमान / आत्मसन्मान) – the overall positive or negative evaluation of oneself. Morris Rosenberg's 10-item scale (1965) is widely used.
• William James (1890) distinguished the "I" (self as knower) and the "Me" (self as known).
• Charles Cooley's "looking-glass self" (1902) – we see ourselves as we think others see us.
• George Herbert Mead – the self develops through social interaction and role-taking.
• Leon Festinger's social comparison theory (1954) – we judge our abilities and opinions by comparing with others; upward comparison (with better-off people) can motivate or hurt; downward comparison can raise self-esteem.
• Self-serving bias – taking credit for success (internal causes) and blaming failure on external causes.
• Self-presentation / impression management (Erving Goffman, 1959) – we act to create a desired image in others' minds.
• Self-monitoring (Mark Snyder) – high self-monitors change behaviour to suit the situation; low self-monitors act on inner feelings.
• Self-efficacy (Albert Bandura) – belief in one's ability to succeed at a task.
• Culture and self: independent self in individualistic cultures (USA) and interdependent self in collectivistic cultures (India, Japan) where family and group roles define the person (Markus and Kitayama, 1991).

Important terms

• Ideal self – the person one wishes to be; actual self – the person one thinks one is (Carl Rogers).
• Self-schema – a mental structure about oneself that guides attention and memory.
• Self-handicapping – creating excuses before a task to protect self-esteem (not studying before an exam).
• Spotlight effect – believing others notice us more than they really do.
• Self-verification – seeking feedback that confirms our existing self-view.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is self-esteem?

Self-esteem is a person's overall evaluation of his own worth — how much he likes and values himself. High self-esteem is linked with confidence and good mental health.

Q2. Explain the looking-glass self.

Cooley said other people act like a mirror. We imagine how we appear to others, imagine their judgement, and develop feelings of pride or shame about ourselves.

Q3. How does the self-concept develop?

• Reactions of parents, teachers and peers (looking-glass self).
• Social comparison with others.
• Social roles and identities (student, son, team member).
• Culture: independent vs interdependent self.
• Own achievements and failures.

Q4. Explain self-presentation and self-monitoring.

• Goffman: life as a stage; front-stage and back-stage behaviour.
• Strategies: ingratiation, self-promotion, modesty.
• Snyder's high and low self-monitors with examples.
• Uses in interviews, social media profiles.

Q5. Discuss the role of culture in shaping the self.

• Individualistic cultures: personal goals, uniqueness, independent self.
• Collectivistic cultures (India): family duty, harmony, interdependent self.
• Effects on self-esteem, emotions, self-serving bias (weaker in collectivistic cultures).
• Example from Indian joint family life.

Exam tip

Connect each idea to a thinker and a year (Cooley 1902, Festinger 1954, Goffman 1959) — this makes even a short answer look well prepared.

Quick summary

Social perception is the process by which we form impressions of other people and understand their behaviour. Attribution is the process of explaining the causes of behaviour — our own and others'. Theories by Heider, Jones and Davis, and Kelley explain how we make attributions, and common biases like the fundamental attribution error show how our judgments can go wrong.

Key points

• Social perception (सामाजिक प्रत्यक्षीकरण) involves forming impressions from appearance, facial expressions, body language, words and actions.
• Non-verbal cues: facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, posture, tone of voice, touch and personal space.
• Solomon Asch (1946) showed that central traits like "warm" or "cold" strongly shape our overall impression of a person.
• Primacy effect: first information has a stronger effect on impressions ("first impression is the last impression").
• Recency effect: the latest information has a stronger effect, especially after a time gap.
• Halo effect: one good quality leads us to see the person positively in all ways.
• Fritz Heider (1958), the father of attribution theory, said people act as "naive scientists" and explain behaviour by internal (dispositional) or external (situational) causes.
• Jones and Davis (correspondent inference theory): we infer a person's traits from behaviour that is freely chosen, has unusual (non-common) effects and is not socially expected.
• Harold Kelley's covariation model uses three types of information: consensus, consistency and distinctiveness.
• Bernard Weiner linked attributions for success and failure to locus, stability and controllability.

Important terms

• Impression formation – combining information about a person into an overall picture.
• Implicit personality theory – our beliefs about which traits go together.
• Stereotype – a fixed, oversimplified belief about members of a group.
• Fundamental attribution error – overestimating internal causes and underestimating situational causes for others' behaviour.
• Actor–observer bias – we explain our own behaviour by the situation but others' behaviour by their traits.
• Self-serving bias – we take credit for success (internal) and blame failure on outside factors (external).
• Impression management – efforts to control how others see us.

Important thinkers and theories

• Low consensus + high consistency + low distinctiveness → internal attribution.
• High consensus + high consistency + high distinctiveness → external attribution.
• Example: Ravi laughs at a comedian. If everyone laughs (high consensus), Ravi always laughs at him (high consistency) and Ravi rarely laughs at others (high distinctiveness) → the comedian is funny (external).

5 important questions

Q1. What is the halo effect?

It is the tendency to judge a person as good in all respects because of one positive trait, such as good looks.

Q2. Define the fundamental attribution error.

It is the tendency to explain others' behaviour mainly by their personality and to ignore the influence of the situation.

Q3. Explain Kelley's covariation model of attribution.

• People act like scientists, checking what varies with behaviour.
• Consensus, consistency, distinctiveness explained.
• Pattern for internal attribution.
• Pattern for external attribution.
• Example with explanation.
• Limitation: people do not always use all information.

Q4. Describe the process of impression formation.

• Use of cues: appearance, non-verbal behaviour, words.
• Asch's central traits (warm–cold).
• Primacy and recency effects.
• Halo effect and implicit personality theories.
• Stereotypes as shortcuts.
• Impression management by the perceived person.

Q5. Explain the biases in attribution.

• Fundamental attribution error.
• Actor–observer bias.
• Self-serving bias.
• Belief in a just world (victims "deserve" it).
• False consensus effect.
• Effects: misunderstanding, blame, prejudice.

Exam tip

Draw Kelley's model as a table and explain one everyday example. Short-answer questions often ask for definitions of the biases — learn them exactly.

Quick summary

An attitude is a learned, fairly lasting tendency to evaluate a person, object, group or idea in a favourable or unfavourable way. Attitudes have three components: affective, behavioural and cognitive (the ABC model). They are formed through learning, experience and social influences, can be measured by scales, and can be changed through persuasion and cognitive dissonance.

Key points

• An attitude (अभिवृत्ती) is a state of mind, a set of views or thoughts, about some topic (the attitude object), with an evaluative feature.
• ABC model: Affective (feelings), Behavioural (tendency to act), Cognitive (beliefs and thoughts).
• Example: "I like yoga (A), I go to yoga class daily (B), I believe yoga improves health (C)."
• Features of attitudes: valence (positive or negative), extremeness, simplicity or complexity, centrality.
• Attitudes are formed by classical conditioning, operant conditioning (rewards), observational learning, direct experience, family, school, peers, media and culture.
• LaPiere's (1934) study showed attitudes and behaviour may not always match.
• Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory (1957): when two thoughts (cognitions) conflict, we feel discomfort and change one of them, often our attitude.
• Fritz Heider's balance theory: P–O–X triangle; imbalance leads to attitude change.
• Persuasion depends on the source (credibility, attractiveness), the message (one-sided or two-sided, fear appeals) and the audience (intelligence, self-esteem, mood).
• Elaboration likelihood model (Petty and Cacioppo): central route (careful thinking about arguments) and peripheral route (cues like attractiveness).

Important terms

• Attitude object – the thing towards which an attitude is held.
• Belief – the cognitive part of an attitude.
• Value – a deep belief about what is important in life.
• Cognitive dissonance – mental discomfort due to conflicting thoughts or between attitude and action.
• Persuasion – deliberate effort to change attitudes through messages.
• Sleeper effect – a message from a low-credibility source becomes more persuasive after some time.

Important thinkers and theories

• Likert example: "Mobile phones are harmful to students" — Strongly agree / Agree / Undecided / Disagree / Strongly disagree.

5 important questions

Q1. Define attitude.

An attitude is a relatively stable, learned tendency to respond favourably or unfavourably towards a person, object, group or idea.

Q2. What is the Likert scale?

It is a summated rating scale where respondents mark their degree of agreement with statements (usually five points, from strongly agree to strongly disagree), and scores are added to get the attitude score.

Q3. Explain the components of attitude.

• Affective: emotions and feelings.
• Behavioural: tendency to act.
• Cognitive: beliefs and knowledge.
• Example showing all three.
• Components are related but may not always match.

Q4. Explain how attitudes are formed.

• Classical conditioning: association with pleasant/unpleasant things.
• Operant conditioning: rewards and punishments.
• Observational learning from parents and peers.
• Direct experience.
• Family, school, reference groups, media and culture.
• Genetic factors play a small role.

Q5. Explain Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory.

• Conflicting cognitions cause tension.
• People try to reduce dissonance.
• Methods: change attitude, change behaviour, add new thoughts, reduce importance.
• Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) "1 dollar vs 20 dollars" experiment: those paid only 1 dollar changed attitude more.
• Example: a smoker who knows smoking is harmful.

Exam tip

Use the ABC model with a personal example and name each measurement scale with its developer. Cognitive dissonance is frequently asked as a long answer.

Quick summary

Attitudes are not fixed; they can be changed by persuasive communication, by personal experience and by the discomfort of holding inconsistent beliefs. Persuasion depends on who says it (source), what is said (message), how it is said (channel) and to whom (audience). Cognitive dissonance theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model explain how attitudes change.

Key points

• Persuasion (मन वळवणे) – deliberate attempt to change attitudes through messages.
• Yale approach (Carl Hovland, 1950s): who says what to whom → source, message, audience.
• Source factors: credibility (expertise + trustworthiness), attractiveness, similarity with audience. The sleeper effect – a message from a low-credibility source becomes more persuasive with time as the source is forgotten.
• Message factors: one-sided messages suit friendly or less educated audiences; two-sided messages suit intelligent or opposing audiences; moderate fear appeals work when a clear solution is given; repetition increases liking (mere exposure effect, Zajonc).
• Audience factors: intelligence, self-esteem, mood, age (attitudes are more changeable in late adolescence and early adulthood), need for cognition.
• Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986): central route – careful thinking about strong arguments, gives lasting change; peripheral route – superficial cues like celebrity or music, gives short-term change.
• Cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger, 1957) – discomfort when attitudes and behaviour conflict; we reduce it by changing an attitude, changing behaviour or adding justifying thoughts. Festinger and Carlsmith (1959): people paid 1 dollar to lie that a dull task was interesting later rated it as more enjoyable than those paid 20 dollars.
• Balance theory (Fritz Heider) – people prefer consistent relations among person, other and object.
• Self-perception theory (Daryl Bem) – we infer our attitudes by observing our own behaviour.
• Resisting persuasion: forewarning, inoculation (McGuire – exposure to weak counter-arguments builds resistance), reactance (resisting when freedom feels threatened).

Important terms

• Credibility – how believable a source is.
• Fear appeal – message that arouses fear to change behaviour (anti-tobacco ads).
• Foot-in-the-door – a small request first, then a larger one.
• Door-in-the-face – a large request that is refused, then a smaller one.
• Reactance – opposing pressure to protect one's freedom.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is the sleeper effect?

It is the delayed increase in the persuasiveness of a message from a low-credibility source, because over time people remember the message but forget the source.

Q2. Define cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is the uncomfortable tension felt when a person holds two inconsistent beliefs, or when behaviour conflicts with attitude (Festinger).

Q3. Explain the factors in persuasive communication.

• Source: credibility, attractiveness, similarity.
• Message: one- vs two-sided, fear appeals, repetition, order.
• Channel: face-to-face, TV, social media.
• Audience: intelligence, self-esteem, mood, age.
• Examples from Indian advertising and health campaigns.

Q4. Describe Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance with an experiment.

• Statement of the theory; magnitude of dissonance.
• Ways of reducing dissonance with a smoker example.
• Festinger and Carlsmith's 1 dollar/20 dollars experiment and its result.
• Applications: decisions, effort justification.

Q5. Explain the Elaboration Likelihood Model.

• Two routes: central and peripheral.
• Factors deciding the route: motivation and ability to think.
• Durability of change in each route.
• Examples: buying a phone after comparing specs vs because a film star endorses it.

Exam tip

For attitude-change answers, always describe Festinger and Carlsmith's experiment correctly: the 1 dollar group, not the 20 dollars group, changed its attitude more.

Quick summary

Prejudice is a negative attitude towards members of a group just because they belong to that group. Stereotypes are its cognitive part, and discrimination is its behavioural part. Prejudice arises from social learning, competition, social categorisation, frustration and personality factors. It can be reduced through contact, education, common goals and laws.

Key points

• Prejudice (पूर्वग्रह) literally means "pre-judgment" — judging before knowing.
• Gordon Allport's The Nature of Prejudice (1954) is a classic book on the topic.
• Stereotype = belief (cognitive); prejudice = negative feeling (affective); discrimination = unfair action (behavioural).
• Prejudice can be based on caste, religion, gender, race, region, language, class or disability.
• In India, untouchability was abolished by Article 17 of the Constitution, and caste discrimination is punishable by law.
• Realistic conflict theory: competition for scarce resources creates hostility. Muzafer Sherif's Robbers Cave experiment (1954) with boys at a summer camp showed this, and also showed that superordinate goals reduced conflict.
• Social identity theory (Henri Tajfel and John Turner): people divide the world into in-groups ("us") and out-groups ("them") and favour their in-group to raise self-esteem.
• Frustration–aggression / scapegoating: frustration may be displaced onto weaker groups.
• Authoritarian personality (Adorno and colleagues, 1950): rigid, obedient people are more prone to prejudice.
• Social learning: children learn prejudice from parents, peers and media.

Important terms

• In-group – a group to which a person belongs and feels "we".
• Out-group – a group to which a person does not belong ("they").
• In-group bias – favouring one's own group.
• Scapegoat – a weaker person or group blamed for others' problems.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy – expectations about a group make them behave in that way.
• Contact hypothesis – meaningful contact between groups reduces prejudice (Allport).
• Jigsaw classroom – cooperative learning method (Elliot Aronson) where each student holds part of the lesson.

Important thinkers and theories

• Conditions for effective contact (Allport): equal status, common goals, cooperation, support of authorities/law.

5 important questions

Q1. Distinguish between prejudice and discrimination.

Prejudice is a negative attitude or feeling towards a group. Discrimination is the unfair behaviour or action against members of that group.

Q2. What is a stereotype?

A stereotype is an oversimplified and fixed belief that all members of a group share the same characteristics.

Q3. Explain the sources of prejudice.

• Social learning from family and society.
• Realistic group conflict over resources.
• Social categorisation: in-group vs out-group.
• Scapegoating due to frustration.
• Authoritarian personality.
• Stereotypes and self-fulfilling prophecy.

Q4. Describe Sherif's Robbers Cave experiment.

• 22 boys divided into two groups at a camp.
• Stage 1: in-group formation.
• Stage 2: competition led to hostility and name-calling.
• Stage 3: superordinate goals (e.g. fixing the water supply) required cooperation.
• Hostility reduced; shows realistic conflict theory and its remedy.

Q5. Suggest methods to reduce prejudice.

• Education and awareness about other groups.
• Intergroup contact under right conditions.
• Superordinate goals and cooperation.
• Jigsaw classrooms in schools.
• Laws against discrimination (Article 17, SC/ST Act).
• Media and role models promoting equality.

Exam tip

Remember the ABC link: stereotype–prejudice–discrimination. Use Indian examples like caste and regional prejudice, and quote the contact hypothesis conditions.

Quick summary

A group is two or more people who interact, depend on each other and share common goals. Groups have structure — roles, norms, status and cohesiveness — and they influence the behaviour of members. Conformity, compliance and obedience are forms of social influence. Classic studies by Sherif, Asch and Milgram show how strongly group pressure and authority affect people.

Key points

• A group (समूह) is a collection of two or more people who interact, are interdependent, have common goals and see themselves as a group.
• A crowd or a collection of people at a bus stop is not a true group, because there is no stable interaction or structure.
• Types of groups: primary (family, close friends) and secondary (college, office); formal and informal; in-group and out-group; membership and reference groups.
• Charles Horton Cooley introduced the idea of the primary group.
• Tuckman's stages of group formation: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.
• Group structure: roles, norms, status and cohesiveness.
• Conformity (अनुरूपता) is changing one's behaviour to match group norms.
• Muzafer Sherif (1935) used the autokinetic effect (a still light in a dark room seems to move) to show how group norms form.
• Solomon Asch (1951) line-judgment study: many participants gave clearly wrong answers to agree with the group.
• Stanley Milgram (1963) obedience study: many participants obeyed an authority figure and gave what they believed were strong electric shocks to a "learner".
• Groupthink (Irving Janis): desire for agreement in a cohesive group leads to poor decisions.

Important terms

• Norms – unwritten rules of expected behaviour in a group.
• Roles – expected behaviour of a person in a particular position.
• Cohesiveness – the "togetherness" or bond among members.
• Compliance – changing behaviour in response to a direct request.
• Obedience – following the orders of an authority figure.
• Normative influence – conforming to be liked or accepted.
• Informational influence – conforming because others seem to know better.
• Group polarisation – group discussion makes members' views more extreme.

Important thinkers and theories

• Factors increasing conformity: group size (up to a point), unanimity, cohesiveness, public responses, low self-esteem, cultural values (collectivist cultures).
• Compliance techniques: foot-in-the-door (small request first), door-in-the-face (large request first, then smaller), low-ball.

5 important questions

Q1. What are group norms?

Group norms are the unwritten rules that tell members how they are expected to behave in the group.

Q2. Distinguish between conformity and obedience.

Conformity is going along with the group's behaviour without a direct order. Obedience is acting according to a direct command from an authority figure.

Q3. Explain the stages of group formation.

• Forming: members get to know each other.
• Storming: conflict about roles and leadership.
• Norming: norms and roles become clear.
• Performing: group works towards goals.
• Adjourning: group ends after the task.

Q4. Describe Asch's experiment on conformity and factors affecting conformity.

• Participants judged which of three lines matched a standard line.
• Confederates gave wrong answers unanimously.
• Many participants conformed on some trials.
• Factors: group size, unanimity (one dissenter reduces conformity), cohesiveness, public response, culture, personality.

Q5. Explain Milgram's study of obedience.

• Participant as "teacher" gave shocks for errors to a "learner" (confederate).
• Shocks seemed to rise from 15 to 450 volts; no real shocks were given.
• About two-thirds obeyed to the highest level in the basic study.
• Factors: legitimate authority, closeness of victim, gradual steps.
• Ethical criticism: stress to participants.

Exam tip

Learn the three classic studies (Sherif, Asch, Milgram) with researcher, year, method and finding. Tuckman's five stages are a common short question.

Quick summary

Social influence means changes in our behaviour caused by other people. Compliance is agreeing to a direct request, and obedience is following an order from an authority. Robert Cialdini explained why people comply, and Stanley Milgram's experiments showed how far ordinary people will go when an authority gives orders. Knowing these processes helps us resist harmful pressure.

Key points

• Social influence (सामाजिक प्रभाव) has three main forms: conformity (going along with a group), compliance (अनुपालन – yielding to a request) and obedience (आज्ञाधारकता – following a command from authority).
• Herbert Kelman (1958) – three levels of influence: compliance (outward agreement to get reward/avoid punishment), identification (accepting influence to be like a liked person) and internalisation (genuine acceptance because it fits one's values).
• Cialdini's six principles of compliance: reciprocity (we return favours), commitment and consistency (we stay consistent with earlier choices), social proof (we do what others do), liking (we agree with people we like), authority (we obey experts) and scarcity (rare things seem more valuable – "only 2 left!").
• Techniques: foot-in-the-door (Freedman and Fraser, 1966), door-in-the-face, low-ball (agreeing to a deal, then the cost rises), that's-not-all (extra offer before the person decides), ingratiation (flattery).
• Milgram's obedience study (1963, Yale): participants as "teachers" were told to give shocks from 15 to 450 volts to a "learner" (an actor). About 65% obeyed up to 450 volts though the learner protested.
• Factors increasing obedience (Milgram's variations): authority's closeness and legitimacy, prestigious setting, distance from the victim, gradual escalation, no disobedient models. Obedience dropped when the experimenter gave orders by phone or when other "teachers" refused.
• Agentic state – people see themselves as agents carrying out another's wishes and feel less responsible.
• Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study (1971) showed the power of roles and situations; it was stopped after 6 days.
• Ethics: Milgram's study raised concerns about deception and stress; today, informed consent and debriefing are compulsory.
• Resisting influence: question legitimacy of authority, remember personal responsibility, notice manipulation tactics, find allies who also refuse.

Important terms

• Compliance – changing behaviour because of a direct request from someone without authority.
• Obedience – changing behaviour because of a command from an authority figure.
• Social proof – using others' behaviour as a guide to what is correct.
• Low-ball technique – getting agreement first, then making the deal less attractive.
• Destructive obedience – obeying orders that harm others (e.g. atrocities in wars).

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. Distinguish between compliance and obedience.

Compliance is agreeing to a request from an equal (a salesman, a friend). Obedience is following an order from someone with authority (a teacher, an officer).

Q2. What is the foot-in-the-door technique?

It is getting a person to agree to a small request first, which makes it more likely that he will agree to a bigger request later (Freedman and Fraser, 1966).

Q3. Explain Cialdini's principles of compliance with examples.

• Reciprocity: free samples in shops.
• Commitment/consistency: signing a small pledge first.
• Social proof: "most popular" labels.
• Liking, authority, scarcity – an example each from daily life or advertising.

Q4. Describe Milgram's experiment on obedience and its findings.

• Aim, set-up (teacher, learner, shock generator, prods).
• Result: 65% went to 450 V.
• Variations and factors affecting obedience.
• Ethical criticism and importance.

Q5. What factors influence obedience? How can destructive obedience be reduced?

• Legitimacy and closeness of authority, distance from victim, gradual commitment, group support.
• Agentic state and diffusion of responsibility.
• Reducing it: education about influence, accountability, questioning motives, disobedient models.

Exam tip

Use exact numbers in Milgram answers — 15 to 450 volts, about 65% fully obedient, Yale 1963 — and always add one line on ethics.

Quick summary

Interpersonal attraction is our positive feeling towards another person, which makes us want to be near them. Proximity, similarity, physical attractiveness and reciprocal liking are the main reasons we like people. Close relationships such as friendship, love and marriage are explained by theories like Sternberg's triangular theory of love, social exchange theory and attachment styles.

Key points

• Interpersonal attraction (आंतरवैयक्तिक आकर्षण) – a positive attitude towards another person, ranging from liking to love.
• Proximity (propinquity) – we like people who live, study or work near us. Festinger, Schachter and Back (1950) found students in a housing complex made friends mostly with next-door neighbours.
• Mere exposure effect (Robert Zajonc) – repeated exposure increases liking.
• Similarity – we like people with similar attitudes, values, interests and background ("birds of a feather"). Donn Byrne's research supports this.
• Complementarity – sometimes different needs fit together (dominant–submissive), but similarity is a stronger predictor.
• Physical attractiveness – the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype (Dion, Berscheid and Walster, 1972). Matching hypothesis – people choose partners of similar attractiveness.
• Reciprocity – we like those who like us.
• Other factors: competence, warmth, familiarity, need for affiliation, positive mood.
• Sternberg's triangular theory of love (1986): three components – intimacy (closeness), passion (physical attraction, romance) and commitment (decision to stay together). Combinations give types: liking (intimacy only), infatuation (passion only), empty love (commitment only), romantic love (intimacy + passion), companionate love (intimacy + commitment), fatuous love (passion + commitment) and consummate love (all three).
• Social exchange theory – relationships continue when rewards are greater than costs. Equity theory – partners feel satisfied when the ratio of give and take is fair.
• Attachment styles in adults (Hazan and Shaver, 1987): secure, anxious-ambivalent and avoidant – based on childhood attachment (Bowlby, Ainsworth).
• Maintaining relationships: communication, trust, commitment, conflict resolution, self-disclosure. Rusbult's investment model explains commitment.

Important terms

• Self-disclosure – sharing personal information; increases intimacy.
• Companionate love – deep friendship and commitment, common in long marriages.
• Passionate love – intense emotional and physical attraction.
• Need for affiliation – desire to be with others.
• Loneliness – painful feeling that one's social relationships are lacking.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is the mere exposure effect?

It is the tendency to like people or things more simply because we see them often. It was demonstrated by Robert Zajonc.

Q2. Name the three components of love in Sternberg's theory.

Intimacy, passion and commitment. When all three are present, the result is consummate love.

Q3. Explain the factors that influence interpersonal attraction.

• Proximity and familiarity.
• Similarity and complementarity.
• Physical attractiveness and the matching hypothesis.
• Reciprocal liking, competence, warmth.
• Examples from college life.

Q4. Describe Sternberg's triangular theory of love.

• Three components with meanings.
• Seven types with combinations (draw a triangle).
• Changes over time: passion falls, commitment may grow.
• Usefulness for understanding marriage.

Q5. Discuss theories explaining close relationships.

• Social exchange (rewards and costs, comparison level).
• Equity theory.
• Attachment styles in adults.
• Ways to maintain healthy relationships.
• Indian context: arranged marriages and growth of companionate love.

Exam tip

Draw Sternberg's triangle with intimacy, passion and commitment at the corners; a labelled diagram secures marks quickly.

Quick summary

Being in a group changes how we perform and decide. The presence of others can improve or weaken performance (social facilitation), people may work less in groups (social loafing), and crowds can make people lose self-awareness (deindividuation). Groups make many important decisions; they can be better than individuals but also fall into traps like groupthink and polarisation.

Key points

• Social facilitation (सामाजिक सुकरता) – Norman Triplett (1898) found cyclists rode faster when racing others than alone; this was among the first social psychology experiments.
• Zajonc's drive theory (1965) – the presence of others increases arousal; this improves performance on simple or well-learned tasks but harms performance on complex or new tasks.
• Evaluation apprehension (Cottrell) – arousal comes from worry about being judged.
• Social loafing (सामाजिक आळस) – people put in less effort in a group task where individual work is not identified. Max Ringelmann found that in rope-pulling each person pulled less as group size increased; Latané, Williams and Harkins (1979) studied it with clapping and shouting.
• Reducing social loafing: make each person's contribution identifiable, keep groups small, give meaningful tasks, build cohesiveness.
• Deindividuation – loss of self-awareness and personal responsibility in crowds, often with anonymity, leading to mob behaviour (Zimbardo; Diener).
• Group decision making – advantages: more knowledge, more ideas, acceptance of decisions; disadvantages: time-consuming, pressure to conform, domination by a few.
• Group polarisation – after discussion, the group's view becomes more extreme in the direction it already leaned (Moscovici and Zavalloni, 1969). Risky shift (James Stoner, 1961) is one form.
• Groupthink (Irving Janis, 1972) – symptoms: illusion of invulnerability, belief in group's morality, stereotyping outsiders, self-censorship, illusion of unanimity, pressure on dissenters, "mindguards". Example: the USA's Bay of Pigs invasion (1961).
• Preventing groupthink: leader stays impartial, a "devil's advocate", invite outside experts, divide into sub-groups, second-chance meeting.
• Techniques for better decisions: brainstorming, nominal group technique, Delphi technique (experts answer anonymously over rounds), majority vote, consensus.

Important terms

• Arousal – a state of physiological alertness.
• Free-rider effect – benefiting from group effort without contributing.
• Risky shift – groups making riskier decisions than individuals.
• Devil's advocate – a person who deliberately argues against the group's view.
• Decision rule – the method used to reach a group decision (majority, unanimity).

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is social loafing?

Social loafing is the tendency of individuals to put in less effort when working in a group than when working alone, especially when individual contributions are not measured.

Q2. What is group polarisation?

Group discussion strengthens the group's initial tendency, so the final decision is more extreme than the average of members' original views.

Q3. Explain social facilitation with Zajonc's theory.

• Triplett's cyclists experiment.
• Zajonc: presence of others → arousal → dominant response.
• Simple tasks improve, complex tasks worsen.
• Evaluation apprehension and distraction-conflict explanations.

Q4. Describe groupthink, its symptoms and remedies.

• Janis's definition and conditions (high cohesion, strong leader, isolation, stress).
• Eight symptoms.
• Example of Bay of Pigs.
• Remedies listed above.

Q5. Discuss the merits and limitations of group decision making.

• Merits: pooled knowledge, creativity, commitment to decisions.
• Limitations: conformity, polarisation, groupthink, slow process, domination.
• Techniques: brainstorming, nominal group, Delphi.
• Conclude with conditions where groups beat individuals.

Exam tip

Remember the pair "simple task – better, complex task – worse" for social facilitation; it is the most commonly tested point.

Quick summary

Leadership is the process of influencing a group of people towards achieving common goals. A leader guides, motivates and coordinates members. Psychologists have explained leadership through trait theory, behavioural (style) theories, contingency theories and transformational leadership. Lewin's classic study compared authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire leaders.

Key points

• Leadership (नेतृत्व) is the ability to influence others' behaviour towards group goals.
• A leader is not always the person with formal authority; informal leaders also emerge in groups.
• Functions of a leader: planning, decision making, coordinating, motivating, representing the group, resolving conflicts, acting as a role model.
• Great man / trait theory: leaders are born with special traits such as intelligence, confidence, dominance, sociability and integrity. Later research (e.g. Stogdill's review) found no single set of traits that always makes a leader.
• Kurt Lewin, Lippitt and White (1939) studied boys' clubs with three leadership styles: authoritarian (autocratic), democratic and laissez-faire.
• Ohio State studies: two dimensions — initiating structure (task-oriented) and consideration (people-oriented).
• Fred Fiedler's contingency model: effectiveness depends on the match between the leader's style (task or relationship oriented, measured by the LPC scale) and the situation (leader–member relations, task structure, position power).
• Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership: telling, selling, participating, delegating, depending on followers' readiness.
• Transformational leadership (James MacGregor Burns, Bernard Bass): inspires followers to go beyond self-interest; transactional leadership works through rewards and punishments.
• Indian examples often discussed: Mahatma Gandhi as a charismatic and transformational leader; Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as a leader of social change.

Important terms

• Authoritarian leader – takes all decisions alone; strict control.
• Democratic leader – involves members in decisions; encourages participation.
• Laissez-faire leader – gives complete freedom; little guidance.
• Charismatic leader – leads by personal magnetism and vision.
• LPC (Least Preferred Co-worker) scale – Fiedler's tool to measure leadership style.
• Emergent leader – becomes leader naturally through group acceptance.

Important thinkers and theories

• Behavioural theories focus on what leaders do; trait theories on what leaders are; contingency theories on the situation.

5 important questions

Q1. Define leadership.

Leadership is the process by which one person influences the thoughts and behaviour of group members to achieve common goals.

Q2. What is a laissez-faire leader?

A laissez-faire leader gives members full freedom to make decisions, provides little direction and rarely interferes in the group's work.

Q3. Explain the functions of a leader.

• Sets goals and plans.
• Makes decisions and solves problems.
• Motivates and guides members.
• Coordinates group activities.
• Represents the group to outsiders.
• Maintains discipline and resolves conflicts.

Q4. Describe Lewin's study of leadership styles.

• Boys' clubs led by trained adults using three styles.
• Authoritarian: dependent, aggressive members.
• Democratic: cooperative, satisfied members, best overall.
• Laissez-faire: poor work, disorganised.
• Conclusion: democratic leadership generally most effective.

Q5. Explain Fiedler's contingency theory.

• No single best style; depends on situation.
• Leader style: task-oriented (low LPC) or relationship-oriented (high LPC).
• Situational factors: leader–member relations, task structure, position power.
• Task-oriented leaders do best in very favourable or very unfavourable situations.
• Relationship-oriented leaders do best in moderately favourable situations.

Exam tip

Compare the three leadership styles in a table. In theory questions, move from trait → behavioural → contingency → transformational to show development.

Quick summary

Aggression is any behaviour intended to harm another person who does not want to be harmed. It can be physical or verbal, hostile or instrumental. Psychologists explain aggression through instinct theories (Freud, Lorenz), biological factors, the frustration–aggression hypothesis and social learning theory (Bandura). Aggression can be reduced through punishment, catharsis (with limits), training in social skills and reducing exposure to violent models.

Key points

• Aggression (आक्रमकता) is behaviour aimed at harming another living being who wants to avoid such harm.
• Hostile (emotional) aggression: the goal is to hurt, often from anger.
• Instrumental aggression: harm is a means to achieve another goal (e.g. robbery).
• Other types: physical vs verbal, direct vs indirect (relational), active vs passive.
• Freud: aggression comes from the death instinct (Thanatos).
• Konrad Lorenz (ethologist): aggression is an inborn fighting instinct that helps survival.
• Biological factors: hormones like testosterone, brain areas like the amygdala and hypothalamus, low serotonin, alcohol.
• Frustration–aggression hypothesis (Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer and Sears, 1939): frustration always leads to some form of aggression. Berkowitz later revised it: frustration creates readiness, and aggressive cues (like weapons) trigger aggression (the "weapons effect").
• Social learning theory (Albert Bandura): aggression is learned by observing models. In the Bobo doll experiment (1961), children who watched an adult hit a doll later imitated this behaviour.
• Situational factors: heat, crowding, noise, provocation, media violence, alcohol.

Important terms

• Frustration – blocking of goal-directed behaviour.
• Displacement – directing aggression to a safer target than its real source.
• Catharsis – the idea that expressing aggression releases built-up anger; research shows it often does not reduce aggression.
• Modelling – learning by observing and imitating others.
• Desensitisation – reduced emotional reaction after repeated exposure to violence.
• Bullying – repeated aggression against a weaker person, including cyberbullying.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. Distinguish between hostile and instrumental aggression.

Hostile aggression aims mainly to hurt the victim, often out of anger. Instrumental aggression uses harm as a means to achieve some other goal, such as money or status.

Q2. What is the frustration–aggression hypothesis?

Proposed by Dollard and colleagues in 1939, it states that frustration always leads to aggression and aggression is always caused by frustration. It was later modified by Berkowitz.

Q3. Explain Bandura's Bobo doll experiment.

• Children watched an adult model behave aggressively or non-aggressively towards a Bobo doll.
• Later, children were left with toys including the doll.
• Those who saw the aggressive model imitated the same acts.
• Boys showed more physical aggression.
• Shows aggression is learned through modelling.

Q4. Explain the theories of aggression.

• Instinct theories: Freud, Lorenz.
• Biological: hormones, brain, genetics.
• Frustration–aggression and Berkowitz's revision.
• Social learning: modelling and reinforcement.
• Cognitive and general aggression model.

Q5. Suggest ways to control or reduce aggression.

• Punishment: should be prompt, certain and fair.
• Exposure to non-aggressive models.
• Training in social skills, anger management and empathy.
• Reducing media violence for children.
• Cognitive interventions: apology, calming down before reacting.
• Incompatible responses: humour, empathy.

Exam tip

Always define aggression with "intention to harm". Theories as a table with thinker and cause make a strong long answer.

Quick summary

Prosocial behaviour is any action that benefits another person, such as helping, sharing, donating and cooperating. Altruism is helping others without expecting any reward. Psychologists explain helping through evolutionary, social exchange, empathy–altruism and social norm theories. Latané and Darley's bystander studies show why people sometimes fail to help in emergencies.

Key points

• Prosocial behaviour (समाजोपयोगी वर्तन) includes helping, sharing, cooperating, comforting, donating and volunteering.
• Altruism is helping purely out of concern for others, with no expectation of reward.
• Evolutionary view: kin selection — we help relatives because they share our genes; reciprocal altruism — we help those who may help us back.
• Social exchange theory: people help when rewards (good feelings, praise) outweigh costs (time, danger).
• Empathy–altruism hypothesis (C. Daniel Batson): feeling empathy for a person leads to truly altruistic helping.
• Social norms: norm of reciprocity (help those who help us), norm of social responsibility (help those who depend on us), norm of equity.
• The Kitty Genovese case (New York, 1964) led Bibb Latané and John Darley to study bystander behaviour.
• Bystander effect: the more people present in an emergency, the less likely any one person is to help.
• Latané and Darley's five-step decision model: notice the event → interpret it as an emergency → take responsibility → decide how to help → provide help.
• Factors that increase helping: similarity to the victim, good mood, empathy, clear emergency, knowing how to help, fewer bystanders, rural settings.

Important terms

• Diffusion of responsibility – each bystander feels less personal responsibility when others are present.
• Pluralistic ignorance – each person looks at others' calm reactions and decides there is no emergency.
• Audience inhibition – fear of looking foolish in front of others.
• Empathy – understanding and sharing another person's feelings.
• Volunteerism – long-term planned helping, such as working for an NGO.

Important thinkers and theories

• Indian traditions of seva and daan (charity) and the Good Samaritan law protecting people who help road accident victims are examples of encouraging prosocial behaviour.

5 important questions

Q1. What is altruism?

Altruism is helping others out of genuine concern for their welfare, without expecting any reward or benefit in return.

Q2. Define the bystander effect.

The bystander effect is the finding that a person is less likely to help in an emergency when other people are present than when he or she is alone.

Q3. Explain the factors that influence helping behaviour.

• Situational: number of bystanders, clarity of emergency, time pressure, rural vs urban.
• Helper factors: mood, empathy, personality, skills, religious values.
• Victim factors: similarity, attractiveness, perceived deservingness.
• Cultural norms of responsibility and reciprocity.

Q4. Describe Latané and Darley's model of bystander intervention.

• Step 1: notice the event.
• Step 2: interpret it as an emergency (pluralistic ignorance may block).
• Step 3: assume responsibility (diffusion of responsibility may block).
• Step 4: know how to help.
• Step 5: decide to help and act.
• Background: Kitty Genovese case.

Q5. Explain theories of prosocial behaviour.

• Evolutionary: kin selection, reciprocal altruism.
• Social exchange: cost–reward analysis.
• Empathy–altruism hypothesis.
• Social norms theory.
• Social learning: learning helping from models.
• Ways to increase helping: education, role models, reducing ambiguity.

Exam tip

Learn the five steps of bystander intervention in order — it is the most frequently asked long question in this topic. Explain diffusion of responsibility with a simple example.

Quick summary

Human development is the pattern of change in physical, cognitive, emotional and social abilities from conception to death. It is shaped by both heredity (nature) and environment (nurture). Life is divided into stages — prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Piaget's cognitive theory and Erikson's psychosocial theory are the most important theories of development.

Key points

• Development (विकास) means orderly, progressive changes over the lifespan. Growth means increase in size (quantitative); development includes qualitative changes too.
• Principles of development: continuous, follows a pattern, individual differences, interaction of heredity and environment.
• Direction: cephalocaudal (head to toe) and proximodistal (centre to outward).
• Stages: prenatal (conception to birth), infancy (birth to 2 years), early childhood (2–6), middle and late childhood (6–11/12), adolescence (about 12–18), early, middle and late adulthood (old age).
• Prenatal stage has three periods: germinal (first 2 weeks), embryonic (2–8 weeks) and foetal (8 weeks to birth).
• Teratogens are harmful agents (alcohol, drugs, some infections, radiation) that can damage the developing baby.
• Adolescence: puberty, rapid physical growth, identity search, peer influence.
• Old age: physical decline, retirement, loss of loved ones; but wisdom and life satisfaction can remain.
• Jean Piaget (Swiss psychologist): children actively build knowledge through assimilation and accommodation and pass through four cognitive stages.
• Erik Erikson: eight psychosocial stages, each with a crisis to resolve.

Important terms

• Maturation – changes due to biological unfolding, without learning.
• Schema – a mental framework for organising information (Piaget).
• Object permanence – knowing that objects exist even when not seen (develops in the sensorimotor stage).
• Conservation – understanding that quantity stays the same despite change in shape (concrete operational stage).
• Egocentrism – inability to see things from another's point of view (preoperational stage).
• Attachment – the strong emotional bond between infant and caregiver (John Bowlby; Mary Ainsworth's "strange situation").

Important thinkers and theories

Erikson's eight stages:

1. Trust vs mistrust (infancy)
2. Autonomy vs shame and doubt (early childhood)
3. Initiative vs guilt (preschool)
4. Industry vs inferiority (school age)
5. Identity vs role confusion (adolescence)
6. Intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood)
7. Generativity vs stagnation (middle adulthood)
8. Integrity vs despair (old age)

5 important questions

Q1. Distinguish between growth and development.

Growth refers to quantitative increase in body size and weight. Development is broader and includes qualitative changes in abilities, thinking, emotions and behaviour.

Q2. What is object permanence?

It is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard or touched. It develops during Piaget's sensorimotor stage.

Q3. Explain the principles of development.

• Development is continuous and lifelong.
• Follows a sequence and pattern.
• Cephalocaudal and proximodistal directions.
• From general to specific responses.
• Individual differences in rate.
• Interaction of heredity and environment.

Q4. Explain Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

• Child as active learner; schemas.
• Assimilation, accommodation, equilibration.
• Four stages with ages and features.
• Educational uses: activity-based learning, readiness.
• Criticism: underestimated children's abilities, ignored culture.

Q5. Describe Erikson's psychosocial theory.

• Eight stages across life, each with a crisis.
• Successful resolution gives a virtue (e.g. hope, will, fidelity).
• Adolescence: identity vs role confusion.
• Adulthood: intimacy, generativity.
• Old age: integrity vs despair.
• Strength: covers whole lifespan; social focus.

Exam tip

Learn Piaget's stages as a table with ages and Erikson's eight stages in order. Questions on adolescence often ask for the identity crisis — link it to Erikson's fifth stage.

Quick summary

Life begins at conception, when a sperm fertilises an ovum. In about 38 weeks (around 40 weeks counted from the last menstrual period) a single cell becomes a baby, passing through the germinal, embryonic and foetal periods. Infancy (birth to about 2 years) is a time of very fast physical, motor, sensory, emotional and social growth, including the formation of attachment.

Key points

• Conception – union of sperm and ovum forms a zygote with 46 chromosomes (23 pairs). The 23rd pair decides sex: XX female, XY male.
• Germinal period (0–2 weeks) – rapid cell division; the zygote travels to the uterus and implants in its wall.
• Embryonic period (3rd–8th week) – major organs form (heart, brain, spinal cord); the most sensitive period to harm. Placenta and umbilical cord develop.
• Foetal period (9th week to birth) – growth and maturation of organs; movements felt ("quickening") around 16–20 weeks; age of viability about 22–24 weeks.
• Prenatal influences: mother's nutrition, age (under 18 or over 35 is riskier), stress, diseases (rubella, HIV, syphilis), Rh incompatibility, and teratogens – alcohol (foetal alcohol syndrome), tobacco, drugs, radiation, some medicines (thalidomide).
• Genetic disorders: Down syndrome (extra chromosome 21), Turner syndrome (XO), Klinefelter syndrome (XXY), phenylketonuria (PKU).
• Neonate (newborn, first 2–4 weeks): assessed by the Apgar score (Virginia Apgar, 1952 – heart rate, breathing, muscle tone, reflexes, colour; 0–10).
• Reflexes of newborn: rooting, sucking, Moro (startle), grasping, Babinski, stepping.
• Physical and motor growth in infancy follows cephalocaudal and proximodistal directions. Milestones (approximate): holds head up ~3 months, sits ~6 months, crawls ~8–9 months, walks ~12 months.
• Sensory abilities: newborns prefer faces, recognise mother's voice; Gibson and Walk's visual cliff (1960) showed depth perception in crawling infants.
• Language: crying → cooing (~2 months) → babbling (~6 months) → first words (~12 months) → two-word sentences (~18–24 months).
• Attachment: John Bowlby; Harry Harlow's monkeys preferred a soft cloth mother to a wire mother with milk; Mary Ainsworth's strange situation found secure, anxious-avoidant and anxious-resistant types (later disorganised was added).
• Erikson: infancy is the stage of trust vs mistrust.

Important terms

• Zygote – fertilised egg.
• Teratogen – any environmental agent that causes birth defects.
• Placenta – organ that passes food and oxygen from mother to foetus.
• Critical period – a time when an organ or ability is especially sensitive to influence.
• Stranger anxiety – fear of unfamiliar people, appears around 8 months.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is a teratogen?

A teratogen is any harmful agent, such as alcohol, nicotine, certain drugs, radiation or infections like rubella, that can damage the developing embryo or foetus.

Q2. What is the Apgar score?

It is a quick test of a newborn's condition at 1 and 5 minutes after birth, scoring heart rate, breathing, muscle tone, reflexes and colour from 0–2 each (total 0–10).

Q3. Describe the three periods of prenatal development.

• Germinal: 0–2 weeks, cell division, implantation.
• Embryonic: 3–8 weeks, organ formation, high sensitivity.
• Foetal: 9 weeks to birth, growth, movement, viability.

Q4. Explain the factors affecting prenatal development.

• Maternal nutrition, age, emotional state.
• Diseases and Rh factor.
• Teratogens: alcohol, smoking, drugs, radiation.
• Genetic and chromosomal abnormalities.
• Importance of prenatal care in India (ANC check-ups, iron and folic acid).

Q5. Write a note on the development of attachment in infancy.

• Bowlby's view and stages.
• Harlow's experiment.
• Ainsworth's strange situation and attachment types.
• Effects of secure attachment on later life.

Exam tip

Learn milestone ages as a ladder (3–6–9–12 months: head – sit – crawl – walk); a simple table of milestones makes answers clear.

Quick summary

Childhood runs from about 2 to 11 or 12 years and is divided into early childhood (preschool, 2–6) and middle and late childhood (school years, 6–11/12). Children grow steadily in body and motor skills, language explodes, thinking moves from pretend play to logical operations, and the self, emotions, friendships and gender roles develop. Parents, school and peers shape this period.

Key points

• Physical growth is slower and steadier than in infancy; brain reaches about 90% of adult weight by age 5–6.
• Motor skills: gross motor (running, jumping, cycling) and fine motor (drawing, writing, buttoning) improve; handedness becomes clear.
• Cognitive development (Piaget): early childhood = preoperational stage (symbolic play, egocentrism, animism, lack of conservation); middle childhood = concrete operational stage (conservation, classification, seriation, reversibility).
• Lev Vygotsky: learning happens through social interaction; zone of proximal development and scaffolding by adults.
• Language: vocabulary grows from about 200–300 words at 2 years to several thousand by 6; grammar and conversation skills develop.
• Emotional development: children learn to name and control emotions; fears (dark, animals) are common in preschool years.
• Social development: play moves from solitary and parallel play to associative and cooperative play (Mildred Parten, 1932). Friendships become based on trust and loyalty in later childhood.
• Erikson's stages: autonomy vs shame and doubt (about 1½–3 years), initiative vs guilt (3–6) and industry vs inferiority (6–12).
• Parenting styles (Diana Baumrind): authoritative (warm + firm; best outcomes), authoritarian (strict, cold), permissive (warm, few rules); Maccoby and Martin added neglectful/uninvolved.
• Gender development: gender identity (~2–3 years), gender stability and constancy (by ~6–7 years, Kohlberg); learned through modelling and culture.
• Moral development: Piaget's heteronomous morality (rules fixed by authority) changes to autonomous morality around 10 years.
• Common problems: bedwetting, temper tantrums, learning disabilities, ADHD, school phobia, effects of excess screen time.

Important terms

• Egocentrism – seeing the world only from one's own point of view.
• Animism – believing lifeless objects have feelings ("the moon is following me").
• Scaffolding – temporary help given by an adult that is reduced as the child becomes able.
• Peer group – children of similar age who influence each other.
• Self-esteem – in later childhood based on comparison with peers in studies and sports.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is the zone of proximal development?

It is the gap between what a child can do alone and what he can do with help from an adult or more skilled peer (Vygotsky).

Q2. Name Baumrind's parenting styles.

Authoritative, authoritarian and permissive; neglectful was added later. Authoritative parenting gives the best results.

Q3. Describe cognitive development in childhood.

• Preoperational features: symbolic thought, egocentrism (three-mountain task), animism, centration, no conservation.
• Concrete operational: conservation, reversibility, classification, seriation.
• Vygotsky's view.
• Implications for teaching.

Q4. Explain social and emotional development in childhood.

• Erikson's three childhood stages.
• Parten's stages of play.
• Friendship and peer groups.
• Emotional regulation and empathy.

Q5. Discuss the role of parents and school in child development.

• Parenting styles with effects.
• Home environment, discipline, love.
• School: teachers, curriculum, peer interaction, mid-day meal and health.
• Problems: academic pressure, screen time; remedies.

Exam tip

For childhood answers, link each age group to its Piaget stage and its Erikson stage — a small two-column table shows the examiner you can connect theories.

Quick summary

Cognitive development is the growth of thinking, reasoning and understanding; moral development is the growth of a sense of right and wrong. Jean Piaget explained cognitive growth through four stages and processes like assimilation and accommodation, while Lev Vygotsky stressed social and cultural learning. Lawrence Kohlberg, building on Piaget, described three levels and six stages of moral reasoning, and Carol Gilligan added an ethic of care.

Key points

• Piaget's key processes: schema (mental framework), assimilation (fitting new information into an existing schema), accommodation (changing the schema to fit new information), equilibration (balance between the two).
• Piaget's four stages: sensorimotor (0–2: object permanence), preoperational (2–7: symbolic thought, egocentrism, no conservation), concrete operational (7–11: conservation, reversibility, classification), formal operational (11+: abstract and hypothetical thinking, hypothetico-deductive reasoning).
• Criticism of Piaget: underestimated children's abilities, stages less rigid than he thought, ignored culture.
• Vygotsky (sociocultural theory): zone of proximal development, scaffolding, language and private speech guide thinking.
• Piaget's moral development: heteronomous morality (until about 10 years: rules are fixed; judge by consequences) and autonomous morality (rules can be changed by agreement; judge by intentions).
• Kohlberg (1958 onward) used moral dilemmas such as the Heinz dilemma (should Heinz steal a drug to save his dying wife?). He scored the reasoning, not the answer.
• Level 1 – Pre-conventional: Stage 1 obedience and punishment orientation; Stage 2 individualism and exchange ("what's in it for me").
• Level 2 – Conventional: Stage 3 good boy–good girl orientation (approval of others); Stage 4 law-and-order orientation.
• Level 3 – Post-conventional: Stage 5 social contract and individual rights; Stage 6 universal ethical principles.
• Most adolescents and adults reason at the conventional level; few reach Stage 6.
• Carol Gilligan (1982) criticised Kohlberg for male bias and proposed an ethic of care (relationships, responsibility) alongside his ethic of justice.
• Factors: parenting (inductive discipline), peer discussion, education, culture, religion.

Important terms

• Object permanence – objects continue to exist when out of sight.
• Conservation – quantity remains same despite change in shape or arrangement.
• Hypothetico-deductive reasoning – forming and testing hypotheses systematically.
• Moral dilemma – a situation where moral values conflict.
• Moral realism – young child's belief that rules are fixed and unchangeable.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. Differentiate between assimilation and accommodation.

Assimilation is fitting new experiences into an existing schema (calling a cow a "big dog"). Accommodation is changing the schema to include the new experience (forming a new schema for "cow").

Q2. What is the Heinz dilemma?

It is Kohlberg's moral story in which Heinz must decide whether to steal an expensive drug to save his dying wife. A person's reasons for the answer show his stage of moral reasoning.

Q3. Explain Piaget's stages of cognitive development.

• Four stages with ages and main features.
• Examples: object permanence, three-mountain task, conservation of liquid, abstract reasoning.
• Educational implications.
• Criticism.

Q4. Describe Kohlberg's theory of moral development.

• Method: moral dilemmas, focus on reasoning.
• Three levels and six stages with examples.
• Sequence is fixed; not everyone reaches the top.
• Criticism: male bias (Gilligan), cultural bias, judgement vs behaviour.

Q5. Compare Piaget and Vygotsky.

• Piaget: child as little scientist, stages, individual discovery.
• Vygotsky: social interaction, culture, ZPD, language leads development.
• Both: active learner.
• Classroom implications: discovery learning vs guided/cooperative learning.

Exam tip

Write Kohlberg's six stages as a table with levels; even in a 5-mark answer the table can earn nearly full marks.

Quick summary

Adolescence is the transition from childhood to adulthood, roughly 12 to 18 years (the WHO uses 10–19). It begins with puberty and brings rapid physical changes, new abstract thinking, a search for identity, strong peer influence and sometimes emotional turmoil. G. Stanley Hall called it a period of "storm and stress", but most adolescents pass through it successfully with support.

Key points

• Adolescence (किशोरावस्था) – from the Latin adolescere, "to grow into maturity".
• G. Stanley Hall (1904) – the "father of adolescent psychology"; described adolescence as "storm and stress". Margaret Mead's studies in Samoa suggested culture decides how stormy it is.
• Puberty – sexual maturation controlled by hormones (estrogen, testosterone) from the pituitary and gonads. Primary sex characteristics: reproductive organs; secondary: breasts, facial hair, voice change, body hair. Growth spurt – girls about 2 years earlier than boys. Menarche in girls; spermarche in boys.
• Cognitive development: Piaget's formal operational stage – abstract, hypothetical and logical thinking.
• Adolescent egocentrism (David Elkind): imaginary audience (feeling everyone is watching) and personal fable (feeling unique and invulnerable, which leads to risk-taking).
• Identity: Erikson's stage identity vs role confusion. James Marcia's identity statuses: identity diffusion (no exploration, no commitment), foreclosure (commitment without exploration – e.g. accepting parents' career choice), moratorium (exploring, not yet committed), identity achievement (explored and committed).
• Social development: peers become very important; friendships are intimate; peer pressure can be positive or negative; parent–adolescent conflict usually over small daily issues.
• Emotional changes: mood swings, sensitivity, self-consciousness, concern with body image.
• Problems: exam stress and career anxiety, depression and suicide risk, substance use, eating disorders, internet and gaming addiction, delinquency, early sexual activity.
• Brain development: the limbic system (emotion) matures earlier than the prefrontal cortex (self-control), which develops into the mid-20s.
• Helping adolescents: open communication, authoritative parenting, life-skills and sex education, career guidance, counselling, positive role models (e.g. India's Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, 2014).

Important terms

• Puberty – period of rapid physical and sexual maturation.
• Menarche – first menstrual period.
• Imaginary audience – belief that one is the centre of others' attention.
• Personal fable – belief that one's experiences are unique and that nothing bad will happen to oneself.
• Identity crisis – period of confusion about who one is (Erikson).
• Peer pressure – influence of age-mates to behave in certain ways.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is the personal fable?

It is an adolescent's belief that he is unique and invulnerable — that no one else feels as he does and that bad things will not happen to him. It can lead to risky behaviour.

Q2. Why is adolescence called a period of "storm and stress"?

G. Stanley Hall used this phrase because of mood swings, conflict with parents and risk-taking in adolescence. Later research shows that culture and support reduce this turmoil.

Q3. Describe physical changes during adolescence.

• Hormonal control (pituitary, gonads).
• Growth spurt; sex differences in timing.
• Primary and secondary sex characteristics.
• Early and late maturation and their psychological effects.

Q4. Explain identity formation in adolescence.

• Erikson's identity vs role confusion.
• Marcia's four statuses with examples.
• Role of family, peers, culture and career choice.

Q5. Discuss the problems of adolescents and ways to deal with them.

• Academic stress, depression, substance use, internet addiction, eating disorders, delinquency.
• Causes: hormonal changes, peer pressure, family conflict.
• Remedies: communication, counselling, life-skills education, sports, helplines.

Exam tip

Name Marcia's four statuses in order of growth — diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, achievement — and give a career-choice example for each.

Quick summary

Adulthood is the longest part of life and is usually divided into early adulthood (about 20–40), middle adulthood (40–60/65) and late adulthood or old age (60/65 onwards). Adults build careers, relationships and families, face the mid-life period and later adjust to ageing, retirement and loss. Theories by Erikson, Levinson and others explain these tasks, and successful ageing depends on health, activity and social support.

Key points

• Early adulthood: peak physical health; choosing a career, achieving financial independence, marriage and parenthood. Erikson: intimacy vs isolation.
• Robert Havighurst listed developmental tasks for each stage (e.g. choosing a partner, starting a family, civic responsibility).
• Daniel Levinson (1978) – "seasons of a man's life"; the mid-life transition (about 40–45) as a time of re-evaluation.
• Middle adulthood: gradual physical decline (eyesight, metabolism), menopause in women (around 45–55), career peak, caring for children and ageing parents (the "sandwich generation"), empty nest when children leave. Erikson: generativity vs stagnation.
• Mid-life crisis – popular idea of turmoil around 40s; research shows only a minority experience a true crisis.
• Late adulthood (old age): slower reaction time, weaker senses and memory for new information, chronic diseases; but crystallised intelligence (knowledge, vocabulary) remains stable or grows while fluid intelligence (speed, new problem solving) declines (Cattell and Horn).
• Erikson: integrity vs despair – looking back on life with satisfaction or regret; the virtue is wisdom.
• Theories of ageing: disengagement theory (Cumming and Henry, 1961 – gradual mutual withdrawal of the elderly and society), activity theory (staying active keeps the elderly satisfied), continuity theory (people keep their earlier habits and roles), socioemotional selectivity theory (Laura Carstensen – the elderly focus on fewer, emotionally close relationships).
• Problems of the elderly: health, loneliness, loss of spouse, financial dependence, elder abuse, dementia (e.g. Alzheimer's disease).
• Successful ageing (Rowe and Kahn, 1997): low disease and disability, high mental and physical functioning, active engagement with life.
• Death and dying: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969) – five stages of reaction to dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance (not always in fixed order).
• Indian context: joint family support declining; Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007; old-age pension schemes.

Important terms

• Gerontology – scientific study of ageing.
• Senescence – biological ageing.
• Empty nest syndrome – sadness of parents when grown children leave home.
• Generativity – concern for guiding the next generation.
• Dementia – serious decline in memory and thinking that affects daily life.

Important thinkers and theories

5 important questions

Q1. What is the sandwich generation?

Middle-aged adults who care at the same time for their growing children and their ageing parents, which can cause stress.

Q2. Name Kübler-Ross's stages of dying.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Q3. Describe the developmental tasks of early and middle adulthood.

• Early: career, marriage, parenthood, independence; intimacy vs isolation.
• Middle: career peak, menopause, empty nest, sandwich generation; generativity vs stagnation.
• Levinson's mid-life transition.

Q4. Explain the theories of ageing.

• Disengagement, activity, continuity, socioemotional selectivity – meaning, example, criticism.
• Which suits Indian elderly best and why.

Q5. Discuss the problems of old age and suggest measures for successful ageing.

• Physical, cognitive, emotional, social and economic problems.
• Rowe and Kahn's model.
• Measures: exercise, hobbies, social contact, family respect, health care, government schemes and laws.

Exam tip

Learn Erikson's last three stages with their virtues (love, care, wisdom); they fit in almost every adulthood question.