NIOS Class 12 Psychology Chapter 7 Answers
INTEXT QUESTIONS 7.1
1. Define the concept of learning.
Ans: Learning is defined as the process of obtaining information or ability by studying, practising, or experiencing something.
2. Differentiate between learning and maturation.
Ans: Learning is defined as the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and behaviours, whereas maturation refers to both the mental and physical development of a person.
3. What’s the difference between instinctive behaviour and learning?
Ans: Instinctive behaviour refers to species-specific behaviour and is inherent. Learning occurs as a result of experience and practice.
INTEXT QUESTIONS 7.2
Match the following.
| 1. Operant conditioning | a. Insight |
| 2. Classical conditioning | b. Imitation |
| 3. Observation Learning | c. Reinforcement |
| 4. Verbal learning | d. Association |
| 5. Cognitive learning | e. Free recall |
Ans:
1. c
2. d
3. b
4. e
5. a
INTEXT QUESTIONS 7.3
1. Learning the course in ‘History’ is not related to learning to ‘drive’. This is a perfect example of………
Ans: Neutral transfer
2. If the previous learning aids in new learning, it is called as…….
Ans: Positive transfer
3. Someone needs to learn two foreign languages but is unable to learn the second one because the previously learnt language hampers in acquiring vocabulary of another language, then it is called as ………
Ans: Negative transfer
TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. How does observational learning affect behaviour?
Ans: Observation learning is a process of learning by observing the behaviours of others. The desired behaviour is observed, memorised, and then imitated. It is also known as shaping and modelling, and is most common in children as they imitate the behaviours of adults. From his experiments, Bandura found that those children who saw an adult behaving aggressively with the Bobo Doll also behaved aggressively with the toys in another situation, as compared to those children who saw a non-aggressive model not exhibiting as much aggression as their counterparts.
2. Discuss with examples how positive and negative reinforcement can be used with little children to make them learn appropriate ways of behaving.
Ans:
- Positive (Present negative reinforcer):- This means that the undesirable behaviour leads to undesirable consequences. For example, when a child plays for a long time and does not do homework, the mother scolds the child.
- Negative (Remove positive reinforcer):- In negative punishment, an undesirable behaviour leads to the removal of rewards. For example, a child who plays for a long time outside and does not complete homework on time is deprived of his/her favourite food.
3. Discuss in detail the cognitive learning theory and how it is different from classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Ans: Cognitive learning does not support the notion that behaviour is determined by whatever is presented to the organism. It believes that behaviour is very much influenced by the workings of the mind.
4. What are the different schedules of reinforcement? Discuss their role in establishing a behaviour.
Ans: Different schedules are:
- 1. Continuous reinforcements: The rat gets food every time it presses the lever. This means that continuous pressing of the lever results in continuous reinforcement (food). Other than the continuous schedules, there are intermittent schedules that are based on the assumption that the reinforcement will be given for only some but not for all the responses.
- 2. Intermittent schedules can be understood in terms of interval schedules and ratio schedules
- A. Interval schedules mean the time after which the rat would get the food. For example, the rat gets food after pressing the lever for 10 minutes (i.e. based on the time interval).
- B. Ratio schedules, on the other hand, are the number of lever pressing responses to get the food. For example, the rat will get food only after pressing the lever 10 times (i.e., based on the number of trials).
5. Discuss any three ways in which different principles of learning can be applied in day-to-day life.
Ans:
- Premack principle: This can also facilitate more desirable behaviour among individuals. For example, in order to play with friends, the child first needs to clean the room.
- Observational learning: This is the process of learning by observing the behaviours of others. The desired behaviour is observed, memorised, and then imitated. Observational learning, also known as shaping and modelling, is most common in children as they imitate the behaviours of adults.
- Cognitive Learning: Do you ever realise what happens when you work on the problem on your own and try to reflect on your experiences to come to the solutions, then learning is the most effective. For example, reflect on your experiences and try to understand how you learn, by listening to someone, by watching a video, by doing things on your own, etc.
6. What are the three types of transfer of training? Give examples of each type.
Ans: The transfer of learning/training can happen in three ways:
- Positive transfer of training: This happens when the old learning facilitates the new learning situation. For example, you keep a dictionary while reading, and this helps you to communicate more effectively in future.
- Negative transfer of training: This happens when the concepts of the previous learning make it difficult to acquire new concepts because one gets confused. For example, if a child learns the concept of ‘After’ and then learns the concept of ‘Before’ then the first learning might interfere with the second learning. Think of an example when you found it difficult to learn a new concept because your previous experience was hampering new learning.Â
- Neutral transfer of training: Different learning situations are not related to each other at all and hence do not either facilitate or hamper new learning situations. This is called a neutral transfer of training. For example, how you cook is not related to how you drive a vehicle.
7. Define and give examples of verbal and non-verbal learning in Psychology.
Ans:
- Verbal learning is the skill of reading, writing, and understanding the written or spoken material. Through continuous practice and exposure to the verbal material, we are able to develop this skill. Eg, You can express your feelings through the words you speak or write.
- In Non- verbal learning, learning is not limited to reading and writing but also includes learning to behave and understanding facial expressions. For example, if the child finds that the mother always frowns when the child misbehaves, then the child will learn that misbehaviour results in the mother frowning (expression of anger) and he/she learns to behave well to avoid the mother’s anger.
8. What is the basic principle of operant conditioning as demonstrated by B.F. Skinner?
Ans: Operant conditioning principles are based on the assumption that the probability of doing something depends upon the consequence that follows the behaviour.
- Skinner made a chamber in which a hungry rat was placed, and there was a lever attached in the chamber which, upon pressing, could release food for the rat.Â
- This chamber was popularly known as the Skinner box.Â
- Initially, when the rat was placed inside the box, it wandered here and there in search of food.Â
- When the rat was walking around the box, it accidentally pressed the lever and got the food pellet.Â
- In the beginning, the rat could not realise how the food was released, but after a few such trials, the rat learnt that pressing the lever would release the food pellet.Â
- This means that pressing the lever (i.e. the behaviour) was positively reinforced by releasing the food (positive consequences of behaviour).
9. What is the three-phase process of classical conditioning as described by Pavlov’s experiments on dogs?
Ans:
- Phase I: Before conditioning: In his experiments, Pavlov initially presented meat powder (the unconditioned stimulus) to his dogs, which elicited saliva (the unconditioned response), which is a natural response.
- Phase II During conditioning: After a few trials, just before presenting the food, he started ringing a bell (neutral stimulus) and then presented food. Pavlov noticed that initially, the dog was unaffected by the bell and was giving a natural salivating response to food (the unconditioned response).
- Phase III After conditioning: After several such trials, the continuous pairing of bell and food made the dog respond to the bell, i.e. the dog now started salivating to the bell (conditioned response). This means that the bell has become a conditioned stimulus which is capable of eliciting the salivary response in the dog.Â
10. What is the role of learning in adapting to the environment and acquiring new knowledge?
Ans: Learning is “a process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and increases the potential for improved performance and future learning. We acquire most of our behaviours through the process of learning. The desirable behaviours with effective outcomes are repeated, and the undesirable behaviours with ineffective outcomes are avoided. So, learning is a behaviour change based on positive and negative outcomes, which leads to acquiring new knowledge.
Additional Study Materials
- NIOS Class 12 Psychology Syllabus Bifurcation
- NIOS Class 12 Sample Question Paper
- Attention and Perceptual Processes
