Class Notes Psychology

XI-XII PSYCHOLOGY BY AAKASH SIR -----------------------------Contact No-7292055925



Topic I–Variations in Psychological Attributes


Attributes: - quality/characteristics//features / traits of an individual. ( eg :-
intelligence, aptitude , height, weight, aggressiveness, introversion,
extraversion etc)

a. Individual Differences in Individual Functioning.
● Variation/ Differences --> in individual' traits' can exist in varying degrees .
● Also , within and across the species also, there are individual variations.
● Thus , every individual is unique and has combination of traits .
In psychology Individual Differences is defined as:-
" distinctiveness and variation amongst people’s characteristics and behavior
patterns"

'Our behavior gets influenced by' :-



Personal/Internal Situational / External
factors Factors




This is also known as :-
Acc to this view,
Situationism: Situations Behaviour is a
or circumstances under result of
which individual lives or influence of "
placed in affects their
behaviours. eg:- student External/
may behave in discipline Situational
at school than home. Factors" .

,XI-XII PSYCHOLOGY BY AAKASH SIR -----------------------------Contact No-7292055925


● Domains of Psychological Attributes:



Interests



Intelligence Aptitude


Psychological
Attributes



Peronality Values




Some of the domains of these attributes are:
1) Intelligence- It is the global capacity to understand, think rationally
and use available resources effectively in a situation/challenge.
● Measured with the help of ‘Intelligence test’
.Gives us global idea about person’s general cognitive competence/ability’.

2) Aptitude- Individual’s basic ability for acquiring skills.
● Measured using “Aptitude test”- that helps us know what an person
will be able to do/perform if given proper environment and training.
E.g. training a person with good language aptitude can help him become a
good writer.

3) Interest- its individual’s interest / preference to engage in a one or
more specific activity.
● Assessment of interest may help in deciding that in which
occupation/activity an individual would be comfortable and happy/satisfied
as well as career and job preferences.

4) Values- individual’s Beliefs about an “ideal mode of behavior”. It set
of standard that guides person actions.
● Value assessment tells us about dominant values of individual like
‘kindness’ ‘loyalty’ etc and what kind of decisions a person would make in a

,XI-XII PSYCHOLOGY BY AAKASH SIR -----------------------------Contact No-7292055925


specific situation..e.g. political, religious, social & economics.
5) Personality- “Relatively enduring characteristics that make a person
distinct from others”.
● Measured through “Personality Test” tells us how a person has unique
characteristics and how they’re likely to behave in future- Dominant,
submissive, moody, withdrawn or emotional.

★ Assessment of Psychological Attributes: Assessment is the first step
of understanding the attributes. It is the measurement of psychological
attributes of individuals and their evaluation, often using multiple methods
as standards of comparison.

The assessment may be Formal or Informal:

● Informal- This type of assessment will vary the results from one assessor
to another, depending on their opinions and will be open to subjective
interpretation and huge variation. e.g. If we say Raghu is dominant. Based
on our perception and assessment of Dominance, without applying any
formal technique to measure.
● Formal- This is when we use a defined technique or measuring
standards to assess any attribute without letting our own perception change
the assessment. Its objective, standardized and organized. The formal
assessment also involves measurement of an attribute with respect to its
application in a situation.
e.g. If Raghu is assessed as dominant , some interventions might be needed
to effect a change in his behavior while dealing with his teams at work etc.


 Assessment methods-

Several methods are used for Psychological assessment.

i.Psychological Test- is an objective and standardized measure of the
individual’s psychological attributes-
Clinical diagnosis, guidance, personnel selection, placement n training.

ii.Interview- involves seeking information on a one on one basis by a
counselor from the client. g. Door to door salesmen surveying about a
product, journalists from important political people,

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iii.Case Study- is a detailed study of a person in terms of his/her
psychological attributes by collecting history, using interview, observation,
and questionnaire of Psychological tests methods.

iv. Observation- employing systematic, organized and objective procedure
to record behavioral phenomena occurring naturally in real time.
● Observation methods are useful to study real events and situations,
● Their interpretation can be subjective and in little control of the
observer.
● eg. studying Mother Child relationships by watching them objectively
for a certain duration.
v. Self-report– individual provides factual information about himself or
opinions, beliefs etc.
● Such information can be obtained by Interviews, questionnaires or tests.

❖ What is Intelligence:
Intelligence is the key attribute employed to know how individuals are
different from each other.
Common Definition: Mental alertness, ready wit, quickness to learn
and grasp and ability to understand relationships.
Oxford Definition: Power of Perceiving, Learning, Understanding and
Knowing.


 Definitions by Different Psychologists:


Alfred Binet: Ability to Judge well, Reason well and Understand well.
One similar set of abilities used for solving any or every problem. His
theory is called Uni or One factor theory.

Wechsler: Ability to think rationally, act purposefully and to deal
effectively with your environment.


❖ THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE