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This article explains the word concept. Concepts which are used as tools in thinking and communication.
Concept
Concepts which are used as tools in thinking and communication are nothing but verbal symbols with rich meaning. Concept stands for some object of value. Each concept has its own meaning and stands distinctly for some object or value. Concept is nothing but word. For example tree, man, honesty, beauty. These concepts depend upon our attitudes.
An important element in the process of thinking is formation of concepts. We not only retain mental pictures of objects and experiences but on their basis form general ideas denoting classes of objects. These general ideas are called concepts. For example after seeing a number of people like beggars, policemen, father, brother, uncle, a child is able to say that they are all men................Read
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This article explains the word consciousness the most important puzzling and abused problems. And explains the states of awareness.
Consciousness
The idea of consciousness stands out above as wants most important puzzling and most abused problems. It is difficult if not impossible with out present knowledge to define clearly what is meant by conscious experience. We talk about the function of consciousness in order to make the subject of consciousness scientifically manageble.
Once we become interested in exploring the facts of consciousness, our attention is directed to different states of awareness.
States of awareness
The normal waking consciousness in which we can report accurately what is happening in the environment above us is but one of several states of waking awareness. Other states are
Fatique and exhaustion
Deleriance
Ecstacy
Fatigue and exhaustion
Hard muscular exertion produce a number of readily recognizable physiological changes accompanied by subjective experience of tiredness, pain and desire to rest or sleep. The ability to continue at work is reduced and the quality of work suffers. If the fatique process has not gone too far recovery is rapid and with the rest of the work can be reserved with satisfactory performance. More profound changes takes place if exertion leads to exhaustion. Quite a few experiments have been concerned with............Read
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This article explains the advantages and uses of testing intelligence,and explains few tests
Intelligent tests
Testing of intelligence is an important aspect in psychology. There are several tests which are used to measure intelligence. The prominent among them are :
1. Individual test
2. Group test
3. Verbal test
4. Non - verbal test
5. Performance test
6. Speed test
7. Power test
Individual test
As the name indicates this test can be given to only one individual at a time. If there are more than one person, we need as many examiners as there are candidates. The instructions have to be given individually naturally it consumes a lot of time to test the individuals. However there are many advantages in this test. There is no scope for prompting and copying. These is a direct contact between the examiner and the subject.This helps in clearing the doubt of the subject quickly. Since it's an individual test, the result that we obtain are highly reliable.
However the individual test cannot be used at times of emergency when a large number of people have to be tested. It involves a large number of people who have to act as examiners and also it consumes lot of time, energy and money. An example for this test is Binets Simon test.
Group test
Group test of intelligence is so named because it can be given to a large number of people at the same time. The group test was 1st constructed during the world war periods in America to test the intelligence of people who had to join army. There are two group tests called army alpha and army beta. Army alpha is a verbal group test and army beta is a performance group test.
A group test has many advantages
It can be given to a number of people at the same time
We need only a few people to administer the test
The instructions are simple and common to all
It saves a lot of energy and money
However it has some defects too. There is a lot of scope for copying and prompting. Since there is no face to face contact between the examiner and the subject, if the subject has any doubt it cannot be clarified easily.
Verbal test
This test makes use of language. Hence the individual who is taking the test must have mastery over the language in which the test is contructed. It includes items like vocabulary verbal anology general information etc. Obviously this test cannot be given to very young children, illeterates, foreigners and deaf mute ( cannot speak) children.
Non - verbal test
In this test there is no usage of language. The items included in the test are pictures completion, pictures arrangements etc. This test can be given to all people of all ages.
Performance test
In this test a person has to perform a task using some items or materials. Here a person must have a good co - ordination between eye and hand. A performance test can be given to illiterates, foreigners, young children and deaf and mute. An example for this test in Alexanders Battery of performance test.
....................Read
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This article explains the factors of intelligence
Factors of intelligence
All those factors which influence intelligence can be classified into two broad categories namely
Bio - chemical
Socio - cultural
Bio - chemical factors
Heredity : It is found from studies that the disturbance of bio -chemical balance of the body may lead to various disorders of intelligence. It is found that a defective gene may produce a rare condition known as phenyl pyruvic oligophrenia a type of feeble- mindedness.
Anoxia : Severe deprivation of oxygen is known as anoxia. Thus condition impact judgement, perception and intelligence. The same condition at the time of birth may have serious impact on later behaviour.
Food and nutrition : According to a study conducted on children, the improved nutrition during the first 4 years of life contribute to marked improvement in intelligent quotient level.
Vitamins : Thiamin, one of the b- complex vitamins is found to have a close relationship with the development of intelligence. It is also believed that glutanic acid may speed up mental growth.
Endocrine gland : Several hormones have a great impact on intelligence. If the thyroid gland is under active during childhood, it leads to a condition called cretinism. A cretinism is not only a dwarf but also intellectually sub - normal. The same condition at adulthood is called myxodema
Socio - cultural factors.................Read
Intelligence
The term intelligence in the case of human being has been usually connected with intellectual cognitive abilities. The term intelligence is often used in the same sense as wisdom. Intelligence is a term commonly used and yet rather difficult to be defined is a precise and generally accepted form.
The most general definition of intelligence was given by munn. According to him intelligence is '' versatility of adjustment.'' This definition can be applied at all level of evolution. Versatility at lower levels is indicated by the speed with which learning occurs. At more higher levels, it has developed the place where problems of greater complesity can be learnt.
David Wechsler defines intelligence as ''aggregate on global capacity of an individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his environment.
Testing intelligence
Testing intelligence is an important factor especially nowadays because admissions to professional courses and selection of people for employment are done on the basis of intelligence tests.
At the beginning of the present century the school authorities in paris wanted to take some measures to spot out those students who could not do well in their studies. Alfred binet was commissioned by the French government to find out the causes of the poor performance of the students. Binet with the help of another psychologist by name Simon constructed the intelligence tests.
Mental age ( M.A )
The contribution of Binet lies not in the construction of intelligence test but he gave a quantitative term for testing intelligence. He developed the concept of mental age. Mental age is nothing but a score obtained by an individual on the basis of his performance on the intelligence tests. It is a score which can be expressed in terms of the age groups to which an individual psychological function belongs.
Intelligence quotient ( I.Q )
Binets terminology was improved by William stern. He pointed out that the intelligence of an individual could be expressed as a ratio between the mental age and the actual age which is called chronological age. The mental age is divided by Chronological age and the quotient is multiplied by 100 to avoid decimals. This is known as intelligent quotient. Formula for working out intelligent quotient is
I.Q = M.A / C.A x 100 where I.Q is equal to intelligence quotient.
M.A is mental age, C.A is chronological age...........read
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Thought and language
According to watson thinking is said to be restained speech sub vocal thinking or implicit language activity. If we just analyze our every where thinking, we find words everywhere because we are talking to ourself. This is more evident in children's thinking. They often do their thinking aloud as they grow older. They learn that their thought should be kept within and they think sub vocally. But other psychologist defined that deaf people who cannot use language are............read
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Thinking and reasoning
As man is a rational animal he is capable of thinking and reasoning for effective dealings with his environment. Main needs thinking and reasoning.
Thinking represents the most complex form of human behaviour the highest form of mental activity but it is not so different from our other activities. Many forms of behaviour can be classified as thinking. We think as we 'day dream' while working for a class to begin we think, as we ''solve a problem'' or.........read
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Hallucination
Another form of error in perception is hallucination. It is nothing but a false perception here. We perceive a figure or and object purely because of subjective conditions though there is no stimulus at all such an error and perception has no object base hallucination differs from illusion in certain respect.
Illusion has an objective base where as hallicination have no object and it is purely subjective
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Illusion
It is a wrong perception or a mistaken perception. It is defined as an immediate apprehension of an object as we like it and not as it is. The perceptual process involves and interpretation of the sensory experience in the light of our past experience, present attitude organic needs etc. Consiquantly if the interpretation is done wrongly the stimulus perceive will be wrong. Such a phenomenon is known as illusion. The classical example is our perception of rope as a snake in dark. The stimulus is like the one coming from a snake and it is quite real and objecting because of the similarity between the two, we perceive a rope as a snake in the night as guided by our past experience and fear. In illusion there is always an objective reality but it is mistaken. Thus illusion is normal and universal phenomenon.
Types of illusion
In order to understand how illusions are caused the psychologist have studied illusion by making use of a number of geometrical figures which cause illusions.
Muller lyer illusion
In the illusion there are two straight lines of equal length one is bound with a pair of arrow heads at both the ends and another line has feather heads at both the ends. Though both the lines are equal in length, the line with arrow heads appears shorter than the line with feather heads. This is nothing but optical illusion. This illusion is due to the context of the arrow heads and feather heads attached to the lines. Generally there is a tendency to under estimate their feather head line. This is due to the fact that while perceiving the arrow head line our vision is restricted on the other hand we tend to extend our vision beyond what is given while seeing the feather heads line.
Horizontal vertical illusion
In this the verticals line is always drawn from the midpoint of the horizontal line in a right angle position. Though the two lines are of equal length the vertical line appears longer than the horizontal line by virtue of its position. This is because the movement of eyes along the vertical line is more tired than the movement on the horizontal line. Naturally the vertical line looks shorter than what it is. Example the horizontal line looks shorter than what it is. Another reason is that the horizontal line is cut at the intersection which makes it look shorter than vertical line.
Illusion of movement or ( Phi- phenomenan )
Perceiving movement is one of the characteristic of perception. It is an innade nature of human vision though perceiving movement is natural perceiving apparent movement of an object is known as illusion of movement or phi- phenomenon. What we see on the screen in a cinema theatre is not the real movement but a series of still pictures projected on the screen at a particular speed that is 20 to 25 pictures per second the neon light advertisement are also based on this principles..............Read
Perception
Sensation is an elementary experience. It is only a raw material for the final experience. But perception is sensation plus a great deal more, the experience. Perception is defined as sensation re- infored by memories, images etc, derived from past experience. Perception is also defined as a process of attaching meaning to sensations. In psychology perception is defined as a immediate apprehension of an object as it is. Thus in perception there is a sudden grasping of an object as it is. It is also defined as a process of decoding the encoded message. That is perception is a process of interpreting the sensations
Factors determining perception
According to Gardiner Murphy, the various factors which determine our perception are
1. Sense organs
2. To brain function
3. Past experience
4. Set or attitude
5. Matives
Sense organ
Perception depends upon sense impressions. The sense impressions depend upon the sense organ concerned with the specific stimuli. For example to perceive colours and shape rods and cones must be fully developed. To perceive the various stimuli the respective sense organ, the nerve cells etc must be fully developed. If a particular sense organ is injured or damaged, the concerned stimuli from the environment cannot be perceived.
Brain function
Perception also depends upon the nature of the brain function. If a particular part of the brain is injured then the concerned perception will be affected...........read
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Stock trading
Many people before stepping in the stock market think stock trading is the easiest way to earn money, unaware of easiest way to lose money. Once they lose money then they realize it is not so easy. Many people lose money due to lack of rules. To make profit in the market one has to set few rules and follow with decipline. In stock market earning even 1 rupee after the commission is a successful trade. Few tips are mentioned below for trading
1.Never trade in margin, due to time limitations you can face huge loses.
2. Split your capital into various tradings like swing trading and positional trading apart from intraday trading.
3. Do not trade in the same stock again same day
4. Do not trade with the borrowed money and don't put all your money in one script, if you lose in one script then the other might give you good profit.
5. Once you loose a trade do not over trade that day, and always
6. Do not trade on rumours
7. Every person had different opinion and different style of trading in the market, so follow only one person not all.............READ
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Sensation of skin or Cutaneous sensation
Cutaneous or skin sensation are those of touch, heat, cold and pain. The receptors for their sensations consists mainly of various types of small bulbs or corpuscles at the end of a sensory nerve axons
There are three different types of touch receptors in the regions of the body that are covered with fine hair, the hair follicles are provided with specialized nerve endings which are stimulated when ever the hair moved.....READ
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Gustatory sensation ( sensation of taste ) :
The organ for tasting is the tongue. The receptors for taste consists of cells which are located in deep surfaces in tongue. These cells form different clusters of taste buds. We can taste only liquids, solid food before it can give rise to taste must be sufficiently dissolved in saliva to run into the taste buds and stimulate them.
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Olfactory sensation ( Sensation of smell ) :
The receptors for smell are olfactory cells situated at the top of the olfactory cleft which is found in each nostril gaseous particles in the inhaled air arouse chemical action in these cells and cause nerve current to be transmitted by the olfactory nerve to the brain. Smell is very important sometimes we tend to select the food on the basis of its smell.
A Dutch psychologist, Henning has attempted to divide smells into six fundamental classes namely :...........READ
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Difference between perception and sensation :
Normally we are not able to distinguish sensation from perception because they are almost similar to each other but in psychology we have different meanings for the two processes. Psychologist distinguish sensation from perception in the following way
-> Sensation is the simplest cognitive response evoked by any stimulus were as perception is more complicated experienced.
-> Sensation is defined as a process of encoding the sense impressions where as perception is defined as a process of decoding the encoded message................Read
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Economical methods of learning
Every one has to memorize many things. He has to remember names of his friends, there addresses door numbers , telephone numbers etc. Any one who has to use his knowledge in meeting a new situation has to remember many facts which have to be applied to later cases. Therefore there is a great need for memorizing. Different persons make use of different methods for memorizing. Some of these are more efficient and some less efficient. The economical methods are so named because there is a lot of saving in terms of time and energy. They are also called efficient methods of learning. A great deal of experiments are available on the relative efficiency of the different methods of learning.
The massed method and distributed method OR unspaced and spaced method :
In memorizing a certain lesson a learner may adopt one of the two methods mentioned above. If the time at his disposal is limited and he has to learn the lesson by heart with in that time, he may use the entire time for practicing the lesson continously without any interval or break this is called unspaced or massed method. Suppose the time in his disposal is only one hour, he may go on reading the lesson continuously through out the hour.
In the distributed or spaced method and individual would practice for some time, then rest for a while, resume practice once again, rest for a while and so on . For example : if the time available is one hour he would practice for 20 minutes then rest and relax for 5 minutes, again practice for 20 minutes followed by 5 minutes of rest which is again followed by 10 minutes of practice this procedure is known as distributed practice or spaced practice.
When the results of the two methods were compared, it was found that the distributed method was more efficient. Subjects could memorize more quickly by this method the reason for the superiority of the spaced method seems to be that it provides time for the consolidation of the memory trace. In the continous method where practice goes on without a break there is no time for consolidation.
The whole method and part method :
A lesson which is fairly long made in practiced entirely from the beginning to the end in each reading or trial. This is called the whole method. A lesson can be broken up into smaller parts and each part practiced separately. This is known as part method. For example : If a subject is required to memorize a poem consisting of twenty lines and go over the entire poem again and again and again until he is able to reproduced it or he may first memorize only the first five lines then go on the next five lines, after mastering the second part may go on to the third and so on. Thus learning the poem part by part. This is called the part method.
Although many students have a preference for part learning experimental study's show that all the whole learning is superior to the part learning except when the lesson is too long. In such a case the long lesson may be split into fairly big parts and each part and each part memorized by the whole method for example if a student has to memorize hundred lines of poetry, it would be too long a lesson to study by the whole method. It may therefore be split into four parts each containing 25 lines and each part study by the whole method thus, with very long lesson 2 combinations of the whole and part methods will be more advantageous.
There are at least two reasons for the superiority of the whole method to that of the part method. The first reason is that in the whole method the learner will grasp the central idea or theme of the lesson. This helps in memorizing. The second advantage is that it helps in knowing which part comes after which, so that the lesson is remembered in order. This continuity and order is generally lost in the part learning.
The repetition method and recitation method :
While learning a lesson a student may keep on reading or repeating through out the available time............READ
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Forgetting :
Forgetting is a loss permanent or temporary of the ability to retain, recall or recognize something learnt or experienced earlier. Ebbing haus was the first person to study forgetting scientifically. He memorized many list of nousense syllables by repeated reading until he was able to repeat them perfectly once. He re - learned some of them for 20 minutes later, some after a day, some after 2 days later and so on. He found that about 47% was forgotten in 20 minutes, 66% in one day, 72% in two days, 75% in 6 days and 79% in 31 days. Thus forgetting was rapid in the beginning and then became slower and slower as the days passed on.
On the basis of the causes forgetting may be divided into two types namely normal and abnormal.
Causes of forgetting :
There are many factors which may lead to normal forgetting
1. Poor learning :
Much forgetting is due to poor learning. Many names of persons, things places etc are forgotten because we paid very little attention to them when we learnt them. Also when we are emotionally disturbed we don't pay attention to things that happened at that time and so we don't remember.
2. Change of stimulating condition :
Forgetting may occur because some of the stimuli present during the original learning are missing at the time of recall. For example we may fail to recognize a policemen or a bus conductor or a postman when they are seen in the similar clothes because we always see them in their uniforms only.
3. Retro active and pro active inhibition :
An important cause of forgetting seems to be the conflict between what has been learnt in the past and subsequent learning. When the present learning interferes with past learning we have retro active inhibition. On the other hand in pro - active inhibition the past learning interferes with the present learning. Both of them can be demonstrated in the laboratory.
In order to illustrate retro - active inhibition the following experiment may be quoted. Two groups of students namely experimental and control are taken both the groups are asked to learn a list of nousense syllables namely list A. After this the experimental group learns another list namely list B. While the experimental is doing this the control group is asked to engage itself in some unrelated activity. After the experimental group has learnt list B both the groups are asked to recall list A.......................read
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Means to measure memory
Until recently it was taught that mental faculties could not be studied experimentally therefore no attempt was made to investigate memory by the application of procedure however towards the begining of the present century Ebbing haus a German psychologist demonstrated that memory could be studied experimentaly.
Ebbing haus invented what are called nousense syllables for this on memory. Stanza's of poetry, lit of words and prose passage could be used but had difficulty that is it was likely that some of the subjects had already read them. While others had not and so that the lesson would be more familiar to some and less familiar to other's. In other words the lesson would not be of the same difficulty for all. So Ebbing haus invented the nousouse syllables. The nousense syllable is conducted by combining 2 or 3 consonants with 1 or 2 vowels. For example X ATM since they are not in use, not found in any dictionary, they would be equally unfamiliar to all the subjects. Hence they have been used extensively in experiments on memory.
In the experimental investigation of memory 3 important methods have been used. They are
1. The method of recall and reproduction
2. Re - learning or saving method
3. Recognition method
Recall and reproduction method :
In this method the experimenter gives the subject certain lessons for memorizing the lesson may be a list of nousense syllable, a prose passage or a few stanza's of poetry. The same lesson is given to all the subjects they are then asked to memorize it to a defenite criterian namely one enorless repetition. It means that they have to learn it until they are able to reproduce it once without committing any error the amount of time taken by each subject and the number of repetition required by each are carefully noted. After an interval of time which may be a few minutes or a few hours and few days the subject are asked to recall the lesson and reproduce it either orderly or in writing. It would be found that the subjects would have forgotten the lesson some what and may be able to reproduce it only partially. By noting the amount of member and subtracting it from the amount of original lesson we can calculate the percent of lesson remembered and the percent forgotten.
The method of recall is a useful method which enables us to express in quantitative laws, the extent to which a subject remembers the lesson has memorized but since unable to recall only shows that the subject is unable to recall it completely. It does not indicate precisely to what extent the lesson is forgotten.
The re - learning or saving method :
The relearning method is an improvement over the method of recall. It can measure precisely the amount remembered and the amount forgotten. In the re - learning method the experimenter gives the lesson to the subject for memorizing the lesson may be a list of 25 nousense syllable the subjects are asked to memorize the list to a specified criterian namely until they are able to reproduce the entire list once without error. The number of repetitions required at time taken to memorize the list or carefully note it. After an interval of time which may be a few minutes or hours or days. The experimenter would like to know how much of that lesson the subject has remembered and how much he has forgotten to know this the subject is asked to relearn the lesson until he is able to repeat it once without error, as the subject would have forgotten some amount during that period he would require a few repetitions of the lesson to reach the same criterian but certainly he would need less time repetitions than before the differences between the time and repetitions required for the original learning and time and repetitions required for re - learning will give us the total time and number of repetitions which the subject has saved, this repetition has the memory score.......................read
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Difference between Human and Animal learning
1. The difference between man and animal in learning is due to superior intelligence found in man. By making use of intelligence, not only learn faster but also with less efforts.
2. Man's memory is better than that of the animals. It helps him to save time and energy in learning the material.
3.Man has the ability for abstract thinking which is lacking in the lower animals. This abstract thinking helps him to plan out learning before making any effort to learn.
4. Man has verbal ability which the animal is lacking. This helps him to read and understand the instructions or the directions given.
Types or forms of Learning
The following are the important types of learning :
1. Trial and Error learning
2. Insightful learning
3. Learning by imitation
4. Learning by conditioning and
5. Learning by instrumental conditioning
Trial and error learning :
A great volume of a psychologists reasearch on learning is based on animal studies. Animals are more easily amonable to experimentation than human beings and many mental processes are found in the simplest form among animals. Therefore many investigators have used animals as their subjects in the experiments. Perhaps the earliest systematic investigation of animal learning was that of E.L.Thorndike, a psychologist belonging to the columbia university. He introduced the concept of trial and error learning and also formulated certain comprehensive laws of learning.
Throndikes experiments on cats illustrate the trial and error learning. He put a hungry cat in a problem box or puzzle box which was a kind of cage made out of wooden bars. It was provided with a door. The puzzle box was designed in such a way that the door of the cage could be opened by manipulating a simple mechanism such as pulling a thread. A fish was put out side the cage to act the incentive to the cat. The experiment game was to study whether the cat would open the door and if it learnt, how did it learn and what process brought about such learning.
Thorndike observed that the cat in this situation exhibited varied activities such as clawing the bars, trying to squeeze itself through the space between the bars, biting the bars and similar other ' random behaviour' . This is called random the cat was trying to do what ever responses occurred to its mind about that time. However after sometime it accidentaly pulled the thread and finding that the door had opened, it came out. It was then allowed to eat the fish a little and immediately returned to the cage for a second trial was very much like the first. The useless random activities persisted until again the cat accidentally pulled the thread. Put again and again in the puzzle box, the cat continued to behave in the same manner but from trial to trial there was a gradual decrease in the useless activities and also in the time until finally the cat went straight to the thread, pulled it and got out. The cat had learnt to pull the thread and open the door of the cage. But the course of it's learning was not uniform and regular. In addition to being very slow, there were up's and down's in it's scores giving the impression that it had not learnt much extensive practice was needed for the cat to avoid all irrelevant behavoiur and to go straight to the thread and pull it. Thus the cat had learnt to manipulate the mechanism.
Trial and error learning consists of repeated efforts of the animals to explore the situation. The first success is by accident and is followed by further success. The expression trial and error has been expanded as the learning by repeated trials and a gradual elimination of errors.
To explain the process of learning Thorndike has suggested 3 laws of learning.
a. Law of effect :
According to this law any activity that gives satisfaction of success has a tendency to be established and gets fixed up. On the other hand any activity that does not lead to desired goal and causes the feeling of disappointment has a tendency to be dropped out. Thus the stamping in and stamping out of any activity is determined by the effect it produces.
b. Law of frequency :
According to this law, any activity repeated a certain number of times has a tendency to be established permanently. Thus the repeated activity becomes stronger and easier to repeat it again. On the other hand any activity that is not repeated is lightly to disappear for want of reputation.
c. Law of Recency :
According to this law, any act which is done recently has an advantage of being repeated once again, because of fresh experience. Thus these three laws govern trial and error learning.
Maze learning in animals
One of the most common experiment in animal learning is maze learning by whit rats. Generally a maze has wrong turns leading to blind allays. The correct path leads to the goal where the rat finds food. The plan of the experiment is to see the number of trials that the rat takes to learn the maze successfully. Entering the blind allays is taken as as error. In order to motivate properly, the rat is generally kept hungry 24 hours prior to the experiment. When the rat is place at the entrance of the maze it cannot see its way to the food. Naturally it becomes active and begins to explore the maze in an unorganized way. It enters all the parts leading to blind allays finally. It reaches the food, after allowing to eat a bid, it is place again at the entrances. Thus several trials are given per day as the trials. Entering the blind ally's finally after a number of trials it learns to avoid entering them, and runs directly and quickly through the correct path to react the food for each trial a number of errors and the time taken are noted.
Maze learning in human beings
In order to study the learning process in human being psychologist have used various types of mazes such as Finger Tracing maze, step maze, mirror tracing board etc. One of the common experiment is tracing the star pattern by means of a chalk piece or styles in the mirror tracing board. The subject has to trace the star pattern without touching the edges while tracing the pattern the subject is not suppose to look at pattern directly but it has to see through mirror where the whole thing is reverse. So it requires some learning. Therefore one can trace the pattern correctly. In the begening the subject tends to commit a lot of mistakes and the time taken will also be more but as the trials advance the number of error and the total time will get reduced.
Learning by imitation
Apart from learning by trial and error method and by insight, animals and human beings also learn by observing and attempting to copy the performances of others. However the activity to be imitated must be with in the limits of the imitator.
Learning to imitate is illustrated by and experiment conducted by Milln and Dollord on forty two first standard children.Two boxes were kept on two chairs in a room one child (the leader) was told, which of the two boxes must be open to secure a piece of candy. The box contained two pieces of candy and the child was instructed to take only one piece and leave the other behind. The second child (imitator) was rewarded with the second piece of candy if he opened the same as the leader. He was not rewarded if he went to the other box. Both the children at first stood at a short distance away from the two chairs on which the boxes were kept. It was found that only twenty present of the children learnt bye imitation to go to the correct box in the first trial itself. On the average it took three trials for the imitator to copy the performance of the first child. Thus this experiment explains how children learns by imitation.
Learning by conditioning
The term conditioning is used widely to mean to get adjusted or to get used to. It is a process of connecting a new and unnatural stimulus to an old and natural response, which by nature have nothing to do, with each other. Learning by conditioning was scientifically explained by a Russian physiologist I.P. Pavlov.
Classical conditioning experiment
The best known experiment on classical conditioning was performed by a Russian physiologist and nobel prize winner. I.P.Pavlov. He accidentally discovered the conditioned response, while performing a series of physiological experiments in the early part of the twentieth century. He was studying digestion and salivation in dogs, which he called as psychic secretion of saliva. He was using an apparatus to collect and measure the secretions of saliva by implanting tubes in the stomach or cheek. He had arranged to put powder into the dogs mouth and observed its salivary response to the food.
He had engaged an assistant to serve food and to take care of the dog. Pavlov believed that placing food in the dog's mouth cause salivations in the stomach. As the experiment continued the dog started salivating at the sight of the food alone then at the sight of the dish, the assistant and even at the approaching sound of his foot steps.
When the food is put into the mouth salivation is natural response because it causes chemical arousal of the sense receptors in the tongue and mouth where as salivation at the very sight of the food or dish or the servant is not natural but learnt. So Pavlov thought that if salivary response could be attached to the sight of the food along it can be attached to any stimulus which has nothing to do with response by nature.....................Read
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Improvement of Memory
It is difficult to answer the question whether we can improve our memory or not. Some people are of the opinions that memory cannot be improved at all but it is wrong to say so. However there is no drug which can improve the memory overnight. Psychologist have given certain suggestions to improve memory. These are based on the experiments which were conducted bye them. Following are some of the suggestions to improve memory.
Suggestions
1. An individual has to go through the material he/she wants to master with keen attention and then learn it.
2. He should have a definite goal.......................READ
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Memory
Memory is a complicated vaital process which includes several psychological activities. In common conversation the term mercury is used to mean our capacity to remember but in psychology the term memory refers to a complex psychological process which includes both remembering and forgetting. Infact these 2 are like 2 faces of a coin. Forgetting is as important as remembering because we have to forget unnecessary and unwanted experience so that we are able to retain the necessary experiences and information.
There are four stages in memory they are :
1. Learning and memorizing
2. Retentions
3. Recalling or reproducing
4. Recognisation
These may be described as follows :
1. Learning or Memorising :
Memory necessarily implies learning unless something has been learnt previously or experienced previously there may be nothing for us to remember. It is what we have already learnt or experience that we can remember. Therefore learning is the 1st stage mercury. It includes not only those activities which we have acquired by continous practice such as multiplication tables or the spelling of the words but also single experiences in which a nerve has been mentioned to us or a new face is introduced to us.
Memory differs from learning in important respect that is learning in performance immediately after practice but memory requires a certain time intervals between learning and recalling.
2. Retention :
It is the central factor in memory. The fact that we are able to recall many poems and rhyms which we had learnt several years ago show that these materials had been retained in our minds during a period of several years. It is this process in which learnt activities are preserved in our minds, so that we can still recall them later, that is known as retention. Thus retention is the process of retaining past experiences.
No one as yet knows definitely how exactly learnt activities are retained. Psychologist have been able to from some guess as to the way in which retention is possible. They have put forward the idea of a memory trace. They believe that all mental activity involves corresponding damages in nervous system particularly in the brain. They further believe that these charges are in the nature of marks or traces in the nervous tissues of the brain. They think that these traces formed at the time of learning include in them the corresponding activities. These traces are impression in brain are believed to contain the experience of the past and are known as ' Memory trace or Engram or Nervogram'.
Retention however does not guarantee recall because we know from experience a nerve or a number or a word which we may not be able to recall now we may recall after 1 hour or after a day or 2. Obviously it had been retained but could not be recalled although we all think that we forget many of our experiences and learnt activities. It is perhaps true to say that nothing which has been experienced in even totally been forgotten. It is not definitely known but preserved from the fact that many things which we cannot remember during dreams under the influence of drugs or during hypnosis...........READ
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Moment of Inertia of fly wheel
A flywheel is a heavy metal disc capable of rotation about a horizontal or a vertical axis. W is the flywheel and PQ is the axle. The wheel rotates about the axis XY. P is a pin attached to the axle. One end of the thread is attached to the pin and the other end of the thread carries a mass m, when the flywheel is at rest, let A be the initial position of mass m. When the mass is allowed to move down freely, just after release, the flywheel is set into rotation. The lenght of the thread is suitably adjusted such that when the mass touches the wooden black, the other end of the string gets detached from the pin P. The time taken for 2, 4, 6, and 8 rotations are noted and the readings are tabulated.
The average angular velocity is w+0 / 2 = w /2 = 2 pie n / t
w =4 pie n / t
Loss in P.E =mgh
Gain in K.E = 1/2 mv^2 +1/2 Iw^2
The mass of I can be calculated by I =( m2 -m1) gr / ( w2 -w1)
Uses of Flywheel.................READ
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Fishes :
Fishes are aquatic organisms which live in water. They are adopted for swimming. The body is covered by scales, they posses paired and unpaired fins, which are locomotary structures. The paired fins are pectoral and pelvic fins. They posses air bladder which gets filled with air and the body weight reduces. It posses a single caudal fin. The body is covered by scales and it posses a terminal mouth. It is a fresh water fish. It is a bony fish. It has single dorsal fin and a single anus fin on the ventral side. It posses pectral and pelvic fins.
Gold fish : The tail is trilobed. The body is covered by scales.The eyes are protuding. It is darkish grey and gold brown in colour. It is only for a ornamental values.
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Defination and meaning of learning :
As man gathers experience he learns to perform action more efficiently and more quickly than he could perform for the first time. Learning is acquiring a skill or doing a thing effectively, speedily and adequately with out expanding much mental energy.
In early childhood we learn many motor skills like reaching for and grasping objects. Next we begin to acquire verbal skills. At first there is a limited understanding of what certain words and gestures mean.
Guilford defines learning as 'any change of behaviour resulting from past experiences.'
For example a little boy is down with fever, he is taken to a doctor. The doctor after examining him gives an injection. The boy feels the pain. If the boy is taken to the doctor the next day, he reacts in a different way because..................READ Learning CLICK HERE
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Definition of psychology :
Definition of psychology forms and important chapter in any book on psychology. The term psychology is derived from the greek words namely psych and logos. Psych mean soul and logos means course or discourse. So, etymologically psycho means study of soul, where various attempts have been made to define psychology from the time of 'Aristotle' till the recent times ( Aristotle defined psychology as ' Science of Soul). According to him psychology deals with soul and its properties. This definition was occupied for a long time. But after some time people began to ask questions such as ' What is soul' ? Where is it to be found ? What are its properties ? and so on-of which to the question, ' what is soul ?' different thinkers gave different answers, it was a kind of speech.
' Socrates' a famous greek philosopher was of the opinion that ' soul' is a kind of a fluid, which unhurts the entire body of a being gives life to it and is responsible for all its activities as to the question ' Where has it situated ? Some people thought that it was in a brain, some others said that it was in the heart. But it was clear that no body had seen the soul or handled it. Therefore it was not the proper subject for scientific study.
Another attempt was made to define psychology. Some thinkers tried to define psychology as ' Science of Mind'. This definition is better than the previous one for, we know that these is an entirely called mind. But we are not satisfied with this definition for :
1) Mind is a vague (unclear) term. It gives an impression that mind is a concrete substance, which can be seen and touched. As a matter of fact, mind is a function, whose nature can be known only when an individual is engaged with one or other mental activity.
2) This definition includes that the nature of mind can be studied apart from body. Reality speaking mind has no independent existent It is a part of the human organism. So a study of mental activity necessarily involves a study of its physiological counter part.
Towards the end of the 19th century a group of psychologists under the leadership of Withelon Wundt, attempted to define psychology. Wundth was a pioneer ( first person) in psychology who started the first psychology laboratory in 1879, at lepziq in Germany. According to Wundt, 'Psychology is the study of conscious activities ' he along with his students emphasized the fact that the man is endored with consciousness or awareness. Because of this man is able to think or perceive ( clear knowledge) feel and remember. These are other experiences formed a subject matter of psychology. These experiences could be divided into units of conscious experience, just like a matter which can be split into its constituents. This defination has found to be inadequate (not correct) for the following reasons...............................READ
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Non - Inertial frame of reference :
The laws of physics do not change in their form if they are transferred from one inertial frame to another inertial frame. However if the frame of reference S' is accelerated with respect to S, then the basic laws become different. Such a frame of reference which is accelerated with respect to S is called the non - inertial frame of reference.
Fictitious force :
Consider S' the frame of reference is accelerating with an acceleration a0 with respect to another inertial frame S. If no force acts on a particle P, It has zero acceleration as observed by the person in frame S but the acceleration of P relative to it is -a0. It means that the observer in frame S' will observe that a force Fa= -ma0 acts on the particle P such a force which does not really act on a particle but appears to act due to acceleration of the frame is called Fictitious force.
F0 = -ma0
Consider an external force Fi acts on the particle P. The acceleration of the particle observed in the inertial frame S is ai. Therefore Fi = mai
The apparatus force F acting on the particle is observed in the non - inertial reference frame S'
F = Fi + F0
= mai + (-m a0)
Therefore fictitious force is that quantity which must be added to the real force acting on the particle in the inertial frame to give the value of apparant force in the non -inertial frame of reference
when mai = 0
F =F0 = -ma0
Here F0 is the fictitious force.
Examples :-
1) Centrifugal force :
Consider that a mass m is at rest in a non - inertial frame. From this frame the observed value of acceleration is a=0. Suppose the non -inertial frame is rotating with an angular velocity w about an axis fixed in an inertial frame.
Therefore a0 = -w^2r
This is the centripetal acceleration as observed in the inertial frame. The fictitious force,
F0 = -ma0
F0 = mw^2r
F0 is the centripetal force,
F = Fi + F0
= -mw^2r +mw^2r =0
Here -mw^2r is the centripetal force and mw^2r is the centrifugal force. The total observed force in the reference frame S is zero.
2) Freely falling bodies :
Consider an elevator falling freely under the action of gravity. It is a non - inertial frame of reference. If earth is the inertial frame of reference a0 = -gx
x is measured upwards from the surface of the earth, g is the acceleration due to gravity. The fictitious force F0 on a mass m in the following elevator is
F0 = -ma0 = mgx
Fi = -mgx + mgx = 0
It means, that the body is not accelerated in the elevator with respect to the falling elevator that is non - inertial frame in that case Fa = 0. It shows that the apparent weight of a body in the non - inertial frame of a freely falling elevator is zero. It also means weight tension.
If a body is in space of the elevator and has zero velocity with respect to the elevator it will remain suspended in space in the elevator when this is falling freely under gravity.
Special case :- If the elevator is moving downwards with the acceleration a0 where a0 < g.
F =Fi + F0
F = -mgx + ma0x
If the body is on the surface of the elevator in opposite weight
R = -F = m(g-ax)
If the elevator is moving up, the opposite weight
R= m(g+a0)..........................READ
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Frames of Reference :
To define motion the observer must define a frame of reference relative to which motion is considered. A body in motion can be located with reference to some coordinate system called the frame of reference. The body is said to be at rest if the co ordinates of all the points of a body remains unchanged with time and with respect to the frame of reference. If the coordinates of any point of the body change with time, the body is said to be in motion.
Consider a body p at a the point A. Let x,y,z be the co ordinates with respect to the frame of reference. If body is at A all the time then it is said to be at rest. If another body Q is at A first and then at B (x,y,z) it is in motion with respect to the frame of reference. The observer O coincides the motion of p with respect to x,y,z. The observer O' coincides with respect to x', y',z'. If O and O' are at rest with respect to each other they will observe the same motion.
Examples :
1) Consider two observers A and B, A is on the earth, B is on the sun. Both observe the motion of the moon. To the person on the earth, moon will appear to move along a circular path. To the observer B, moon will appear in a wavy path. But to the observer on the ground the path of the point on the rim appears to be cycloid
2) Consider a person in a train moving with uniform velocity. If a stone is dropped by a person, to the person who drops it appears that the stone is falling down. To the person standing on the platform the stone is moving along a parabola.
3) Consider a person sitting in a train. All the windows of the train are closed. If a stone is thrown upwards then the stone comes back to the same position. This in the case of non-inertial frame of reference.
Inertial Frame of Reference :
In this frame of reference, newton's 1st and 2nd law holds good. In this no acceleration is observed for a particle, free of any force or any constraint. It is convenient to take a fixed star as a standard inertial frame of reference. For standard earth can be taken as inertial frame of reference. It's rotation about its own axis can be taken to be negligibly small.
Galilean Transformation :
Consider a particle P in a frame of reference. Let x,y,z be the co ordinates. The co ordinates are different if the inertial frame of reference chosen is different. Some times it is necessary to change co ordinates from one frame of reference to another frame of reference. This is called Galilean Transformation. Such a set of equations are called transformation equations.
Consider two inertial frames of reference S(x,y,z) and S' (x', y',z'). The observer O is in the reference frame S'. The observer moves with uniform velocity V relative to O along the x-axis. At time t=0, O and O' are coincident. After time t1,
OO'= Vt
Transformation of position :
Consider a particle p
Here r' =r + Vt
r = r' - Vt
V is parallel to x-axis, separating the vector equation into three components.
x' = x- Vt
y' =y
z' =z
t' =t ............(i)
It is observed that the two observers are using the same time. It means that the time, measurements are independent of motion of the observer...............Read
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A solid may be crystalline or amorphous
Crystalline solids :
A crystalline solid may be a mono crystal or poly crystal. A solid in which atoms, ions, or molecules are arranged in regular repeated three dimentional pattern in solid to be crystallin.
Amorphour solids :
Amorphous solids may be regarded as super cooled liquids. Many plastics, pith and glass are amorphous. Amorphous solids exhibit short range orders. In boron tri oxide for example :- each boron is surrounded by three oxygen atoms. This short range order is repeasted in a regular fashion and there is a long range order also. Thus boron tri oxide is crystalline. If it lacks this range of order it is called amorphous.
Crystalline lattice :
The x-ray diffraction on crystals show that the atoms or molecules in a crystal are arranged in a regular array of points. A regular periodic arrangements of arrangements of points in space is called lattice. In a cystal each lattice point has a group of atoms or ions attached to it such a group of atoms attached to a lattice point is called lattice. A lattice in a regular periodic arrangement looks like a net like structure. The environment about any particular point is in every way the same as that about any other part. The crystal structure is thus specified characterised by the type of the lattice associated with it. An ideal crystal is constructed by infinite repetitions in space and identical.
Structural units :
The structural of all the crystals is discribed in terms of a lattice with a group of atoms attached to each lattice point. The group is called the basis, it is repeated in space to form the crystal lattice.
Lattice + basis = Crystal structure.
One important condition is that an array of points has to satisfy certain conditions in order that it may be called a lattice. The environment of each point in the array must be the same. The position vectors of the immediate neighbours of every other point in the array is clearly the same. A crystal structure is formed by an addition of basis to every lattice point. The number of atoms in the basis may be as low as one or it may exceed 1000 atoms.
The lattice can be constructed by imagining simple translations of primitive cell. A primitive lattice cell is a type of cell or of unit cell. A cell will fill all the space by suitable crystal translational operations. A primitive cell is a minimum volume cell. The number of atoms in the primitive basis will be same. There is a density of one lattice per primitive cell. The volume of the cell is defined by axis a, b, c is Vc = | a x b.c| by elementary vector analysis no basis contains fewer atoms than a primitive basis. This is also called Wigxes - Seitz primitive cell.
A unit cell may be a square, a rectangular, a parallelogram or a hexagon. A unit cell may be such that while building up the lattice there should not be any uncovered areas or over lapping. Thus a pentagon or a heptogon cannot be a unit cell because it cannot cover wide area with out over lappings.
A two dimensional lattice can be considered to be made of two sets of parallel lines say x-y direction. The points of intersection are called lattice points. Taking one of the lattice points as origin any other lattice point p can be represented by the vector r, ma+nb. Here a is a unit vector along x direction and is equal to distance between tow consecutive points along x direction, b is a unit vector along y direction, m and n are two integers.
A three dimensional lattice can be constructed to be made of three sets of parallel lines along x,y,z directions intersecting each other at a point o. ox, oy, oz and the three axis along which a, b, c are the unit vectors represented. There are no restrictions on the lengths a, b, of the lattice translation vectors or on the angle between them. There fore there are unlimited possible number of lattice. A general lattice of obliquely is invaliant only under rotation..................................READ
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Applications of Plasma :
Plasma has found many applications, some of them are :
1 Magneto hydro dynamic generates
2) Plasma torch
3) Plasma sprayer
Magneto hydro dyanamic generates :
It consists of combustion gases and this is passed through a special nozzle of a special design called laval nozzle. The density, temperature and pressure decreases continuously. The internal energy also decreases but the kinetic energy of the gas increases continuously such that it surpasses the velocity of sound. Apply a magneto field perpandicular to the nozzle. The field applies a force F on the ions. The positive ions are collected by the electrode m and the negative ions are collected by the electrode. If the electrodes are connected to an external load the current will flow through the load.
The electrical efficiency = power consumed / total power
= I^2 R / I^2R+I^2r
= R/R+r
R = load resistance
r = unit resistance
The internal resistance can be reduced by increasing the electrical conductivity of the plasma. This can be done by adding an alkali metal such as potassium, the thermal effeciency of the generator can be increased by increasing the temperature to 2000k. The e.m.f can be increased by keeping the generator in a powerful electro magnet.
Plasma torch :
A copper tube and a tungsten rod are kept along the axis of the tube. The tube is tappered to form a nozzle. The copper tube is maintained at a high positive potential with respect to the rod............Read
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Dicot leaf :
Leaves help in transpiration. Transpiration is bought by stomata. Stomata helps in respiration. A central mid rib portion and either lamina. Upper surface made of upper epidermis. Lower surface lower epidermis. Epidermis is made of single layer of cells. In the upper epidermis are modified to form stomata. Stomata is called guard cells. Very few stomata is in the upper epidermis. Lower epidermis has more stomata so more transpiration in lower epidermis then upper epidermis. Stomata also contain chloroplast. Epidermis is also covered by cuticle. Mesophyll is made of palisade parenchyma,spongy parenchyma, and vascular bundles....................Read
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Monocot root
Ground pland. It is circular in out line. It is made of epidermis layer. Below it is made of cortex which is filled with parenchyma cells. The innermost region is the steler region. The endodermis is the outer most layer of stele. Protoxylem towards cortex and metaxylem toward pith. Radially arranged in between. The epidermis is made of single layer of cells. These are parenchyma cells. The epidermis is embedded by a thick cuticle. They also possess multicelluar hair. Epidermis is also called epiblemma or pelifernous layer. The cortex is made of several layers of parenchyma cells. The cortex is not defferenciated into different region................................Read
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Monocot Stem :
The epidermis is in single layer. It is a circular in out line. No multi cellular hair is found. Vascular bundles are scattered. No pith region. Below the epidermis is the hypo dermis made of sclerenchyma cells. The epidermis is covered by a thick cuticle. It is made of rectangular shaped cells. Cuticle is to prevent excess transpiration. The cortex and stele are not differenciated. Below the epidermis lies 1-2 layers of sclerenchyma cells called the hypo dermis. Vascular bundles are irregularly arranged. They are of various shapes..............Read
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Moment of Inertia and its significance :
According to newton's first law of motion the body continues to stay in the state of rest or in the state of motion. This property of inertia possessed by all the matter is the measures of mass in translatory motion. Similarly when a body is rotating or fixed about an axis. Any change in its state of rest or motion can be brought about by a couple or Torque the greater the opposition to change greater is the inertia. It is this rotational inertia of the body is called its moment of inertia about its axis of rotation.
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