Psychology 3 Marks Question

Reasoning helps in problem solving as it is the process of gathering and analysing information to arrive at conclusions. Thus, reasoning helps to arrive at conclusions through certain information.
This can be achieved through the following ways:

1. Deductive reasoning: It begins with an assumption that is believed to be true and the conclusion is based on that assumption. Thus, it is reasoning from general to particular.
2. Inductive reasoning: It is based on specific facts and observations. It involves the drawing of a general conclusion based on a particular observation.

Divergent thinking: Thinking that meets the criteria of originality, flexibility and inventiveness. It is called as thinking in different directions.Divergent thinking has following ideas of creativity:

1. Fluency: It produces many ideas for a given task or problem. The more ideas a person produce higher his fluency ability.
2. Flexibility: It produces variety in thinking.
3. Originality: It produces ideas that are new and unusual.

Creative thinking is solving the problem creatively; doing something "new". Creative thinking involves divergent and convergent thinking but more divergent thinking.
Stages:

1. Preparation: The thinker formulates the problem and collects facts and material necessary for the solution.

It is to understand the task or problem, analyse the problem and become aware of the background facts and related information.

• The person tries to look at the problem from different angles and viewpoints. Here divergent thinking abilities play important role.

2. Incubation: There may be a feeling of getting stuck. One may get disgusted with failures because not getting the solutions. Creative ideas may not occur immediately when individual is consciously thinking about the problem. The idea may occur at the time of relaxation or it may strike when the person is doing something else. e.g. at the time of just walking along or going to sleep.
3. Illumination: Like insight, a potential solution to the problem seems to be realized if from nowhere. Illumination occurs with its "aha" ! a sudden idea for solution appears into consciousness.
4. Verification: The solution found is verified or tested to see if it works. Frequently, the insight turn out to be satisfactory and may need some modification.
5. Revision: In case a satisfactory solution is not reached, a revision may be necessary.

Judgment and decision-making are interrelated processes.

• In decision-making the problem before us is to choose among alternatives by evaluating the cost and benefit associated with each alternative. For example, when you have the option to choose between psychology and economics your decision will be based on future prospects.
• Decision making differs from other type or problem solving. In decision-making we already know the various solutions of choices.
• Judgments are not decisions although they make yield information necessary for decision.

Two major obstacles to solving a problem are mental set and lack of motivation.Mental Set: Mental set is a tendency of a person to solve problems by following already tried mental operations or steps.
Lack of Motivation: Lack of motivation is another obstacle to solving problems. Sometimes people give up easily when they encounter a problem or failure in implementing the first step. Therefore, there is a need to persist in their effort to find a solution.

Language refers to an agreed set of symbols that enable us to convey meaning and converse with other members of the same culture that share the same language.Language has three basic characteristics:

• It involves symbols. Symbols represent something or someone else. e.g. The place where we worship is called temple, mosque or church. These words do not in themselves carry any meaning. It is only when they are associated with some object they attain meaning. Symbols are used while thinking.
• In involves rules. While combining two or more words, we usually follow a definite or accepted order. e.g. what is your name? And not “Name what your is” or "your what name is".
• It is used for communicating one's thoughts, ideas, intentions and feelings to others. On many occasions, non-verbal communication is also used to communicate. People with severe hearing and speech problems communicate with signs. Sign language is also a form of language.

Human language is more complex, creative and spontaneous than the system of communication other animals can learn. There is great deal of regularity with which children all over the world seem to be learning the language or languages. There is a predictable pattern in which children proceed from almost no use of language to the point of becoming competent language users.The stages of language development are:

1. New born babies and young infants make variety of sounds which gradually get modified to resemble word.

• First sound produced by babies is crying. It is undifferentiated and similar across various situations.
• Gradually pitch and intensity changes to signify states such as hunger, pain, sleepiness etc.
• These differentiated crying sounds meaningful cooing sounds like 'aaa' 'uuu' etc.

2. At around six months of age, children enter babbling phase involving repetition of variety of consonant and vowel sounds.
3. By about nine months of age, these sounds get elaborated to strings to some sound combinations such as (dadadada) into repetitive patterns. This later babbling seems to be imitative.
4. Around the first birthday most children enter one word stage.

• First word usually contains one syllable (e.g. ma order).
• Then they move to one or more words which are combined to gradually become more
• Form sentences. So they are called holophrases.

5. Around 18-20 months of age children enter two word stage. It exemplifies telegraphic speech and contains mostly nouns and verbs.

• Close to their third birthday i.e. two and a half years children's language development gets focused on rules of language they hear. This stage is called syntactic development.

1. Convergent and Divergent Thinking:

S. No.	Convergent Thinking	Divergent Thinking
1.	Convergent thinking has one correct answer.	Divergent thinking has many answers.
2.	It does not include fluency, flexibility, and originality.	It includes fluency, flexibility and originality.
3.	It does not helps in organisation of ideas.	It leads to organisation of new ideas.

2. Inductive and Deductive Reasoning:

S. No.	Inductive Reasoning	Deductive Reasoning
1.	This is based on specific facts and observation.	It begins with making general assumption.
2.	In this reasoning people analyse other possible reasons and observe what the man is actually doing and them draw a conclusion.	In this reasoning people make such mistakes in the sense that they assume but do not always know if the basic assumption is true.

Concepts are mental categories for objects and events, which are similar to each other in one or in more than one way.Role of concept in thinking process:

1. Concept formation helps us in organizing our knowledge so that whenever we access our knowledge we can do it in less time of effort.
2. Concepts used in thinking are neither deal nor unambigous. They are fuzzy. They overlap one another and are poorly defined.
3. To make thinking systematic a prototype is required. A prototype is a best representative member of category.