SHIVANI RANA

Follow on Instagram: shivani05rana

CHAPTER 1
VARIATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES

WHAT IS INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES?

Variations is a fact of nature, and individuals are no exception to it. Individuals
vary in terms of physical characteristics, such as height, weight, strength, etc. Different
traits can exist in varying degrees in an individual. Therefore, individual differences
refer to distinctiveness and variations among people’s characteristics and behaviour
patterns.

WHAT IS SITUATIONISM?
Apart from the view of individual differences, many psychologists believe that
our behaviours are influenced by more of an environment and situation. So, the latter
view about the variability which is situationism states that, situations and
circumstances in which one is places influence one’s behaviour. The situationist
perspective views human behaviour relatively more as a result of influence of external
factors.

EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF ASSESSMENT AN INDIVIDUAL’S

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES. ASLO, DISCUSS THE DOMAINS AND
MAJOR METHODS INVOLVED IN THE ASSESSMENT.
Assessment is the first step in understanding a psychological attribute. Assessment
refers to the measurement of psychological attributes of individuals and their
evaluation. Assessment of attributes/ traits can be formal or informal. Formal
assessment is objective, standardised and organised. On the other hand, informal
assessment varies from case to case and from one assessor to another.

1
SHIVANI RANA

Psychological Assessment uses systematic testing procedures to

evaluate abilities, behaviours and personal qualities of individuals.

Domains of psychological Attributes

1. Intelligence: It is the global capacity to understand the world, think rationally,
and use available resources effectively when faced with challenges.
2. Aptitude: It refers to an individual’s underlying potential for acquiring skills.
These tests used to predict what an individual will be able to do if given proper
environment.
3. Interest: It is an individual’s preference for engaging in one or more specific
activities related to others.
4. Personality: It refers to relatively enduring characteristics of a person that
makes him/her distinct from others.
5. Values: These are enduring beliefs about an ideal mode of behaviour.
Assessment Methods
1. Psychological Tests: It is an objective and standardised measure of an
individual’s meanly and behavioural characteristics. Besides objective tests,
psychologists have also developed certain projective tests, especially for the
assessment of personality.
2. Interview: It involves seeking information from a person on a one- to- one
basis.
3. Case Study: It is an in-depth study of the individual in terms of his/her
psychological attributes, psychological history in the context of his/her
psychosocial and physical environment.
4. Observation: It involves employing systematic, organised, and objective
procedures to record behavioural phenomena occurring naturally in real time. The
major drawback with this method is that the observer has little control over the
situation and the reports may differ.
5. Self- Report: It is a method in which a person provides factual information
about herself/himself and/or opinions, beliefs, etc. that she/he holds.

2
SHIVANI RANA

DEFINE INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence is a key construct employed to know how individuals differ from one
another.
• OXFORD DICTIONARY defines intelligence as the power of perceiving,
learning, understanding and knowing.
• Alfred Binet was one of the first psychologists who worked on intelligence. He
defined intelligence as the ability to judge well, understand well and reason well.
• Wechsler, whose intelligence tests are widely used defined intelligence as the
global and aggregate capacity of an individual to think rationally, act purposefully,
and to deal effectively with his/her environment.
Other psychologists, such as Gardner and Sternberg suggested that an individual
not only adapts to the environment, but also actively modifies it.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PSYCHOMETRIC AND INFORMATION

PROCESSING APPROACH
PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH
1. This approach considers intelligence as 1. This approach describes the processes
an aggregate of abilities. people use in intellectual reasoning
and problem solving.
2. It expresses the individual’s 2. This expresses the intelligence in the
performance in terms of a single index of form of the reaction/ action an
cognition. individual performs.
3. It focuses on the structure of 3. It focuses on the function of
intelligence. intelligence.

THEORIES OF PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH

1. Uni or One Factor Theory: Binet’s theory of intelligence was simple as it
arose from his interest in differentiating more intelligent from less intelligent
individuals. He conceptualised intelligence as consisting of similar set of abilities

3
SHIVANI RANA

which can be used for solving any or every problem in an individual’s

environment.
2. Two- factor theory: In 1927, Charles Spearman proposed a two-factor
theory of intelligence using a statistical method called factor analysis. He showed
that intelligence consisted of general factor (g-factor) and some specific factors (s-
factors). The g- factor includes mental operations which are primary and
common to all performances. But, in addition to this, they have specific abilities
which allow them to excel in their respective domains.
3. Theory of Primary Mental Abilities: Louis Thurstone: It states that
intelligence consist of seven primary abilities, each of which is relatively
independent of the others. (a.) Verbal Comprehension (b.) Numerical Abilities (c.)
Spatial Relations (d.) Perceptual Speed (e.) Word fluency (f.) Memory (g.) Inductive
Reasoning. VIPWSNM
4. Hierarchical Model of Intelligence: Arthur Jensen: Level I is the
associative learning in which outputs more or less similar to the input (rote
learning). Level II called cognitive competence, involves higher order skills as they
transform the input to produce an effective output.
5. Structure of Intellect model: J.P Guilford: This theory classifies
intellectual traits among three dimensions:
OPERATIONS: are what the respondent does. These include cognition,
memory retention and recording, etc.
CONTENTS: refer to the nature of information on which intellectual operations
are performed. These include visual, auditory, behavioural, etc.
PRODUCTS: refer to the form in which information is processed by the
respondent. Products are classified into units, classes, relations, systems, etc.

THEORIES OF INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH

1. Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner: According to
him, intelligence is not a single entity; rather different types of intelligences exist
and each of these intelligences are independent of each other. He described eight
types of intelligences.

4
SHIVANI RANA

a. Linguistic (b.)Logical- mathematical (c.) Spatial (d.) Musical (e.) Bodily-

Kinaesthetic (f.) Interpersonal (g.) Intrapersonal (h.) Naturalistic
2. Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Robert Sternberg: Sternberg views
intelligence as the “the ability to adapt, to shape and to select environment to
accomplish one’s goals and those of one’s society and culture. According to this theory,
there are three basic types of intelligence.
a. Componential Intelligence: Also called, Analytical Intelligence. It is
the analysis of information to solve problems. Persons high on this ability think
analytically and critically and succeed. This intelligence has 3 components, each
serving a different function. First is the Knowledge Acquisition component,
which is responsible for learning ways of dong things. The second is the Meta or
Higher order component, which involves planning what to do and how to do.
The third is the Performance component, which involves actually doing
things.
b. Experiential Intelligence: Also called, Creative Intelligence. It is
involved in using past experiences creatively to solve novel problems. Persons high
on this aspect integrate different experiences in an original way to make new
discoveries and inventions.
c. Contextual Intelligence: Also called, Practical Intelligence. It involves
the ability to deal with environmental demands. It may be called ‘Street
Smartness’ or ‘Business sense’. Persons high on this aspect easily adapt to their
present environment or select a more favourable environment to fit their needs.

EXPLAIN THE MODEL OF INTELLIGENCE PROPOSED BY J.P DAS

Planning, Attention- arousal, and Simultaneous- successive (PASS) Model of
Intelligence has been developed by J.P Das, Jack Naglieri, and Kirby (1994).
According to this model, intellectual activity involves the interdependent functioning
of three neurological systems, called the functional units of brain.
• Arousal/ Attention: Arousal and Attention enable a person to process
information. An optimal level of arousal focuses our attention to the relevant aspects
of a problem. Too much or too little arousal would interfere with the attention.

5
SHIVANI RANA

• Simultaneous and Successive Processing: Simultaneous Processing takes

place when one perceive the relations among various concepts and integrate them
into a meaningful pattern for comprehension. Successive processing takes place
when one remember all the information serially so that the recall of one leads to the
recall of another.
• Planning: It allows us to think of the possible courses of action, implement
them to reach a target, and evaluate their effectiveness.
These PASS processes operate on a knowledge base developed either formally or
informally from the environment. Das and Naglieri have also developed a battery of
tests, known as the COGNTIVE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM (CAS). It consists of
verbal as well as non verbal tasks that measure basic cognitive functions presumed to
be independent of schooling. The battery of tests is meant for individuals between 5
and 18 years of age.
This model represents the information processing approach of intelligence.

EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF ASSESSMENT OF INTELLIGENCE AND

INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT
In 1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon, made the first successful attempt
to formally measure intelligence. In 1908, when the scale was revised, they gave the
concept of Mental Age (MA), which is a measure of a person’s intellectual
development relative to people of his/her age group. Chronological Age (CA) is the
biological age from birth. Retardation was defined by Binet and Simon as being two
mental age years below the chronological age.
In 1912, William Stern, a German psychologist, devised the concept of
Intelligence Quotient (IQ). IQ refers to mental age divided by chronological age, and
multiplied by 100.
IQ= MA/CA* 100
IQ RANGE DESCRIPTIVE LEVEL

Above 130 Very Superior

120- 130 Superior

110- 119 High Average

6
SHIVANI RANA

90- 109 Average

80- 89 Low Average

70- 79 Borderline

Below 70 Intellectual Disability

All persons do not have the same intellectual capacity; some are exceptionally bright
and some are below average.

WHAT ARE THE VARIATIONS FOUND IN THE CONCEPT OF

INTELLIGENCE? WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN
INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED CHILDREN?
Intellectual Deficiency: Those children who show intellectual deficiency are termed
as ‘ mentally challenged’ or ‘mentally retarded’. The American Association on Mental
Deficiency (AAMD) views mental retardation as “ significantly sub average general
intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behaviour and
manifested during the developmental periods.” The different levels of retardation are:
Mild Retardation (IQ 55-69), Moderate Retardation (IQ 40-54), Severe
Retardation (IQ 25-39), and Profound Retardation (IQ below 25).
Intellectual Giftedness: The study of gifted individuals began in 1925, by Lewis
Terman. The terms ‘Talent’ and ‘Giftedness’ are often used interchangeably, they
mean different things. Giftedness is exceptional general ability shown in superior
performance in a wide variety of areas. Talent is a narrower term and refers to
remarkable ability in a specific field. The highly talented are sometimes called
‘prodigies’. Giftedness point of view depends on a combination of high ability, high
creativity, and high commitment. Some important characteristics of gifted children
are:
• Advanced logical thinking and problem solving behaviour.
• High speed processing of information.
• Advanced generalisation and discrimination skills.
• High level of motivation and self esteem.
• Independent thinking.

7
SHIVANI RANA

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE TESTS?

WRITE A SHORT NOTE ON INTELLIGENCE TESTING IN INDIA?
On the basis of their administration procedure: Individual or Group test.
On the basis of the nature of items used: Verbal or Performance tests.
Culture Fair or Culture Biased tests.

Individual Test Group Test

1. These are the one which can be 2. A group intelligence test can be
administered to one person at a time. administered to several persons
simultaneously.
2. These tests require the test 2. These tests do not allow an
administrator to establish a rapport with opportunity to be familiar with the
the subject and be sensitive. subject’s feelings.
3. These tests allow people to answer 3. These tests generally seek written
orally or in a written form or manipulate answers usually in a multiple choice
object as per the tester’s instructions. format.

Verbal Test Non Verbal Test Performance Test

1. Verbal tests require 1. The non verbal tests use 1. Performance tests
subjects to give verbal pictures or illustrations as require subjects to
responses either orally or tests items. manipulate objects and
in a written form. other materials to perform
task.
2. These tests can be 2. These tests can be 2. Written language is not
administered only to administered on both necessary for answering
literate people. literate and illiterate the items.
people.

Culture Fair Test Culture Biased Test

1. A culture-free test is a test that is 1. A culture bias test is a test that is
designed to be culture-neutral so that no designed to assess an attribute of a
one ethnic or cultural group will have an person from a specific culture.
unfair advantage over another.

CULTURE AND INTELLIGENCE

A major characteristic of intelligence is that it helps individuals to adapt to their
environment. Vygotsky, a Russian Psychologist, has argued that culture provides a
social context in which people live, grow, and understand the world around them.

8
SHIVANI RANA

Culture is a collective system of customs, beliefs, attitudes, and achievements in

art and literature. Sternberg’s notion of contextual or practical intelligence implies
that intelligence is product of culture. Vygotsky also believed that cultures, like
individuals, have a life of their own; they grow and change. According to him, while
elementary mental functions are universal, the manner in which higher mental
functions such as problem solving and thinking operate are largely culture- produced.

DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN TECHNOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE AND

INTEGRAL INTELLIGENCE.
Technologically advanced societies adopt child rearing practices that foster skills
of abstractions. These societies promote a type of behaviour, which can be called
technological intelligence. In these societies, persons are well versed in skills of
attention, observations, analysis and achievement oriented. Intelligence tests developed
in western cultures look precisely for these skills in an individual.
Contrary to technological intelligence, intelligence in the Indian tradition can be
termed as integral intelligence, which gives emphasis on connectivity with the
social and world environment. Indian thinkers view intelligence from a holistic
perspective.
The Sanskrit word ‘Buddhi’ which is often used to represent intelligence is far
more pervasive in scope than the western concept of intelligence. Buddhi is the
knowledge of one’s own self based on conscience, will and desire. Thus the notion of
buddha has affective and motivational components besides strong cognitive
component. Unlike the western views, which primarily focus cognitive parameters, the
following competencies are identified as facets of intelligence in the Indian tradition:
1. Cognitive Capacity
2. Social Competence
3. Emotional Competence
4. Entrepreneurial Competence

9
SHIVANI RANA

EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. ALSO,

LIST DOWN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EMOTIONALLY
INTELLIGENT PERSON.
Emotional intelligence is a set of skills that underlie accurate appraisal,
expressions, and regulation of emotions. It is the feeling side of intelligence. This
concept was first introduced by Salovey and Mayer who considered emotional
intelligence as “the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions. to discriminate
among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.”
Emotional Quotient (EQ) is used to express emotional intelligence. In simple terms,
emotional intelligence refers to the ability to process emotional information accurately
and efficiently.
CHARACTERISTICS OF EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT PERSONS
1. Perceive and be sensitive to your feelings and emotions.
2. Perceive and be sensitive to various types of emotions in others by noting
their body language, voice, and facial expressions.
3. Relate your emotions to your thoughts so that you take them into account
while solving problems and taking decisions.
4. Understand the powerful influence of the nature and intensity of your
emotions.
5. Control and regulate your emotions and their expressions while dealing with
self and others to achieve harmony and peace.

DEFINE APTITUDE. HOW CAN YOU MEASURE APTITUDE?

Aptitude refers to special abilities in a particular field of activity. It is a
combination of characteristics that indicates an individual’s capacity to acquire some
specific knowledge or skills after training.
Aptitude tests are available in two forms:
• Independent/ specialised aptitude tests: Clerical aptitude,
Mechanical aptitude, Numerical Aptitude, and typing Aptitude.

10
SHIVANI RANA

• Multiple/ Generalised aptitude: Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT),

the General Aptitude test battery (GATB), and the Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery (ASVAB).
DAT is the most commonly used in educational settings. It
consists of 8 independent subtests: (i) Verbal Reasoning, (ii) Numerical
Reasoning, (iii) Abstract Reasoning, (iv) Clerical Speed and Accuracy, (v)
Mechanical Reasoning, (vi) Space Relations, (vii) Spelling, and (viii) Language
usage.
J.M. Ojha has developed an Indian adaptation of DAT.

CREATIVITY AND INTELLIGENCE

A person who has the ability to learn faster and reproduce accurately may be
considered intelligent more than creative unless she/he devises new ways of learning
and doing.
Terman, in the 1920’s, found that persons with high IQ were not necessarily
creative. At the same time, creative ideas could come from persons who did not have a
very high IQ. Researchers have found that the relationship between creativity and
intelligence is positive. All creative acts require some minimum ability to acquire
knowledge and capacity to comprehend. A certain level of intelligence is required for
creativity but beyond that intelligence does not correlate well with creativity. It can be
concluded that creativity can take many forms and blends.
Creativity tests came into existence to assess variations interns of the potential for
creativity in contrast to intelligence. A general feature of most of the creativity tests is
that they are open ended. They permit the person to think of different answers to the
questions. There are no specified answers to questions or problems in creativity tests.
Therefore, there is freedom to use one’s imagination and express it in original ways.
Creativity tests involve divergent thinking as assess such abilities as ability to produce a
variety of ideas.

11
SHIVANI RANA

This is contrary to the tests of intelligence which mostly involve convergent

thinking. In tests of intelligence, the person has to think of the right solution to the
problem. There is little scope for the expression of originality and imagination.
Some of the famous psychologists who have developed creativity tests are
Guilford, Torrance, Passi, etc.

12