Learner and Learning Process Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The psycho-analytic approach to counselling was first introduced by Sigmund Freud, who developed psycho-analysis, with its free association, dream interpretation and work with the unconscious. Adler and Jung were his followers who later founded their own schools, individual psychology and analytical psychology, so they came after Freud. The answer is Freud. Freud's method relied on free association and the analysis of resistance and transference, with the aim of bringing unconscious conflicts to awareness, and this was the first systematic approach to counselling by psychological analysis. The later approaches of Adler and Jung modified it, so they cannot be first.

Answer: A

The official key says that neurotic disorders are caused by repression of desires. In psycho-analysis, unacceptable wishes are pushed out of awareness, and the anxiety they create finds outlet as neurotic symptoms. The other statements, inactivity of libido and the role of the unconscious mind, are not the direct cause the key accepts, so 'All of these' is rejected. The answer is A. The explanation in psycho-analysis is that a desire that society or conscience cannot accept is repressed into the unconscious, where it keeps its energy, and the conflict that follows appears as anxiety, obsessions or phobias. So the cause is the repression and not the inactivity of libido, which is not a Freudian cause.

Answer: D

The self theory of personality was put forward by Carl Rogers, who held that the self-concept and the gap between the real and ideal self decide adjustment. Kretschmar classified body types, Allport is known for trait theory and Eysenck for the dimensional theory. The answer is Rogers. Rogers's person-centred theory takes the self as the centre of personality: the self-concept develops from experience, and distress comes when the experience is out of line with it. Kretschmar's types were based on body build, Allport's traits on personal dispositions and Eysenck's types on extraversion and neuroticism.

Answer: B

Classical conditioning goes with Pavlov (iii), drive reduction with Hull (ii), sign-Gestalt learning with Tolman (v), and learning by insight with Kohler (i), which gives iii, ii, v, i. Skinner is for operant conditioning and so is not matched in the list. Option A pairs classical conditioning with Skinner, and C and D put Kohler against sign learning, which is wrong. The list is checked pair by pair: Pavlov studied conditioned reflexes in dogs, Hull gave a drive-reduction theory of reinforcement, Tolman's sign-Gestalt or sign learning means learning cognitive maps and expectancies, and Kohler's experiments with apes gave learning by insight.

Answer: D

Freud developed psycho-analysis (iii), Spearman the two factor theory of intelligence (i), Rorschach the projective technique, the inkblot test (iv), and Torrance worked on creativity (ii). That gives iii, i, iv, ii. Multifactor theory (v) belongs to Thurstone and is not matched, which is why the other options with v are wrong. Rorschach's inkblot is a projective technique, Spearman's two factor theory gives a general factor g and specific factors s, and Torrance is known for tests of creative thinking. Each pair is checked in turn, and the only option that has all four right is the one chosen.

Answer: D

Both statements are correct. Motivation is important in teaching and learning because it energises, directs and sustains the learner's effort, and it is the attraction towards a goal that makes the goal's meaning clear, so the reason gives a sound account of what motivation is. Both (A) and (R) are correct, so the options saying that one or both are incorrect fail. The assertion is true because learning is slow and unsteady when the learner has no reason to attend, and the reason is also true because motivation is by nature a pull towards a goal, and it explains why a goal with clear meaning keeps effort going. So the right option is the one that accepts both.

Answer: D

According to Piaget, abstract and hypothetical thinking begins in the formal operational stage, from about 11 or 12 years. The sensory motor stage runs from birth to about two years, the pre-operational from two to seven and the concrete operational from seven to eleven, in which thinking is tied to concrete objects. The answer is the formal operational stage. Piaget's four stages are the sensory motor, the pre-operational, the concrete operational and the formal operational, and only the last allows the pupil to reason with ideas and hypotheses. Earlier stages depend on actions or on concrete objects, so they cannot be the start of abstract thought.

Answer: C

The incorrect pair is Social Learning Theory with Bruner. Social learning theory is due to Albert Bandura, and Bruner is known for discovery learning and the cognitive approach. The other pairs are right: the sign theory is Tolman's, the field theory is Lewin's and the trial and error theory is Thorndike's. The answer is C. Tolman proposed the sign or cognitive theory of learning, Lewin the field theory based on life space and Thorndike the trial and error or connectionism theory. Bruner is associated with discovery learning and Bandura with social learning, so only the pair with the wrong name is incorrect.

Answer: C

In operant conditioning, the variable ratio schedule, where reinforcement comes after an unpredictable number of responses, produces the highest and steadiest rate of response and the greatest resistance to extinction, so it gives the most stable learning. Continuous reinforcement gives quick learning that is extinguished quickly, and fixed ratio and fixed interval schedules produce pauses and bursts. The answer is variable ratio reinforcement.

Answer: C

The official key gives 7 to 15 years as the age group of delinquency. Seven is the age below which the Indian Penal Code (section 82) treats a child as incapable of committing an offence, and section 83 gives limited protection to children above seven and under twelve who lack the maturity to judge their act, which agrees with the lower limit of this answer. The groups 8-18, 6-14 and 9-19 start at a different age or run to a different upper limit and are not accepted by the key. The answer is 7-15 years.