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MPC 02 : COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, LEARNING AND MEMORY

COURSE CODE: MPC 02 2022

Note: This TMA consists of ten questions, out of which you have to attempt any five. The question carries 20 marks each and should be answered in about 500 words. Send your TMA to the Coordinator of your Study Centre.

NOTE: All questions are compulsory.

SECTION – A

Answer the following questions in 1000 words each.

Answer the following questions in 1000 words each. 3 x 15 = 45 marks

Q1. Discuss the characteristics of prenatal development. Explain the environmental influences during prenatal development.

Ans:- In spite of the fact that the first developmental period in the life span is next to the shortest of all— the shortest is the period of the newborn or infancy— it is in many respects one of the most, if not the most, important period of all. This period, which begins at conception and ends at birth, is approximately 270 to 280 days in length, or nine calendar months. Although it is relatively short, the prenatal period has some important characteristics, each of which has a lasting effect on development during the life span. They are as follows:

The hereditary endowment, which serves as the foundation for later development, is fixed, once and for all, at this time. While favourable or unfavourable conditions both before and after birth probably will affect to some extent the physical and psychological traits that make up this hereditary endowment, the changes will be quantitative not qualitative.

Favourable conditions in the mother’s body can foster the development of hereditary potentials while unfavourable conditions can stunt their development, even to the point of distorting the pattern of future

The sex of the newly created individual is fixed at the time of conception and conditions within the mother’s body will not affect it, as is true of the hereditary endowment. Except when surgery is used in sex transformation operations, the sex of the individual, determined at the time of conception, will not change. Such operations are rare and only partially

Proportionally greater growth and development take place during the prenatal period than at any other time throughout the individual’s entire life. During the nine months before birth, the individual grows from a microscopically small cell to an infant who measures approximately twenty inches in length and weights, on the average, 7 pounds. It has been estimated that weight during this time increases eleven million Development is likewise phenomenally rapid. From a cell that is round in shape, all the bodily features, both external and internal, of the human being develop at this time. At birth, the newly born infant can be recognised as human even though many of the external features are proportionally different from those of an older child, an adolescent, or an adult.

The prenatal period is a time of many hazards, both physical and While it cannot be claimed that it is the most hazardous period in the entire life span–many believe that infancy is more hazardous–it certainly is a time when environmental or psychological hazards can have a marked effect on the pattern of later development or may even bring development to an end.

The prenatal period is the time when significant people form attitudes towards newly created individuals. These attitudes will have a marked influence on the way these individuals are treated, especially during their early, formative If the attitudes are heavily emotionally weighted, they can and often do play havoc with the mother’s homeostasis and, by so doing, upset the conditions in the mother’s body that are essential to the normal development of the newly created individual.

During each prenatal stage, environmental factors affect the development of the fetus. The developing fetus is completely dependent on the mother for life and it is important that the mother receive prenatal care, which is medical care during pregnancy that monitors the health of both the mother and the fetus. According to the National Institutes of Health ([NIH], 2013), routine prenatal care can reduce the risk of complications to the mother and fetus during pregnancy.

Q2. Explain identity crisis during adolescence.

Ans. Identity crisis is a normal part of adolescent development. It is observed as the discrepancy between rapidly shifting physical and psychological experiences, on the on hand, and a widening gap between self-perception and the experiences of others’ perceptions of the self. Identity crisis may result when the adolescent is faced with the “demand for his simultaneous commitment to physical intimacy, to decisive occupational choice, to energetic competition, and to psychosocial self-definition”.

The combination of physical, cognitive and social changes that occur during that time, plus the serious life choices to be faced (occupation, life partner) spur what Erik Erikson (1968) famously called an identity crisis. He used the term, “crisis”, to mean a turning point rather than a period of profound or debilitating uncertainty. Erikson acknowledged that identity issues could arise throughout the life course, but saw identity formation as the critical “developmental task” of adolescence.

Identity was described by Erikson as “a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. As a quality of unself-conscious living, this can be gloriously obvious in s young person who has found himself as he has found his communality. In him, we see emerge a unique unification of what is irreversibly given–that is, body type and temperament, giftedness and vulnerability, infantile models and acquired ideals–with the open choices provided in available roles, occupational possibilities, values offered, mentors met, friendships made and first sexual encounters.”

Marcia’s Identity Statuses: Researcher James Marcia (1966, 1976 and 1980) has expanded upon Erikson’s initial theory. According to Marcia and his colleagues, the balance between identity and confusion lies in making a commitment to an identity. Marcia also developed an interview method to measure identity as well as four different identity statuses. This method looks at three different areas of functioning: occupational role, beliefs and values, and sexuality.

It was argued by James Marcia that identity could be viewed as a structure of beliefs, abilities and past experiences regarding the self. “The better developed this structure is the more individuals appear to be of their own strengths and weaknesses. The less developed this structure is the more confused individuals seem to be about their own distinctiveness from others and the more they have to rely on external sources to evaluate themselves”. Identity is a dynamic, not static psychological structure. The formation of identity in adolescence sets the stage for continual changes in the content of identity through the adult years.

Q3. Discuss psychosocial changes during early adulthood.

Ans. Young adulthood represents a genuine developmental phase in the life cycle. In its transitional position, it shares many traits with the developmental process in youth and adulthood. Among its central developmental problems are: establishing a secure personal identity, forming mature friendships and mature intimate relationships, reorientation of family ties, building up a core of ideological values, selecting a long-term vocation, finding one’s bearings, looking to the future. During this time in one’s life, people find themselves with a new sense of independence and for the first time in life, they really feel free. However, along with that comes a lot of added personal responsibility to both individuals and others and the persons really start learning more about themselves as well as others through social interaction.

Eric Erikson’s Theory: Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development considers the impact of external factors, parents and society on personality development from childhood to According to Erikson’s theory, every person must pass through a series of eight interrelated stages over the entire life cycle. Each stage is regarded by Erikson as a “psychosocial crisis”, which arises and demands resolution before the next stage can be satisfactorily negotiated. These stages are conceived in an almost architectural sense: satisfactory learning and resolution of each crisis is necessary if the child is to manage the next and subsequent ones satisfactorily. Following are some of the important crises of the adulthood:

Intimacy vs. Isolation: During early-adulthood, people enter the intimacy–versus–isolation stage. Spanning the period of early-adulthood (from post adolescence to the early-thirties), this stage focuses on developing close relationships with others. Difficulties during this stage result in feelings of loneliness and a fear of such relationships, whereas successful resolution of the crises of the stage results in the possibility of forming relationships that are intimate on a physical, intellectual and emotional level. Such people are more competitive than cooperative. They get easily threatened if any person gets too close and not accepting of another’s differences. If there is successful resolution for this conflict, a person can go on to develop generativity which means caring for the next generation and helping to improve society.

Levinson’s Season of Life Theory: Yale psychologist Daniel Levinson (1986) developed a comprehensive theory of adult development. Through a series of intensive interviews with men (1978) and women (1987), Levinson proposed a theory based on a series of stages that adults go through as they develop. At the center of his theory is the life structure, the underlying pattern of an individual’s life at any particular An individual’s life structure

is shaped by the social and physical environment. Many individuals’ life structures primarily involve family and work, although other variables such as religion, race and economic status are often important. Early-adulthood is entered when men begin careers and families. After an evaluation of themselves at about age thirty, men settle down and work towards career advancement. Then another transition occurs at about age forty, as men realise some of their ambitions will not be met.

SECTION – B

Answer the following questions in 400 words each. 5 x 5 = 25 marks

Q4. Discuss the main interactive forces and issues in life span development.

Ans:- Development of human is a multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same overtime. It reflects the complexity and uniqueness of each person and their experiences as well as commonalities and patterns across people. The four main forces of development are biological, psychological, socio-cultural and life-cycle that combine to shape human development.

Biological forces: Biological forces are a group of physiological developments leading to maturity. This includes things such as genes, hormones, nutrition, and more. The biological force is concerned with the body and how it develops. In addition, even after puberty our body will continue to be affected by this force.

Psychological forces: Psychological forces are a group of thoughts, emotions and behavioural developments leading to maturity. As we grow up, we accrue experience and we understand the world is more complex. Things like learning, personality and choices all fall under this force.

Socio-cultural forces: Sociocultural forces are a group of values, ideas and beliefs that influence maturity. Examples of this force include morals, habits and practices. Here, the sociocultural forces are somewhat how people gauge someone’s maturity or level of involvement in society. Someone who fails to accept her/his role is often mocked as childish or

Life-cycle forces: Life-cycle forces provide a context for understanding how people perceive their current situation and its effects on them. Each individual is a product of a unique combination of these forces. No two individuals even in the same family experience these forces in the same

Q5. Explain cognitive development during infancy.

Ans. Each one of us has our own ideas about people and events. Cognition is concerned with how we come to know the world around us. Cognition deals with the development of thought and knowledge. Thinking or cognition has to do with how we receive and interpret information and how we use it to guide further actions.

Cognitive development in infancy is the study of how psychological processes involved in thinking and knowing develop in young children. Information is acquired in a number of ways including through sight, sound, touch, taste, smell and language, all of which require processing by our cognitive system. The major processes under the term cognition include detecting, interpreting, classifying and remembering information, evaluating ideas, inferring principles and deducting rules imagining possibilities, generating and strategies, fantasising and dreaming.

Babies (infants) are not only growing physically during the first 2 years of life, but also cognitively (mentally). Everyday while they interact with and learn about their environment, they are creating new connections and pathways between nerve cells both within their brains and between their brains and bodies. While physical growth and change is easily observed and measured in precise terms such as in inches and pounds, cognitive change and development is a little harder to determine as clearly. Therefore, much about what experts know about mental and cognitive development is based on the careful observation of developmental theorists and their theories, such as Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Erickson’s psychosocial stages.

According to Piaget, newborns interact with their environment entirely through reflexive behaviours. They do not think about what they’re going to do, but rather follow their instincts and involuntary reactions to get what they need: food, air and attention. Piaget believed that as children begin to grow and learn about their environment through their senses, they begin to engage in intentional, goal-directed behaviours. In other words, they begin to think about what they want to accomplish, how to accomplish it, and then they do it. This is also when infants develop object permanence, which is the ability to understand that something still exists even if it can’t be seen. These two milestones, goal-directed behaviour and object permanence, are the highlights and major accomplishments of infant cognitive development.

In twentieth century, Jean Piaget was the most influential developmental psychologist. The work of cognition growth and change is original, comprehensive, integrative and elegant. He recorded children’s spontaneous activities and presented problems of thousands of children and adolescents. In Piaget’s theory, knowledge is assumed to have a specific goal or purpose to aid the person in adapting to the environment. The child does not receive information passively and thoughts are not simply the product of teaching by others. Knowledge is acquired and thought processes become more complex and efficient as a consequence of the maturing child’s interactions with the world. Piaget considered cognitive development in terms of stages. Four stages were mentioned by him in cognitive development:

Sensory motor stage (Birth to 2 years)

Pre-operational stage (Ages 2 to 7)

Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 Years)

Formal operational stage (11 to 15 Years and above)

Sensory Motor Stage (Birth–2 years): A period of time between birth and age two during which an infant’s knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. As such, their behaviours limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli. At the start of this stage, children’s behaviour is dominated by reflexes but by the end of it, they can use mental images. During this stage, children acquire the concept of object permanence, realising that objects still exist even when the objects are not present.

Q6. What are the types of motor development during early school years?

Ans. Middle childhood is marked by increases in speed, strength, agility and balance. Children show regular improvement in gross motor skills and are often eager to participate in athletic activities, such as ball games that require movement of large muscles. Muscles grow stronger and pathways that connect the cerebellum to the cortex become more myelinated. Reaction time gradually decreases. Fine motor skills also improve; most 6 to 7 year-olds tie their shoelaces and hold pencils as adults do.

Two types of muscles are there in human body, i.e. the large muscles such as those of the arms, legs, back, etc., and the small or fine muscles such as those in the fingers, toes, etc. We probably know that muscular activity is possible because of their contraction and flexion (relaxation). Different muscles placed in different parts and some in same parts of the body perform and control different movements. Some part of this control is automatic while some part is learnt. Movement due to muscular control which is learnt is called muscular co- ordination.

Muscular co-ordination is also of two types, namely, fine and gross. The movement of the fine (small) muscles is called fine muscular co-ordination while the movement of large muscles is called gross muscular co-ordination. Activities such as running, balancing, skipping, climbing, etc. involve mostly the co-ordination of large muscles.

Gross muscular co-ordination: Gross motor skills are hose which require the co- ordination of large (gross) muscles of the body such as those of the shoulder, elbow, hip and Running, walking, climbing, throwing, kicking and catching require the use of large muscles.

At 3 years of age, children enjoy simple movements, such as hopping, jumping and running back and forth, just for the sheer delight of performing these activities. At 4 years of age, children are still enjoying the same kind of activities, but they have become more adventurous. Five-years-olds run hard and enjoy races with each other and their parents.

Fig.: Gross muscular co-ordination

Fine muscular co-ordination: Fine motor skills are those in which the small muscles of the body are used such as those of the wrist and fingers. Picking up or grasping objects, writing and painting are examples of fine motor

Fig.: Gross muscular co-ordination

At 3 years of age, although children have had the ability to pick up the tiniest objects between their thumb and forefinger for some time, they are still somewhat clumsy at it. By 4 years of age, children’s fine motor co-ordination has improved substantially and become much more precise. Sometimes 4-year-old children have trouble building high towers with blocks because, in their desire to place each of the blocks perfectly, they may upset those already stacked. By age 5, children’s fine motor co-ordination has improved further. Hand, arm and all move together under better command of the eye.

Q7. Elucidate Kohlberg’s idea on moral development.

Ans:- Lawrence Kohlberg was, for many years, a professor at Harvard University. He became famous for his work there beginning in the early-1970s. He started as a developmental psychologist and then moved to the field of moral education. He was particularly well-known for his theory of moral development which he popularised through research studies conducted at Harvard’s Center for Moral Education.

Kohlberg developed a detailed theory on moral development using Piaget’s theory as the primary reference. Kohlberg employs a level and stage approach to describe moral development. According to him, there are six moral stages. They are grouped into three major levels consisting of two stages.

Level One:

Pre-conventional Morality

Stage 1: Punishment – Obedience

Orientation

Stage 2: Instrument Relativist

Orientation

Level Two:

Conventional Morality

Stage 3: Good Boy – Nice Girl

Orientation

Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation

Level Three:

Post-Conventional Morality

Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle

Orientation

Q8. Discuss cognitive changes during late adulthood.

Ans. Cognitive changes during middle adulthood are mixed. It is the period in which an individual changes in their cognitive functioning as concerned to their intelligence: crystallised and fluid; information processing and memory; expertise; career, work and leisure; religion, health and coping; and meaning in life.

Intelligence: Cognitive development gains in some area and looses in others; it is multidirectional. Cross sectional measures of intelligence show decreases with age. There may be cohort effect of better or more schooling. Longitudinal measures show increase, at least until the age of 50s. It may be inflated due to practice effects and attrition. Cognitive abilities are more likely to increase than decrease, with exception of arithmetic skills which begin to shift slightly downwards by age 40.

Fluid Intelligence: Fluid intelligence or fluid reasoning is the capacity to reason and solve novel problems, independent of any knowledge from the past. It is the ability to analyse novel problems, identify patterns and relationships that underpin these problems and the extrapolation of these using logic. It is necessary for all logical problem solving, e.g., in scientific, mathematical and technical problem solving. Fluid reasoning includes inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Fluid intelligence peaks during the early-adulthood and then declines ability to apply mental powers to new problem, perceiving relationships, forming concepts and drawing Fluid intelligence declines during adulthood, although this decline is temporarily masked by an increase in crystallised intelligence.

Crystallised Intelligence: Our crystallised intelligence is dependent upon accumulated knowledge and experience—it is the information, skills and strategies we have gathered throughout our lifetime. This kind of intelligence tends to hold steady as we age—in fact, it may even improve. For example, adults show relatively stable to increasing scores on intelligence tests until their mid-30s to mid-50s.

The ability to remember and and use information acquired over a lifetime is increased and also depends on education and culture of the individual. An individual is able to use stored information’s and process automatically in their daily lives. Many psychologists believe that fluid intelligence was primarily genetic and that crystallised intelligence was primarily learned. This nature-nurture distinction is probably invalid, in part because the acquisition of crystallised intelligence is affected by the quality of fluid intelligence.

According to Robert Sternberg, intelligence is composed of three distinct parts:

Analytic/Academic: Analytical intelligence is involved when the components of intelligence are applied to analyse, evaluate, judge, or compare and contrast. It typically is involved in dealing with relatively familiar kinds of problems where the judgments to be made are of a fairly abstract nature. Multiple-choice tests, with one and only one right answer analytic They tend to have an extensive, highly organised knowledge of a particular domain and increase in work satisfaction. There is a greater commitment towards the job. They have greatest physical and psychological well-being. The current middle-aged worker faces more challenges, and increased career challenges lead to career changes.

Creative: Sternberg and Lubart found that creativity is relatively, although not wholly, domain-specific. In other words, people are frequently creative in some domains, but not in They also found that correlations with conventional ability tests were modest to moderate, demonstrating that tests of creative intelligence measure skills that are largely

different from those measured by conventional intelligence tests. Creativity and practical intelligence often combine to create people we call experts in their fields, whether repairing cars, farming, writing, or designing a spacecraft. It involves the capacity to be flexible and innovative when dealing with new situations. Expertise increases in the middle adulthood years. They tend to use the accumulated experience of their life situations to solve problems. There is more creativity and flexibility in their domain than novices.

SECTION – C

Answer the following questions in 50 words each. 10 x 3 = 30 marks Q9. Phonology and Semantics

Ans:- Phonology: The baby starts to make speech sounds from shortly after birth to around one year. At around two months, the baby will engage in cooing, which mostly consists of vowel sounds. At around four months, cooing turns into babbling which is the repetitive consonant-vowel combinations. Babies understand more than they are able to say. In this 0–8 months range, the child is engaged in vocal play of vegetative sounds, laughing and cooing. Once the child hits the 8-12 month range, the child engages in canonical babbling, i.e. dada as well as variegated babbling. This jargon babbling with intonational contours the language being learned. From 12–24 months, babies can recognise the correct pronunciation of familiar words. Babies will also use phonological strategies to simplify word pronunciation. Some strategies include repeating the first consonant-vowel in a multi-syllable word (‘TV’ —> ‘didi’) or deleting unstressed syllables in a multi-syllable word (‘banana’—>’nana’). Within this first year, two word utterances and two syllable words emerge.

Q10. New egocentrism

Ans:- Egocentrism refers to a lack of differentiation between some aspect of self and other. The paradigm case is the failure of perspective-taking that characterises young children who are unable to infer what another person is thinking, feeling, or seeing. Unable to infer accurately the perspective of others, the egocentric child attributes to them his/her own perspective instead. The inability to decenter from one’s own perspective results in egocentric confusion of social perspectives. Piaget’s classic test for egocentrism is the three mountains task (Piaget and Inhelder, 1956), which concrete operational thinkers can complete successfully. Children at this stage can successfully solve the ‘Three Mountain Task’: when asked what a doll seated to the left, right and front of the subjects might see, young school age children can occasionally select the correct drawing, but the accuracy of perspective taking significantly improves by the time the child is 11 or 12. But once they have formed a hypothesis about how or why things work, they tend to force contradictory facts into their hypothesis rather than changing the hypothesis to fit the facts.

Q11. Identification of learning disability

Ans. Learning disabilities, or learning disorders, are an umbrella term for a wide variety of learning problems. A learning disability is not a problem with intelligence or motivation. Kids with learning disabilities are not lazy or dumb. According to Samuel Kirk, “Children with special learning disabilities exhibit a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. These may be manifested in disorders of listening, thinking, talking, reading, writing, spelling, or

arithmetic. They include conditions which have been referred to as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia, etc… they do not include learning problems which are due primarily to visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, to mental retardation, emotional disturbance or to environmental deprivation”. Learning disability is a chronic condition of probable neurological origin. It varies in it s manifestation and severity. It influences individual’s self-concept and primarily excludes other disability categories. An untreated or poorly treated LD can have adverse effect on educational, vocational, social and activities of daily living. LD can also be defined as one or more significant defects in essential learning process.

Q12. Gifted and talented children

Ans. ‘Gifted and talented’ is a term used in schools to describe children who have the potential to develop significantly beyond what is expected for their age. ‘Gifted’ refers to a child who has abilities in one or more academic subjects, such as English or Mathematics. ‘Talented’ refers to a child who has skills in a practical area such as music, sport or art.

Gifted children are those children who are quite above average in terms of intellectual growth and development. Gifted children come from all levels of society, all races and all ethnic groups. Gifted children process information differently than non-gifted children. Options for educating gifted children include early-admission to school, acceleration and enrichment. If the talent of some gifted children is not nurtured and developed through guidance and enrichment, it will be a great loss to society as well as the individual who might have a successful and happy life otherwise.

Q13. Ageism

Ans:- Ageism, also spelled agism, is stereotyping and/or discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. This may be casual or systemic. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Butler defined “ageism” as a combination of three connected elements. Originally it was identified chiefly towards older people, old age, and the aging process; discriminatory practices against older people; and institutional practices and policies that perpetuate stereotypes about elderly people.

Although in the UK it was used (March 1983) in terms of discrimination against younger people by Councillor Richard Thomas at a meeting of Bracknell Forest Council, it has much more recently (February 2021) been used in regards to prejudice and discrimination against especially adolescents and children, such as denying them certain rights usually reserved for adults such as the right to vote, run for political office, buy and use alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis, marry, own a gun, gamble, consent or refuse medical treatment, sign contracts, and so forth; indeed, denying them citizenship at all. This can also include ignoring their ideas because they are considered “too young”, or assuming that they should behave in certain ways because of their age.

Q14. Life structure

Ans:- Similarities and differences of gender are seen as people try to find a balance between youth and age. They may face life-threatening illnesses, or have to cope with ageing parents’ needs. Women often fear the ageing process, as our society places so much emphasis on

women’s youth and looks as their value. Women will tend to perceive themselves as younger than they are – that gap increases with age.

In social context, life structure is enabled through supports in the environment-poverty, unemployment and lack of personal value subverts this process. Even high-powered careers and great financial success can sabotage self-development, as the focus is on material concerns, not self-development.

Q15. Attachment patterns

Ans:- The attachment is itself of various types which are discussed as follows:

Secure attachment: Secure adults offer support when their partner feels distressed. They also go to their partner for comfort when they themselves feel Their relationship tends to be honest, open and equal, with both people feeling independent, yet loving towards each other.

Resistant attachment: A person with a fearful avoidant attachment lives in an ambivalent state, in which they are afraid of being both too close to or too distant from They attempt to keep their feelings at bay but are unable to. They can’t just avoid their anxiety or run away from their feelings.

Q16. Mid-life crisis

Ans:- A midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle- aged individuals, typically 45 to 65 years old. The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person’s growing age, inevitable mortality, and possibly lack of accomplishments in life. This may produce feelings of intense depression, remorse, and high levels of anxiety, or the desire to achieve youthfulness or make drastic changes to their current lifestyle or feel the wish to change past decisions and events. Studies on midlife crises show that they are less common than popularly believed, according to Vaillant (2012) in his 75 year longitudinal study on adult development, he found midlife crises were rare experiences for people involved in the study.

Q17. Relationships in late adulthood

Ans:- (i) Social convoy: The social convoy is comprised of the people with whom we make the journey of life. Its composition changes over one’s lifetime when members die or move away. And it changes as we add new members to our social group. In late-adulthood, friends take on special meaning as individuals look back over the long lives they have led.

Marriage: Marital satisfaction rises from middle to late-adulthood if perception of fairness in the relationship If couple engage in joint leisure activities and enjoy more positive communication, their relationships become more satisfying.

Siblings: Sibling relationships, those with one’s adult children and with one’s grandchildren also take on special meaning during this last stage of the life Past conflicts are sometimes, but not always, put to rest with siblings and children.

Q18. Formal operational stage

Ans:- Formal operational stage is characterised by abstract thinking and the beginning of adolescent thinking. During the formal operational stage, a child is engaged in abstract thinking. S/he does not take anything for granted. Formal operations consist of four overlapping logical abilities, namely (i) Hypothetico-Deductive Thinking; (ii) Inductive Thinking; (iii) Reflective Thinking; and (iv) Interpropositional Logic (Dandpani, 2001).