DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS & EDUCATION

DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS & EDUCATION

Definition:

Each cultural group recognizes that certain skills and behaviour patters can be mastered at certain age. These skills are necessary for the individual’s adjustment in social life. So, the cultural group expects its member to master certain skills and acquire certain approved patterns of behaviour at various ages during the life span. These are known as the developmental task.

Robert Havighurst (1972) defines, ‘Developmental task is a task which arises at or about a certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness, social disapproval, and difficulty with later tasks.’

Three forces work together in mastering developmental task. They are

1.      Physical maturation,

2.      Cultural pressures of society and

3.      Personal values & aspirations of the individual. 

            For E.g. motor skills like walking develop largely as a result of physical maturation. Learning to read develops from the cultural pressure of the society. Choosing and preparing for a career grows out of the personal values and aspirations of the individual.

According to our biopsychosocial model, the first source corresponds to the "bio" part of the model, the second to the "psycho" and the third to the "social" aspect.  Havighurst has identified six major age periods:

1.      Infancy and Early Childhood (0-5 years),

2.      Middle Childhood (6-12 years),

3.      Adolescence (13-18 years),

4.      Early Adulthood (19-29 years),

5.      Middle Adulthood (30-60 years), and

6.      Later Maturity (61+).

Purposes:

Developmental task serve three very useful purposes.

1. Developmental task is the guidance that enables a person to know what society expects of them at a given age.
2. Individuals are motivated to do what the social group expects them to do at (certain ages) different periods of the life span. 
3. It indicates what lies ahead and what will be expected to do when they reach the next stage of development.

DEVELOPMENTAL TASK OF INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD (0-5)

1.      Learning to take solid foods: The way the child is treated during the weaning period, the schedule on which he is feed, and the age and suddenness of weaning, all have profound effects upon his personality.

2.      Learning to walk: Once the basic skills are mastered, he learns during later years to run, jump, and skip.

3.      Learning to talk: Between these ages of twelve and eighteen months, the great moment of speech arrives. The two theories agree to this extent. (1) That the human infant develops a repertory of speech-sounds without having to learn them. (2) That the people around him teach him to attach certain meanings to these sounds.

4.      Learning to control the elimination of body wastes: To learn to urinate and defecate at socially acceptable times and places. Toilet training is the first moral training that the child receives. The stamp of this first moral training probably persists in the child's later character.

5.      Learning sex differences and sexual modesty:  The kinds of sexual behavior he learns and the attitudes and feelings he develops about sex in these early years probably have an abiding effect upon his sexuality throughout his life.

6.      Achieving physiological stability: It takes as many as five years for the child's body to settle down to something like the physiological stability of the child.

7.      Forming simple concepts of social and physical reality: And, when his nervous system is ready, he must have the experience and the teachers to enable him to form a stock of concepts and learn the names for them. On this basis his later mental development is built.

8.      Learning to relate oneself emotionally to parents, siblings, and other people: The way he achieves this task of relating himself emotionally to other people will have a large part in determining whether he will be friendly or cold, outgoing or introversive, in his social relations in later life.

9.      Learning to distinguish right and wrong and beginning to develop a conscience: During the later years of early childhood he takes into himself the warning and punishing voices of his parents, in ways that depend upon their peculiar displays of affection and punishment toward him. Thus he develops the bases of his conscience, upon which a later structure of values and moral character will be built.

DEVELOPMENTAL TASK OF CHILDHOOD (6-12)

1.      Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games: To learn the physical skills that are necessary for the games and physical activities that are highly valued in childhood--such skills as throwing and catching, kicking, tumbling, swimming, and handling simple tools.

2.      Building a wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing organism: To develop habits of care of the body, of cleanliness and safety, consistent with a wholesome, realistic attitude which includes a sense of physical normality and adequacy, the ability to enjoy using the body, and a wholesome attitude toward sex. Sex education should be a matter of agreement between school and parents, with the school doing what the parents feel they cannot do so well. The facts about animal and human reproduction should be taught before puberty.

3.      Learning to get along with age-mates: To learn the give-and-take of social life among peers. To learn to make friends and to get along with enemies. To develop a "social personality."

4.      Beginning to develop appropriate masculine or feminine social roles: To learn to be a boy or a girl--to act the role that is expected and rewarded. The sex role is taught so vigorously by so many agencies that the school probably has little more than a remedial function, which is to assist boys and girls who are having difficulty with the task.

5.      Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing and calculating: To learn to read, write, and calculate well enough to get along in society.

6.      Developing concepts necessary for everyday living: A concept is an idea which stands for a large number of particular sense perceptions, or which stands for a number of ideas of lesser degrees of abstraction. The task is to acquire a store of concepts sufficient for thinking effectively about ordinary occupational, civic, and social matters.

7.      Developing a conscience, a sense of morality and a scale of values: To develop an inner moral control, respect for moral rules, and the beginning of a rational scale of values. Morality, or respect for rules of behavior, is imposed on the child first by the parents. Later, according to Piaget, the child learns that rules are necessary and useful to the conduct of any social enterprise, from games to government, and thus learns a "morality of cooperation or agreement" which is a true moral autonomy and necessary in a modern democratic society.

8.      Achieving personal independence: To become an autonomous person, able to make plans and to act in the present and immediate future independently of one's parents and other adults. The young child has become physically independent of his parents but remains emotionally dependent on them.

9.      Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions: To develop social attitudes those are basically democratic. Attitudes, or emotionalized dispositions to act, are learned mainly in three ways; (1) by imitation of people with prestige in the eyes of the learner; (2) by collection and combination of pleasant or unpleasant experiences associated with a given object or situation; (3) by a single deeply emotional experience--pleasant or unpleasant--associated with a given object or situation.

DEVELOPMENTAL TASK OF ADOLESCENCE (13-18)

1.      Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both sexes: The goal: to learn to look upon girls as women and boys as men; to become an adult among adults; to learn to work with others for a common purpose, disregarding personal feelings; to learn to lead without dominating.

2.      Achieving a masculine or feminine social role: To accept and to learn a socially approved adult masculine or feminine social role.

3.      Accepting one's physique and using one’s body effectively: To become proud, or at least tolerant, of one's body; to use and protect one's body effectively and with personal satisfaction.

4.      Achieving emotional independence from parents and other adults: To become free from childish dependence on parents; to develop affection for parents without dependence upon them.

5.      Achieving assurance of economic independence: To feel able to make a living, if necessary. This is primarily a task for boys, in our society, but it is of increasing importance to girls.

6.      Selecting and preparing for an occupation: To choose an occupation for which one has the necessary ability; to prepare for this occupation.

7.      Preparing for marriage and family life: To develop a positive attitude toward family life and having children; and (mainly for girls) to get the knowledge necessary for home management and child rearing.

8.      Developing intellectual skills and concepts necessary for civic competence: To develop concepts law, government, economics, politics, geography, human nature, and social institutions which fit the modern world; to develop language skills and reasoning ability necessary for dealing effectively with the problems of a modern democracy. Individual differences in mental development show themselves principally as differences in: (a) acquiring language and meanings, (2) acquiring concepts, (3) interests and motivation.

9.      Desiring, accepting and achieving socially responsible behavior: To participate as a responsible adult in the life of the community, region, and nation; to take account of the values of society in one's personal behavior.

10.  Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide behavior - developing an ideology: To form a set of values that are possible of realization; to develop a conscious purpose of realizing these values; to define man's place in the physical world and in relation to other human beings; to keep one's world picture and one's values in harmony with each other (A value is an object or state of affairs which is desired).

Hazards:

There are three very common potential hazards related to developmental tasks.

1. The first one is the inappropriate expectations; either individual themselves or the social group may expect the development of behaviour that is impossible at the time because of physical or psychological limitations.
2. The second one is the bypassing (avoiding) of a stage of development as results of failure of master the tasks for that stage of development.
3. The crises individuals experience when they pass from one stage to another comprise the third one.

Factors influencing mastery of developmental task:

1. A retarded developmental level
2. Lack of opportunity to learn developmental tasks or lack of guidance in their mastery
3. Lack of motivation
4. Poor health
5. Physical defects
6. A low intellectual level           

Implications:

• The concept of developmental task is very helpful in specifying courses content and its objectives.
• The pupil can know in advance, what the society expects from his/her at that age.
• Parents and teachers can guide the children to acquire skills to live in the society.
• The teachers and parents can prepare appropriate climate or atmosphere to achieve a developmental task.

CONCLUSION

The developmental tasks concept has a long and rich tradition. Its acceptance has been partly due to recognition of sensitive periods in our lives and partly due to the practical nature of Havighurst's tasks. Knowing that a youngster of a certain age is encountering one of the tasks of that period helps adults to understand a child's behavior and establish an environment that helps the child to master the tasks. Another good example is that of acquiring personal independence, an important task for the middle childhood period. Youngsters test authority during this phase and, if teachers and parents realize that this is a normal, even necessary phase of development, they react differently than if they see it as a personal challenge.

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ADDIE BASED FIVE-STEP METHOD TOWARDS INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

ADDIE BASED FIVE-STEP METHOD TOWARDS INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

Introduction

          Simple step methodologies provide an organized design procedure for the use of instructional materials that can facilitate the creation and maintenance of classes and trainings.  These methodologies are applicable to current courses, suggesting practices for redesign to infuse your delivery with a new effectiveness and vitality.  They may be utilized for incorporating new technology into the creation and delivery of courses.  They are also beneficial for the development of courses using alternative delivery methods.

ADDIE

          First apply the ADDIE Instructional Design technique methodology individual steps are to Assess and analyze needs, Design instruction and presentations, Develop materials, Implement activities and courses, and Evaluate participant progress and instructional materials effectiveness. It suggests to follow 5 steps to prepare our effective instructional plan.

ADDIE Model    

The ADDIE model describes a systematic approach to instructional development.  The term is virtually synonymous with instructional system development (ISD) and evolved informally through oral tradition.  It is not a specific, fully elaborated model in its own right but rather an umbrella term that represents a family of models that share a common underlying structure.  The acronym ADDIE refers to the major processes that comprise the generic ISD process:  Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.  When used in ISD models, these process are considered to be sequential but also iterative, as depicted in Figure 1.

  ANALYSIS

 

                                  DESIGN

                             DEVELOPMENT

                         IMPLEMENTATION

                                 EVALUATION

Figure 1: An ISD Model Featuring the ADDIE Processes

          The basic engine of ISD models is the system approach: viewing human organizations and activities as systems in which inputs, outputs, process (throughputs) and feedback and control elements are the salient features.  Advocates claim that the process of designing instruction can be carried out more efficiently and effectively if the steps are followed in a logical order so that the output of each step provides the input for the next.  For example, the output of the Analysis phase is a set of performance deficiencies (such as errors being made by workers), which can be broken down to determine what ought to be taught.  This output is converted into statements of performance objectives.  In the Design phase the content and objectives are examined to decide on appropriate sequencing, media and methods-specifications that comprise the blueprint for the instruction.  The blueprint created in the Design phase is converted into instructional materials and procedures in the Development phase.  The materials and procedures are used by actual learners in the Implementation phase.  In the Evaluation phase the learners and the instructional system are probed to decide whether revisions are necessary, in which case the process would be repeated with the next version of instruction.

          The iterative aspect of the model is represented by the line and arrows running vertically down the left side of the model and the two-headed arrows between each component, as depicted in Figure 1.  Each major phase of the process is accompanied by some sort of formative evaluation to test the adequacy of the decisions made during that phase.  After Analysis, for example, are the descriptions of the audience and the learning needs accurate?  After Design, are the objectives and methods judged appropriate by experts? After Development, does the prototype work in a small-scale tryout (or how can it be improved)?  After Implementation, did the entire intervention achieve its goal (or what remains to be done)?  This summative evaluation is what is symbolized by the final Evaluation phase.  At each of these phases, the results of the evaluative activity could lead the developers to revisit earlier steps (thus the two-headed arrows).

Origin of ADDIE Model       

Robert Branson (1978) recounts, the Centre for Educational Technology at Florida State University worked with a branch of the U.S. Army to develop a model, which evolved into the Inter-service Procedures for Instructional Systems Development (IPISD), intended for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.  Branson (1978) provides a graphic overview of the IPISD, which shows five top-level headings:  Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Control.  This model is referenced in virtually all subsequent historical reviews of instructional development, but notably it is not referred to by the ADDIC acronym, thus it is clearly not the source of the ADDIE acronym either.

          The underlying concepts of the IPISD model can be found in an earlier handbook by Leslie Briggs (1970), who also was affiliated with Florida State University.  Briggs’s model (1970) incorporates ideas similar to the IPISD model, but without the ADDIC headings.

          Although Sivasailam Thiagarajan (1976) is sometimes cited as the originator of the ADDIE label, this is not satisfactory because he only refers to “the basic systems approach A-D-E model” and not “ADDIE”, nor does he provide a visual or verbal model as such.

          In fact, the term “ADDIE” does not appear at all in the many textbooks on instructional design, the dictionaries or encyclopedias of education, or the several histories of instructional design written in the 1980s and 1990s.

          The ADDIE processes appear in a figure in a how-to monograph distributed by the American Society for Training and Development on “basis of instructional systems development” (Grafinger 1988), as shown in Figure 1, but nowhere in the monograph is the acronym ADDIE itself given (it is consistently referred to as the “ISD model” in Grafinger (1988).  Similarly, Allison Rossett (1987) includes a figure showing an ISD model in which the super ordinate boxes are labeled with the five ADDIE names, but the caption reads “What happens during ISD”.  ADDIE also appears quite frequently on the World Wide Web in various manifestations.  One of the better-known web sources is “Big Dog’s ISD Page” (Clark 1995).  As with Deborah Grafinger and Rossett, Donald Clark provides a visual model incorporating the ADDIE terms but refers to it as the “ISD model”.

The proposed five steps

          ADDIE was one of the first Design Models; there has been much discussion about its effectiveness and appropriateness. Malachowski introducing this methodology for its simplicity, ease of application, and cyclic nature.

          On his way to work we analyze how his last class/presentation went and about what he can do to do to make it better.  He examines the goals and objectives of the presentation and the nature of the participants to try to determine the appropriateness of the instructional design.  How did the last session go?  What stimulated the participants, when did their eyes start glaze over, the yawns start, and the heads nod? Is he meeting their needs?

Design is concerned with subject matter analysis, lesson planning and media selection.

          A course of instruction may focus on skills from three different objective domains, Cognitive, Psychomotor, and Affective.

          Bloom’s taxonomy orders this Cognitive domain from the most simple, Knowledge, through Comprehension, Application, Analysis Synthesis to the most complex, Evaluation.

          The Psychomotor domain is concerned with gross and fine-motor skills looking at behaviours that can be determined through task analysis.

          The Affective domain deals with attitudinal behaviour from simple awareness and acceptance to internalization as attitudes become internalized.  Progress can be mapped utilizing Krathwohl, et. al.’s five levels of: Receiving, Responding, Valuing, Organizing and Characterizing.

          Lesson planning requires that you determine your:

·        Objectives defined in terns of specific measurable objectives or learning outcomes.

·        Skills, knowledge and attitudes to be developed.

·        Resources and strategies to be utilized.

·        Structuring, sequencing, presentation, and reinforcement, of the content. 

·        Assessment methods matched to the learning objectives to ensure agreement between intended outcomes and assessment measurements.

Joyce and Flowers list seven instructional functions I often use; you may find these useful in determining how best to incorporate available technology into your presentations.

§  Informing the learner of the objectives,

§  Presenting stimuli,

§  Increasing learner attention,

§  Helping the learner recall what they have previously learned,

§  Providing conditions that will provoke performance determining

     sequences of learning,

§  Prompting and guiding the learning.

The choice of media is determined by contingencies of the participant’s needs and available resources.

Development is a process of creation and testing of learning experiences and seeks to answer questions such as:

Have the learning needs and characteristics of the participants been accurately analyzed?

Were the problem statement, the instructional goals and the instructional objectives appropriate for the learning needs of the participants?

To what extent are the teaching resources, instructional strategies and the participant learning experiences successful in effectively meeting the instructional goals and objectives of the target audience?

Is it possible to accurately assess participant learning with the proposed course of instruction?

          Negative responses indicate a need for revision.

Implementation is the presentation of the learning experiences to the participants utilizing the appropriate media.  Learning, skills or understanding, are “demonstrated” to the participants, who practice initially in a “safe” setting and then in the targeted workspace.  It may involve showing participants how to make the best use of interactive learning materials, presenting classroom instruction, or coordinating and managing a distance-learning program.  The progress of the learning frequently follows cyclic patterns based on motivation and intention.  Curriculum should be organized in a spiral manner such that the participant continually builds upon what they have already learned.

Evaluation is of two levels.  The most important is to gauge the success of the participant obtaining and retaining the demonstrated skills and understandings.  The second is to determine how successful the instructional design package was in facilitating effective participant learning.  The final question becomes how I can modify the package to improve its next presentation.

Advantages of ADDIE

          ADDIE provides an organized design, It suggests practices for redesigns.  It is effective and function well,  It in corporate new technology.  It is beneficial for development of courses using alternative delivery methods.  People introducing this for its simplicity, ease of application, and cyclic nature.  It helps for the teachers are concerned with subject matter analysis, Lesson planning and media selection, etc.

Conclusion

          Cognitive experience situated in authentic activities such as project-based learning, cognitive apprenticeships, or case-based learning environments result in richer and more meaningful learning experiences.  Social negotiation of knowledge allows a process by which learners form and test their constructs in a dialogue with other individuals and with the larger society.  Collaboration becomes a principal focus of learning activities so that negotiation and testing of knowledge can occur.

          These simple step methodologies are useful because they provide an organized design, incorporate new technology and beneficial for development of courses using alternative delivery methods.

MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE

MENTAL HYGIENE

INTRODUCTION

           The problems of mental disorders have been increasing tremendously for the last two decades all over the world. We have witnessed a rapid growth in mental disorders of all types during this period. The incidences of mental disorders are acquiring unusual dimensions every year, causing great concern to educationists, psychologists, sociologist, social workers and all those who are closely connected with the welfare of the society as a whole. The mentally disordered persons have become a great liability on the nation.

MEANING OF MENTAL HYGIENE

              Mental hygiene is a science which deals with the process of attaining mental health and preventing mental illness in society. It is s life-long process which begins in early child- hood and continues till the death of an individual. It covers all phases of life from infancy to old age.

               Before we trace the development of the mental hygiene movement, let us differentiate between the two terms: “mental hygiene”, and “mental health” which often confuse the readers. Mental hygiene and mental health may be differentiated as means and ends. Mental hygiene is a means to mental health, meaning there by that the main objective of mental hygiene is to attain mental health. In other words mental hygiene is a systematic body of knowledge which aims at attaining mental health.

DEFITIONS OF MENTAL HYGIENE

               The definition of mental hygiene the science of mental health represents a collection of many important ideas. These ideas help to keep human beings healthy in every way. At this point some definitions of mental hygiene are being given to elucidate its nature

A.J.Rosanoff: “Mental hygiene endeavors to aid people to ward off troubles

                             as well as to furnish ways of handling troubles.”

         Kolesink:           “Mental hygiene is a set of conditions which enables a person

                                      to live at peace with him and others.”

         L.F.shaffer:  “Mental hygiene has implications for all persons the aim of

                                    mental hygiene is to assist every individual in  the attainment

                                     of fuller, happier, more harmonious            and more effective

                                    existence.”

NEED FOR MENTAL HYGIENE

       

          Mental hygiene invariably benefits the individual. Where as in the school, it is concerned with the curriculum and the environment, in life out side, it concerns it self with religion, marriage, family, and other social institutions. It is needed even in the field of industry .the need for mental health is felt for the following reasons-

Maintaining balance amid social complexity: If we want a contemporary man should retain his mental balance and lead his life peacefully and fruitfully, it is essential that every individual should be familiar with the basic rules of mental health.

Understanding of mental disorders and problems of adjustment: People     must have the knowledge of mental disorders through the laws of mental          health and hygiene, the problem of such individuals can be diagnosed and treated.

Rapid spread of mental disorders: This is the recent disease in all over the world people must be aware of this disease. There is no doubt that mental disorder are on the increases; hence knowledge of mental hygiene is          essential for their prevention.

An international need: UNESCO says that wars actually place in the minds     of men in order to decrease the international tensions, it is essential that every individual should be protected from mental tensions.

Essential for parents: If parents have the knowledge of mental hygiene,           they can successfully ensure the proper adjustment of their children and protect them against mental disorders.

Essential for teachers: Teachers need knowledge of mental hygiene more than many other individuals because they should be able to perceive the state of mental health of their pupils.

Need in industry and Armed forces: The sphere of mental hygiene has become extensive nowadays this is needed for the major units.

Essential for managers:  In almost every sphere, managers need knowledge of mental hygiene because they must posses the ability and talent to get work done by their juniors.

FUNCTIONS OF MENTAL HYGIENE

         Mental hygiene is recently developed science. The following four functions have been given by mental hygienists in the literature on mental hygiene.

Training: The first function of mental hygiene is to train mental health. Person who can understand people’s psychological problems can meet their needs.

Prevention: The second important function of mental hygiene is to prevent mental health problem by developing such programmes as may check and reduce mental disorders in the population.

Cure of mental disorders: The third function is to develop programmes of counseling psychotherapy may be developed for the group as may help in curing the patients.

Preservation:  All the people are not mentally ill. A good majority of people posses sound mental health. One function of mental hygiene is to preserve and maintain their mental health through education programmes.

PRINCIPLES OF MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH

                No two individuals are alike. Even identical twins that are born out of the same cell differ to a great extent in physical, intellectual, emotional, social, moral and religious dimensions of development. This caused by the factors of nature and nurture the environment decides the mental health of the individual. We can formulate some general principles. The broad principles are as follows:

          Adjustment in home:   parents should inculcate desirable traits in their children and develop competence, security, adequacy, self-esteem and discipline by catering to their needs. If desirable characteristics developed during early childhood, children do not experience any difficulty in the process of adjustment in their life.

             Adjustment to school:      In school various activities can help preventing mental disorders. It can also correct emotional disturbances caused by the home environment by developing remedial programmes for emotionally disturbed and socially alienated students.     

         Adjustment to society:     Man is a social animal. He is born and brought up in the society. Human being from his birth to his death remains in close association with society. There fore for mental health normal expression is essential. Repression of feeling should be avoided because it leads to mental abnormality. The wholesome personality is characterized by normal expression of emotion and by control of emotion.

              Adjustment to work: Work is worship one must become the worshiper of the work only then he can get pleasure out of it an individual makes contribution to society and gets joy in proportion to the recognition of his contribution. If one is mentally healthy he can achieve successfully his life. In school children should provided opportunities for self-directed activities which create confidence and adequacy to stand on their own feet.

 

                 Adjustment to self: knowing one self is the maximum mental health. Parents and teachers should help the child to understand him self, meaning there by that the child must know about his own body and mind .the child must also know the realities of life which is full of difficulties. Every one should be led to understand the problem of sex, mental ill health.

CONCLUSION                                

              

       In brief, the basic principles of mental hygiene have been out lined. There is no doubt that if these principles are followed faithfully we can reduce the mental health problems of children and can help them in better adjustment to society.

1.    INTRODUCTION

            The problems of mental disorders have been increasing tremendously for the last two decades all over the world. The incidents of mental disorders are acquiring unusual dimensions every year, causing great concern to educationists, psychologists, sociologists, social workers. The mentally disordered persons have become a great liability on the nation.

2.    MEANING OF MENTAL HYGIENE

Mental hygiene is concerned with realization and maintenance of the mind’s health and efficiency.

                        Mental hygiene is a science which deals with the process of attaining mental health and preventing mental illness in the society. It is a life-long process which begins in early childhood and continues till the death of an individual. It covers all phases of life right from infancy to old age.

                        Before we trace the development of the mental hygiene movement, let us differentiate between the two terms; “Mental Hygiene” and “Mental Health” which often confuse the readers.

                        Mental hygiene and mental health may be differentiated as means and ends. Mental hygiene is a means to mental health, meaning thereby that the main objective of mental hygiene is to attain mental health. In other words mental hygiene is a systematic body of knowledge which aims at attaining mental health.

3.    DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL HYGIENE

                        Several definitions of mental hygiene have been given by clinicians, psychologists, and educationists from different points of view. There are some definitions of mental hygiene are being given to elucidate its nature.

Kolesnik – “Mental hygiene is a set of conditions which enable a person to live at peace with himself with others”.

D.B. Klein – “Mental hygiene as its name suggests, is concerned with the realization and maintenance of the mind’s health and efficiency”.

Drever – “Mental hygiene means investigation of the laws of mental health and taking or advocacy of measures for its preservation”.

L.F.Shaffer – “Mental hygiene has implications for all persons. The aim of mental hygiene is to assist every individual in the attainment of fuller, happier, more hormonious and more effective existence”.

A.J. Rosanoff – “Mental hygiene endeavors to aid people to ward off troubles as well as to furnish ways of handling troubles”.

4. NEED FOR MENTAL HYGIENE

                        Mental hygiene invariably benefits the individual. Whereas in the school, it is concerned with the curriculum and the environment, in life outside, it concerns itself with religion, marriage, family and other social institutions. It is needed even in the field of industry. The specific needs of mental hygiene fall into the following  four categories.

a. Realization of Potentialists:

                        The main need of mental hygiene is to provide opportunity to the individual to develop his potentialities to the maximum. Every individual has some inherent potentialities which remain repressed through want of proper opportunities. Such individuals feel frustrated and consequently become the victims of mental illness.

b. Happiness:

                        Happiness is a subjective criterian which is very difficult to define in operational terms. Here it means that the goal of mental hygiene is to develop a positive attitude towards life and work, so that the individual may lead an efficient life by utilizing maximally his potential abilities.

c. Hormonious Development:

                        Mental hygiene aims at the harmonious development of the physical, mental and spiritual capacities of the individual so that he may properly adjust to his social environment and contribute to the welfare of society.

d. Effective existence:         

                        The last need of mental hygiene is to prepare the individual for effective existence in society. Indian society is moving very rapidly towards industrialization which is fraught with many problems of adjustment.

                        Mental hygiene prepares the individual for effective adjustment in home, school, work and society. The scope of mental hygiene includes all behaviour problems from infancy to old age.

5. FUNCTIONS OF MENTAL HYGIENE

                        Mental hygiene is a recently developed science. The following four functions have been given by mental hygientists in the literature on mental hygiene.

a.                                    a. Training:

                        The first function of mental hygiene is to train mental health personnel who can understand people’s psychological problems and can help them to meet their needs.

b. Prevention:

The second important function of mental hygiene is to prevent mental health problems by developing such programmes as may check and reduce mental disorders in the population.

c. Cure of Mental Disorders:

The third function is to develop programmes for those who have already become the victims of mental illness. Such programmes of counselling or psychotherapy may be developed for the individual or the group as may help in curing the patients.

4. Preservation:

All people are not mentally ill. A good majority of people possess sound mental health. One function of mental hygiene is to preserve and maintain their mental health through education programmes.

6. PRINCIPLES OF MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH

No two individuals are alike. Even identical twins that are born out of the same cell differ to a great extent in physical, intellectual, emotional, social, moral and religious dimensions of development. This caused by the factors of nature and nurture the environment decides the mental health of the individual. We can formulate some general principles. The broad principles are as follows,

a. Adjustment in home:

Parents should inculcate desirable traits in their children and develop competence, security, adequacy, self-esteem and discipline by catering to their needs. If desirable characteristics developed during early childhood, children do not experience any difficulty in the process of adjustment in their life.

 b. Adjustment to School:

In school various activities can help preventing mental disorders. It can also correct emotional disturbances caused by the home environment by developing remedial programmes for emotionally disturbed and socially alienated students.

c. Adjustment to Society:

Man is a social animal. He is born and brought up in the society. Human being from his birth to his death remains in close association with society. Therefore for mental health normal expression is essential. Depression of feeling should be avoided because it leads to mental abnormality. The wholesome personality is characterized by normal expression of emotion and by control of emotion.

d. Adjustment to work:

Work is worship one must become the worshiper of the work only then he can get pleasure out of it an individual makes contribution to society and gets joy in proportion the recognition of his contribution. If one is mentally healthy he can achieve successfully his life. In school children should be provided opportunities for self-directed activities which create confidence and adequacy to stand on their own feet.

     

e. Adjustment to self:

            Knowing oneself is the maximum mental health. Parents and teachers should help the child to understand himself, meaning thereby that the child must know about his own body and mind. The child must also know the realities of life which is full of difficulties. Everyone should be led to understand the problem of sex, mental ill health.

7. CONCLUSION

In brief, the basic principles of mental hygiene have been outlined. There is no doubt that if these principles are followed faithfully, we can reduce the mental health problems of children and can help then in better adjustment to the society.

CONCEPT OF CONFLICT

INTRODUCTION      

The term conflict is used in so many ways in our day to day set up. There may be conflicts between the ideologies of two sects, cultures, religions and organizations. Conflicts may be aroused between husband and wife, father and son, teacher and student.

DEFINITION:

Conflict means a painful emotional state which results from a tension between opposed and contradictory wishes - Douglas and Holland.

TYPES OF CONFLICT:

Conflicts are classified into three types.

1.    Approach – Approach Conflict

2.    Approach - Avoidance Conflict

3.    Avoidance – Avoidance Conflict

 1.  Approach – Approach Conflict:

            In this conflict, an individual is faced with the problem of making a choice between two or more positive goals almost equally motivating and important.

G1+                                  I                                 +G2

Here, two positive goals are involved. The individual should select any one, So that the individual get conflict to select the one between the two goals.

For example, a child may have to choose between reading an interesting novel of going out to play cricket.

            After completing +2, the students get conflict to select their appropriate course medical or engineering.

2. Approach - Avoidance Conflict:

            In this conflict, an individual faced with a problem of choice between approaching and avoiding tendency at the same time. Here two goals are involved, one is positive and another one is negative.

G1-                                            I                                         G2+

3. Avoidance – Avoidance Conflict:

            In this conflict, an individual is caught in a situation where he must choose between two or more possible negative goals. Usually conflicts of this type are more serious than the approach – approach conflict.

       G1-                                   I                           G2-

CONCEPT OF FRUSTRATION

INTODUCTION

            Frustration is that stage or condition in which failure dominate the attempts. In this state of ones feels a major obstacle on the satisfaction of ones basic needs or in the attainment of ones cherished goal. Frustration is a human emotion that occurs in situations where one is blocked from reaching a personal goal.

Needs

Desire                              Drive                     Blocking                         Goal

Motives

DEFINITION:

• Frustration means emotional tension resulting from the blocking of a desire or need - Good.
• A frustration is the condition of being dissatisfied in the satisfaction of motive - Carroll.

CAUSES FOR FRUSTRATION:

1. Delayed reinforcement
2. Blocking the response
3. Mental conflicts

1. Delayed Reinforcement:

            Withholding of the reinforcement that ordinary occurs, from an organism that has already been conditioned in a particular way may trigger frustration. When response is a regularly reinforced and then extinguished this operation is called as frustration by delay. In Pavlov’s experiment, when there was a delay of 5 minutes in presenting the food after ringing the bell, the dog got frustrated and as result there occurred a reduction in the secretion of saliva in the dog. This is due to the delayed reinforcement of the conditioned response.

2. Blocking the Response:

            This means that at some point of an organism’s activity, a barrier is introduced and behaviour is prevented.  Here the chain of behaviour is broken not due to withholding of usual reinforcement but due to the introduction of the new obstacle that prevents the response to occur. These factors can be classified into two types namely, External or Environment factor and Internal or Personal factor.

3. Mental Conflicts:

            Conflict means a painful emotional state which results from a tension between opposed and contradictory wishes. According to Barney and Lehner, “Psychological conflicts are a state of tension brought by the presence in the individual of two or more opposing desires.”

CONCEPT OF ADJUSTMENT

INTODUCTION

            In psychology adjustment refers to an individual’s relationship with his environment, the way to he attempts to achieve harmony between his own drives/desires and the demands/restraints of the environment.

DEFINITION:

• Adjustment is a process by which a living organism maintains a balance between its needs and the circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs - L. S. Shaffer.
• Adjustment represents a compromise between the needs of the individual and demands of the society in which he/she lives – White.
• A person is said to be adjusted when he is relatively happy, efficient and has some degrees of social feeling – Symonds.

CHARACTERISTICS:

v  Adjustment is subjective.

v  Adjustment is a continuous process.

v  Adjustment varies from culture to culture.

v  It is a process of need reduction.

v  It is the interaction between an individual and with his environment.

v  Adjustment maintains physiological and psychological balance that influences the satisfaction of those needs.

v  It demands on external and internal demands. These are social psychological and physiological needs of an individual.

MALADJUSTMENT

MEANING:

            Maladjustment refers to the failure of the individual to adjust to the needs of self and demands of the environment. It can be judged from the behaviour of an individual shown in a given situation. Thus the pattern of behaviour is not conformity with the social and cultural patterns at home or school or in community is called maladjusted behaviour. These children’s are some time called “Emotional Disturbed” or “Delinquent” or “Socially Unacceptable Children’s”. Thus maladjustment refers to disharmony between the person and his environment.

SYMPTOMS OF MALADJUSTMENT:

1. Physical symptoms: Stuttering, stammering, biting nails, rocking feet and restlessness.
2. Habit disorders: walking and talking in sleep, nail biting, defect in speech.
3. Behaviour disorders: Aggressive, envy behaviour, stealing and lying, negativism.
4. Emotional symptoms: Excessive worry, fear, conflict and tension.
5. Educational & vocational difficulties: unusual response to school displine, inability to keep jobs.

ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM:

When an individual meets with stress in the form of a conflict, frustration, pressure, his immediate reaction is either to be aggressive or to be withdrawal type or play as a neutral role in order to reduce his mental tension and to maintain balance in the society. These common ways which the individual use to defend or escape from the situation is called Defence or Adjustment Mechanism. These defence mechanism helps the individual to preserve him self-concept and protect him from anxiety.

TYPES OF ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM:

There are two types of adjustment mechanism.

                  1. Direct method.

                  2. Indirect method.

1. Direct Method:

                  This is the method by which the individual makes efforts to reduce/release his tension consciously. These methods are logical and rational in nature and employed intentionally in getting permanent solution of the problem faced by the individual in a particular situation. The following are the direct methods of adjustment mechanism.

1.    Removing the difficulties

2.    Improving efforts

3.    Change in the working pattern

4.    Substitution to other goal

5.    Withdrawal

2. Indirect Method:

            This is the method by which a person tries to seek temporary adjustment or makes an effort to reduce tension unconsciously. The following are the indirect method of the adjustment mechanism.

                        1. Projection (Putting blame on others for ones failure)

                        2. Rationalization (giving justification)

                        3. Repression

                        4. Suppression

                        5. Compensation

                        6. Displacement

PROBLEMATIC CHILDREN

            It comes based on the individual differences. The main individual differences are,

1. Physical differences (height, weight, colour, etc.,)
2. Mental differences ( IQ level, creative power, etc.,)
3. Difference in interest and attitudes
4. Emotional difference
5. Differences in social and moral development.

Problematic children may be defined as those who are different from normal students are called exceptional or problematic children. They always create problems to others. For example sleeping in the class hours, fighting with others, stealing other things, etc. They have maladjustment behaviour.

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY CHILD:

            The delinquents are anti-social behaviour children who are at the lower extreme ends of normal distribution of social tract. The delinquents are found generally at the stage of adolescence. The children who are delinquents below the age of eighteen years are known Juvenile Delinquent.

MEANING:

            It is difficult to define the term delinquency comprehensively and universally because it has wide coverage of anti social behaviour that varies time to time, place to place, cultural, social and political conditions of a particular condition. It may be stated that the child who violates the social norms and values, is called Delinquent.

DEFINITION:

• A child who deviates from the social norms of behaviour is called delinquent - Healy.
• Delinquency may be defined as anti-social behaviour - Head Field.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DELINQUENTS:

v  A delinquent child possess anti social behaviour.

v  He breaks the laws and creates indiscipline in school.

v  A delinquents deviates from norms of social behaviour and creates problems in society.

v  A delinquent child is aggressive and hostile behaviour.

v  His anxiety level is generally very high.

v  The delinquents are emotional and maladjusted.

CAUSES OF DELINQUENCY:

v  Heredity and environmental factors

v  School environment

v  Physical constitutional factors

v  Psychological factors

ROLE OF EDUCATION IN DELINQUENCY:

            The delinquents are found at the stage of adolescence or secondary and higher secondary level. The child enters in the school with set patterns of his behaviour and attitudes. Even than education can play crucial role in both treatment and preventing delinquency. Education is creature and creator of the society. The school is second social institution and class as social phenomenon. Thus, education and school has an important role to play to control and prevent delinquency.

MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE

            Mental hygiene is a science which deals with the process of attaining mental health and preventing mental illness in society. It is life-long process which begins in early child-hood and continues till the death of an individual. Before we trace the development of the mental hygiene movement, let us differentiate between the two terms ‘Mental Hygiene’ and ‘Mental Health’ which often confuse the readers. Mental hygiene and mental health may be differentiated as means and ends. Mental hygiene is a systematic body of knowledge which aims at attaining mental health.

DEFINITION:

• Mental hygiene is a set of conditions which enables a person to live at peace with him and others - Kolesink.
• Mental hygiene has implications for all persons the aim of mental hygiene is to assist every individual in the attainment of fuller, happier, more harmonious and more effective existence - L.F. Shaffer.

FUNCTIONS OF MENTAL HYGIENE:

            Mental hygiene is recently developed science. The following four functions have been giving by mental hygiene in the literature on mental hygiene.

1. Training:

            The first function of mental hygiene is to train mental health. Person who can understand people’s psychological problems can meet their needs.

2. Prevention:

            The second important function of mental hygiene is to prevent mental health problem by developing such programmes as may check and reduce mental disorders in the population.

3. Cure of mental disorders:

            The third function is to develop programmes of counseling psychotherapy may be developed for the group as may help in curing the patients.

4. Preservation:

            All people are not mentally ill. A good majority of people posses sound mental health. One function of mental hygiene is to preserve and maintain their mental health through education programmes.

PRINCIPLE OF MAINTAINING MENTAL HEALTH:

1. Adjustment in home:

            Parents should inculcate desirable traits in their children and develop competence, security, adequacy, self-esteem and discipline by catering to their needs. If desirable characteristics developed during early childhood, children do not experience any difficulty in the process of adjustment in their life.

2. Adjustment in school:

            In school various activities can help preventing mental disorders. It can also correct emotional disturbances caused by the home environment by developing remedial programmes for emotionally disturbed and socially alienated students.

3. Adjustment in society:

            Man is a social animal. He is born and brought up in the society. Human being from his birth to his death remains in close association with society. Therefore mental health normal expression is essential. The wholesome personality is characterized by normal expression of emotion and by control of emotion.

4. Adjustment to work:

            If one is mentally healthy he can achieve successfully his life. In school children should provided opportunities for self-directed activities which create confidence and adequacy to stand on their own feet.

5. Adjustment to self:

            Knowing one self is the maximum mental health. Parents and teachers should help the child to understand him self, meaning there by that the child must know about his own body and mind. The child must also know the realities of life which is full of difficulties. Every one should be led to understand the problem of sex, mental ill health.