Class 12 Physology Notes Chapter 8 (Psychology and Life) – Physocology Book
Detailed Notes with MCQs of Chapter 8, 'Psychology and Life'. This chapter is crucial as it connects psychological principles to real-world environmental and social issues, topics often touched upon in government exams. Pay close attention to the definitions and effects discussed.
NCERT Class 12 Psychology: Chapter 8 - Psychology and Life (Detailed Notes for Government Exams)
1. Human-Environment Relationship
- Definition: The environment is everything that surrounds us, including physical, social, work, and cultural aspects. Psychology studies the interaction between humans and their environment.
- Perspectives on Human-Environment Relationship:
- Minimalist Perspective: Assumes the physical environment has minimal or negligible influence on human behaviour, health, and well-being. Primarily focuses on internal psychological factors.
- Instrumental Perspective: Views the environment mainly as a resource for human use and satisfaction. Humans exploit nature for their comfort and needs.
- Spiritual Perspective: Perceives the environment as something to be respected and valued, not just exploited. Emphasizes interdependence and harmony between humans and nature (often seen in traditional Indian viewpoints).
- Focus of Environmental Psychology: Studies the interplay between humans and their environment, focusing on how the environment affects behaviour and experience, and how humans, in turn, affect the environment.
2. Environmental Effects on Human Behaviour
- Environmental Stressors: Aspects of the environment that cause stress (e.g., noise, pollution, crowding, natural disasters). Stress is the psychological and physiological reaction to demanding environmental conditions.
- Noise:
- Definition: Unpleasant, unwanted, or irritating sound. Its impact depends on intensity, predictability, controllability, and the task being performed.
- Effects:
- Cognitive: Reduces concentration, attention, working memory capacity; impairs performance on complex tasks. Simple or routine tasks may sometimes show improvement (arousal effect).
- Emotional: Can cause annoyance, irritation, sleep disturbance, increased aggression.
- Physiological: Increased heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormone levels.
- Pollution:
- Types: Air, water, soil.
- Effects:
- Air Pollution: Linked to respiratory illnesses, decreased oxygen supply to the brain, potentially affecting attention and concentration. Presence of toxins (e.g., lead) can impair cognitive development. Can cause headaches, irritation, and lower performance.
- Water & Soil Pollution: Primarily health impacts, but associated stress and anxiety about health can affect psychological well-being.
- Crowding:
- Definition: A psychological feeling of discomfort and stress arising from having too many people or things around us in a given space. It's a subjective feeling.
- Distinction from Density: Density is an objective measure (number of people per unit area), while crowding is the experience of that density. High density doesn't always lead to crowding.
- Characteristics of Crowding Experience:
- Feeling of loss of control over social interactions.
- Feeling of restricted physical movement.
- Negative perception of the limited space.
- Social withdrawal or increased aloofness.
- Effects:
- Stress, anxiety, physiological arousal.
- Lower performance on difficult tasks requiring concentration.
- Increased aggression and interpersonal conflict.
- Reduced helping behaviour.
- Children may exhibit lower academic performance and social adjustment issues.
- Crowding Tolerance: The ability to mentally cope with high-density environments without feeling negative effects. Influenced by culture, personality, and past experiences.
- Personal Space: The comfortable physical distance one prefers to maintain from others. Violations can cause discomfort. Edward Hall's zones:
- Intimate Distance: (Up to 18 inches) - Close relationships.
- Personal Distance: (18 inches to 4 feet) - Friends, acquaintances.
- Social Distance: (4 to 12 feet) - Formal interactions, business.
- Public Distance: (12 feet or more) - Public speaking, lectures.
- Natural Disasters:
- Definition: Sudden, catastrophic events like earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tsunamis.
- Psychological Impact:
- Immediate: Shock, disbelief, fear, anxiety, grief.
- Long-term: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - characterized by flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance behaviour, hypervigilance. Depression, anxiety disorders, sleep disturbances, somatic complaints.
- Loss of loved ones, property, and livelihood leads to profound grief and insecurity.
- Impact on community cohesion (can strengthen or weaken it).
- Coping: Requires emotional support, counseling, community rebuilding efforts.
3. Human Influence on the Environment
- Humans significantly alter the environment through activities like:
- Resource Depletion: Overuse of forests, water, minerals.
- Pollution: Industrial waste, vehicle emissions, plastic waste, noise generation.
- Deforestation & Habitat Destruction: Leading to climate change and biodiversity loss.
- These actions often stem from the instrumental perspective, population growth, consumerism, and lack of awareness or concern.
4. Promoting Pro-environmental Behaviour
- Definition: Actions taken by individuals and groups to protect and preserve the environment.
- Strategies:
- Reducing Waste: Recycling, composting, avoiding single-use plastics.
- Conserving Energy: Using energy-efficient appliances, public transport, renewable energy sources.
- Water Conservation: Preventing wastage, rainwater harvesting.
- Environmental Education & Awareness: Increasing knowledge about environmental problems and solutions.
- Changing Norms & Values: Promoting a spiritual or stewardship perspective towards nature.
- Incentives & Disincentives: Providing rewards for pro-environmental actions and penalties for harmful ones.
- Community Participation: Engaging local communities in conservation efforts.
5. Psychology and Social Concerns
- Poverty and Deprivation:
- Poverty: Economic condition of lacking basic necessities (food, shelter, clothing, healthcare). Often defined relative to the average living standard in a society.
- Deprivation: Refers to the lack or denial of resources, opportunities, and social recognition considered essential or desirable. Poverty is a major cause of deprivation.
- Psychological Characteristics Associated with Poverty/Deprivation:
- Low Aspiration Levels: Limited expectations for future success.
- Low Self-Esteem & Lack of Confidence: Feeling inadequate or inferior.
- Learned Helplessness: Feeling powerless to change one's situation.
- Belief in Fate/External Locus of Control: Attributing outcomes to external factors rather than personal effort.
- Need for Immediate Gratification: Difficulty delaying rewards.
- Cognitive Effects: Potential impact on cognitive development and functioning due to poor nutrition, lack of stimulation, and stress.
- Motivation: Often focused on survival needs rather than achievement.
- Social Behaviour: Can lead to feelings of resentment, alienation, or aggression.
- Breaking the Cycle: Requires economic opportunities, education, healthcare, skill development, social support, and psychological interventions to build self-efficacy and hope.
- Discrimination: Unfair treatment of individuals or groups based on prejudice (e.g., caste, religion, gender, ethnicity). Leads to social disadvantage, exclusion, and psychological distress (low self-esteem, depression, anxiety).
- Aggression, Violence, and Peace:
- Aggression: Any behaviour intended to harm another person (physically or verbally). Can be hostile (driven by anger) or instrumental (aimed at achieving a goal).
- Violence: Aggression that has extreme physical harm (injury, death) as its goal. Violence is a subset of aggression.
- Causes/Theories of Aggression:
- Instinct Theories: Innate, biological drive (Freud, Lorenz). Less accepted now.
- Physiological Mechanisms: Brain structures (amygdala, hypothalamus), hormones (testosterone), frustration can activate physiological arousal.
- Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis (Dollard & Miller): Frustration (blocking of goal-directed behaviour) always leads to aggression, and aggression is always the result of frustration. (Later modified: frustration leads to readiness to aggress, actual aggression depends on cues).
- Social Learning Theory (Bandura): Aggression is learned through observation (modeling) and reinforcement. Observing aggressive models (parents, peers, media) increases likelihood of aggressive behaviour.
- Situational Factors Influencing Aggression:
- Learning: Direct reinforcement or observation.
- Observing an Aggressive Model: As per Social Learning Theory.
- Ingrained Reaction Patterns: Habitual ways of responding.
- Provocation: Being directly provoked or attacked.
- Frustration: As discussed above.
- Situational Cues: Presence of weapons (weapons effect).
- Crowding: Can increase irritation and aggression.
- Media Violence: Exposure linked to increased aggression, especially in children.
- Reducing Aggression and Violence:
- Parenting & Socialization: Teaching non-aggressive conflict resolution, empathy.
- Education: Promoting critical thinking about media violence, fostering tolerance.
- Reducing Exposure: Limiting exposure to media violence.
- Teaching Empathy & Perspective-Taking: Understanding others' feelings.
- Promoting Social Justice & Equality: Reducing frustration arising from discrimination and poverty.
- Inculcating Peace Values: Through education and community initiatives.
- Peace: Not just the absence of violence, but a state of harmony, mutual respect, cooperation, and social justice. Requires proactive efforts in conflict resolution and building positive relationships.
- Health:
- Environmental factors (pollution, noise, disasters) and social issues (poverty, discrimination, violence) significantly impact physical and mental health through stress, disease exposure, lack of resources, and psychological distress.
- Psychology plays a role in health promotion, stress management, coping with illness, and encouraging healthy behaviours. (This connects to concepts in Chapter 3: Meeting Life Challenges).
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
-
Which perspective on the human-environment relationship views the environment primarily as a resource to be used for human benefit?
a) Minimalist Perspective
b) Spiritual Perspective
c) Instrumental Perspective
d) Ecological Perspective -
According to environmental psychology, noise is most likely to impair performance on which type of task?
a) Simple, repetitive tasks
b) Tasks requiring physical strength
c) Complex tasks requiring concentration
d) Tasks performed in isolation -
The subjective feeling of discomfort due to having too many people around is termed:
a) Density
b) Personal Space Violation
c) Crowding
d) Environmental Stress -
Which psychological consequence is commonly observed in survivors of natural disasters?
a) Increased Altruism
b) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
c) Reduced Community Cohesion
d) Decreased Anxiety Levels -
The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis, initially proposed by Dollard and Miller, suggests that:
a) Aggression is primarily learned through observation.
b) Frustration always leads to some form of aggression.
c) Physiological arousal is the main cause of aggression.
d) Aggression is an innate instinct common to humans. -
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic typically associated with the psychological experience of poverty?
a) Low self-esteem
b) Belief in fate or external control
c) High aspiration levels
d) Need for immediate gratification -
Edward Hall's concept of 'Personal Distance' (18 inches to 4 feet) is typically maintained during interactions with:
a) Close family members
b) Strangers in public
c) Friends and acquaintances
d) Public speakers -
Bandura's Social Learning Theory emphasizes which factor as a primary cause of aggression?
a) Innate biological drives
b) Frustration due to blocked goals
c) Observation of aggressive models and reinforcement
d) Physiological arousal triggered by brain structures -
Promoting pro-environmental behaviour primarily involves:
a) Increasing resource consumption
b) Encouraging actions that protect and preserve nature
c) Focusing solely on technological solutions
d) Ignoring the impact of human behaviour on the environment -
The difference between aggression and violence is that:
a) Aggression is physical, while violence is verbal.
b) Aggression is intentional harm, while violence involves extreme physical harm.
c) Violence is caused by frustration, while aggression is learned.
d) There is no significant difference between the two terms.
Answer Key:
- c) Instrumental Perspective
- c) Complex tasks requiring concentration
- c) Crowding
- b) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- b) Frustration always leads to some form of aggression.
- c) High aspiration levels
- c) Friends and acquaintances
- c) Observation of aggressive models and reinforcement
- b) Encouraging actions that protect and preserve nature
- b) Aggression is intentional harm, while violence involves extreme physical harm.
Make sure you understand these concepts thoroughly. Relate them to current events and social realities – this will help solidify your understanding for the exam. Good luck with your preparation!