CBSE Class 12 Psychology Developing Psychological Skills Assignment

Question. What competencies are required for becoming an effective psychologist?
Answer. The basic skills or competencies which psychologists have identified for becoming an effective psychologist fall into three broad sections, namely,
(i) General Skills,
(ii) Observational Skills, and
(i) Specific Skills.
Relevant specific skills and competencies can be classified as follows:

(a) Communication Skills
- Speaking
- Active listening
- Body language or non-verbal skills
(b) Psychological Testing Skills
(c) Interviewing Skills
(d) Counselling Skills
- Empathy
- Positive regard
- Authenticity

Question. Identify an aspect of your friend’s personal life that s/he wants to change. As a student of psychology, think of specific ways in which you can devise a programme to help your friend modify or solve her/his problem.
Answer. My friend drank large amount of alcohol regularly and relied on it to help him face difficult situations. Eventually, the drinking interfered with his social behaviour and ability to think and work. He has built up a tolerance for alcohol and needed to drink even greater amounts to feel its effects. He experienced withdrawal responses when he stopped drinking. It had damaged his social relationships and career. It also seriously damaged his physical health.His maladaptive behaviour resulting from regular and consistent use of substance was reduced by using techniques of behaviour therapy. Aversive conditioning was used by repeated association of undesired response of drinking with an aversive consequence. For example, a drug was mixed with alcohol which gave rise to a vomiting sensation when he next time consumed it and this thus led to his leaving of alcohol. With repeated pairings of the vomiting sensation associated with the smell of alcohol as an aversive consequence led my friend give up alcohol.

Question. Define communication. Which component of the communication process is most important? Justify your answer with relevant examples.
Answer. Communication is a conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional process in which feelings and ideas are expressed as verbal and/or non-verbal messages that are sent, received and comprehended.
The various components of the communication process are:
(i) Encoding: Encoding in the communication process involves taking ideas, giving them meaning and putting them in message forms. For example, while taking an examination you realize that you have not brought your pen and you ask your friend for it i.e. encode a message that you need a pen.
(ii) Channel: After the message is encoded it is passed through a channel and our senses such as eyes, ears, tongue, nose or skin become active.
(iii) Decoding: After the message is encoded, passed through a channel it is decoded wherein the message is translated into understandable forms. For example, you may say that you heard a bell or an object feels soft.
(iv) Speaking: This involves the use of language which the communicator should use appropriately.
(v) Listening: Academic success, employment achievement and personal happiness depend upon your ability to listen effectively. Listening requires a person to be attentive. S/he should be patient, non-judgmental and yet have the capacity to analyze and respond.
(vi) Reception: During reception, in addition to using the hearing mechanism, people listen through their visual system. They observe a person’s facial expressions, posture, movement and appearance.
(vii) Attention: Normally your attention is divided between what you are attempting to listen to, and what is happening around you, and what is going on in your mind. For example, while watching a movie, a person in front of you is constantly whispering to his friend or you are worried about your forthcoming examination. Thus, your attention is divided and is pulled in different directions.
(viii) Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing involves the ability of a counsellor to reflect on what the client says and feels using different words. Human communication becomes effective if the counsellor understands and is again able to relate in his words what feelings and emotions the client has described.

Question. What are the generic skills needed by all psychologists?
Answer. General Skills are generic in nature and are needed by all psychologists irrespective of their field of specialisation. These skills are essential for all professional psychologists, whether they are working in the field of clinical and health psychology, industrial/ organisational, social, educational, or in environmental settings, or are acting as consultants. These skills include personal as well as intellectual skills. It is expected that it will not be proper to provide any form of professional training (in clinical or organisational fields) to students who do not possess these skills. Once a student has these skills, subsequent training in her/his area of specialisation would only refine and further hone these skills required by a professional within her/his field of specialisation. Intellectual and Personal Skills

(i) Interpersonal Skills: ability to listen and be empathic, to develop respect for/interest in others’ cultures, experiences, values, points of view, goals and desires, fears, openness to receive feedback, etc. These skills are expressed verbally and/or nonverbally.
(ii) Cognitive Skills: ability to solve problems, engage in critical thinking and organised reasoning, and having intellectual curiosity and flexibility.
(iii) Affective Skills: emotional control and balance, tolerance/understanding of interpersonal conflict, tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty.
(iv) Personality/Attitude: desire to help others, openness to new ideas, honesty/integrity/ value ethical behaviour, personal courage.
(v) Expressive Skills: ability to communicate one’s ideas, feelings and information in verbal, non-verbal, and written forms.
(vi) Reflective Skills: ability to examine and consider one’s own motives, attitudes, behaviours and ability to be sensitive to one’s own behaviour or others.
(vii) Personal Skills: personal organisation, personal hygiene, time management, and appropriate dress.

Sensitivity to Diversity: Individual and Cultural Differences
- Knowledge of self (one’s own attitudes, values, and related strengths/limitations) as one operates in the professional settings with diverse others.
- Knowledge about the nature and impact of individual and cultural diversity in different situations.
- Ability to work effectively with diverse backgrounds in assessment, treatment, and consultation.
- Ability to respect and appreciate different cultural norms and beliefs.
- Being sensitive to one’s preferences and also to one’s preference for own group.
- Ability to promote diversity in cultural beliefs and respecting it to promote positive life outcomes.

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 9 Developing Psychological Skills Objective Type Questions 

Question. The ability of a counsellor to reflect on what the client says and feels using different words is known as
(a) Decoding
(b) Communication
(c) Listening
(d) Paraphrasing
Answer. D

Question. The initial step in the listening process is
(a) Attention to stimulus
(b) Reception of stimulus
(c) Paraphrasing of sentences
(d) Assignment of meaning
Answer. B

Question. Public communication involves a leader or a speaker and audience. (True/False)
Answer. True

Question. Activities such as thought processes, personal decision making, focusing on self is called _____________ (interpersonal/intrapersonal) communication.
Answer. Intrapersonal

Question. Intrapersonal communication refers to the communication that takes place between two or more persons. (True/False)
Answer. False

Question. Decoding is taking ideas and giving them meaning. (True/False)
Answer. False

Question. Non-verbal acts in any talk are referred to as ______________.
Answer. Body language

Question. Body language is composed of all those messages that people exchange besides words. (True/False) 
Answer. True

Question. Listening is a biological activity that involves reception and attention.
Answer. True

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 9 Developing Psychological Skills Very Short Answer Questions 

Question. What is communication?
Answer. Communication is a conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional process in which feelings and ideas are expressed as verbal and/or non-verbal messages that are sent, received and comprehended.

Question. Explain the quality of ‘positive regard for others’ of effective counsellor.
Answer. ‘Positive regard’ by a counselor is accepting the feelings of the client. This is possible by using ‘I’ messages rather than ‘you’ messages, giving the client the freedom to share feelings by not interrupting or cutting in between, by avoiding labeling the person as an introvert etc.

Question. Describe ‘empathy’ as one of the characteristics of a good counsellor.
Answer. Empathy is the ability of a counsellor to understand the feelings of another person from her/his perspective. It is like stepping into someone else’s shoes and trying to understand the pain and troubled feelings of the other person.

Question. Define ‘intra-personal communication’. 
Answer. Intra-personal communication involves communicating with yourself. It encompasses such activities as thought processes, personal decision making and focusing on self.

Question. What is meant by interpersonal communication? 
Answer. Inter-personal communication refers to the communication that takes place between two or more persons who establish a communicative relationship. For example, the communication between doctor and patient, or a salesman and a customer.

Question. What do you understand by the term skill?
Answer. Skill is defined as proficiency or dexterity that is acquired or developed through training and experience.

Question. What are the different types of skills?
Answer. American Psychological Association (1973) has identified three sets of skills. They are assessment of individual differences, behaviour modification skills, counselling and guidance skills.

Question. What is public communication?
Answer. Public communication is characterized by speaker sending a message to an audience. It may be direct such as face to face message delivered by the speaker to an audience, or indirect such as message relayed over radio or TV.

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 9 Developing Psychological Skills Short Answer Questions-I

Question. What are the observational skills required to be an effective psychologist?
Answer. The observational skills required to be an effective psychologist are:
(i) Being patient.
(ii) Pay close attention to your physical surroundings—who, what, when, where, and how.
(iii) Be aware of people’s reactions, emotions, and motivations.
(iv) Ask questions that can be answered while observing.
(v) Be yourself, give information about yourself, if asked.
(vi) Observe with an optimistic curiosity.
(vii) Being ethical, respect privacy, take care not to disclose any information to any one.

Question. What are the different types of interview questions?
Answer. The different types of interview questions are:
(i) Direct Question: They are explicit and require specific information. For example,
“Where did you last work?”
(ii) Open-ended Question: They are less direct and specify only the topic. For example,
“How happy were you with your job on the whole?”
(iii) Close-ended Question: They provide response alternatives, narrowing the response variations. For example, “Do you think knowledge of a product or communication skill is more important for a salesperson?”
(iv) Bipolar Question: It is a form of close-ended question. It requires a yes or no response. For example, “Would you like to work for the company?”
(v) Leading Question: It encourages a response in favour of a specific answer. For example, “Wouldn’t you say you are in favour of having officer’s union in the company?”
(vi) Mirror Question: They are intended to get a person to reflect on what she or he had said and expand on it. For example, you said “I work so hard but I am unable to get success.”

Question. Describe Naturalistic and Participant Observation. 
Answer. Naturalistic Observation is one of the primary ways of learning about the way people behave in a given setting. Suppose, you want to learn how people behave in response to a heavy discount provided by a company while visiting a shopping mall. For this, you could visit the shopping mall where the discounted items are showcased and systematically observe what people do and say before and after the purchases have been made.
Participant Observation is a method of naturalistic observation in which the observer is actively involved in the process of observing by becoming an active member of the setting where the observation takes place. For example, an observer may take a part-time job in a shopping mall showroom to become an insider in order to observe variations in the behaviour of customers.

Question. Explain active listening skill of communication. 
Answer. (i) Academic success, employment achievement and personal happiness depend upon your ability to active listening or to listen effectively.
(ii) Listening requires a person to be attentive.
(iii) S/he should be patient, non-judgmental and yet have the capacity to analyse and respond.

Question. Describe the Intellectual and Personal skills possessed by effective psychologists.
Answer. The Intellectual and Personal skills possessed by effective psychologists are:
(i) Interpersonal Skills: It is the ability to listen and be empathic, to develop respect for/interest in others’ cultures, experiences, values, points of view, goals and desires, fears, openness to receive feedback, etc. These skills are expressed verbally and/or non-verbally.
(ii) Cognitive Skills: The ability to solve problems, engage in critical thinking and organised reasoning, and having intellectual curiosity and flexibility.
(iii) Affective Skills: Having emotional control and balance, tolerance/understanding of interpersonal conflict, tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty.
(iv) Personality/Attitude: The desire to help others, openness to new ideas, honesty/ integrity/value ethical behaviour, personal courage.
(v) Expressive Skills: The ability to communicate one’s ideas, feelings and information in verbal, non-verbal, and written forms.
(vi) Reflective Skills: The ability to examine and consider one’s own motives, attitudes, behaviours and ability to be sensitive to one’s own behaviour or others.
(vii) Personal Skills: It refers to personal organisation, personal hygiene, time management, and appropriate dress.

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 9 Developing Psychological Skills Short Answer Questions-II 

Question. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Observation?
Answer. Advantages:
(i) It allows behaviour to be seen and studied in its natural setting.
(ii) People from outside, or those already working in a setting, can be trained to use it.
Disadvantages:
(i) Events being observed are subject to bias due to the feelings of the people involved as well as of the observers.
(ii) Generally day-to-day activities in a given setting are fairly routine, which can go unnoticed by the observer.
(iii) The actual behaviour and responses of others may get influenced by the presence of the observer, thus, defeating the very purpose of observation.

Question. Describe the stages through which an interview proceeds.
OR
What is the typical format of a counselling interview?
Answer. The three stages of a counselling interview are
(i) Opening of the interview: It involves establishing rapport between two communicators.The purpose is to make the interviewee comfortable.
(ii) Body of the interview: It is the heart of the process. In this stage, the interviewer asks questions in an attempt to generate information and data that are required for the purpose. The interviewer prepares a set of questions, also called a schedule, for different domains or categories s/he wants to cover. For example, the questions used in job interview are nature of organization last worked for, satisfaction with past job, etc.
(iii) Closing the interview: At this stage, the interviewer summarises what s/he has been able to gather and or offers comments. When the interview is ending, the interviewer gives a chance to the interviewee to ask questions or offer comments.

Question. Describe the process of counselling.
Answer. (i) Counselling involves responding to the thoughts, feelings and actions of the clients.
(ii) Counselling involves a basic acceptance of the clients’ perceptions and feelings without any evaluative standards.
(iii) The interaction in the process of counseling should be confidential and private.
(iv) Counselling is provided by a trained psychologist. An untrained person may unintentionally cause more harm than good.
(v) Counselling is voluntary in which help is given by the counselor and the client approaches the counsellor.
(vi) Counsellor and clients both transmit and receive verbal and non-verbal messages during the process.

Question. Describe qualities that are associated with effective counsellors. 
OR
What are the characteristics of an effective helper?
OR
What are the competencies required for becoming an effective psychologist?
Answer. The qualities that are associated with effective counsellors are:
(i) Authenticity: The degree to which you are aware of the perceptions of others as well as of your own perception of yourself indicates that you are self-aware. Authenticity means that your behavioural expressions are consistent with what you value and the way you feel and relate to your inner self-image.
(ii) Positive Regard for Others: In order to show positive regard to others, the following must be kept in mind:
(a) When you are speaking, get into the habit of using “I” messages rather than “you” messages. An example of this would be, “I understand” rather than “you should not”.
(b) Respond to what the other person has said, after checking with her/him.
(c) Give the other person the freedom to share feelings or anything s/he wants to say. Do not interrupt or cut in.
(d) Do not assume that the other person knows what you are thinking. Express yourself according to the frame of reference, i.e. in the context of the verbal exchange taking place.
(e) Do not label either yourself or the other person (e.g., “you are an introvert”, etc.).
(iii) Empathy: Empathy is the ability of a counsellor to understand the feelings of another person from her/his perspective. It is like stepping into someone else’s shoes and trying to understand the pain and troubled feelings of the other person.
(iv) Paraphrasing: This involves the ability of a counsellor to reflect on what the client says and feels using different words. 

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 9 Developing Psychological Skills Long Answer Questions 

Question. What are the ethics of counselling?
Answer. American Psychological Association (APA) has developed a code of ethical conduct for behaviour and decision making in actual clinical settings. Some of the APA practice guidelines are:
(i) Knowledge of ethical professional codes, standards and guidelines, knowledge of rules, regulations relevant to the practice of psychology.
(ii) Recognise and analyse ethical and legal issues across the range of professional activities is the clinical setting.
(iii) Recognise and conderstand the ethical features/dimension of his/her own attitudes and practice is the clinical setting.
(iv) Seek appropriate informative and consultation when faced with ethical issues.
(v) Practice appropriate professional assertiveness related to ethical issues.

1. What is assessment? Explain some different assessment methods?

2. Some Domains of Psychological attributes?

3. What is intelligence? Explain any two theories related to intelligence?

4. Explain Pass Model of intelligence?

5. Role of Nature & Nuture.

6. Qualities of an gifted child?

7. Concept of personality? Different terms related to personality.

8. Different approaches to personality?

9. Five-Factor model of personality?

10. Explain Psychodynamic approach in detail?

11. Five stage theory of personality?

12. Different types of projective techniques?

13. A general model of the stress process?

14. Different sources of stress? Explain GAS syndrome in detail?

15. Concept of Abnormality? Classification of Psychological disorders? Factors underlying abnormal behavior.

16. Explain Major Psychological disorders in detail? Along with Symptoms and Diagnosis?

17. Effects of Alcohol?