Psychology Education Attention, perception, imagination, Thinking and Reasoning

 

ATTENTION 

Content outline: Attention – Factors which determine 

attention – Shifting, division and span of attention – Types of attention – Distraction – ensuring attention. 

Attention is focalisation of consciousness on a stimulus or a pattern of stimuli. It is the awareness of responding to certain stimuli and not responding to others that constitutes attention. Attention is the process by which a certain small area of the conscious field is focussed on. Thus attention is an active process by which a selection among the stimuli takes place. When attention takes place there is always a mobilization of the various parts of the body and sense organs towards the object of attention. This is a state of readiness or set. 

Factors determining Attention: 

A. Objectives Factors: 

- Intensity (louder sound, brighter colour, sharper 

pain are attended to better when compared with weaker sound, 

lighter colour, lighter pain). 

- Extensity (in terms of size – a bigger patch of 

colour, a bigger wall poster draw our attention better). 

- Repetition (repeated advertisements, repeated 

requests, repeated stimuli, repeated catchwords draw our attention; 

if the repetition goes beyond a limit they cease to draw our 

attention, e.g., the tickling of the clock at our worktable). 

- Movement (which by itself is able to draw our 

attention. There is a deep inherited tendency to attend to 

moving obejcts).

Changes (if there is a sudden change either in 

intensity or extensity or even by sudden stopping – pause – we 

at once attend to the change in the stimulus). 

- Systematic form (we attend to definite systematic 

pattern or rhythmic flow; some melodious tune though soft may 

be picked up for attention in the midst of loud noises. In the midst of lot of clumsy figures we attend to a figure with a 

definite geometrical and well-designed shape). 

- Novelty (any thing strange or unusual whether a 

sight or a sound or any other sensation invariably draws our attention). 

B. Subjective Factors 

- Interest (attention is interest in action; interest is latent attention). 

- Organic states (a hungry person may be attracted by 

anything eatable in preference to other objects). 

- Moods (in an angry mood even small annoyances 

will easily be picked up and attended to. In a happy mood one may notice pleasant things). 

- Affection, motivation, inner drives (a sleeping 

mother may not be disturbed by a lot of loud noise outside but 

if her sick child raises a faint cry her attention is drawn to it and she wakes up). 

- Habits (we attend to certain stimuli owing to our habit; nature of our job). 

No sharp division is possible between objective and subjective factors. Often the effectiveness of an objective condition may depend upon on subjective make up. There can never be a condition, which is purely objective or purely subjective. 

Shifting of Attention: 

Attention shifts from one stimulus to another. Continuous 

attention means continuity with plenty of shifting. This process is 

also called fluctuations of attention. 

Division of Attention: 

The problem is whether one can attend to more than one 

stimulus at a time. It is proved that a normal individual can attend 

to one stimulus only at a time. Individuals who seem to attend to a 

number of things are actually shifting their attention from one

stimulus to another. 

Span of Attention: 

Another interesting problem is how many figures or letters 

can one note in one act of attention. Normally a person can note at 

a glance 4 or 5 numbers or letters. 

Types of Attention: 

- Voluntary: 

Much of attention is given because we want to do so. 

Motivational factors play a greater part. Attention is sustained by 

deliberate effort. 

- Involuntary: 

We suddenly attend to some intense and unexpected 

stimulus such as a loud noise or a bright flash of light. We attend 

to it because we cannot help doing so. 

- Habitual: 

Looking at the notice board. 

- Distraction or Inattention: 

There is no such process as inattention; it only means one is not attending to a specific stimulus required of his attention but to some other stimulus or a pattern of stimuli. When there is a conflict between stimuli various factors at that point of time will determine the stimulus to which attention is given.

The motivational factors also play an important part. When one is sufficiently motivated, distractions may not have much effect. All external stimuli need not be distracting. Experiments on the effect of recorded music as accompaniment to work in factories showed signs in favour of production. The best way to fight against distraction is to get used to it. 

How to ensure attention? 

A knowledge of the psychology of attention will help the 

teacher in ensuring attention of the learners in the class room. The teacher should have a good speaking voice well modulated. The teacher should be thoroughly prepared for the class. There should be adequate student involvement in the class room. The teacher 

should employ a variety of instructional strategies – lecture, discovery and discussion. The teacher should employ technology-

based instruction and use audio-visual aids effectively. The teacher should survey the whole class through eye contact to establish a sense of belongingness with the whole class. These are some of the practical tips to ensure attention in the class room.

PERCEPTION 

Content outline: Perception – Factors which determine 

perception – Errors in perception – Apperception – Educational significance of perception. 

The first step in cognition is sensation. Sensations are the 

impressions received through sense organs. Sensations are the foundations of all knowledge. Through sensations one becomes aware of the world around. Sense organs are the gate ways of knowledge. Sensation is the most elementary mental process. It is only a primary response. 

Perception is a meaningful interpretation of a sensation. 

The meaning we attach to what we sense (seeing / hearing / smelling / tasting / touching) is called perception. In other words perception is sensation plus meaning. Perception is an organizing 

process. It does not operate like an adding machine. Impressions 

are not cumulative but the mind interprets and integrates what it receives. Two artists do not see the same thing in a picture. 

Witnesses give different reports on an accident. Perception 

depends upon the age, gender, intelligence and background of experience of the individual. 

Factors which determine perception 

- Sense organs: 

Sense organs and the nervous system determine our 

perception. Sense organs and the central nervous system (the brain and its accessories) should be in perfect order for clear, meaningful perception. 

- Past experience: 

 A burnt child perceives fire with fear. An individual involved in an accident will perceive heavy traffic apprehensively.

Immediate Attitude or Set: 

A runner in a 'get set' position perceives a pistol shot in any

sound similar to it. A person expecting a guest will perceive that 

individual when he hears a knock at the door. 

- Social Stereotypes: 

Certain undesirable traits in a particular community or caste 

or professional group can easily be proved to be the results of

certain negative attitudes we have developed towards them based

on hasty generalizations. Under such circumstances we ignore a 

great deal of reality. 

- Signs in Perception: 

Symbols are stimuli which stand for objects (a name for a person, a word for a concept). Signals, or the other hand, have a more realistic and inevitable connection with their meanings. The signal of an object is typically some stimulus received from the object. Smoke is a signal for fire. The word fire is a symbol for 

fire. The humming sound is a signal for an aeroplane in motion.

The child learns to take a smile as a sign of good humour and as cowl as a sign of crossness. A good share of child's early self-education consists of observing how people behave under different circumstances and in learning to perceive their attitudes and purposes from their behaviour signs. This is what is called social perception. 

- Reduced Cues: 

Some signals may be very unsketchy in comparison with 

the whole object. Just a brief glimpse, a whift of odour, or a snatch of a sound will be enough. Such cues save time and energy but they may, at times, lead to mistakes in perception. 

- Ambiguous signs: 

Stimuli, like words, will have different meanings because 

of their ambiguous nature. In driving a car during nights, what seems to be a diversion of the road may soon reveal to be something else. Noises are often ambiguous. Thus there will be 

visual ambiguity as well as auditory ambiguity. Ambiguity may 

also be manifest in other sensations. 

Errors in Perception: 

- Illusion: 

Illusion is a wrong perception or mistaken perception. 

Illusion is confused or misinterpreted perception. The classical example is our perception of a coil of rope in darkness as a snake. This is visual illusion. There are illusions in case of other sensations also.

Hallucination: 

A hallucination is a false perception. This is a concept often associated with abnormal psychology and psychiatry. A person who hears voices or sees mystic signs in the sky is suffering from 

hallucination (e.g. seeing a ghost, talking to spirits). 

Apperception: 

Apperception is self consciousness of knowledge. It is 

higher developed stage of perception. It is the contribution by the 

individual's mind in the form of past experiences, active 

impressions or tendencies to the interpretation of sensory 

excitation received from any one particular object or situation. The 

stock of ideas which help recognition, assimilation and 

interpretation is called the apperception mass. 

Educational Significance of Perception: 

A large part of our learning is accompanied by perception. 

Without perception, the higher-level cognitive processes such as 

imagination, thinking, reasoning and problem solving will not 

function. Memory largely depends upon one's apperception mass. 

Perception furnishes the experiences that promote understanding

and reflective thinking. It is true that we learn through perception. 

It is equally true we learn to perceive. The relation between 

sensory experience and its meaning is mainly a product of 

learning. We not only perceive objects but also perceive symbols 

representing objects or concepts. The spoken word, the printed 

word, the number code constitute symbols. They have a meaning 

of higher order since they signify facts beyond themselves. They 

become more definite, refined, and specific. Perceptions are 

modified by the activities themselves – by trial and error methods. 

It is enhanced by needs, motivations and value systems. That is

why nature study, field trips, laboratory work have now become 

supplements to learning. It is more important to learn the moods 

and motives of people by perceiving their behaviour signs, facial expressions, their words and so on. Some persons are very sensitive to social stimuli but many are ignorant. This is due to lack of training in social perception at home, in the peer groups and in the school. Training in social perception is as important as 

in the perception of objects or events. The chief characteristic of a scientist which he acquires by training is the maintenance of an attitude free from personal bias when he sees to discover facts by 

observation. Observation is regulated perception – disciplined perception – perception of critical incidents or behaviours. The scientist uses instruments to extend the limits of sense organs. We can find the perceptual training and its results in the alertness of the proof reader and in the laboratory work of a good student of science. In every field of human endeavour the expert is the person who is well trained to make observations, which are keener, more critical and more analytical.

IMAGINATION 

Content outline: Percept and Image – Imagination – Types of Imagination – Values of Imagination – Educational significance of Imagination. 

Image: 

Percept is a picture an individual develops in response to a sensory stimulus (by employing one or more sensations).Supposea child sees a car for the first time in its life. The child may use more than one sensation to get a picture of the car-seeing, hearing 

(the horn is sounded; there are mild vibrations in the car), smelling 

(the paint of the car), touching (the various parts of the car) and so 

on. This picture is called percept (picture based on perception). 

When the child is physically away from the car, a mental picture of 

that car is drawn from its memory and it is called an image. Images 

are mental pictures formed without corresponding (in the absence 

of) sensory stimulations. 

We have memory images of all sorts of experiences 

relating to different sensations. We have images of the shape and 

form of an object, the voice of a person, the smell of a flower, the 

taste of our favourite sweet, and the pain experienced by our body. 

A memory image may not be so strong or clear as a percept. 

Individuals differ in their capacity to form images. Even the same 

individual may not be equally good in forming images relating to 

different sense experiences. 

The individual differences in forming images lead some 

psychologists to think that people can be divided into groups 

according to their dominant types of imagery; those who belong to 

visual group-visiles and those who belong to auditory group-

audiles. However, it is now realized that individuals cannot be

placed in categories this way, because most of us are mixed in 

type. It all depends upon situations and the individuals. There are 

extreme cases, no doubt, those having predominantly strong image 

of one kind – visual imagery or auditory imagery. Musicians 

usually have a strong auditory image; artists usually have a strong 

visual image. 

Imagination: 

Imagination is a cognitive experience in the absence of 

actual sensory stimulation. This process involves the recall of past 

experiences and events in the form of memory images and 

arranging them in patterns that are already familiar or sometimes 

arranges them in new and strange ways to produce new 

combinations (the legendary mermaid – half woman and half fish). 

Thus, imagination is mental organisation of memory images in 

some meaningful, purposeful sequence. 

Type of Imagination:

Imagination can be classified into two major types: 

Imitative (reproductive) and creative (productive). Imitative imagination is self-explanatory. Here the individual merely organises his memory images (based on his past experience) in some form depending upon his immediate purpose. Creative 

imagination can be further classified into pragmatic and aesthetic. 

Pragmatic imagination is utility-oriented. It is governed by outside 

control. Theoretical aspect of pragmatic imagination is manifest in 

the work of a mathematician or a problem solver. Practical aspect 

of pragmatic imagination is manifest in the work of a practical

scientist, an architect or any engineer. Aesthetic imagination has 

no outside control. Aesthetic imagination can be further classified 

into – Artistic and fantastic. In artistic imagination, some controls 

are applied by the individual (novel writing, composing a poem,

drawing a picture – purpose is clearly defined). In fantastic 

imagination there are no controls – a free play of imagination (day 

dreams, and reveries). Fairy tales, stories and pictures involving 

giants, magicians and like are the result of fantastic imagination. 

Values of Imagination: 

With the help of this man is able to invent new things, 

produce fine works of art. This is useful in thinking, reasoning and 

problem solving. It serves as a guide to action. Individual gains 

advantages in planning and for seeing the desirable and the 

undesirable. It arouses a sympathetic attitude and empathy in 

human relations. Through imagination one can understand the 

misery of others and help them. It is a powerful source of 

enjoyment. We desire pleasure in visualising circumstances 

through which our ideals, dreams and wishes are happily fulfilled. 

Educational Significance – Guidelines to the Teacher: 

Teach the learner how to perceive things clearly and 

effectively; provide for him an abundance of stimulating 

experiences. Training in perception is very effective for 

imagination. Teach the learner how to interpret his perceptions in 

various interesting ways. Teach the learner to choose stimulating 

experiences, present him good books, pictures, journals and magazines which stimulate and challenge him in the right direction (socially desirable direction). 

 Create an atmosphere for fertile imagination-good music, 

art and literature; periodically expose the learner to interesting 

stories filled with imagination; encourage the learner to tell stories 

before a peer group or write stories for the class/school magazine; 

make the learner complete incomplete stories using his 

imagination; Dramatise certain situtations if and when possible; 

Assign the learners roles in plays / dramatic situations that will enable them to imagine the behaviours of their roles-characters assigned to them. These guidelines are equally applicable to parents and other elders in charge of the learners.

Educational psychology 

THINKING AND REASONING 

Content outline: Thinking – Concept – Language – 

Reflective and creative – Errors in thinking – Autistic and 

prejudiced – Reasoning – Inductive, deductive – syllogism. 

Thinking is imagination directed towards a specific purpose 

of finding relationships among memory images. This superfaculty

distinguishes human being from infrahuman beings. The present 

scientific advancement, economic development, social 

advancement, intellectual enrichment have been largely due to 

thinking minds of the globe. Thinking is the process; thought is the 

product. 

Formation of clear concepts will facilitate thinking. 

Concept is the sum total of what one knows of an object depending 

on one's ability to form general ideas – the basic idea of an object. 

The concept of any object is what that object means to the 

individual. Concepts are formed based on percepts. Exposure to a 

variety of percepts (examples) will enable the learner to form a 

clear concept. The learner gradually moves from concrete concepts 

to abstract ones. Here comes the importance of language. 

Language plays a vital role in conceptual thinking. When 

we form concepts from the analysis of perceptual experiences and 

label them by means of words we use language. Without language 

we cannot form concepts such as liberty, justice, goodness and the 

like. Since language is a means of communication, it helps us in 

the formation of concepts and, in turn, facilitates thinking. 

The two forms of thinking are – reflective and creative. 

Reflective thinking is giving consideration to and calling up all the 

experiences relevant to the solution of a current problem. Creative thinking is projecting experiences so that new ideas may result(e.g. construction of space craft). In reflective thinking, there is an immediate difficulty or problem. But in creative thinking, there is no immediate difficulty or problem. The individual concerned 

foresees a problem and starts thinking of its solution. 

Errors in Thinking - Autistic: 

This is opposed to realistic thinking. It is a form of thinking where the guiding factor is one's own satisfaction as in the case of day dream which does not take into account realities. In other words, it is wishful thinking. 

- Prejudiced: 

There are times when our thinking is influenced by 

emotions like anger, fear, hatred etc. (rather than by logic). When 

we do not like a person, we are likely to believe uncomplimentary 

things about him which may not be really true. Another outcome of 

such prejudiced thinking is hasty generalization. 

Reasoning: 

The application of logic to thinking is called reasoning 

(logic is the science of correct thinking). Reasoning is directed 

towards arriving at definite conclusions or inferences. Reasoning 

may be inductive or deductive. In inductive reasoning the learner, 

after observing several particular cases arrives at a general 

conclusion about those cases. The learner is exposed to a variety of triangles (acute, obtuse, right, scalene, isosceles, equilateral) of 

different sizes and then he arrives at a general conclusion that a triangle is a simple closed figure formed by three line segments 

called sides and the sum of the three interior angles is equal to 180. 

In deductive reasoning the learner tests a particular case from a 

general conclusion. The general conclusion about the sum of the

interior angles is 180. The learner applies this to a particular 

triangle (given the sizes of two angles -70, 60, to find the size of the third) and concludes that the third angle measures 50. A common form of deductive reasoning is syllogism. It consists of

three statements – a major premise (general statement), a minor premise (a specific observation) and a conclusion (inference).

For example: 

Major premise - All men are mortal 

Minor premise - Socrates is a man 

Conclusion - He is mortal. 

Syllogism has its limitations. When a major promise is 

either incomplete or when a minor promise is not relevant (when

logic is given a mild tilt or slant) we are likely to arrive at wrong 

conclusions. We must be cognitively vigilant (intellectually alert). 

Here are two examples: 

 All poets are learned (major promise) 

 Most professors are not poets (minor promise) 

 Most professors are not learned (conclusion) 

 (All poets need not be learned. Even if all poets are learned it 

 does not imply that non-poets are not learned). 

 What is universally believed is true (major premise).

 The existence of God is not universally believed(minor premise) 

 Therefore it is not true (conclusion) 

 (What is universally believed need not be true).

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