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In This Post we are  providing  CHAPTER 6 THE CHALLENGES OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for Class 12 SOCIOLOGY PART A which will be beneficial for students. These solutions are updated according to 2021-22 syllabus. These MCQS  can be really helpful in the preparation of Board exams and will provide you with a brief knowledge of the chapter

NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON THE CHALLENGES OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Question 1.
Give three features of ascribed identity and community feeling.
Answer:

1. People are very much associated with ascribed identities and community feelings. It provides reality to the world and gives us a sense of identity.
2. Ascribed identity and community feelings are universal. Every individual has a motherland, mother tongue, a family, and loyalty as well.
3. All of us are equally loyal towards our ascribed identities. Yet there are certain differences among ascribed identities of every individual and a sense of loyalty remains there in everyone.

Question 2.
‘India is a secular state.’How?
Answer:
It is true that India is a secular state. It has been declared in the Constitution that India will be a secular state but religion, language, and other factors are not completely discarded from all the public sectors. Actually, these groups are individually sanctioned. From the aspect of international criteria, minority religions are given strong constitutional protections. Constitution has given fundamental rights to everyone (including minorities) to protect and propagate their culture. Everyone is free to adopt any religion of their choice. It has been written in the Constitution that no discrimination shall be made on the basis of any religion. State and government will not have their own religion. In this way, we can say that India is a secular country.

Question 3.
How can secularism be understood in its two forms?
Answer:
Secularism in the Indian context:
(a) India is a State recognizing all religions to be equal.

• It does not favor any one particular religion over the others;
• Opposite of religious chauvinism
• Implies equal respect for all religions

For example – India as a secular State declares public holidays to mark the festivals of all religions.

(b) Secularism in the western context:

• The State has a particular religion
• It refers to the separation of Church and the State
• It means the distancing of religion and political authority.

Question 18.
Explain the politics of assimilation and integration used to establish a national identity. (C.B.S.E. 2017 (D))
Answer:
Assimilationist and integrationist strategies try to establish singular national identities through various interventions like:

1. Centralizing all powers to forums where the dominant group constitutes a majority and eliminating the autonomy of local or minority groups.
2. Imposing a unified legal and judicial system based on the dominant group’s traditions and abolishing alternative systems used by other groups.
3. Adopting the dominant group’s language as the only official national language and making its use mandatory in all public institutions.
4. Promotions of the dominant group’s language and culture through national institutions including state-controlled media and educational institutions.
5. Adoption of state symbols celebrating the dominant group’s history, heroes, and culture reflected in such things as choice of national holidays or naming of streets, etc.
6. Seizure of lands forests and fisheries from minority groups and indigenous people and declaring them national resources.

Question 4.
Which elements of Unity were there in ancient India?
Answer:
1. Rural Society. Ancient India was based upon rural society. The lifestyle of the people was also rural. The main occupation of the people was agriculture. Most of the people were engaged in agriculture or in occupations related to agriculture. Jajmani system was in existence. Washermen, cobblers, ironmen provided their services to the people. They were known as Kamins. Big landlords used to give a share to them from their produce. This Jajmani system was prevalent since the ages. This established unity in the rural society.

2. Institutions. Mobility was present in many traditional and cultural institutions of the society. Gurukuls of education as well as many other institutions became the basis of unity in India. These institutions were one of the reasons for unity in ancient India.

3. Language. Brahmi script is known as the mother of all the languages. All of our ancient religious scriptures like Vedas, Puranas, etc., are written in the Sanskrit language. The Sanskrit language is seen with great respect in the whole of India. It is also known as the language of gods because it has been said that different gods used to use this language.

4. Ashrama System. One of the main bases of unity in the Indian Society was some of its institutions like the Ashrama System. Four Ashramas are arranged for our life like Brahmacharya Ashram, Grihastha, Vana Prastha, and Sanyasa Ashrama. This system prevailed all over India because the ultimate aim of every person is to get salvation. That is why everyone used to obey this system.

5. Purusharthas. There are four main aims of life which were known as Purusharthas. These are Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. During earlier times, only Brahmins were there. But later on, other varnas like Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras came into existence. The most aim of their life was to get salvation. That is why everyone had to spend his life according to these Purusharthas. Everyone had to spend their lives by following the Dharma (duties), earning Artha (money), to continue their lineage (Kama), and ultimately to attain moksha (salvation). Everyone used to obey them. In this way, it was one of the elements of Indian unity.

6. Karmas or One’s Actions. The meaning of Karmas is the work or one’s actions. Karma is of great importance in Indian culture. The next life of the person depends upon one’s Karma of his previous life. If Karma is good then the next birth of that person will be at a good place and vice versa. It is also possible that the good deeds of the person may lead him to salvation from the cycle of birth and death. Karma was also one of the elements of unity in Indian society.

Question 5.
Explain the reasons for Unity in Diversity in Indian Society.
Answer:
1. Geographical Factors. India is a country full of diversities from the geographical point of view. The world’s highest mountain, Himalayas is in Northern India. Rivers like Sindhu, Ganga, Yamuna, and Brahmaputra form the largest plain of India. India has certain places where a lot of rainfalls and has the driest area as well i.e., Thar desert. It has both fertile as well as barren land. Some of its areas are covered with ice throughout the year whereas others are deserts. It has many densely populated states like Uttar Pradesh and has certain places, like Sikkim, where there is very less density of population.

2. Social Factors. In social diversity, we can see different forms of marriage, which is one of the basic institutions of society. Some castes have the custom of fraternal polyandry and some groups like Muslims have the custom of polygamy. Joint family and Nuclear family express social diversity. People, in urban areas hardly know their neighbors even if they lived in one place for years but people in rural areas know everything about everyone in their society.

3. Religious Factors. People following different religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, etc., have been living in India since the ages. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the British came to India and from then onwards Christianity also became an indispensable part of Indian society. There are 3000 castes in Hindus and 94 castes in Muslims. In the same way, Christians are divided into Protestants and Catholics, Buddhists in Hinayana and Mahayana and Jains are divided into Digambars and Shwetambars.

But many times religious riots occur in different parts of the country like at Godhra in Gujarat in 2002. But internal unity still prevails even in the presence of religious diversity. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Sikhism are different religions propagated in India. They follow their respective beliefs, values, and ideals to establish harmony among all religions. The Indians celebrate their festivals like Hob, Diwali, Dussehra, Eid, Gurupurab, Christmas, Good Friday, etc.

4. Caste Factors. Generally, the followers of all religions are divided into many castes and subcastes. Four varnas, which were started in the Vedic age on the basis of action and trait, were changed into thousands of castes due to intra-varna marriage. Three thousand castes exist in today’s India. Every caste has its own beliefs, values, etc. After independence, the Government of India has classified these caste groups into four categories i.e., scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, and general category. Caste stratification has been reduced due to reservation for backward and lower classes. Caste restrictions have been reduced to a great extent because of education, common means of transport, common workplace, etc.

5. Linguistic Factors. India is a multilingual society where 22 languages were sanctioned by the Indian Constitution. Hindi became the national language and English was sanctioned as the official language. Indian society has been divided on the linguistic basis to such an extent that in 1953 Andhra Pradesh state was formed by separating it from Tamil Nadu due to the Telugu language. In the same way, Punjab and Haryana were also formed. South Indian people are unable to adopt the Hindi language. In spite of this, linguistic unity still exists in India even in the presence of diversity. Most of the Indians speak, understand, write and read the Hindi language. South Indian people generally use the Dravidian language and North Indian people use the Indo-Aryan language. The spread of education has made it possible that all the Indians communicate with each other either in Hindi or English language.

Question 6.
What are the factors of religious diversity in India? Explain.
Answer:
Diversity in religion is of two types:

1. Intra-religious diversity
2. Inter-religious diversity.

1. Intra-Religious Diversity. Many reasons for diversity are there in different religions (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism) of India. People of Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Shaiv, Shakti, Vaishnav, Vaam-party, followers of Krishna and Hanuman, worshippers of trees, plants, animals, etc., are there in the Hindu religion.

People of higher castes of the Hindu religion are known as sacred people and people of lower castes are known as non-sacred. People of lower castes are restricted to perform religious functions.
Shiyas and Sunnis in Islam and Protestant and Catholic groups exist among Christian. In the same way, Namdharis, Akalis, Nirankaris, etc., exist in the Sikh religion. Hinayana and Mahayana of Buddhism and Shwetambar and Digambar are the main groups of Jainism.

2. Inter-Religious Diversity. Followers of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Parsi religions live in India. This unity in diversity in these religions is based on the following factors:

1. Different gods. Every religion has its own god, for example, Hindus have Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, etc., Muslims have Prophet Muhammad, Christians have Jesus Christ, Ten Gurus among Sikhs, Mahatma Buddha of Buddhism, Parsis have Zoroaster, and so on. So all the religions have different Gods. ‘

2. Religious books. Different religions have different religious books. For example, Vedas, Puranas, Upnishads, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Geeta are religious books of Hindus. Christians have Bible, Muslims have Quran, Shri Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhs and Zend Avesta is the religious book of Parsis.

3. Monotheism and Polytheism. On the basis of the numbers of gods Hindus worship Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Rama, Krishan, Shakti, etc., Sikhs worship ten Gurus. But Christians, Muslims, and Parsis believe in one God. People following Buddhism never comment on the existence of God but followers of Jainism do not believe in the existence of God.

4. Idol Worship. Hindus have given a definite form to all of their gods on the basis of idol worship but Sikhs and Muslims strongly oppose idol worship.

5. Diversity in Religious Beliefs. Hindus believe in reincarnation, Karma and rebirth theory, spiritualism, sins, and fulfillment of religious sacraments. But Muslims hardly believe in reincarnation. In the same way, Sikhs also oppose religious sacraments.

Buddhist believe in reincarnation but Jains hardly believe in the existence of God. They say that the human body should be given hard suffering.

6. Mutually Opposing. Some of the elements of Indian religions oppose other religions or, are opposite to each other’s beliefs, According to Hindu religious beliefs, Brahmins are at the highest strata in all the castes. Hindus worship animals and give water to the sun, worships idols, and believe in reincarnation. Muslims and Christians oppose idol worship. Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains are against the highest status of Brahmins and they even oppose Hindu religious sacraments.

So from here, it is clear that there are a number of disagreements in different religions about their beliefs. One believes in one thing and other beliefs in the other thing.

Question 7.
Why diversity exists in India due to linguistic factors?
Answer:
Language is the best method to keep one’s side or to say anything. It was the first cultural invention and is the main carrier of culture. Language is a means to exchange ideas but it is a very complex system. French and American linguists say that around 2,796 languages are spoken in the world out of which 1,200 languages are spoken by American and Indian tribal people.

The Mandarin language is the first language in respect of speaking. The second most spoken language is English and the third is Hindi. People speak different languages at national, regional, and local levels in India. Around 1,652 languages are spoken in India. Only 22 languages are sanctioned by the Constitution out of all these languages. Out of a total of 826 languages of India, 723 are of Indian origin and 103 are of foreign origin.

Languages Recognised by the Constitution. A list of languages is being given in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution. First of all, 14 languages were recognized but after the amendment of the Constitution in 1992, they became 18 in number. Hindi language in Devanagiri script was adopted as the official language on 14 Sept. 1949. Four more languages were recognized in 2003 by making an amendment in the 8th schedule.

Non-constitutionally recognized Major languages. Apart from the recognized languages, thirteen more languages are spoken by more than 5 lakh people. Out of these, the Pahari language of Himachal Pradesh is more important. 673 other Indian languages and 103 non-Indian languages are spoken by a comparatively less few people.

Indian Language Families. All the languages of India can be divided mainly into six language families and these are:

1. Negroid
2. Austria
3. Sino-Tibetan
4. Dravidian
5. Indo-Aryan
6. Other language families

Two main language families are there in India which are given below:
1. Indo-Aryan Language Family. Indo-Aryan languages came to India after the advent of Aryan. It is that language family that has covered the three-fourth part of India. The main languages of this group are Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, Oriya, Urdu, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Pahari, Rajasthani, and Bhojpuri. From this, it is clear that out of 22 recognized languages, except for the 4 languages of the south, all are related to the Indo-Aryan language family.

2. Dravid Language Family. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam are the main Dravid languages.
Position of Major Languages in India. Hindi is the language that is spoken by most of the people in India. It is spoken by around 30% of the people. Then comes Telugu, Bangla, and Marathi. Bhojpuri and Rajasthani are the languages that are spoken by more than 30 million people but are not recognized by our Constitution.

Position of different languages in the Indian States. Hindi is the official language of six states i.e. Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi. Except for Hindi, other states have official languages whose description is given below in the table:

Sr. No.  State	Official Language
1. Assam	Assamese
2. West Bengal	Bengali
3. Gujarat	Gujarati
4. Maharashtra	Marathi
5. Odisha	Oriya
6. Punjab	Punjabi
7. Jammu and Kashmir	Urdu
8. Tamilnadu	Tamil
9. Andhra Pradesh	Telugu
10. Karnataka	Kannada
11. Kerala	Malayalam

Except this, 57% people of Assam speak Assamese, 65% people of Karnataka speak Kannada, 55% people of Jammu and Kashmir speak Kashmiri but its official language is Urdu. English language is the link language but is not an official language. It is not recognized even by the Constitution. ‘

Question 8.
What is the meaning of Secularisation? Explain its different elements.
Answer:
Srinivas defined the term Secularisation in the following way: “The term secularisation implies that what was previously regarded as religious is now ceasing to be such, and it also implies a process of differentiation which results in the various aspects of society, economic, political, legal and moral becoming increasingly discrete in relation to each other.”

Essential Elements of Secularisation

M.N. Srinivas has given three essential elements of secularisation which are given below:
1. Lack of religiousness. The first and the important element of secularisation is the decline in the importance of religion. An increase in secularisation will automatically bring changes in religious beliefs. People started to feel that those religious beliefs or traditions which he believes are unable to fulfill any one of his needs. People started to create an atmosphere of pomp and show while performing religious activities. These days every person keeps a wish that while performing religious activities he/she should give a feast to others to keep them happy. Now humans do not have any internal religious feelings. Even then they are going to religious places only to enjoy the holidays. In this way, religious views started to decline. Now, every person wants to take advantage of every religious activity.

2. Rationality. Through rationality, humans started to examine every type of superstitions, beliefs, etc., on the basis of rationality. According to Srinivas, “In rationality, with other things traditional beliefs and views were changed into modern knowledge.” “In this way, rationality was increased in humans with the development of modern ideals and values.”

3. Process of differentiation. The process of differentiation is also related to the process of secularisation. Every sector of society i.e. social, moral, political, etc., are different from each other. Occupation to the person, in modern society, is not given on the basis of religion but is given on the basis of his ability. Now all the persons are treated equally in front of the law. The impact of religion has decreased in every sector of society. People started to get everything on the basis of their ability, not on the basis of religion.

Question 9.
Which factors greatly affected the process of secularisation?
Answer:
1. Modern Education. Now, anyone can take admission in any educational institution. Through educational institutions, every person gets the chance to achieve social status in society.

With modem education, traditional ideas started to decline. That is why people started to accept new values of society. Rationalism started to develop in society. Now modem education is given to both boys and girls collectively. In earlier times, females were confined to the four walls of the house and had to spend the whole of their life in the house. But with modem education, females have started to get an education and started to get jobs in every sphere. In this way, the discrimination of untouchability came to an end because everyone has started to receive an education.

2. Development in the means of transportation and communication. The British government started to develop means of transport and communication to develop mutual contacts in Indian states. With this development, people started to come in contact with each other. People of higher and lower castes started to travel with each other in buses and rails with which a feeling of sacred-non-sacredness and untouchability has started to decline. With the coming of means of communication and transport mobility in people, it has become easy for everyone to move from one place to another. They come out of their houses for work. With this, the control of the family declined. Humans are getting the social status of their own.

3. Westernisation. With the advent of the British in India, Indian people started to come in contact with a western culture which has encouraged the values like materialism, individualism, etc., Restrictions of the caste system have started to decline. The supremacy of Brahmins declined because the British started treating everyone on equal terms.

Western culture had developed the process of secularisation. In this way, the process of secularism was greatly affected by the factor of westernization.

4. Urbanisation and Industrialisation. The process of secularisation is also greatly affected by the process of urbanization and industrialization. People had to come out of their houses in search of jobs. Domestic production came to an end. The population of cities started to increase. People of every caste started to live in cities and work together in factories. In this way, at this type of place, it was very difficult to go according to the rules of the caste system. Occupation in cities is given not on the basis of caste but on the basis of ability.

5. Governmental Efforts. The Indian Constitution was implemented after Independence. The Indian government made a new legal system. The Constitution tried to remove the discriminations on the basis of religion, color, caste, creed, etc. New laws have been implemented, some of which are as follows:

1. Special Marriage Act—1954
2. Hindu Marriage and Divorce Act—1955
3. Hindu Succession Act—1956
4. Dowry Prohibition Act—1961
5. Widow Remarriage Act—1856.

In this way, many laws were passed to remove the social problems of society. Inter¬caste marriages were given sanctions. Now everyone is treated as equal in front of the law. In this way, the process of secularisation was encouraged by the policies of secularism.

Question 10.
What was the impact of casteism on Indian society? How casteism can be removed from society?
Answer:
Impact of casteism on Indian society:

1. Due to casteism, Indian society was divided into thousands of different castes and sub-castes who had their own different norms and values.
2. Stability has come in Indian society due to casteism and society remains integrated even after several attacks from foreign invaders.
3. Indian society was attacked several times by many invaders during the medieval age. Due to casteism, Indian society and culture not only remained secured but they assimilated foreign cultures in themselves.
4. The caste system imposed several restrictions on all the castes to save itself from outsider’s impact so that the society could be saved from the impact of their cultures.
5. During the modern age, casteism has encouraged hatred ness among various castes. Lower castes are given a number of facilities because of which jealousy comes in higher castes for lower castes.
6. Lower castes are given reservation facilities in every field because of casteism and it has raised their standard of living.
7. Leaders of different castes arose caste sentiments just for their leadership and to get votes. This has increased tension among various castes.

Ways to Remove Casteism from the Society:

1. All political parties should stop using casteism during elections to avert tension between various castes.
2. People should get a better education to elect the best leaders who could do something for their welfare and who care about the development of the country.
3. Laws should be properly implemented so that strict punishment could be given to those who encourage casteism.
4. The government should stop caste-based financial aid.
5. The public can also play a major part in it. They themselves can boycott those types of leaders who use casteism for their benefit.

In This Post we are  providing  CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING INDIAN SOCIETY NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for Class 12 SOCIOLOGY PART A which will be beneficial for students. These solutions are updated according to 2021-22 syllabus. These MCQS  can be really helpful in the preparation of Board exams and will provide you with a brief knowledge of the chapter

NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON INTRODUCING INDIAN SOCIETY

1.What are the main problems of national integration in India?
Ans. The problems of India are linguistic identity, regionalism, demand for separate states and terrorism etc. create hindrances in the way of national integration. Due to these . problems, usually strikes, riots and mutual fights take place, which have posed a severe threat to national unity and integration.

2. Why is sociology a distinct subject in comparison with all other subjects?
Ans. Sociology is a subject with which everyone knows something about society. Other subjects are learnt at home, school or elsewhere through instructions but much of our with growth in years as it appears to be acquired naturally or automatically.

3. What are the basic functions of a society?
Ans. Sociologists and social anthropologists have adopted the term function from biological sciences where it has been used for certain organic processes necessary for the maintenance of the organisms. Basic functions necessary for continuity and survival of any society are :
(i) Recruitment of members (ii) Socialization
(iii) Production and distribution of goods and services and preservation of order.

4.What do you understand by social structure?
Ans. A society consists of(i)Males and females, adults and children, various occupational and religious groups and so on.(ii)The interrelationship between various that of parents and children and between various groups.(iii)Finally, all the parts of the society are put together and system are interrelated and complementary concepts.

5. Why is the social map provided to us in childhood by the deluding socialization essential?
Ans. Social maps are provided by our parent siblings, relatives and neighbour. It may be specific and partial. It provides us only with common sense or unlearnt or perceivable knowledge which may or may not be real.
A proper use and application of reflexivity is essential for drawing other kinds of maps. It is sociological perspective that teaches us the procedure of drawing social maps, wholesome and exclusive.

6. What is community identity? Discuss its characteristics.
Ans. Community that provides us the language and cultural values through which we comprehend the world. It is based on birth and belongings and never on some form of acquired qualification or accomplishment. Birth based identity is called ascriptive because this does not involve any choice on the part of the individual’s concerned. It is actually worthless and discriminating. These ascriptive identities are very hard to shake off because irrespective of our efforts to disown them, others may continue to identify us by those very markers of belonging.
Such ascriptive identity is the most deterrant to self-realisation. Expanding and overlapping circles of community ties i.e. family, kinship, caste, ethnicity, language, region or religion give meaning to our world and give us sense of identity, of who we are.

7. What is Self-reflexivity?
Ans. Sociology can show us what we look like to others. It can teach us how to look at ourselves from outside, so to speak. It is called “Self-reflexivity’ or sometimes just “Reflexivity’.

8. What steps were taken by colonial rules for the smooth functioning of its rule?
Ans. The steps taken by colonial rules for the smooth functioning of its rule were that they:
(i)Used new mechanical techniques in production.
(ii)Started new market system in trade.
(iii)Developed means of transport and communication.
(iv)Formed bureaucracy based on civil service of all India nature.
(v)Established formal and written law.

9.Which social reformers carried out social reform movements during the British colonialism in India?
Ans. The prominent leaders of the reform movements were Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Dayanand Saraswati, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and others.

10. State main differences between Sociology and other subjects.
Ans. 1.Sociology is a subject in which no one starts from Zero, as everyone already knows about society. However, other subjects are taught at school, at home or elsewhere.
2.Being an integral part of the process of growing up, knowledge about society seems to be got naturally or automatically.
In case of other subjects, no child is expected to already know something.
3.It means we know a lot about the society in which we live and interact.
As far as other subjects are concerned, prior knowledge is almost negligible.
4.However, this prior knowledge or familiarity with society is both an advantage and disadvantage for sociology.
In the absence of prior knowledge there is no question of advantage or disadvantage in case of other subjects.

In This Post we are  providing  CHAPTER 2 THE DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF INDIAN SOCIETY NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for Class 12 SOCIOLOGY PART A which will be beneficial for students. These solutions are updated according to 2021-22 syllabus. These MCQS  can be really helpful in the preparation of Board exams and will provide you with a brief knowledge of the chapter

NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON THE DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF INDIAN SOCIETY

1.Give the main features of population policy of India.
Answer:
India’s population has crossed the mark of 121 crores. It comes next to China. It has been said that if the Indian population will increase with this rate then it will cross China by the year 2020. Indian Government is very much worried about this aspect.

That is why it has made many population policies from time to time. Main features of all these policies are given below:
1. Reduction of Birth Rate. The death rate, from 1947 till today, has been reduced to a great extent. To stop the growth of population, it is necessary that the birth rate should also be reduced. So many direct and indirect methods are used while keeping in mind this thing. Indirect methods are reducing poverty, the spread of education among females and increasing literacy rate and direct method is family planning. Determination of age of marriage can also lead to the reduction of birth rate.

2. Wider scope. Scope of the subject of population policy is very wide. It includes methods of population control and other programmes like the health of mothers and infants, etc. This programme is developing within the programme of family planning.

3. Voluntary policy. The population policy adopted by the Indian government is a voluntary policy whose main aim is to control the population with the help of masses. People are told about the advantages of the small family under this programme and they are motivated to reduce the birth rate.

4. Different methods. The main aim of these policies is to reduce the birth rate and different methods are used in it. People are being informed about population control in family planning centres so that no problem should come to them while using these methods.

5. Propaganda. Family planning programme was started at a large scale. People are given related things either free of cost or at very less price. With this, this programme is propagated through Doordarshan, T.V., Radio, magazines, newspapers, books, etc. Doctors and nurses are being given special training so that they can inform the people about these programmes.

6. Organisation and Research. Money related to family planning programme is being given by the central government but this programme is implemented by state governments. People are being told about methods to reduce the birth rate and research related to this programme is still going on.

.
2.Explain the different characteristics of Rural Society.
Answer:
1. Agriculture main occupation: The main occupation of rural society is either agriculture or any of the related work because they are very closely related to nature. Because of their close relationship to nature, their views towards life are very much different. Yet, many other occupations, like carpenter, blacksmith, etc. are there in villages but they also make tools related to agriculture.

2. Simple Life. Life of rural people is very simple: People in ancient rural societies used to do a lot of hard work to fulfil their needs and they were very much away from leisures of life due to this hard work. People engaged their children in agricultural works because they were unaware of the merits of education. They have any mental conflicts and problems. They are always ready to help each other in their problems.

3. Scarcity of population and homogeneity: The population of villages is very less as compared to the urban areas. People live in small groups in villages. There are very fewer occupations in rural areas except for agriculture because of which people like to go to cities to earn money and that is the reason why the population in villages is very less. People have close relations with each other and their views are also the same due to the same occupation.

4. Importance of neighbourhood: The neighbourhood is of great importance in rural society. The main occupation of the people is agriculture in which they get enough time at hand. People meet, talk and co-operate with each other. People have very close relations with their neighbours. Neighbours generally are of the same caste because of which their status is also same. People generally respect their neighbours.

5. Control of family: A person is in complete control of the family in rural societies. Generally, patriarchal families are there in the villages and every type of decision of the family is taken by the head of the family. Division of labour in villages is being done on the basis of sex. Males either do farming or move out of the house to earn money and females take care of the house. The joint family system is there in villages and person adopts the traditional occupation of the family. Every member of the family works with others and that is why they have community feeling among them. Family is known as the primary group.

6. Common culture: People of a village are not the outsiders who come to live in the village but are the original inhabitants of that village and that’s why their culture is common. Their culture, rituals, traditions, customs etc. are also common. That’s why they live with each other in a peaceful atmosphere. They have unity among themselves.
3.What are the changes coming in Rural Society? Explain them.
Or
What are transformations that took place in the rural society in post-Independent India?
Answer:
1. Decreasing rural-urban differences: There were a number of differences in rural and urban societies during earlier times. But these differences between both societies are decreasing day by day. It is not so because rural people imitate the styles of urban people but it is so because the relations of rural and urban people are increasing due to the open market economy. They are selling their produce in the cities and are adopting new occupations. Their relations with outsiders are increasing and their way of living, eating, wearing, thinking, etc. are changing according to the urban people. Rural people are getting every type of urban facility due to developed means of transport. The lifestyle of urban areas is improving due to the mobility of occupation and rural-urban differences are decreasing.

2. Decreasing difference in the area: The most important change which came in rural society is that the difference between the village and the city is decreasing. Cities are moving towards villages and villages are coming closer to cities. Means of transport, roads, the spread of education and means of communication have brought villages closer to the urban areas. Now rural people are also moving very quickly towards cities. They work in cities and commute daily.

3. Changes in the structure of agriculture and the marketing of agriculture. With the advent of science and technology and with the opening up of agricultural institutions, the structure of agriculture has been completely changed. With the advent of new machines like tractors, thrashers, etc., increased facilities of irrigation, development of irrigation through rivers and drips, the advent of new seeds and with the development of markets, agriculture has reached the market level from subsistence level. Now, agriculture is not being done to fulfil the needs but is being done to earn the profit. Now, the exchange of things with money has taken place of exchange of things. Agricultural produce is 4 times a year. Production has been increased to a great extent. Now, India exports food grains instead of importing them.

4. Decreasing impact of religion: Religion had a great influence on the mindset of rural people in ancient times. Every activity of agriculture was according to religion and it is not seen today. In earlier times, many trees, animals, etc. were considered as sacred but now this influence has been reduced. Religious beliefs, customs of rural people have been completely changed.

5. Change in the rural social structure: Marx was of the view that social change comes with the change in economic structure. With the commercialisation and mechanisation of agriculture, not only people have become economically better but changes are also coming in old relations. Joint families are disintegrating, changes are coming in the division of labour, social values are deteriorating, mental tension is increasing, changes are coming in the status of women, etc. There are many aspects in which we can see many changes. Time of rituals at the time of birth, marriage, death, etc. is decreasing, Jajmani system no more prevails, the effect of social kinship is decreasing, the importance of the primary group is also decreasing.

6. Increasing impact of science: The land was considered as sacred in rural areas. Agriculture was done while keeping in mind the time of sowing. But now old beliefs are no more. Farmer is not a scientist but is using the new scientific methods and no more believes in age-old customs. Earlier, people were afraid of using chemical manures to their land but now they are using more and more fertilizers and machines so that the production could be increased.
4. What is meant by the Urban Community? What are its definitions? Explain them.
Answer:
Urban areas and people living in urban areas are rapidly increasing. More than 5,000 cities and towns are there in our country. Life of the people of urban areas has been greatly affected due to this increasing population. People of the middle class and higher class have been able to fulfil their needs but it has become very difficult for people of lower classes to fulfil their needs.

In simple words, the city is a formally spread community which is determined on the basis of living standard of the people living in any specific area and on the basis of urban characteristics. Word ‘city* is an English word that has the Latin language ‘civitas’ that means citizenship. In the same way, the English word ‘urban’ which has come out of a Latin word ‘urbs’ which also means city. To understand the exact meaning of the city, it is necessary for us to look at the definitions of this word given by different scholars. These are given below:

Definitions on the basis of population. According to the Census Bureau of America, the city is that place with a population of 25,000 or more. In the same way, Egypt has the limit of 11,000 and France has the limit of 2,000 for any place to be called a city. In India, a community of population more than 5,000 is known as an Urban area where the density of population is 400 or more and where 75% or more than 75% of people are engaged in non-agricultural occupations.

Definitions on the basis of occupations. The area is considered an Urban area where the main occupation of the people is not agriculture.

1. According to Willcox, “The cities included all districts in which the density of population per square mile is more than 1,000 and where there is practically no agriculture.”
2. According to Bergal, “City is an institution whose most of the citizens are engaged in other industries except agriculture.”
3. According to Anand Kumar, “Urban community is a complex community of secondary relation with more population, based primarily on occupational and environmental differences.”
4. According to Lewis Mumford, “City is that centre where more and more power of community and concentration of culture is there.”
5. According to Louis Wirth, “In the city, people with many social differences are living in an area with more concentration of population.”

So on the basis of these definitions, we can say that the urban communities are those which are large in size, where secondary relations are of great importance, where a number of occupations are there and where the features like division of labour, specialization and social mobility exist.

5.Explain the basic argument of the theory of the demographic transition. Why is the transition period associated with a ‘population explosion’?
Ans. Theory of demographic transition suggests that population growth in linked to overall levels of economic development and that every society follows a typical pattern of development related population growth.
There are three basic phases of population growth:
Stage I: Primitive Stage [Underdeveloped countries]
•Low population growth in a society that is underdeveloped and technologically backward.
•In such societies like Africa birth rate is high since people are unaware of the advantages of having small families, they are not educated.
•Death rate is also high since health and medical facilities are not available, therefore population is low.
Stage II: [Developing countries]. The birth rate and death rate rank very high, the net growth rate remains low.
Birth rate is high as in this society people live in a patriarchal society in which men decide how many children must be bom and male child is preferred. People are illiterate and ignorant.
Death rate is also high since health and medical facilities are not available.
Stage III: [Developed countries]. Birth rate in low because people are educated and aware and use contraceptives, birth control is popularised. Death rate is also low because of availability of health and medical facilities, therefore population is low.
Transitional Stage: The stage between backwardness and skilled people]: In this stage growth rate of population is very high whereas death rates are brought down due to better medical facilities, nutrition and better medical and technological advancement therefore this transition period is associated with a population explosion.

6. Why did Malthus believe that catastrophic events like famines and epidemics that cause mass deaths were inevitable?
Ans. English political economist Thomas Robert Malthus argued that human population tend to grow at a much faster rates than the rate which the means of human subsistence (land, agriculture) can grow.
He said population rises in geometric progression whereas agricultural production can only grow in Arithmetic progression.
Malthus believed that positive checks to population growth in the form of famines and diseases, was inevitable. These are nature’s way of dealing with the balance between food supply and increasing population.
According to him, these natural checks are extremely painful and difficult. Although it helps to achieve a balance between population and subsistence by increasing the death rate.

7.What is meant by ‘birth rate’ and ‘death rate*? Explain why the birth rate in relatively slow to fall while the death rate declines much faster.
Ans. Birth rate and death rate are fundamental concepts in Demography.
Birth rate: It refers to the total number of births in a particular area, which can be the entire country, a state or any territorial unit during a specific period.
•Crude birth rate in expressed through the following method : B/p x 1000
B = Number of births P = Entire population
•It is crude birth rate because it does not include the ratio of bearing age.
•Birth rate can be defined as the number of live births per thousand persons in a years.
•Birth rate gets significantly affected by Age of marriage, infertility, climatic conditions, social condition, religious beliefs and education.
Death rate: It is the number of deaths per thousands persons in a year in a particular area, which can be the entire country, a state or any other territorial unit.
Causes of slow birth rate:
Birth rate is relatively slow while the death rate can be brought down at much faster rate for the following reasons:
•Public health measures and medical advancement can control the death rate immediately. Everybody wants good health and wants to live a long life. Because of the love for life everybody adopts all medical and technological measures with high level of motivation.
Birth rate continues to be high because it is related to attitude, beliefs and values of people. Birth rate is related to religious beliefs and by and large it is socio-cultural phenomena which is significantly slow to change.

8. Which states in India have reached or are very near the ‘replacement levels’ of population growth? Which ones still have very high rates of population growth? In your opinion, what could be some of the reasons for these regional differences?
Ans. Replacement level refers to the rate of growth required for new generations to replace the older ones that are dying out.
Replacement level refers to giving birth to two children that replacement completes. States at the replacement level of population growth: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
States very near to the replacement levels of population growth: Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and West Bengal.
States having very high rates of population growth: U.P., Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh.
Reasons of regional differences:
•Difference in Literacy Percentage in different states.
•Societal conditions vary in different states. Terrorism, war-like conditions and insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East.
•Socio-Economic conditions vary in different states.
(i) Number of BPL people is highest among states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha.
(ii) Socio-cultural formation: A belief that more children means more hands to earn or religious beliefs.

9.What is meant by ‘the age structure’ of the population? Why is it relevant for economic development and growth?
Ans. •India has a very young population. The average age of an Indian is less than that for most other countries. Majority of Indians are between the age group of 15 and 64 years.
•Age structure of the population refers to the proportions of persons in different age groups relative to the total population.
•Population under the age of 15 has decreased from 42% in 1971 to 31% in 2011. During this period the ratio of age group 15 to 64 was gone up from 53% to 63.7%.
•Age structure in a country changes with development poor medical facilities, prevalence of disease reduce the life expectancy.
•Age structure of population can be put in following age groups:
0-14 years. [Children]
15-59 years. [Working population]
60 + Years. [Old people]
This age structure of the Indian population can be understood by following table.

This table indicates that the share of the under 15 age group in the total population has come down from higher level of 42% in 1971 to 34% in 2001 and it is perfected to be reduced to 23% in 2026. It means birth rate in India is gradually decreasing.
Relevance for economic development and growth:
•Due to the advancement in medical sciences, public health measures and nutrition the life expectancy is at rise. This is due to economic development and growth.
•Need of family planning in being understood. Decrease in 0-14 years age group reveals that National population policy is implemented properly.
•Because of socio-cultural changes in Indian society and economic growth Age structure of population is moving towards positive young India.
•Dependency ratio is decreasing and increase in working population is causing positive growth in Indian economy.
•Economic development and improvement in quality of life improve life expectancy and changes the structures of the population.
•High infant mortality rate and material mortality rate due to poor economic growth hence an adverse effect of age structure on the population

10.What is meant by the ‘sex ratio’? What are some of the implications of a declining sex ratio? Do you feel that parents still prefer to have sons rather than daughters? What, in your opinion, could be some of the reasons for this preference?
Ans. Sex ratio refers to the number of females per thousand males in a given area at a specified period of time.
•This ratio is an important indicator of gender balance in population.
•Historically there were more females than males in most countries of the world. This phenomena occurred due to two reasons:
(i)Girl babies enjoy better immune system and resistant to diseases in comparison of male child.
(ii)Females live longer than males in most of the societies.
•The ratio between female babies and male babies is roughly 1050 female to 1000 male.
•In India sex ratio is declining significantly and continuously for more than a century. From 972 female per thousand males at the turn of 20th century the sex ratio declined to 933 at the turn of 21st century.
•The state level child sex ratio is alarming. As many as 6 states and union territories have a child sex ratio as low child sex ratio of 793. The highest child sex ratio of 986 is found in Sikkim.
Sex ratio seems to be declining in countries like India, China and South Korea.
In India, parents still prefer male child. This is basically due to social and cultural reasons. Being agricultural society the village population preferred male child to look after the land. The reason of preference of male child is definitely not linked with economic reasons. The states like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh and Maharashtra are most prosperous states of India and should have highest child sex ratio, but things are just different.
The census of 2001 reveals that these are states with the lowest sex ratios i.e., 950 female babies per 1000 male babies. This data is a reliable evidence that selective abortion in these states is not due to poverty, ignorance or lack of resource. Predisposing factors for low child sex ratio in India:
•Religious or Cultural Beliefs: Belief that only son is entitled to perform funeral and related rituals of his parents. Only son is the waaris of family. In the absence of male child generation will not continue.
•Economic Reasons: The main occupation of Indian society is agriculture. Villagers have a thinking that landed property cannot be given to girls because after marriage they will go to another village, town or city. Neither girl child can get her share of load nor she can take care of the land.
•Lack of Awareness: People in Indian society having ignorant conservation attitude are still not ready to give equal status to daughter because they think that during old age they will be dependent on the son. Only he will share food, house, customs and responsibilities.
Implications of child sex ratio: Low child sex ratio, if continues, will have serious implications on our social network, particularly the Institution of marriage. It will also cause severe law and order problem related to women.

In This Post we are  providing  CHAPTER 3 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS : CONTINUITY AND CHANGE NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for Class 12 SOCIOLOGY PART A which will be beneficial for students. These solutions are updated according to 2021-22 syllabus. These MCQS  can be really helpful in the preparation of Board exams and will provide you with a brief knowledge of the chapter

NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS : CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

Question 1.
What are the Social Functions of the Family?
Answer:
1. Socialization: The child learns ways of living in society only in family and becomes a good citizen. With the help of the family, the child establishes social contacts. The child takes birth in the family and, firstly, he comes in contact with his parents because they fulfill his basic needs. The person gets ascribed status from the family. Qualities like cooperation, love, sacrifice, disciplines develop in a person only in the family. If the child gets proper education in the family then good citizens will come forward in society. He comes to know about every type of behavior only while living in the family.

2. Protection and transmission of culture: Family protects our culture and this culture is our social heritage. Every family understands the responsibilities of giving good habits and values to the next generation, traditions, customs, rituals to the person. The child learns everything with an unconscious mind because he automatically does that thing which he observes in the family. Every family has its own customs on which it is based. The family tells the child to learn everything consciously so that the child should move according to the traditions of the family. In this way on the basis of this continuity, the family protects and carries forward their culture and values to the next generation.

3. Social control: Family is an important agency of social control because it is the first agency in which the child is controlled so that the bad habits should not be formed in him. For example, parents control him not to tell a lie, not to misbehave with elders so that he should follow the rules of the family. Every person wants to do that type of work which helps in increasing the prestige of his family in the society. The family controls every type of behavior and actions of its members. In this way the child becomes disciplined. If the child does not behave in a proper way with members of the family then he will definitely misbehave with other members of the society. In this way, the family controls its members.

4. To provide status: In the family, a child comes to know about his status and role. In ancient societies, the child was respected according to the family in which he was born. For example, the child born in a rich family, King’s house, Landlord’s house get social status automatically. Yet, today, man gets status according to his ability but still, the child has to work according to the family in which he is born.

5. Provide occupation: In ancient societies, the child had to adopt the occupation of the family in which he was born. In the caste system, a child born in a Brahmin family adopts the occupation of the brahmins. According to ancient history, division of occupation was based on caste, and caste was related to the birth of the child. Today, a person can adopt the occupation according to his ability.

6. Help in marriage: This function was also done by the family in ancient societies. These days, man establishes marital relations according to his wish. But still, it is necessary that the family members should be present at the time of marriage. Even today it is the duty of the family to marry their children.

Question 2.
What are the changes that are coming in the institution of the family? Explain in detail.
Or
Explain the changes which are coming in the structure and functions of the family.
Answer:
1. Change in educational functions: With the change in society, changes are also coming in the functions of all the institutions. The functions of the family have been changed completely. In ancient times, a child was educated in the family, and education was generally related to the traditional occupation of the family. It was so because the joint family system was there and whatever professions the father was into, the child had to adopt the same occupation.

Under the guidance of the father-child got his training. But slowly and slowly, with modernization, children began to go to educational institutions to get an education and because of this, they started to move away from the traditional occupation of the family. He started adopting other occupations. In this way, the traditional function of the family changed and has gone into the hands of educational institutions and other changes that took place in society.

2. Change in the economic functions: During earlier times family was the center of economic activities. Every work-related to earning was done by the family. In this way, all the means of living were available to the family members. But with the advent of industrialization, all those functions of production were taken away by the big industries like, now cloth is made in textile mills. In this way, the economic functions of the family have been taken by industries. So the responsibility of the family of economic production has been taken away by other institutions.

3. Change in religious functions: During earlier times, one of the main functions of the family was to give religious education to its members. Elders of the family taught its members about religion and morality. But with the advent of new scientific inventions and discoveries, the outlook of the people changed from a religious to scientific point of view.

During earlier societies, religion was of utmost importance but today, religion is not given importance when it comes to societal issues. In earlier times people used to spend a lot of time in religious functions and religious rituals were performed for a number of days. Even now people believe in religion and customs but they can hardly spare time for them. They celebrate festivals and other important days together.

4. Change in social functions: Social functions of the family have been reduced. During earlier times, the husband was just like a God for his wife. It was the duty of the husband to keep his wife happy. The function of the family was the upbringing of children. But now, due to more number of nuclear families in cities and towns, only parents bring up their children.

5. Decreasing family unity. In earlier times joint families were there but today, unity and the system of joint family has come to an end. Everyone has their own ideals. No one tolerates anyone’s interference. They are living with each other, eating, drinking with each other but hardly bother about them. Clearly, they lack unity.

Question 3.
Discuss in brief the major characteristics of a joint family.
Answer:

1. Large in Size-In joint family, members of many generations five who are related with the descent of the father. That is why it is large in size.
2. Feeling of Cooperation-In this system of family, all the members of the family help each other. They all cooperate and work together. In fact, they work for a common cause.
3. Common Property-Ownership of the property is equal for all the members and the head of the family takes care of it.
4. Common Residence-All the members of the joint family live under one roof. Their kitchen is also one where they take food jointly by sitting with each other.
5. A Productive Unit-In this type of family, all the members of the family jointly work together and whatever they earn, share with each other.
6. Common Religion-All the members of the joint family believe in one religion. They take part in all the religious activities of the family jointly.
7. Common Kitchen-In joint family all the members use one kitchen. That’s why they celebrate all the religious activities jointly. Common kitchen enhances love in them.
8. Stability-Joint family is more stable as compared to other types of family. Members of joint family are more in number and that is why earners are more in number. So because of this, all the needs of the members of the family are generally fulfilled. If anyone is sick in the family and is unable to do work even then they can five properly. That is why more stability is there in this type of family and culture is transmitted from one generation to another.
9. Rights-In a joint family, the head of the family has a complete right over the members of the family. Head is of great importance in the family and all the other members of the family respect him. Every member has to obey his orders. The eldest member of the family is the head and he takes responsibility for the functions of the family. It helps in maintaining discipline in the family.

Question 4.
What are the merits of a Joint Family?
Answer:
1. Cooperation-Relations between the members of the joint family are of cooperation and mutual understanding. Every member takes care of each other’s needs. They lack a sense of selfishness. In fact, they have a sense of sacrifice. One member is ready to do anything for another.

2. Preservation of Culture-In joint family, members of many generations live with each other. That is why every person has to obey the rules made by the family. These rules and ideas are taken forward from one generation to another.

3. Social Control-In joint family all the members of the family are controlled by the head of the family. Every person has to obey the orders given by elders. That is why a child learns to respect others in the family. Children never try to do anything without the advice of elders.

4. Religious Functions-Common religion is there in the joint family. They celebrate all the religious activities jointly with each other. All the religious and customary functions are done by them jointly.

5. Recreation-Joint family is big in size. That is why they enjoy the company of each other. In the evening they sit with each other, have dinner together, which helps in the recreation.

6. Economic Advantage-All the members of the joint family work jointly and there is no division of land or labor among them. Males work outside and females work at home. All the functions of the family have been done by the members of the family.

7. Security of Members-All the members in a joint family work together. That is why if any member falls sick then other members take care of him. At the death of any member, they take joint responsibility for his wife and children. They help each other economically. In this way, there is no tension of unemployment or any physical ailment in the joint family. They help each other with every type of problem.

Question 5.
What are the demerits of the joint family?
Answer:
1. Lack of personality and Non-development of individual-Person cannot develop his personality while living in a joint family. The main reason behind this is that he cannot test his abilities. He cannot do anything according to his wish. In fact, he works according to the wish of others. Every member in a joint family has a say in each other life and so, an individual’s own choice is not given credit in joint families. In this way, he never gets a chance to develop his personality.

2. Lower Status of Women-Joint families are generally patriarchal families in which males are dominant. Females are just restricted to produce children or to take care of the kitchen. It is so because she is economically dependent upon others. In this way status of women is low.

3. Carelessness-In joint family everyone knows that whether they will work or not, they will get bread. In this condition, some members a lot and some sit idle. In this condition, some take responsibility for the whole family and others waste their time by not doing anything.

4. Conflicting Situation-In joint family conflicts and quarrels generally takes place. With this, the peace of the family comes to an end. Sometimes members of the family hardly speak to each other. In this condition sometimes joint family comes to an end.

Hence, we can say that in a joint family common property is there but no one takes its responsibilities, and in the situation of conflict sometimes property is also destroyed. Some other problems are also emerging because of joint family. That is why joint family is losing its importance. Social mobility has come because of industrialization, urbanization, and means of transport, etc.

Question 6.
Why are joint families disintegrating?
Answer:
1. Importance of Money-In modern society, man has changed his lifestyle by getting an education because of which he needs a lot of money. So, he started earning a lot of money by using his capabilities so that he could be able to raise his status and living standard. This thinking has encouraged him to separate from joint family.

2. Impact of Westernisation-British empire had brought a lot of changes in India. They promoted the Western culture. Western education helped the people to form independent views. That is why people started to live separately. Individualistic interests also developed.

3. Industrialisation-Modern society is also known as an industrial society. Industries came into being. Production of houses was gone to industries. Machines can do a lot of work with less expenditure. Artisans started to move towards industries. In this way, they started to separate from their roots. Now, there was no need to adapt to their traditional occupation. That’s why people started to move towards cities for jobs and joint families started to disintegrate.

4. Social mobility-In modern societies, man can achieve status according to his capabilities. That is why he has to do a lot of hard work. Every person wants to rise upwards in society. In joint family status of the person is ascribed and that is why there is no need to work hard. There is a lot of social mobility in society and thus, the joint families started to disintegrate. Now everyone thinks about his own family. The sense of individualism has been developed. He wants to make his personality himself. In this way, social mobility has encouraged the disintegration of joint family.

5. Development in the means of transportation-Means of transport has been developed. In earlier times man was unable to move from one place to another due to lack of means of transport and communication. That is why they lived a confined life. But with the development of means of transport, this problem was solved. Now they can live in different places and even then they can contact each other very easily. That is why the joint family started disintegrating.

6. Some other reasons-Another reason for the disintegration of the joint family was the conflicts and quarrels of the family because of which there had always been a tense atmosphere in the society. Because of which people started to leave the families. Many functions of the family have been taken by other institutions like stitching was done in the family but now tailor stitches the clothes. Children are going to creches if a mother is going out for a job. The government has also passed some laws with which females get complete independence in society. Now, the husband cannot treat his wife violently. She can five separately by getting a divorce. Both males and females have equal rights over the property. A girl has the same rights over the property of the father as the boy.

Question 7.
What is meant by Nuclear Family? Explain it with characteristics.
Answer:
Nuclear families are of great importance in modern societies. The nuclear family is a very limited group, on the basis of numbers, in which husband, wife, and their unmarried children live together. Nuclear families came into being after social changes. They are also known as basic families. Many sociologists have given their views about them which are given below:

According to G.P. Murdock, “The nuclear family consists typically of a married man and woman with their offsprings, although in individual cases one or more additional persons may reside with them.”

According to I.P. Desai, “Nuclear family is a family in which the members are not related to their kin through or by property or income or the right and obligations pertaining to them, as are expected and related by kinship.”

According to Haris, “Nuclear family is a small group of those people who except fulfilling the biological role fulfills the institutional responsibilities towards each other which are expected from them to do in the family.”

So on the basis of these definitions, we can say that husband, wife, and their unmarried children are there in a nuclear family. When children get married then they also start living in their separate families. These families are connected on the basis of marriage. They are small in size. In this type of family, only eight types of relations are included.

Characteristics of a nuclear family
1. Limited Size-Nuclear families are formed on the basis of the number of members. That is why the size of a nuclear family is small. In this husband, wife, and their unmarried children are included.

2. Limited relations-In nuclear families, 8 types of relations are included like: Husband-wife, Mother-son, Father-son, Mother-daughter, Father-daughter, sister- sister, sister-brother, brother-brother. In these types of families, blood relations are important. They have formal relations with other members of the family.

3. Common authority-Every member of the family has equal authority. Everyone shares advice and views in the family to solve the problems of the family. In this way, father alone does not have all the responsibilities. In this more importance is given to individual capabilities. Responsibilities and duties are shared among all the members.

4. Importance of all members of the family-In a nuclear family, only two generations live together. In this type of family, everyone has got an equal status. Labour is equally divided among the members of the family. Children have more importance in nuclear families. Parents wish to give good education to their children and they take care of every type of need of their children.

5. Independent Social Unit-The mam characteristic of a nuclear family is its independent nature. It means that the members of the family are dependent upon other members for their needs but they are not dependent upon other relatives. In this way, these families are of independent nature.

Question 8.
What is Kinship? Give its definitions.
Answer:
‘Kin’ is an English word that has been taken from the word ‘Cynn’ which means relative. Sociologists and anthropologists have kept the word ‘relatives’ while studying kinship. In the word kinship, all the relatives are included like blood relatives, relatives made by marriage, etc.

In simple words, according to Sociology and Anthropology, Kinship System is a collection of rules which regulates the nomenclature, heiress, heritage, marriage, extramarital relations, place of living, etc. and determines the status of a person in any specific society or in-group from the point of view of blood relation and relatives.

It means that the system of social relations developed and made by blood relations or affinal relations. Its clear meaning is that all those relations which have been made by blood or by marriage are part of the Kinship system. For example, mother-father, uncle-aunt, maternal uncle-aunt, brother-sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, etc. All these are relatives and are part of Kinship.

For the broader meaning of Kinship, it is necessary for us to see the definition of Kinship given by different scholars.

Definitions

1. According to Levi Strauss, “Kinship is an arbitrary system of the idea.”
2. According to Charles Winick, “Kinship system may include socially recognized relationship based on supposed as well as actual genealogical ties.”
3. According to Redcliffe Brown, “All those relations which came as a result or made because of family and marriage are the part of Kinship System.”

On the basis of the given definitions, we can say that two persons are relatives. If their ancestor is one, then, they are the offsprings of one person. The kinship system is the system of relatives that is based on blood relations or affinal relations. The kinship system is cultural and its structure is different in the whole world. It is a system of specific relation groups in which all the relatives are included which understand the responsibilities towards each other. In this way system of social relations established by socially sanctioned real or made up blood and affinal relatives is known as the Kinship system.

Question 9.
Explain in brief the significance of the kinship system.
Answer:
1. With the help of the Kinship system, rights, marriage, family, production, and method of consumption, rights of political power are determined in tribal and agricultural societies. Even in urban societies, we can see the importance of Kinship relations at the time of marriage and family festivals.

2. Kinship, family, and marriage are very deeply related to each other. With the help of the Kinship system, we can determine who marries whom and which name would be given to which relation. From Kinship only we can come to know about the nomenclature, clan, and the family of the person.

3. Family life, relations of family, nomenclature, clan, and rituals related to birth and death are determined by the Kinship, and who will perform all the rituals is also determined by Kinship. For example, in the rituals related to marriage big brother, mother, and sister of the father are of great importance. Who will be the heir of the person is also determined by the Kinship. At the time of social functions, festivals, relatives are of great importance because at these the relationships are strengthened.

4. Kinship system gives strength to society. The kinship system plays an important role in making social organization. If the Kinship system would not be there then the social system will break down and there will be chaos in the society.

5. Kinship system determines sexual relations. Sexual relations in the Kinship system are restricted in our society. If the Kinship system would not be there then there will be a lot of illegal relations and children in the society and social disorders will prevail in society.

6. Kinship System plays an important role in the determination of marriage. You are not supposed to marry in your clan, how many relatives would be left from the mother’s side and the father’s side all depend upon the Kinship system. If this system would not be there then no one will obey the rules related to marriage.

7. Kinship system gives mental peace to an individual. Yet in modern industrial society, our views have been changed from emotional to practical but still, man is tied with the Kinship ties. Humans are based on the group and Kinship. Without Kinship, man is just like a dead man. Our relatives know us very well. They accept themselves as part of the family. If we are in any trouble, then our relatives would help us. Only by living with our relatives we become happy and feel pleasure in their company.

In this way, we can say that Kinship is of great importance in our society. Nothing will be left in our society if we take out the Kinship system from it.

Question 10.
Explain briefly the different categories of the kinship system.
Answer:
On the basis of closeness and distance from the person, Kinship has been divided into different categories. In Kinship, we do not have the same type of relations with all the relatives. The type of relations which we have with our parents, husband-wife, and children, we cannot have that type of relations with our uncle, aunt, nephew, etc. We do not have very close relations with them. On the basis of this closeness and distance, Kinship has been divided into three categories which are given below:

1. Primary Relatives: In the first category of Kinship primary relatives like husband-wife, father-son, mother-son, mother-daughter, father-daughter, sister-sister, brother-sister, brother-brother are included. According to Murdock, they are of 8 types. They are primary because relations among them are direct and very close.

2. Secondary Relatives: Some of our relatives are primary like mother-father, brother-sister, etc., and have direct relations with them. But some relatives are there who are not directly related to us. In fact, we are connected with them with the medium of our primary relatives like a brother, of the mother, brother or father, sister or mother, sister of father, husband of sister, wife or brother, etc. We do not have a very close relationship with them. They are our secondary relatives. According to Murdock, these are of 33 types.

3. Tertiary Kins: First relatives are primary. Then, comes the secondary relatives which are related to us through primary relatives. The third types are those relatives which are primary relatives of secondary relatives. Like a son of the brother of father, wife or mother’s brother, wife of the brother of father, .etc. According to Murdock, these are of 151 types.

So in this way, there are three types of categories of Kinship.

TEXTBOOK QUESTION AND ANSWER:

Q1.What competencies are required for becoming an effective psychologist?
Answer. For becoming an effective psychologists, following competences are essential:
(а)General Skills (b) Observational Skills (c) Specific Skills
(a)General Skills:
•General skills are essential for all professional psychologists.
•These skills include personal as well as intellectual skills.
•Once ensuring that a student has these skills subsequent training in his/her area of specializations to him/her intellectual and personal skill are as follows:
Interpersonal Skills: Ability to listen and be empathic. It may be verbal or non-verbal.
•Cognitive:
— Ability to solve problems — Having curiosity and flexibility
•Affective Skills:
— Openness to ideas — Agreeableness — Honesty
•Expressive skills: Ability to communicate in verbal and non-verbal form.
•Reflective Skills:
— Intrapersonal intelligence —Ability to examine own motives,attitude and behaviour.
•Personal skills:
— Personal hygiene — Time management
(b)Observational Skills:
Psychologists should have training in objectives and systematic observation.
•They should have skill to observe various aspects of surrounding including people and varying events.
•Psychologists should engage in observing people and their actions with following precautions:
— Patience. — Optimistic curiosity.
— Respecting clients privacy.
— Awareness of people reactions, emotions and motivation.
— Training good questions which could be answered during observation.
(c)If the psychologist wants to work in a specialized field then professional training in specific skill development is essential.
The main specific skills are as follows:
(a) communication skills (b) Psychological testing skill
(c) Interviewing skill (d) Counselling skill

Q2.What are the generic skills needed by all psychologists?
Answer. General/Generic Skills:
•These are essential for all professional psychologists.
•These skills include personal as well as intellectual skills.
Generic (intellectual and personal skills) are as follows:
Interpersonal Skills: Ability to listen and be empathic. It may be verbal or non-verbal.
•Cognitive:
— Ability to solve problems — Having curiosity and flexibility
•Affective Skills:
— Openness to ideas — Agreeableness — Honesty
•Expressive Skills: Ability to communicate in verbal and non-verbal form.
•Reflective Skills:
— Intrapersonal intelligence
— Ability to examine own motives, attitude and behaviour.
•Personal skills:
— Personal hygiene — Time management

Q3.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.
Component of the Communication:
The mort important component of communication is speaking with the use of language.
•Language involves use of vocabulary which includes words by symbols.
•Communicator must know how to use words appropriately in organized and understandable form.
•It is necessary to be clear and precise.
•Communication takes place within a context and needs to consider the other’s frame of reference.
•It is important for the speaker to adjust his vocabulary level and choice of words to
fit the level of the listener.
•Slang expressions, words unique to a culture, euphemism can become obstacles in good communication.
•Listening may appear as a passive behaviour, as it involves silence. But this is far from true.
•Listening requires a person to be attentive, patient, non-judgmental and have the capacity to analyze and respond.
•It is an active process.
•Hearing and listening are not the same, hearing is biological mechanism. It involves reception of a message through sensory channels.

Q4.Describe the set of competencies that must be kept in mind while administering a psychological test.
Answer.• Developing the skills of psychological testing is important since tests are important tools used for the assessment of individuals for various purposes. Proper training is required for administration, scoring and interpretation of tests.
•Psychologists study individuals, differences based on factors such as occupation, age, gender, education, culture, etc.
•While using psychological test, following factors must be kept in mind:
1.An attitude of objectivity 2. Scientific orientation
3. Standardised Interpretation must be kept in mind. For example, in organizational and personnel work, in business and industry, where specialized tests are used to select individuals for specific jobs, it is essential to use actual performance records or ratings as a criterion for establishing validity of a test.
•Suppose the personnel department wants to know whether a certain psychological test can help it to identify potentiality of best stenographers.
•It must be established that the test differentiates among employees of several performance levels.
•It should be found the performance on the job of a newly employed worker selected on the basis of test indeed matches with his/her test scores.

Q5.What is the typical format of a counselling interview?
Answer. Interview refers to purposeful conversation through face-to-face interactions.
•It follows a basic question-answer format.
•First, the objectives of the interview are set.
•The interviewer then prepares on interview format.
•There is a basic format which is followed, regardless of the interview’s purpose; i.e., an interview has three stages:
— Opening — The body — The closing
A.Opening of the Interview:
1. In involves establishing report between the two communicators, so that the interview becomes comfortable.
2. Generally, the interviewer starts the conversation and does most of the talking at the outset. This serves two functions:
(a)It establishes the goal of the interview
(b)It gives the interviewee time to become comfortable with the situation and the interviewer.
B. Body of the Interview:
1.This is the heart of the process.
2.In this stage, the interviewer asks questions in an attempt to generate information and data that are required to fulfil/required for the purpose.
Sequence of Questions:
To accomplish the purpose of an interview, the interviewer prepares set of questions – called a schedule for different domains or categories he/she wants to cover.
1.To form the schedule, the interviewer must first decide on the domain/categories under which information is to be generated. For example for questions used in job interview (box 9.5), the interviewer selected various categories such as not use’ of the organization last worked for, satisfaction with the past job, views on product etc.
2.These domains/categories and the questions within them are formed ranging from easy to answer to difficult to answer.
C. Closing of the Interview:
While closing the interview, the interviewer should:
1.Summarise what she/he has been able to gather.
2.Give a chance to the interviewee to ask questions or offer comments. One ‘ should end witfc a discussion of the next step to be taken.

TEXTBOOK QUESTION AND ANSWER:

Q1. What do you understand by the term ‘environment’? Explain the different perspectives to understand the human-environment relationship.
Answer. Word ‘environment’ refers to all that is around us. Literally, it means everything that surrounds us including the physical, Social world and cultural environment. In general, it includes all the forces outside the human beings to which they respond in some way. A psycnologist named Stokols proposed three approaches to describe human-environment relationship:
(i)The Minimalist Perspective: This view assumes that physical environment has negligible influence on human behaviour. Both run parallel to each other.
(ii)The Instrumental Perspective: According to this approach, environment is simply provider. It is for the comfort of us. Human beings can use the environment as per their needs.
(iii)The Spiritual Perspective: It refers to the view of the environment as something to be respected and valued rather than exploited. Physical environment and human relationship are interdependent. The traditional Indian view about the environment supports spiritual perspective, worshipping Pipal, respect for rivers and mountains. Chipko Aandolan and movement by Bisnoi Community are examples of Indian perspective.

Q2.“Human beings affect and are affected by the environment.” Explain this statement with the help of example.
Answer. Environment significantly influences various physical and psychological aspects of human behaviour. Some are as follows:
(a)Environmental Influence on Perception: According to researches, our perception is influenced by the environment in which we live. For example. Tribal societies of Africa living in Circular huts show less error in a geometric illusion (the Muller Lyer illusion) than people from cities, living in houses with angular walls.
(b)Environmental Influence on Emotions: For example, watching quietly flowing river, a smiling flowers or a tranquil mountain top provides joy and happiness.
•Natural disasters, landslides can provide deep depression and sorrow, lack of control over their lives.
•Such an influence is traumatic, changes people’s lives forever, and can last for a long time after the actual event in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder.
(c)Ecological Influence on Occupation, Living style and Attitudes:
(i)The natural environment of a particular region determines the people living in that region will develop what type of societies—may be agricultural or may be industrial.
(ii)In turn, the occupation determines the life-style and attitudes of the residents of a particular geographical region.
Human behaviour particularly influencing on the environment in negative manner. Following are the environmental stressors which effect human beings, although many are created by human beings themselves.
1.Pollution:
(a)Air-pollution: Emission of toxic gases due to automobile and industrial emissions cause adverse effect on the health.
-Air-pollution reduces visibility and leads to eye irritation, headache, fatigue, occurrence of cancer of respiratory system.
(b)Noise or sound pollution: Any sound which an individual finds unpleasant in a particular situation is considered noise or sound-pollution. Noise (sound pollution) leads to adverse psychological effects. It may leads to high level of stress, narrowing of attention, decrease in concentration, etc.
(c)Water-pollution: Various problems related to digestive system and gastrointestinal issues occur due to water-pollution.
2. Noise
Any unpleasant, irritating or interfering sound is called as Noise.
– Noise is an environmental stressor which may affect adversely depending on (a) Predictability (b) Controllability (c) Intensity
3.Crowding and Density:
•Crowding is the subjective feeling of crampedness or being too close to each other. It has negative effects on task performance, personality, interpersonal relationship, general physical and mental health.
•Density is an objective geographical term which refers to number of persons living within the available space, or per square meter area.
4.Natural and Man-made Disasters:
Natural disasters are earthquake, volcanic eruption, windstorm, tornado, cyclone, famine etc.
— There are man-made disasters also; like Bhopal gas tragedy and nuclear bomb explosion in Japan, which not only caused extensive damage to property and physical environment but also had long-term effects on the lives of people.
— Man is largely responsible for regarding the quality of environment that surrounds us. Almost everything humans do has small but cumulative effects on the environment in which we live. e.g., driving a car, using a hair spray, use of refrigerator, etc.

Q3.What is noise? Discuss the effects of noise on human behaviour.
Answer. Noise is defined as an unwanted sound or sounds that create an effective response. Some may not be disturbed by even a loud-speaker sound, on the other hand, some might even find whistle, tinkling of wind as noise. Thus, any sound “which an individual finds unwanted is noise.”
Noise (sound pollution) leads to adverse psychological effects. How the noise affect the individual depends on:
(a)its intensity (loudness), loud sound is often unpleasant and irritating.
(b)predictability, we can adapt more easily to a regular, predictable sound such as ‘ chirping of birds in the morning.
(c)Perceived Control: The negative effects of noise are reduced when individuals perceive that they have control over it.
Effects of noise (sound-pollution) on task performance:
(i)When the task being performed is a simple mental task, such as addition of numbers, noise does not affect overall performance whether it is loud or soft.
(ii)If the task being performed is very interesting, then, too, the presence of noise does not affect performance.
(iii)When the noise comes at intervals and in an unpredictable way, it is experienced as more disturbing than the noise being continuously present.
(iv)Difficult task performance requires full concentration, then intense, unpredictable and uncontrollable noise reduces the level of task performance. ‘
(iv) When switching off the noise is within the control of the person, the numbers of ’ errors in task performance decrease.

Q4.What are the salient features of crowding? Explain the major psychological consequences of crowding.
Answer. Crowding: It is psychological crampedness. It manifests following features:
(a) Feeling of discomfort because of too many people or things around us the experience of physical restriction and sometimes the lack of privacy.
(b)Crowding is the person’s reaction to the presence of a large number of persons within a particular area or space.
Features of Crowding; Crowding has the following features:
— Crowding gives feeling of discomfort.
— It gives a feeling that individual privacy is being threatened.
— It gives feeling that individual’s personal space is being invaded.
— It gives negative view of a space around the person.
— Crowding develops feelings of loss of control over social interaction.
Crowding is studied by various psychologists in India and abroad.
Crowding is not always experienced in high density setting nor all people experience its
negative effects. For example, Mela has high density but still people enjoy it.
Effects of Crowding and High Density:
(а)Crowding and High density may lead to abnormal behaviour and aggression. e.g., an increase in population has sometimes been found to be accompanied by an increase in violent crime.
(b)Crowding leads to lowered performance on difficult tasks that involve cognitive processes and has adverse effects on memory and the emotional state.
(c)Children growing up in very crowded households show lower academic performance. They also show a weaker tendency to continue working on a task if they are unsuccessful at it, compared to children growing up in non-crowded households. They experience greater conflicts with parents and get less support from their family members.
(d) The nature of social interaction determines the degree to which an individual will react to crowding. For example, in parties, large number of persons may not cause stress rather it may lead to positive emotional reactions.
(e) Individuals differ in the degree to which they show negative effects of crowding and also in the nature of these reactions.
Two kinds of tolerance can be mentioned that may explain these individual differences: (t) Crowding Tolerance (ii) Competition Tolerance
(i) Crowding Tolerance; It refers to the ability of a person to mentally deal with the high density or crowding environment, e.g., crowded residence.
•It is developed because people can use to manage people around them.
•It is modifying ones perception one holds regarding high density/crowded situations.
•Indians in general have more crowding tolerance.
(ii)Competition Tolerance: It is the ability to put up with a situation in which individuals would have to compete with many others for even basic resources including physical space.
Since there is a greater possibility of competition for resources in a crowded setting, the reaction to that setting would be influenced by the extent of tolerance for competition for resources.
(iii)Cultural Characteristics: It may determine the extent to which a particular environment is judged to be subjectively more crowded or less crowded.

Q5. Why is the concept of‘personal space’ important for human beings? Justify your answer with the help of an example.
Answer. The concept of personal space refers to the personal physical distance that we maintain in our social interaction.
It is important for following reasons:
(i)It explains many of the negative effect of crowding as an environment stressor.
(ii)It tells us about social relations. For examples, two people sitting or standing close tighter are seen to be friends.
It gives us idea about how physical space can be modified in order to reduce stress or discomfort in real life situations.
Everyone has desire of personal space. Males generally have a larger personal space than females. Degree of personal space differ from culture to culture.
Personal space can vary between people, between situations and settings and between cultures. Edward Hall, an anthropologist, mentioned four kinds of interpersonal physical distance—intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance.

Q6.What do you understand by the term ‘disaster’? List the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. How can it be remedied?
Answer. Natural disaster is an environmental hazard. It is known as disaster because—
•it is mostly unpredictable.
•it causes enormous loss of life and property.
In general, the intensity of reaction is affected by the following:
(i)The severity of the disaster, and the loss incurred both in terms of property and life.
(ii)The individual’s general coping ability.
(iii)Other stressful experiences before the disaster. For e.g., people, who have experienced stress before, may find it more difficult to deal with another difficult and stressful situation. But, there are ways to be prepared to minimize their decussating consequence in the form of:
1.Warning: when cyclones or high tides are predicted, fishermen are asked not to venture into the sea.
2.Safety Measure: Unfortunately, in the case of some natural disasters such as earthquakes, even if prediction is possible, the events came too suddenly for people to be mentally prepared. Therefore tips are given beforehand about to do when there is an earthquake.
3.Treatment of Psychological Disorder: This includes self-help approach as well as professional treatment. According to some experts who deal with PTSD,one of the key attitude to be developed in the survivors is that of ‘self-efficacy’
i.e. that the belief that “I can do it” or “I came out of this phase successfully”.
(a)Immediate Reaction: The immediate reaction after a disaster is commonly manifest in the form of disorientation. People take some time to understand the full meaning of what the disaster has done to them. They may deny to themselves that something terrible has happened.
(b)Physical Reaction:
There is bodily exhaustion even without physical activity such as-
•Sleep disturbances.
•Change in eating pattern.
•Increased heart-beat and blood-pressure.
(c)Emotional Reaction:
•Fear
•Grief
•Irritability
•Anger (why should this happen to me)
•Helplessness
•Hopelessness
•Depression
•Numbness (absolute lack of emotion)
•Guilt feelings for having survived while someone else died
•Lack of interest in routine jobs
(d) Cognitive Reaction:
•Worry • Difficulty in concentration
•Reduced span of attention • Confusion
•Loss of memory • Nightmare of the event
(e) Social Reactions:
•Withdrawal from others
•Getting into conflict with others
•Having frequent arguments with even
•Feeling rejected or left out Very often in the midst of severe emotional reaction to stress, some survivors may develop positive outlook on life with empathy.

Q7.What is pro-environmental behaviour? How can the environment be protected from pollution? Suggest some strategies.
Answer. Pro-environmental behaviour is the friendly and caring attitude of people who help to prevent environmental degradation and conserve natural resources.
For instance, change in life-style and attitude of the people like conserving energy resources, planting trees, reduction in noise (sound-pollution) and air-pollution.
Some Strategies to Protect Environment are:
(i) Reducing air-pollution by keeping vehicle in good condition or changing to non-fuel driven vehicle, stopping the practice of smoking.
(ii) Reducing noise (sound pollution) by ensuring that noise levels are low. e.g., discouraging needless honking on the road, or making rule regarding noisy music at certain hours.
(iii)Planting trees and ensuring their care.
(iv)Reducing the non-biodegradable packing of consumer goods.
(v)Laws related to construction (especially in urban areas) that violate optimal environment design.
(vi)Saying ‘no’ to plastic use in any form, thus reducing toxic wastes that pollute water, air and the soil.

Q8.How is ‘poverty’ related to ‘discrimination’? Explain the major psychological effects of poverty and deprivation.
Answer. Poverty is the economic deprivation, associated with low income, hunger, low caste and status.
•Illiteracy, poor housing, over-crowding, lack of public amenities, mal-and under-nutrition, and increased susceptibility to diseases are main features.
•Poverty is an actual shortage of resources so it is objectively defined term.
•Deprivation is subjectively defined. It is more a question of perceiving or thinking that one has got less than what one should have got.
•Poverty is not a necessary condition for experiencing deprivation but a poor person may experience deprivation.
•Social disadvantage is a condition because of which some sections of society are not allowed the same privileges as the east society e.g. caste system.
Effects of Poverty and Deprivation:
(i)Low aspirations and low achievements, low motivation, and high need for dependence is the major effect of poverty and deprivation. They believe that events in their lives are controlled by factor outside them, rather within them.
(ii)With respect to social behaviour, the poor and deprived sections exhibit on attitude of resentment towards the rest of society.
(iiii)With regard to personality:
•The poor and deprived low self-esteem, high anxiety, introversion, and live only in the immediate present rather than being future-oriented.
•The poor and deprived live with a sense of hopelessness, powerlessness, feelings of injustice and experience a loss of identity.
(iv)Researches have proved that prolonged deprivation significantly impair the cognitive functioning of the individual.
(v)With regard to mental health, there is an unquestionable relationship between mental disorder and poverty or deprivation.
(vi)The poor are more likely to suffer from specific mental illness compared to the rich, possibly due to constant worries about basic necessities, feeling of insecurity or inability to get medical faculties especially for mental illness.

Q9.Distinguish between ‘instrumental aggression’ and ‘hostile aggression’. Suggest some strategies to reduce aggression and violence.
Answer. • Aggression: According to psychologists, aggression refers to any behaviour by a person that is intended to cause harm to another person or persons to take revenge. For example, aggression It can be demonstrated in actual action or through the use of harsh words or criticism or even hostile feelings against others.
•Violence: Forceful destructive behaviour towards another person or persons to attain some material gain is violence.
Instrumental Aggression:
The act of aggression is meant to obtain a certain goal or get others, possessions forcefully. For example, A bully slaps a new student in school so that he can snatch the new comer’s chocolate. In violence, individual may or may not have the intention to harm others in terms of revenge. It is forceful destructive behaviour, e.g., hitting a person just to loot his money.
Hostile Aggression:
An expression of anger towards the target, with the intention of harming him/her even if the aggressor does not wish to obtain anything from the victim. For example, A criminal may beat up a person in the community for mentioning his name to the police. Aggression can be reduced by creating the appropriate attitude towards the general problem of growing aggression.
(a)Parenting:
•Parents and teacher should be specially careful not to encourage aggression in any form. The use of punishment to bring about discipline also needs to be changed.
(b)Modelling:
•Opportunities to observe and imitate the behaviour of aggressive models should be reduced drastically.
Portraying aggression as heroic behaviour should be particularly avoided because this may set the stage for learning through observation.
(c)Implementing social justice and equality in society:
•It will help in reducing frustration levels and thereby curb aggressive tendencies at least to some extent.
(d)Inculcating positive attitude towards peace at the level of community or society. The father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, gave the world a new view to peace that was not simply the absence of aggression. This was non-violence. It should be taught to the younger generation.

Q10. Discuss the psychological impact of television viewing on human behaviour. How can its adverse consequences be reduced? Explain.
Answer. Television is one of the useful products of technological progress. It has both positive and negative effects. It has effects on cognitive processes and social behaviour.
1.T.V. provides large amount of information in an attractive form and in visual mode, for which it became a powerful medium of instructions.
2.Excellent programmes emphasise positive interpersonal attitudes and provide useful factual information, teaching children how to design and construct certain objects.
3.T.V. watching may have an adverse effect on children’s ability to concentrate on one target. Their creativity and ability to understand each other through social interaction is also significantly impaired.
4.Reduction in habit of reading and writing skills and also their outdoor activities such as playing is also reduced.
5.Watching violence on T.V. has been linked to greater aggressiveness in the viewers. As children are not mature enough to think of consequences, they simply imitate.
•Some studies pointed out that merely watching violence on the television does not make children more aggressive. Other factors need to be present.
•Other research findings show that watching violence may actually reduce the natural aggressive tendency of the viewers: what is ‘bottled up’ gets an outlet, thus cleans the system. This process is called catharsis.
6. Due to T.V. watching, consumerist attitude has developed. Numerous products are advertised and it is very natural for the viewer to get carried away.

TEXTBOOK QUESTION AND ANSWER:

Q1.Compare and contrast formal and informal groups, and in groups and out groups.
Answer. Formal Groups:
(i)The functions of a formal group are explicitly stated, as in an office organization, or social work club.
(ii)They have rigidly stated functions and the roles of the members are well-defined or imposed.
(iii)Formal groups have a chain of command for decision-making, e.g., military or bureaucracy. .
Informal Groups:
(i)Informal decision-making process may exist as parallel mechanisms.
(ii)Members of informal groups usually feel more comfortable to take decision in informal settings, e.g., tea time group or lunch group.
(iii)There are no elicit rules and regulations for informal group.
In-group:
(i)It is generally considered as ‘me, my, we, or our’ group.
(ii)People in in-group are viewed as having desirable behaviour and admirable traits,
(iii)It is always good, strong, cohesive, kind-hearted, open, relaxing and cool.
Out-group:
(i)It is considered as ‘they’ group.
(ii) Members are often perceived negatively.
(iii) It is always bad, dirty, damaging, dangerous and has people with negative emotions.

Q2. Are you a member of a certain group? Discuss what motivated are you to join that groups.
Answer. Definitely I am member of various groups. In other words, I will say that there is no dimension of life where I am not related to a group because we all are social beings and for everything, we are dependent on this or that group. There are various reasons which
motivate me and everybody to join a group. Some of them are as follows:
(i)Security: Groups reduce the feeling of insecurity. Being with people gives a sense of comfort and protection.
(ii)Status: When the group is perceived as important high profile and well known, then the members also feel recognized and ‘experience a sense of power’, e.g., being a student of high profile school.
(iii)Self-esteem: Being a member of a prestigious group enhances the individual’s self-concept.
(iv) Satisfaction of one’s Psychological and Social Needs: Groups satisfy one’s social and psychological needs such as sense of belongingness, giving and receiving attention, love and power.
(v)Group Achievement: Groups help in achieving the goals which cannot be attained individually.
(vi)Provide Knowledge and Information: Group membership provides us knowledge and information and broadens our views.

Q3. How does Tuck man’s stage model help you to understand the formation of groups?
Answer. According to Tuck man, group formation takes place in following stages:
(i)Forming Stage: When group-members first meet, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the group, the goal, and how it is to be achieved.
(ii)Storming: There is a stage of inter group conflict. There is conflict among members about how the target of the group is to be achieved, who is to control the group and its resources, and who is to perform what task.
(iii)Norming: Group-members by this time develop norms related to group behaviour. This leads to development of a positive group identity.
(iv)Performing: At this stage, the structure of the group has evolved and is accepted by group-members. The group moves towards achieving the group goal.
(v)Adjourning Stage: In this stage, once the function is over or goal is achieved, the group may be disbanded.
These stages help in group formation. Which occurs on the basis of following factors:
(i)Proximity: Individuals with similar background, living in the same complex (e.g., going to the same school) may form groups on the basis of proximity.
(ii)Similarity: It has been observed that more the similarity in the attitudes, interest, beliefs and value system of two persons, greater the likelihood that they would form a group.
(iii)Common Motives and Goals: When a number of people have common objectives or goals, they tend to get together and form a group.

Q4. How do groups influence our behaviour? (CBSE 2008, 2014)
Answer. I.Group influence our behaviour in following three forms:
•‘Social facilitation’ is a form of group influence.
•‘Social facilitation’ refers to a concept that performance on specific task is influenced by the mere presence of others.
•Norman Triplett observed that individuals show better performance in presence of others, than when they are performing the same task alone.
Better performance in presence of others is because the person experiences According to arousal, which makes the person react in a more intense manner.
The arousal is because the person feels he or she is being evaluated. Cottrell called this idea evaluation apprehension. The person will be praised if performance is good (reward), he/she will be criticised if it is bad (punishment). We wish to get praise and avoid criticism, therefore we try to perform well and avoid criticism.
As in case of complex task, the person may be afraid of making mistakes. And the fear of criticism or punishment is stronger.
If the others present are also performing same task, this is called a situation of co action. When task is simple or a familiar one, performance is better under co-action than when the person is alone.
Task performing can be facilitated and improved or inhibited and worsened by the presence of others. If we are working together in a larger group, the less effort each member puts in. This phenomena is called social loafing, based on diffusion of responsibility.
Diffusion of responsibility can also be frequently seen in situations where people are expected to help.
II.‘Social loafing refers to reduction in motivation when people are functioning collectively.
• It is a form of group influence.
(i)Group members feel less responsible for the overall tasks being performed and therefore exert less effort.
(ii)Motivation of members may decrease because they realize that their contributions cannot be evaluated on the individual basis, so to why to work hard.
(iii) The performance of the group is not to be compared with that of the other groups.
(iv)There is improper co-ordination (or no co-ordination) among members.
III.Group polarization is a group influence which refers to the strengthening of groups initial position as a result interaction and discussion.
As a result of group discussion opinion shifts towards more extreme positions than those whicfi they initially held.
In group polarization, it has been found that groups are more likely to take extreme decisions than individuals alone. Group polarization occurs due to the following factors:
(i)In the company of like-minded people, people are likely to hear newer arguments favouring their view-points.
(ii)When people find others also favouring their view-point, they feel that their view is validated by the public. This is a sort of bandwagon effect.
(iii)When people find others having similar views, they are likely to perceive them as in-group.

Q5.How can you reduce social loafing in groups? Think of any two incidents of social loafing in school. How did you overcome it?
Answer. Social loading is a negative group influence. Which occurs due to defusion of responsibility. For the quality performance of the group, it should be reduced. It can be reduced through the following methods:
(i)By making the efforts of each person identifiable.
(ii)increasing the pressure to work hard (making group-members committed to successful tasks performance).
(iii)increasing the apparent importance or value of a task.
(iv)making people feel that their individual contribution is important.
(v)strengthening group cohesiveness which increases the motivation for successful group outcome.

Q6.How often do you show conformity in your behaviour? What are the determinants of conformity?
Answer. Conformity: It is a most indirect form of social influence in which individuals change their behaviour or beliefs to correspond more closely to the behaviour of others in the group. It essentially involves yielding to group pressure.
•People conform because it is comfortable.
•Non-conformity is socially undesirable and many a times punishable offence.
•Most people believe that majority is always right, so it is better to conform.
•Whenever individual gets confused and not confident he/she conforms.
•Conformity provides assurance that individual is right.
People conform because of two types of influences:
1.Informational Influence, i.e., influence that results from accepting evidence rather than reality.
• It is social influence based on individuals desire to be correct—to possess accurate perceptions of the social world.
We conform because we have a strong desire to hold the right views. We want to be correct about various matters so we turn to other persons for guidance as to what is appropriate, e.g., if children see that, in the colony, no body is playing in the park then they get information from the actions of others that | park should not be used as playground. This is behaving according to evidence
then from reality.
2.Normative influence, i.e., influence based on a person’s desire to be accepted or admired by others. Individual follows the reality and conforms.
We conform in order to meet other’s expectations and so to gain their approval, e.g., if we see rules written on the board outside the park that playing in the park is prohibited then children avoid playing there.
Sheriff’s experiment known as auto-kinetic effect and Asch’s experiment prove that people do get carried away by the social influence whenever taking decisions.
Determinants of Conformity:
The degree of conformity among the group-members is determined by many factors which are as follows:
1.Size of the Group: 
(i)Conformity is greater when the group is small. It happens because it is easier for a deviant member to be noticed in a small group.
(ii) In a large group, if there is strong agreement among most of the members, conformity makes the majority and its norms stronger. In such a case, the minority would be more likely to conform because the group pressure would be stronger.
2. Size of the Minority: When the deviating minority size increases, the likelihood , of conformity decreases.
3. Nature of the Task:
•Where there is something like a correct or an incorrect answer, conformity is more.
•Where answers can vary widely without any answer being correct or incorrect,conformity would be less.
4.Public or Private Expression of Behaviour:
•If the group-members are asked to give their answers publicly, conformity is more.
•Less conformity is found under private expression.
5.Personality Characteristics:
•Some individuals have a conforming personality that is tendency to change their behaviour according to what others say or do in most situations and vice- versa.

Q7. Why do people obey even when they know that their behaviour may be harming others? Explain. (Delhi Board 2014)
Answer. Obedience: It is most direct form of social influence. Obedience refers to accepting commands/orders from the authority. Authority refers to a person who has inherent power to give reward or punishment.
If a person has power over another, obedience can be demanded; such a person usually has the means to enforce orders.
•Milligram’s studies seem to suggest that the ordinary people are willing, may be with some, reluctance, to harm an innocent person if ordered by someone in authority.
It has been observed that obedience to authority relieves the individual from the responsibility of their actions.
•Individual believes that if he/she will not obey then it will attract penalty.
•Authority commands for destructive obedience are gradually increased from lesser to greater levels of violence.
Sometimes events involved in destructive obedience move so quickly, that the people obeying orders have little time for thinking logically.

Q8.What are the benefits of co-operation?
Answer. Groups may be co-operative or competitive. Technically, the behaviour that yields maximal joint profit for all the parties involved is called co-operation. The behaviour that yields maximal relative gain is labelled competition.
•Co-operative goals are those, which are defined in such a way that each individual can attain the goal if other members are also attaining their goals. There is interdependence in goal attainment.
Effects of co-operation:
•Goal achievement becomes easy.
•Interpersonal relations get strengthened.
•Cohesiveness rises in the group.
•Group-members become ready to work for others.
•Willingness to accept other’s divergent view-point.

Q9. How is one’s identify formed?
Answer. • Identity refers to the aspect of one’s self-concept that is based on group-membership.
•Our identity tells us what we are in a larger context.
•After one develops an identity, he/she internalises the norms emphasized in a group and adopts them.
•Identity provides a member of a group with a shared set of values, beliefs and goals about the social world.
•Identity helps to co-ordinate attitude and behaviour.
•The development of identity leads to the devaluation of the out group.

Q10.What are some of the causes of intergroup conflict? Think of any international conflict.
Reflect on the human price of this conflict.
Answer. • Conflict is a process in which either an individual or a group perceives that the others have opposite interest, and both try to contradict each other.
• In such conflicts intense feeling of ‘We’ and ‘They’ dominate.
• Both the groups believe that only their group (in group) will protect their interest.Individual group conflict occurs when the individuals, needs are different from the group’s needs, goals or norms. Inter group conflict refers to the situation of conflict between groups. It often occurs to maintain the identity of the group different and stronger than the other groups.
Some Major Reasons for Group Conflicts:
1.One major reason is lack of communication and faulty communication between both parties. This kind of communication leads to suspicion, i.e., there is a lack of trust, and hence, conflict results.
2. Another reason for inter group conflict is relative deprivation. It arises when members of a group compare themselves with the members of another group, and L perceive that they do not have what they desire to have, which the other group has.
In other words, they feel that they are not doing well in comparison to other groups. This may lead to feelings of deprivation and discontentment, which may trigger conflict.
3. Another cause of conflict arises when one party believes that it is better than the other, and what it is saying should be done. When this does not happen, both parties start accusing each other.
4.A feeling that the other group does not respect the norms of my group, and actually violates those norms, can cause conflict
5.Desire for retaliation for some harm done in the past could be another reason for conflict.
6.Biased perceptions are at the root of most conflicts.
7. Research has shown that when acting in groups, people are more competitive as well as more aggressive than when they are on their own. Groups compete over scarce resource, both material resources (e.g., territory) and money as well as social resources (e.g., respect and esteem).
8.Perceived inequality is another reason for conflict.
9.According to Gardener Murphy most conflicts begin in the minds of men and then go to the field.
Gardener Murphy, in his book ‘In the Minds of Men’, explains intergroup conflicts at three levels:
(a) Structural Level: It includes high rates of poverty, economic and sound stratification, inequality, limited political and social opportunity, e.g., Tribal areas of Jharkhand and West Bengal becoming fertile ground for Naxal movement.
(b) Group Level: Social identity, realistic conflict between groups over resources and unequal power relations between groups lead to conflicts, e.g., Dalits in India or Women Empowerment Movement.
(c) Individual Level: It includes beliefs, biased attitudes and personality characteristics. These are important determinants

TEXTBOOK QUESTION AND ANSWER:

Q1.Define attitude. Discuss the components of an attitude.
Answer. Attitudes are state of the mind, set of views or thoughts or ideas regarding some topic which have an evaluative feature (positive, negative or neutral). These are relatively stable predispositions. .
Various components of an attitude are as follows:
(i)The thought component is referred to as the cognitive aspect of attitude.
(ii)The emotional component is known as the affective aspect.
(iii)The tendency to act is called the behavioural (conative) aspect.
These three aspects have been referred to as the A-B-C (affective-behavioural-cognitive)components of attitude. Attitudes are themselves not a tendency to behave or act in certain ways. They are part of cognition, along with an emotional component which cannot be observed from outside.

Q2.Are attitudes learnt? Explain how?
Answer. By enlarge attitudes are learnt. They are formed on the basis of learning.
Formation of Attitudes: The term ‘attitude formation’ refers to the movement we make from having no attitude toward an object to having a positive or negative attitude. There are some factors which contribute to the formation of attitudes:
1.Learning: The attitudes are acquired through learning. Many of our views are acquired in situations in which we interact with others or merely observe their behaviour.
-Classical Conditioning/Leaming by Association:
•A basic form of learning in which one stimulus, initially neutral, acquires the capacity to evoke reactions through repeated pairing with another stimulus.
•Player often develop a strong liking for the bat by which they made good runs. Many students start liking a subject if they like the teacher.
-Instrumental Conditioning/Leaming Altitude by Reward and Punishment: A basic form of learning in which responses that lead to positive outcomes or that permit avoidance of negative outcomes are strengthened.
•It applies to the situations when people learn attitudes which are systematically rewarded by significant others, such as parents, teachers or friends.
-Observational Learning: A basic form of learning in which individuals acquire new forms of behaviour or through observing others.
•Children are keen observers and learn a whole lot of things from their parents and other family members.
•They learn many attitudes about other ethnic groups, neighbours and idealize simply by observing the behaviours of adults.
2.Learning through Exposure to Information:
•Many attitudes are learnt in a social context without physical presence of others. Print media, electronic media, biographies of self-actualized people facilitate attitude formations.
3.Learning Attitudes through Group or Cultural Norms:
•Norms are unwritten rules of behaviour. Gradually these norms may become part of our social cognition, in the form of attitudes, e.g., offering money, sweets, fruits and flowers in a place of worship is a normative behaviour in various religions. People imitate such behaviour shown by others as socially approved and develop positive attitude towards it.

Q3.What are the factors that influence the formation of an attitude?
Answer. The following factors provide the context for the learning of attitude through various processes:
(i) Family and School Environment: parents and other family-members play a significant role in attitude formation. Learning of attitudes within the family and school usually takes place by association, through rewards and punishment and through modelling.
(ii)Reference Groups: Attitudes towards political, religious and social groups, occupations, national and other issues are often developed through reference groups. Reference groups indicate to an individual the norms regarding acceptable behaviour and ways of thinking. Various institutions, religion, culture and communities are form of reference groups.
(iii) Personal Experiences: Many attitudes are formed, not in the family environment or through reference groups, but through direct personal experiences which bring about a drastic change in our attitude towards people and our own life.
(iv) Media Related Influences: Technological advances have made audio-visual media and internet as very powerful sources for attitude formation. School textbooks also influence attitude formation. The media can be used to create consumerist attitude. The media can exert both good and bad influences on attitudes.

Q4. Is behaviour always a reflection of one’s attitude? Explain with a relevant example.
Answer. An individual’s attitude may not always be exhibited through behaviour. Likewise one’s actual behaviour may be contrary to one’s attitude towards a particular topic. Psychologists have found that there would be consistency between attitude and behaviour when:
(i)The attitude is strong and occupies a central place in the attitude system.
(ii)The person is aware of his/her attitudes.
(iii)Person’s behaviour is not being watched or evaluated by others.
(iv)Person thinks that the behaviour would have a positive consequences
Richard La Piere, an American social psychologist, conducted the following study. He asked a Chinese couple to travel across the United States, and stay in different hotels. Only once during these occasions they were refused service by one of the hotels. La Piere sent out questionnaires to managers of hotels and tourist homes in the same areas where the Chinese couple had travelled asking them if they would give accommodation to Chinese guest. A very large percentage said that they would not do so. This response showed a negative attitude towards the Chinese, which was inconsistent with the positive behaviour that was actually shown towards the travelling Chinese couple. Attitudes may not always predict actual pattern of one’s behaviour.

Q5.Highlight the importance of schemas in social cognition.
Answer.•Social schemas (schemata) are mental structure.
•They function as a framework to process social information. These schemas lead to emergence of prototypes.
•Prototypes are concepts which have most of the defining features of a concept, class or family.
•These are best representatives of the population.
•Various stereotypes emerge from these schemas. In other words stereotypes are category-based schemas.

Q6. Differentiate between prejudice and stereotype.
Answer. Prejudices are negative attitude.
•These are bias about others.
•Prejudices are baseless and false.
•It refers to biased attitude formed about an individual or a group of people.
•These are usually negative.
•It has three components, i.e., A-B-C-
(a) Affective (Emotional i.e dislike or hatred).
(b)Behavioural (i.e., discrimination).
(c)Cognitive (Believes, i.e., stereotypes).
Stereotypes are cognitive component of prejudice. It is strongly influenced by the processing of incoming social information.
•These are over-generalized beliefs, e.g., girls are talkative.
•Stereotypes are category based schemas.
•These may be positive or negative or neutral.
•Stereotype has no emotional blending.
•From stereotypes, prejudices may emerge very easily.
•Stereotypes are usually formed for the groups.
•Stereotypes are pre conceived notions.

Q7. Prejudice can exist without discrimination and vice-versa. Comment.
Answer. Prejudices can exist without being shown in the form of discrimination. Similarly,
discrimination can be shown without prejudice.
•Wherever prejudice and discrimination exist, conflicts are very likely to arise between groups within the same society.
•We all witnessed many instances of discrimination, with and without prejudice, based on gender, religion, community, caste, physical handicap, and illnesses such as AIDS.
•Moreover, in many cases, discriminatory behaviour can be curbed by law. But, the cognitive and emotional components of prejudice are more difficult to change.

Q8. Describe the important factors that influence impression formation.
Answer. Impression formation is a process by which impression about others is converting into more or less induring cognitions or thoughts about them.In short, impression formation is a process through which we draw quick conclusion/ inferences regarding others.
Factors facilitating Impression Formation:
•Nature of the phenomena (familiar or unfamiliar).
•Personality traits of the perceiver.
•Social schemas stored in the mind of perceiver.
•Situational factors.
The process of impression formation consists of the following three sub-processes:
•Selection: We take into account only some bits of information about the target person
•Organization: the selected information is combined in a systematic way.
•Inference: We draw a conclusion about what kind of person the target is.
Some specific qualities, that influence impression formation, are:
•The information presented first has a stronger effect than the information presented at the end. This is called the primacy effect.
•We have a tendency to think that a target person who has one set of positive qualities must also be having other specific positives that are associated with first set. This is known as halo effect, e.g., if we think that a person is ‘tidy’ then we are likely to think that this person must also be hard/working.
•Whatever information comes at the end may have a stronger influence on impression formation. This is known as the recency effect.

Q9.Explain how the attribution made by an ‘actor’ would be different from that of an ‘observer’.
Answer. Actor observer phenomena refers to the tendency to attribute our own behaviour mainly to situational causes but the behaviour of others mainly to internal (dispositional) cause.
A distinction is found between the attribution that a person makes for actorrole and observer-role.
Person makes attribution for his/her own positive and negative experiences, it is actor role and the attribution made for another person’s positive and negative experience is observer-role.
For example, if we get good marks, we will attribute it to our own ability and hard work (actor-role, internal attribution for a positive experience). If we get bad marks, we will say we were unlucky or test was difficult (actor-role, external attribution for negative experience).
On the other hand, if our classmate gets good marks, we will attribute his/her success to good luck or easy test (observer-role, external attribution for positive experience). If same classmate gets bad marks, we are likely to feel that his/her failure was because of low ability or due to lack of effort (observer-role, internal attribution for a negative experience).
The reason for the difference between the actor and observer roles is that people want to have a nice image of themselves, as compared to others.

Q10.How does social facilitation take place?
Answer. • It is form of group influence.
•Social facilitation refers to a concept that performance on specific task is influenced by the mere presence of others.
•Norman Triplett observed that individuals show better performance in presence of others, than when they are performing the same task alone.
Better performance in presence of others is because the person experiences arousal, which makes the person react in a more intense manner.
The arousal is because the person feels he or she is being evaluated. Cottrell called this idea evaluation apprehension. The person will be praised if performance is good (reward); is criticised if performance is bad (punishment). We wish to get praise and avoid criticism, therefore we try to perform well and avoid criticism.
As in case of complex task, the person may be afraid of making mistakes. And the fear of criticism or punishment is stronger.
If the others present are also performing same task, this is called a situation of co-action. When task is simple or a familiar one, performance is better under co-action than when the person is alone.
Task performing can be facilitated and improved or inhibited and worsened by the presence of others. If we are working together in a larger group, the less effort each member puts in. This phenomena is called social loafing, based on diffusion of responsibility. Diffusion of responsibility can also be frequently seen in situations where people are expected to help.

Q11.Explain the concept of pro-social behaviour.
Or
Describe the factors influencing Pro-social behaviour. (CBSE 2013)
Answer. Pro-social behaviour is any positively valued behaviour that does good to another person, is done without any pressure from outside and without any expectation of a reward or a return.
Humans are social beings. Most of their activities are organized with the help of others. We cannot live and grow unless there is support from others. We often engage in helping others. Such efforts are considered as pro-social behaviour. For any behaviour to be pro¬social, it should fulfil the following conditions:
•There has to be an intention to benefit the other person. Any pro-social act, which one accomplishes by compulsion or as a requirement of a job, does not merit to be called ‘pro-social’.
•The behaviour should be considered socially desirable by the other members of the society. Obviously, helping a thief in stealing is not a pro-social behaviour.
•If an act intended to benefit others is also expect to benefit the helper, it cannot be termed as ‘pro-social’.
The intentions and the consequent positive behaviour are more important considerations of pro-social behaviour than the actual benefits.
The other term which are used interchangeably with pro-social behaviour is altruism. The literal meaning of altruism is “doing things or acting for the interest of others without any ulterior motive.” It is a behaviour that reflects an unselfish concern for the welfare of others. All charitable, humanitarian, philanthropic activities, which people do without any self-interest, come under the category of altruism behaviour.
Determinants of Pro-social Behaviour: The pro-social behaviour depends on many factors.
(i)Pro-social behaviour is based on an inborn, natural tendency in human beings to help other members of their own species.
(ii)Pro-social behaviour is influenced by learning through modelling and positive reinforcement in the family.
(iii)Cultural factors influence pro-social behaviour. Some cultures actively encourage people to help the needy and distressed. Individuals in cultures suffering from a shortage of resources may not show a high level of pro-social behaviour.
(iv) Pro-social behaviour is expressed when the situation activates certain ‘social norms’ that require helping others. Three norms have been mentioned in context of pro-social behaviour:
(a)The norms of social responsibility. We should help anyone who needs help without considering any other factors.
(b)The norms of reciprocity. We should help persons who have helped us in the past.
(c)The norms of equity. We should help others whenever we find that it is fair to do so.
(v)Pro-social behaviour is affected by the expected reactions of the person who is being helped. For example, people might be unwilling to give money to a needy person because they feel that the person might feel insulted, or may become dependent.
(vi)Pro-social behaviour is more likely to be shown individuals who have a high level of empathy, that is, the capacity to feel the distress of the person who is to be helped, e.g., Mother Teresa.
Factors inhibiting Pro-social Behaviour:
(a)Diffusion of Responsibility: Pro-social behaviour may be reduced when the number of bystanders is more than one. On the other hand, if there is only one bystander, this person is more likely to take responsibility and actually help the victim. It happens because each person thinks that others will take the responsibility.
(b)Feeling State of the Individual: Person in a bad mood, being busy with one’s own problems or feeling that the person to be helped is responsible for his/her problem, may not help others.

Q12.Your friend eats too much junk food, how would you be able to bring about a change in his/her attitude towards food?
Answer. Since my friend eats junk food, it will have some reinforcing value to him/her. In order to bring about a change in his/her attitude towards food, following techniques could be used:
First of all what needs to be targeted is ‘the way he/she thinks about junk food, i.e., the cognitive aspect of his/her positive attitude towards junk food. The modification in his/ her attitude can be achieved through using rational as well as emotional appeal and, if required, help of a dietician whose credibility in this area is very high will be of great use. Attitude changes may be brought about by:
1.Encouraging him/her to read about what is required for a healthy development, e.g., minerals etc. which are not found in junk food.
2.Showing him/her the negative consequences of eating junk food like obesity, other health-related problems by exposing him/her to real life examples.
3.Request people around him/her like family-members, elders and teachers whom he/ she likes. If they provide a role model, i.e., not to consume junk food then he/she will imitate their behaviour.
4.Giving his/her choice and space to decide what is right for him/her considering both the aspects of the food and asking him/her to focus and think about the future problems associated with his/her liking.
All these things can bring about cognitive dissonance which might ultimately bring about the attitude change.