RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION A TREND REPORT : K.C. PANDA
I. INTRODUCTION
A Brief History Educational psychology dates back to the 5th century BC, when Democritus first emphasized the role of family in the education and training of children. Aristotle. emphasized the cognitive development of children and there was emphasis on the development of faculty psy- chology, each faculty requiring training for its development. For centuries this kind of thinking prevailed.
In the 17th century the concept of faculty psychology and Descartes' theories of instincts and reflexes were attacked by British empiricists like John Locke, who held that a child's mind is a tabula rasa, a blank surface, upon which experiences write. Experiences are given shape on the basis of similarity, contrast and contiguity. As a result, we find two ideas prevalent in the field of educational psychology by the beginning of 15th century: faculty psychology and associationism. At the end of 19th century, these two viewpoints were separated in the discussions of James Sally's Outlines of Psychology with special reference to Education (1884) and Ben's Education as a Science (1879). The former was a discussion on faculty psychology and the latter a treatise on associationism. Hall's Teacher was published in 1883 and L.P. Hupkin's Educational Psychology in 1886. The application of psychology to education was the central theme of these books. Edward Brook's Mental Science and Modern Culture published in 1883 discussed various forms of teacher training.
In the 19th century, teacher training in the USA and UK was patterned after the theory of mental discipline. Even associationistic theories were not aloof from this practice.
There was, of course, some opposition to the theory of formal discipline and training of faculties. The renowned Swiss sociologist, Pestolozzie, and Freebel of Germany stated, for the first time, that education should be child-centred and should be based on the aptitudes and abilities of children. The philosopher, Herbart, emphasized sensory and perceptual processes and thereby supported Pestolozzie and Freebel. This was the beginning of child-centred education which has now been greatly emphasized in our National Policy on Education ( 1986). By the end of 19th century, the role of heredity and environment became a theme of discussion in psychology and education. Francis Galton, Stanley Hall and Herman Ebbinghaus began to conduct research on various aspects of education.
The history of scientific educational psychology started in 1860, with Stanley Hall as the founder and William James, J.M. Cattell and E.L. Thorndike as prominent contributors to the rapid growth of the field. In 1866, the first department of educational psychology was established at Indian University and later a second at the University of North Carolina, both in the USA. The year 1890 marked the beginning of research on the development of an intelligence test by Alfred Binet in France. Thorndike (1874-1949) appeared on the educa- tional psychology scene in the beginning of the 20th century. By 1910, learning, motivation, emotion, heredity, personality, and individual difference were being studied as the subject matter of educational psychology. Even though John Dewey (1859-1952) was not an educational psychologist, his contribution to the progressive education movement was of prime importance for the development of educational psychology, which
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was very much in the air by 1940.
After the first and second World Wars, three factors contributed to the development of educational psychology: psychoanalysis, Gestalt psychology, and educational measurement. Early experience and its contribution to the educability of children was emphasized by psychoanalysts. Insight and understanding were stressed by Gestalt psychologists, and the use of Intelligence tests became quite prominent. Individual differences came to light. Around 1950, educational psychological principles were applied to classroom situ- ations. Research activities increased both in number and quality. By 1963, teaching-learning models had been devised. After 1965, educational psychologists received wide recognition in the western world and after 1970, they have played decisive roles in educational planning. Planning for the education of children has been extensively done in the USA, the UK, Europe and Japan on the basis of measurement of intelligence, personality, interest, etc. School psychologists have been appointed in each school or for a cluster of schools in these countries. Compensatory education and enrichment programmes have given educational psychologists a special status in the educational system. Educational technology, programmed instruction, computerized instruction, instructional designs, and elucidation of the nature of cognitive development, as outlined by Piaget, Bruner and other developmental psychologists, have revolutionized the field of education and all these contributed squarely to progress in educational psychology.
The Indian Scene In India, educational psychology had a late beginning. In 1915, the Calcutta University started a psychology department, the first in India. Even though educational psychology was included in the curriculum, it did not have a special status either in Calcutta or in Madras University, which had also set up a department. Since 1 96 1, educational psychology is being taught as a compulsory subject in the Calcutta and Lucknow Universities. It is being taught now in various universities and `Centres of Advanced Studies in Education and Psy- chology', but it has not yet become a separate department anywhere in our country. The reasons are many and varied. The NCERT has a full- fledged department of educational psychology, the largest in the country. Since 1973, it has been a specialized centre for instruction at the master's degree level in psychology.
Educational psychology has been included in all teacher training curricula in India. Its use in qualitative improvement in education, improvement of the cognitive functioning of children, and selection of curriculum is becoming increasingly widespread. Buch (1972) made the pioneering attempt at a comprehensive review of all researches in educational psychology done in India. Most of the studies he reviewed were replications and adaptations; very few dealt with Indian ecology relevant to educational practice in India. Further, educational psychology as is being taught under teacher-training curricula in departments of psychology are entirely different in approach and emphasis, which rather retards the progress of the discipline. Consistent, coordinated research in the area is what is missing. Under these conditions, one has to look into the progress in educational psychology in India.
Backdrop Psychology of education is an independent discipline primarily devoted to the understanding of the teaching-learning processes, pupil-teacher characteristics, individual differences, measurement and evaluation of learning outcomes, mental health, learning and cognition, development of personality, behaviour and motivation, classroom organization, curricular planning, learning environments and other related areas. There is a growing body of literature that has contributed to the development of this discipline in our country during the past three decades. The present report traces the trends in this development, raises issues and outlines future directions.
The coverage of this review includes a brief overview of the earlier trend reports and doctoral dissertations, project reports and reported research in the area so that, while reading the present report, researchers will be exposed to the frames of reference of the earlier publications so that they may better appreciate the nature and quantum of progress in the field. The main thrust has been to present major highlights.
II. THE 1970s In recent years educational psychology has significantly contributed to theory development and influenced educational practice. Significant attempts have been made at the individual (Krishnan, 1961; Sukhia et al., 1963; Deo, 1968; Kuppuswamy, 1968; Pareek, 1968; Buch,
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1972) and at institutional level (NCERT, 1966a, 1966b, 1968a) to collate and disseminate the findings of educational psychology researches done in India. The review article by Buch (1972) presented a comprehensive coverage of research in different areas of educational psychology as it was generally conceived prior to the 1970s. The review identified major trends as well as gaps in research and suggested future research directions based on doctoral, pre-doctoral research and published research articles up to 1970.
Since the review by Buch (1972) was the first systematic attempt to present trends in educational psychology, it is considered necessary that certain of its highlights should be mentioned here to provide continuity and indicate growth. In the areas of attitude measurement, studies have related attitudes towards school subjects, achievement in those subjects, attitudes towards teacher, discipline system and achievement and teacher attitudes. Interventions for change and development of attitudes are conspicuously absent in the literature. Quite a few studies analysed adjustment processes of high school and college students in relation to sex, SES, needs, anxiety, insecurity, etc., but studies on how pupils at different levels of schooling come with frustrations have received only fragmented attention. A large number of studies during the decade ending 1970 concentrated on development and standardization of achievement tests, intelligence tests, aptitude tests, and personality inventories (NCERT, 1966b, 1968c). As regards research on achievement testing, as Buch (1972) has rightly stated, The studies cover different aspects of the problem, no doubt; but most of them are repetitive or confirmatory in nature and their quality is also doubtful since many of these studies suffer from limited samples and faulty designs. Research in the area of psycho-motor development and education of the disabled are extremely limited and much remains to be done. Not much work has been done to improve the efficacy of a large number of training programmes for guidance workers. No studies are available on the theoretical foundations of guidance and counselling, vocational adjustment and development. Tools for assessing various capabilities have remained at an embryonic stage. Research on characteristics of educational personnel is largely unknown. However, several studies have painstakingly concentrated upon the identification of attributes of teaching effectiveness and/or teaching aptitudes. The researches have failed to emerge from a sound theory of teaching (Mitra, 1970). No serious attempt has been made to understand school learning that constitutes the core of educational psychology. Academic achievement has been analysed in relation to cognitive, effective, ecological, and organismic variables, including personality characteristics, predomi- nantly at the high school stage. Such researches have given rise to confusion due to the application of various tools of questionable validity on heterogeneous samples, inadequate control of variables, ill defined personality traits, use of diverse criteria for identifying over-and under- achievers and weakness in the tests of significance used. Buch (1972) commenting upon poor and good achievers remarked, `Despite the availability of valuable lead from the studies already done lack of well-planned attempts is apparent'.
Research in the area of teaching methods included studies of programmed instruction and the use of audiovisual aids. Details on teaching methods are available in NCERT (1968b) but these studies are M.Ed. dissertations whose validity is doubtful. The efficacy of pro- grammed learning has been demonstrated in a limited number of studies. Research in the use of AV aids has failed to attract researchers, which in fact affects the process of teaching vitally.
Even at the cost of being repetitive, it seems worth quoting Buch's (1972) views against the background of which the progress of research can be judged after 1970. He has stated:
With the paucity of research institutions and still greater paucity of research workers, the present low output of research is not surprising. The situation causes greater concern in view of the the fact that, even with the limited number of institutions and research workers, there is duplication and overlapping in research efforts at many places. One of the reasons for this state of affairs is that planning and coordination of research has neither been taken up by any voluntary organization of professional workers nor by sponsored agencies of the Union Government.
III. CURRENT RESEARCH TRENDS
Learner Characteristics The importance of characteristics of learners in relation to instructional effectiveness has been a major theme in educational psychology (Corno & Snow, 1986). Rather than identifying static traits, current research emphasizes a more dynamic, process-oriented
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approach to learner characteristics (Brown, et al., 1983, Snow & Lohman, 1984). How do researches conducted in India contribute to this trend of thinking? Although there are varieties of characteristics the present review has looked at the major characteristics.
Personality and Self-Concept In the field of school learning, personality factors are quite significantly influential. Personality factors were in fact late being recognized compared to cognitive factors determining achievement and related behaviour. The present section summarizes studies relating to personality, its correlates and antecedent conditions, and finally its effect on behaviour.
Mathew (1969) analysed the personality profiles of students reading in different fields of science, humanities, commerce, engineering, medicine, law, agriculture, etc. and observed significant differences in value patterns and vocational interests for males and females. Conformity behaviour was studied in relation to certain basic personality traits and was found to have had a negative relationship with extraversion and authoritarianism (Prasad, 1971). Flexibility and rigidity among Indian students was studied by Ansari (1974) using 400 college students. Rigidity was not related to sex, parental occupational goals, type of education or regional dif- ferences. Personality differences using Junior and Senior HSPQ were observed among normal, vagabond and delinquent children (Lahri, 1977). Incidental sampling delimits the scope of the generalizations obtained. Self-disclosure, self-acceptance, and anxiety were investigated using 300 college students under a stratified random selection procedure. Self-disclosure and self-acceptance were related except for undergraduate boys. Self-disclosure had no significant relationship with anxiety while self-acceptance had a negative relationship with anxiety. Girls tended to be more self-accepting than boys (Malik, 1978). Sharma (1981) made a comparative study of neuroticism, extraversion, achievement motivation and adjustment of tribal, rural and urban youths of Himachal Pradesh in relation to sex. Significant main effects were obtained for area (urban/rural) and sex.
Sex role attitudes constitute a specific personality dimension in terms of sex role identifications. Narinderbal (1981), selecting a sample from. Chandigarh and Punjab measured sex role attitudes using standard tools and techniques. Quite a few significant conclusions emerged on formation of sex role attitudes, especially for females. Conservatism, anxiety level, ego strength, need for achievement appeared, among others, to be significant correlates. In a subsequent study of Chaube (1982), high-school girls appeared more critical and showed lower mental capacity in solving problems than boys. Similarly, students who participated in sports were of different types to non-sportsmen (Johnson, 1982).
The personality of arts, science and agriculture students at the + 2 stage was analysed, using purposive and incidental sampling (Chatterji, 1983), and group differences were noticed in extraversion, neuroticism, intelligence, and achievement motivation. These findings must be viewed with caution because of the nature of the sampling. Similarly, personality differences were observed between over- and under-achievers (Gupta, 1983) and according to a sociometric index (Pandey, 1985).
Age did not affect self-concept, a finding which contradicts earlier reports whereas it did influence n-ach. SES was related positively to self-concept and achievement motivation (Bharathi, 1984). Personality is a product of socio-cultural factors (Singh, 1985) but the author should have used more rigorous statistical analysis.
A series of studies related to understanding the personality characteristics of the superior children (Arya, 1984; Singh, S.D., 1983; Patil, 1982; Singh, K.K., 1985; Verma, 1983), mentally retarded children (Savitri, 1986), school dropouts (Singh, G., 1984). Personality and adjustments of emotionally disturbed adolescents have been studied in relation to home and school environment (Rawal, 1984); psychodynamic background (Singhal, 1984), students belonging to different academic disciplines (Sharma, S., 1982; Jahan, 1985); po- litical affiliations (Tripathy, 1982); creative writers (Tiwana, 1982), unemployed and employed youth (Tiwari, 1986); sportsmen and non-sportsmen (Sharma, D.V., 1984); Yogis (Vishal, 1985); male and female adolescents (Srivastava, 1982).
The next aspect is analysis of trends regarding antecedents and correlates of personality traits.
Jain (1974) examined extreme response style as a personality factor. In a well-designed study, the author made it explicit that ERS operated more consistently in females than in males. In a subsequent investigation, rigidity was related to dominance, introversion and neuroticism (Ansari, 1974). Role of sex and creativity among young adults was examined on their adjustment vs. anxiety, introversion vs. extraversion, pathemia vs. cortestia, subduedness vs. independence. Age and sex
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had significant effects but the study suffers from post-facto comparisons (Gupta, 1975). Self-ideal discrepancy was studied in relation to personality typology by Harigopal (1975) using 333 postgraduate students without specifying any sampling procedure. Several conclusions were drawn by reanalysing data and finding out relationship using simple correlations. Improved study design and analysis would have contributed towards deriving meaningful conclusions.
Parental deprivation is an antecedent condition for personality development. This was demonstrated in the case of denotified tribes (Khan, 1976) using stratified cluster sampling. Parental acceptance and rejection have a significant relation with personality of children (Sandhu, 1986). Controversial conclusions were drawn on the problem in another investigation (Agarwal, 1981).
Personality correlates of religious beliefs, and materialism- spiritualism orientations of students of Kerala were studied by Krishnan (1981). About 500 secondary school and 700 undergraduate students constituted the sample of the study stratified on the basis of residence, sex and type of school. No clear-cut conclusion was observed. On the other hand, Pramanick (1981) very clearly demonstrated the influence of child rearing practices upon the personality of adults.
While no sex difference was observed in self-concept, family and school contributed to its development in a consistent manner (Kale, 1982). According to Prasad (1982), anxiety, insecurity, self-role, incongruence and self-satisfactors were the factors that stabilized self-concept. The relationship between self-concept adjustment, values, academic achievement, SES and sex were examined at high school level (Sarswat, 1982). A differential pattern of relationship was observed for boys and girls based on multiple regression analysis,
Caste membership, age, sex, education, occupation and political affiliation did not influence achievement responsibility but income level of the family did (Pandey, 1983). Alienated students had different personality profiles (Pattanaik, 1983; Joginder, 1984). So- cial conformity as a trait was not related to affiliation, need achievement, extraversion, dominance, and anxiety (Singh, 1983). Self-concept, dependency, and adjustment patterns of institutionalised pre-adolescents were related to each other (Gupta, 1984). Personality differences were observed among adolescent girls as a function of sociometric status (Malik, 1984).
Family structure, ordinal position and grand-parents did not influence the social competence of pre-school children but reward and punishment did. With age, social competence increased (Shukla, 1984). Attitudes as a process and product influence and are influenced by personality (Bhardwaj, 1985). Disproportionate sampling and a faulty measure of moral development were responsible for lack of significant differences in personality patterns of morally developed and non- developed adolescents (Agarwal, 1985). Academic achievement is a significant correlate of self-concept, self-disclosure, and feeling of self (Panwar, 1986). Attribution of success and failure in school has multiple antecedents (Sharma, 1986). Recently, Beharwal (1987) used locus of control and attribution of responsibility for success and failure upon students (CA 14-16) of varying SES, n-ach, sex, in a factorial study and observed family environment and self-confidence as the more important determinants rather than task difficulty.
The next categories of studies deal with effect of personality upon behaviour and/or inter-relationships between different traits. Bhusan (1968) demonstrated a significant relationship between personality factors and preference for authoritarian or democratic leadership behaviour using standard personality inventories on 400 college undergraduates. The relationship between personality factors (16 PF) and creativity was explored in relation to sex and age, but statistically inadequate analysis procedures used by the author (Chauhan, 1978) failed to bring the observed relationships and/or differences into focus. Personality factors affected interest patterns of adolescents (Sharma, 1982). Anxiety affected interest, independent of sex.
Personality characteristics underwent significant changes as a result of training in physical education (Banga, 1983), sex education (Desai, 1985), and among children who were brought up by working and nonworking mothers (Kale, 1986).
Interrelationships among creativity, ego-strength, and extraversion were empirically studied on 252 college students and were reported (Kundu, 1984).
Personality as revealed in terms of basic need structure and self-concept had a significant bearing on adjustment (Pandit, 1985), but had the investigator used random sampling and selected subjects over a wider age range than 15-18, the findings would have received greater recognition and acceptance. Self-image, self-disclosure and self-observation of the behaviour pattern among socially advantaged and disadvantaged school-going adolescents were reported by Tripathi (1986) using multi-stage random sampling techniques.
The studies in general have been confined to surveys
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of certain stereotyped traits, using incidental sampling and inadequate data analysis. The findings must, therefore, to be interpreted with caution. However, subcultural differences as indexed by SES was seen without much of in-depth analysis. The trend of being repetitive, drawing equivocal conclusions, and using disproportionate samples are present in most of these studies. Parental child rearing variables were more emphasized than organismic variables such as age, sex, education, occupation, political affiliation, family structure, and ordinal position as personality correlates. Measurements of effects of personality on other kinds of behaviour have yet remained in an embryonic stage and suffer from weak conceptual foundations. They only reflect the interplay of random variables in problem formulation, with but a few exceptions, as already indicated.
Motivation Previous reviews by Rao, Mehta and Rao (1979) indicate growing interest in achievement-motivation research covering the period 1967- 75. The research has primarily concentrated on the antecedents of n- ach, n-ach and achievement relationships, development of n-ach measures, and motivation training. The intervention studies to enhance n-ach among school children are a remarkable feature of research on the Indian scene. As the authors stated, `viewed broadly, researches on motivation' in general and achievement motivation in particular seem to be developing fast, touching many new areas.
Studies reported during the period under review also take three different directions: assessment of n-ach, correlates of n-ach, and effects of n-ach on achievement.
Bhagyavathy (1983) found highly self-actualized students to be more internal and flexible as measured by a standardized self- actualization inventory, the I-E scale, the flexibility rigidity scale, goals and aspirations. Students differed according to academic streams, level of education, peer-group culture and economic status, but instead of using a X2 analysis for testing each factor, a multiple-regression analysis would have yielded more accurate findings. A similar finding was obtained by Harmeet (1984), parental behaviour as shown in terms of mother's love, affection, father's permissiveness and love were related to n-ach. Rejection was negatively related to n-ach. Family size and social class were related curvilinearly and negatively with n-ach (Ojha, 1973). Birth- order and n-ach were not related even when the relationships were analysed in relation to SES, family size, and class differences (Mishra, 1974). Child-rearing and personality factors were found to be antecedent variables as revealed in a factorial study that involved experimental manipulations of success-failure dimensions (Sinha, B.P., 1976). Achievement motivation and intelligence were related. N-ach emerged as a complex achievement measure in both males and females but with loadings of entirely different sets of factors (Jerath, 1979).
McClelland's affection-arousal model of motivation was tested in male university students (CA 18-25). N-ach was significant in all achievement-related words, statements and GSR (Khanna, 1982) measures. N-achievement and perceived parental behaviour relationships were found in the case of tribal and non-tribal secondary school students (Lalitha, 1982). Prolonged deprivation had negative effects on the achievement and level of aspiration (Singh, R.D., 1983). Several fac- tors contributing to development of levels of aspiration were identified (Prakash, 1984) in well-designed factorial study involving area; sex, caste, risk-taking, and focus of control. The N-ach and achievement relationship is an established finding which was simply corroborated by Reddy (1983). Frustration reactions are also influenced by the level of n-ach (Gyanoni, 1984).
In another study, Ahluwalia (1985) found no relationship between sex, age, birth order, economic status, size of family, father's occupation and organizational climate on the one hand and n-ach on the other.
Similar studies have been undertaken (Mansari, 1986; Tripathy, 1986) to identify psycho-social factors underlying n-ach. Prejudices influenced achievement motivation in a negative way (Sinha, J., 1986). Level of achievement motivation determined the level of concept acquisition when intelligence was controlled (Jain, S., 1983).
Achievement motivation is a complex area in terms of concept and measurement. However, the studies mentioned above attempted quite reliably to measure its nature, correlates and effects on behaviour. Studies relating to training for enhancing achievement motivation are very rare (Raghava, 1985).
Intelligence From the researches conducted during 1971-76 it seems that there is shift in emphasis from the conventional approach to intelligence to identification of the information-processing variables underlying intellectual abilities. Normative and status studies are in the
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process of being weaned out.
The post-1976 studies are more concerned with finding out the relationship of intelligence with other personality variables (Gupta, V.K., 1976; Gupta, O.V., 1977; Sahai, 1985; Singh, R., 1986; Sharma, K, 1981; Prakash, 1986; Kumari, S., 1982). These studies are correlational in nature. They have tried to show that intelligence is not related to an extreme response style (Gupta, V.K., 1977) and is differentially present among differnt sociometric groups of students (Kumari, S., 1982). Intelligence was related to n-ach, extraversion- introversion, socio-cultural status, academic achievement (Singh, R., 1986; Prakash, 1986) and self-identity (Sahai, S.K., 1985). The conclusions drawn on the basis of simple correlations need further partialling out of the confounding and contributing variables to the observed relationships. Further, absence of group differences should not be construed as the presence of relationships in a straightforward way. In any case, these studies failed to demonstrate any invocative character or new, relationships found in the literature.
It seems research on intelligence has been revitalised by cognitive approaches.
Attitudes, Interests, and Aspirations Pupil and teacher attitude studies are quite common in behavioural science. The earlier period was also characterized by measurement of attitudes to various socio-educational issues-primarily survey type in character. Similar was the trend with regard to assessment of interest and vocational aspirations.
The period under review is not strikingly different from the earlier one (Sinha, S.K., 1977) reported negative attitudes towards the present examination system using a Likert-type questionnaire among university Students, teachers and guardians. Jayakumari (1981) as- sessed communal and inter-ethnic attitudes among postgraduate students representing different groups and demonstrated the presence of prejudice towards other communities. Prasad (1983) factor-analysed the attitude scales of nationalism, religiosity, and demonstrated personality differentials in attitude components. Dani (1984) measured scientific attitudes a sample of 1265 students based on stratified cluster sampling as well as purposive sampling, along with their cognitive styles. In general, a large majority of students pos- sessed positive scientific attitudes and certain correlates were identified using regression analysis. Attitudes of students towards alcoholism. communalism, corruption, dowry and poverty were measured in relation to sex, educational level, SES, using random sampling procedures (Agarwal, 1984). Attitudes score distributions on all issues were non-normal. It was more an opinion study than an attitude measurement, as revealed by the nature of the test and analysis procedures. Family life attitudes of educated women and girl students were compared (Sinha, M., 1985).
A series of studies dealt with attitudes towards physical education programmes in school (Desai, 1986; Grewal, 1986). Sex and educational level differences did not differentiate attitudes but rural-urban differences were seen (Desai, 1986) and SES differences were reported in the latter study (Grewal, 1986).
Attitudes towards the students union among undergraduates was analysed and correlates were identified (family background, SES, self- concept, political affiliation, etc.). Personality correlates of attitudes and attitude change have been identified (Akhtar, 1970).
Upadhyaya (1984) reported a comparative study of attitudes, values, and motivation of pupil-teachers between Sanskrit and Hindi universities but the sampling and rationale cause concern for the validity of the findings.
In general, the studies reveal a lack of seriousness in thinking, procedure and analysis. There is a tendency to develop an attitude scale using inadequately rigorous procedures and use it in surveys. No attempt has been made to study/bring about attitude changes and use experimental procedures which would raise studies on attitudes to a much higher level of sophistication.
The relation between range and depth of interest of 46 teacher- trainees was analysed on the basis of teacher's rating (Das, 1974). The study by Joshi (1983) analysed interest of higher secondary students in relation to parents education, SES, location, emotional stability and self-sufficiency using standardized scales on each measure in a factorially designed study. Differences in interest patterns were attributed to psycho-social variables. Jain (1984) made a developmental analysis in a normative study of interests of school students as related to certain demographic (age, rural-urban, SES, streams of education) and personality variables (extraversion- introversion). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated the magnitude of contribution of each of the variables. Family and peer group did influence vocational interests of adolescent students studying in different types of schools (Sharma. S., 1986). Personality and motivation-level significantly influenced the range of activities of students (Das Gupta, 1986). Inter-
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est patterns of professionals and civil servants are also different (Sharma, H.L., 1986) as analysed in a factorial study. Her study included 150 engineers and 150 civil servants. Intelligence level was also related to interest (Kumar, K., 1966).
An observation of most of these studies reveals a sincere attempt to identify the correlates of interests in different samples which would provide the basis for designing intervention. At the same time, a few others, as mentioned here, do not have scientific rigor.
Aspirations, especially occupational aspirations, have been studied in relation to motivational determinants (Kumar, et al., 1986; Dabir, 1986), intelligence, creativity and SES (Bharadwaj, 1978), residential background, SES (Mehta, Mathur, & Pant, 1985) and effects of vocational interests on job satisfaction (Kakkar, 1983). The factors underlying the motivation of B.Ed correspondence course students have been very exhaustively and intensively studied by Kumar, et al. (1986 were in the positive direction in terms of increasing professional competence of in-service teachers. Dabir's study (1986) was in another direction. Vocational aspirations were not consistent with aptitudes but with SES/ n-ach vocational aspirations were highly related. These conclusions were based on multiple regression and cluster analysis. Regarding the role of intelligence, creativity, SES, status with vocational interests of college students, the study of Bharadwaj (1978) is one of the pioneering attempts, but the findings are so specific that generalizations are hard to make. On the other hand, Mehta, Mathur and Pant (1985) made very candid ob- servations: Residential status and intelligence did not influence level of occupational aspiration of adolescents. There was a strong evidence of sex differences on level, of occupational aspiration in favour of girls in a semi-urban set-up. For boys, scholastic achievement predicted occupational aspiration level but not SES, in- telligence, and personality, whereas it was true for girls. Vocational interests determined job satisfaction (Kakkar, 1983).
The nature of studies under this group reveals very clearly the same trend as that of attitudes and interests, i.e. understanding the correlates and background factors behind occupational aspirations is the major thrust in these researches.
Values and Moral Development Value education occupies a central place in the new curriculum under the National Policy on Education and is very much emphasized. A few studies have been reported on development of values, moral development, antecedent conditions and their interrelationship with personality characteristics.
Bandopadhyaya (1981) enunciated the growth and development of moral judgement in children, following the Piagetian tradition, and indicated linear progression as a function of age. Age, sex, and educational-level differences in moral judgement were observed by Prahallada (1982). Paul (1986) factor-analysed value orientations and observed group differences in values among rural/urban, boys and girls, and with level of schooling. The study was based on analysis of independent and interactive effects. Religious, moral and social values were studied among rural/urban, higher secondary pupils (Zaman, 1982). Rural children were significantly at a higher level than the urban sample in these values. Moral concepts and values develop at a differential rate among first and second generation learners (Kothari, 1983). The study further confirmed better inter-personal relationships among parents and children as a prelude to moral development. The study design and tests used warrant the generalizations. Annamma (1984) analysed values, aspirations and ad- justments of college students in Kerala. The study was based on stratified random sampling and yielded conformity as the single important value without any rebellious tendencies. Younger students were more spiritual. In each caste-group, girls had better value systems than boys (Soni, 1984).
The structure of values among the deviants are strikingly different and are influenced by a host of unrelated factors like creativity and age (Roy, A., 1982). In a philosophical-historical study, Sharma, R.P. (1985) outlined the nature and development of human personality in ancient Indian thought. College students showed a distinctive set of social values and aspirations in a study-reported by Annamma (1984).
The second line of research in the area-of value and moral judgement has been on identification of antecedents.
Maternal disciplinary practices and their contribution to moral development/judgement was studied (Saraswathi, 1978). Maternal power assertion was negatively related to moral development, whereas maternal induction was positively related. Differential effects were seen with respect to boys and girls. The findings of Bandopadhyaya (1981) are distinctly similar to the above generalization regarding the role of maternal disciplinary. practices and value development. Garg's
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(1983) study which looked at parental disciplinary practices and their relation to the development of personality, needs, and moral judgement and problem-solving ability was a methodologically weak, ex post facto study with a small sample (N-27) using simply a correlational technique. Parental attitudes and prolonged deprivational level had significant influence on value development. Type of school and positive parental attitudes affected moral judgement in a positive manner, whereas prolonged deprivation had a negative impact on de- velopment of values (Singh, R.S., 1983). Annamma (1984) did not obtain a significant relation between father's education and occupation and value development among college students, but size of family was positively related. Values also are outcomes of subculture and are responsible for creating sub-cultures at a college level (Sharma, R., 1985). Bhargava (1986) analysed the development of values in a concrete and formal operational period and related it to home and educational environment. There is a developmental, rend in value development, and home environment is a positive contributing factor for its acceleration, including teaching methods and co- curricular activities.
Finding out the relationship between patterns of values and other personality traits such as intelligence, creativity and adjustment, has been another way of looking at values. Kumari (1975) did not find such relationships among adolescents, excepting values and adjustment patterns. Use of one simple correlation procedure has confounded the results. Bandopadhyaya (1981) reported a significant positive relationship between values and intelligence, irrespective of age, sex, and type of school. Gandhian values were studied (Bhargava,1981) and a significant relationship between Gandhian values and achievement was observed among other measures. Prahallada (1982) used stratified random sampling techniques in drawing samples from science, arts and commerce colleges. While differences in moral judgement were attributed to sex, level of education and age, moral values were related positively to SES and Personality adjustment. Social, reli- gious, and moral values influenced Personality characteristics of adolescents unevenly (Zaman, 1982). Kulshreshtha (1983) observed that value orientations affected the concept of self in adolescence in both male and female students of varying interest patterns. A normative study (Patni, 1983) outlines the value-pattern of college girls in relation to their academic disciplines.
At various levels of SES, an attempt was made to interrelate values, adjustment and attitudes of pupil- teachers (Rao, 1986). The factors which emerged as of significant commonality were: adjustment, attitude, citizenship, aesthetics, health and hedonistic values among significant others.
Panda, A. (1985) made a comprehensive analysis of value patterns, aspirations, perception of self and society by women teachers and trainees coming from tribal and scheduled-caste communities and drew implications for inculcating such values among children. The studies indicate the use of sophisticated methodology and appropriate value measures.
Correlates of Achievement Anand and Dave (1979) reviewed the literature on correlates of achievement over 1972-78. The trend report was organized according to general correlates. SES, personality, curriculum organization, and over- and underachievement. Intelligence, n-ach, parental encourage- ment, emotional climate and educational facilities in the home were related to academic achievement. Most of the studies on SES and academic achievement are replications or repetitions, establishing the same functional relationship between SES and achievement as earlier reported in the Survey of Research in Educational Psychology (Buch, 1972). Personality studies identified certain values, motives, and non-cognitive traits influencing achievement. While n-achievement was found to be a prerequisite to high academic achievement, manifest anxiety and extraversion were found to be negatively related to achievment. Anand and Dave (1979) observed some clear trends in research in this area. Research on correlates of academic achievement is fairly extensive, developmental and trait-oriented, but replicate western studies, constitute post-facto analyses and are curriculum- oriented. Horizontal research also characterizes Indian research studies in this area. More in-depth studies was a felt need.
Cognitive Growth and Processes Much more emphasis has been laid on the cognitive functioning of children in school learning than upon effective processes. Several studies have been reported in the Third Survey of Research in Education (Buch, 1986)