Learner as an Individual — II (Motivation, Self-concept, Emotions)

About this chapter

'Learner as an Individual — II' continues the discussion and unpacks the affective and motivational factors that shape an upper-primary learner's day-to-day classroom behaviour. It opens with Thorndike's Law of Readiness and the idea of learner preparedness (the Monika–Sudarshan friction-class story), then moves into motivation — McDonald's 1965 definition, Maslow's five-step need hierarchy, the trio of needs–drives–incentives, the intrinsic/extrinsic split, and the four classical approaches (behavioural, humanistic, cognitive, social). It then covers aptitude (cognitive + sensory + psychomotor components; how it differs from intelligence and from achievement; adaptive instructional strategy for high vs low aptitude Class VIII learners — the Rohit / Jenny / Abraham example), attitude (Allport 1935, Schneider 1988, Vaughan and Hogg 1995; positive/negative; the adolescent's rebellious attitude to authority), creativity (divergent thinking, fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, redefinition; Torrance's fostering techniques), interest (subjective and objective aspects; how it changes across adolescence) and curiosity (Einstein quote, seven Torrance-style strategies). CTET Paper 2 tests this chapter heavily — Maslow's pyramid, intrinsic vs extrinsic, aptitude vs intelligence, adolescent attitude shifts and classroom motivation strategies are perennial PYQ topics. The four tests — Practice 15, Quiz 15, Hard 15, Mastery 30 — cover every sub-section at CTET depth, using a Class VI–VIII teacher's classroom as the running context.