Chapter – 2

Understanding the Self

In this post, we have given the Important Questions of Class 11 Home Science Chapter 2 (Understanding the Self) in English. These Important Questions are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 12 board exams.

Board	CBSE Board, UP Board, JAC Board, Bihar Board, HBSE Board, UBSE Board, PSEB Board, RBSE Board
Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class 11
Subject	Home Science
Chapter no.	Chapter 2
Chapter Name	(Understanding the Self)
Category	Class 11 Home Science Important Questions in English
Medium	English

Chapter 2 Understanding The Self

Very Short Answer Questions (1 mark)

Q1. What do you understand by Self?

Ans. The idea that we hold of ourselves is the notion of the self. It refers to the totality of a person’s experiences, ideas, thoughts etc.

Q2. What do you mean by Self- concept?

Ans. It is a description of self, includes our qualities, feelings and thoughts.

Q3. What do you mean by Self- esteem?

Ans. It is the judgement of ourselves according to the standards we have set. This is largely influenced by society.

Q4. What do you mean by Personal Identity?

Ans. Attributes of a person that make her different from others.

Q5. What is Social Identity?

Ans. Those aspects of the person that link her to a group- professional, social or cultural.

Q6. At what age, self- recognition starts in Infancy?

Ans. At 18 months, they start self- recognition and use words like my, mine, me.

Q7. By which age the child starts recognizing himself in photo?

Ans. By 2 Years of age.

Q8. By which age the child starts speaking fluently?

Ans. By 3 years of age.

Q9. Children in early childhood overestimates themselves in describing self. Explain with example?

Ans. I am never scared.

Q10. A what stage self-evaluation becomes more complex?

Ans. During middle childhood.

Q11. Which stage of life is important for the development of identity?

Ans. Adolescence because in this stage there is enhanced focus on development of self.

Q12. Growth spurt is the characteristic of which stage of life?

Ans. Infancy and adolescence stage.

Q13. How does adolescent describe self?

Ans. They describe self on the basis of inner aspects of their personality. Ex. Quiet, sensitive, cool headed etc.

Q14. Explain with examples how adolescent’s self carries contradictions?

Ans. Examples –

• “I am calm but easily gets disturbed”.
• “I am quiet and also talkative”.

Q15. What do you mean by Puberty?

Ans. The time when sexual maturity is achieved is called puberty.

Q16. What do you mean by affectionate parenting?

Ans. It means that the parents are warm, loving and supportive of the child’s effort and accomplishment.

Q17. Define adolescence?

Ans. When the child is between childhood and adulthood is called adolescent stage. This is also the stage of maximum growth spurt.

Q18. What do you mean by cognitive changes?

Ans. Changes in thinking that takes place from infancy to adolescence are call cognitive changes.

Q19. What is peer pressure?

Ans. Adolescence is the period when there is strong need for support and acceptance from peers. This is the period when adolescents tend to lean more towards their friends.

Q20. What do you mean by ideal self?

Ans. When adolescence want to develop themselves in the ideal way example – when a short girl wants to increase her height.

Short Answer Questions (2 marks)

Q1. Write two concepts related to self-identity?

Ans. Two concepts related to self are

• Identity – How you are different from others.
• Personality – self aspect, which are associated with you only.

Q2. Give definition of self?

Ans. It refers to the totality of a person experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings with regard to herself.

Q3. Write the characteristics of self during early childhood?

Ans. During this stage the child uses physical description of their self and material possessions to differentiate themselves from others. For example- ‘’tall, big’’. They did not do comparisons with others in this stage.

Q4. What is the difference between ideal self and real self?

Ans. Ideal self – what they want to have or think are most important for them example- ‘’I want to be tall’’.

Real self- actual competencies they have example- ‘’I am actually quite short’’.

Q5. In all the cultures, adolescence is filled with disagreements and dilemmas. Explain.

Ans. This is true that in all culture’s adolescence is accompanied with dilemmas as to what is done, how it is done, to become independent, career, identity, disagreement from parents on various subjects etc. can be seen in this stage.

Q6. Tell about description of self during adolescence. In which stage do they stress on their internal qualities?

Ans. Self-description during the period of adolescence – they lay emphasis on themselves on abstract or inner aspects of their personality. They may use words as quiet, sensitive, cool headed, brave, truthful or emotional for themselves.

Q7. How does development of self take place during adolescence?

Ans. This is an ongoing process. Self develops as a result of what you learn about yourself through experiences and what others tell you about yourself.

Q8. Classify the influences on the formation of Identity?

Ans. Classification –

• Biological and physical changes
• Socio-cultural contexts including family and peer relationships
• Emotional changes
• Cognitive changes

Q9. How development of Identity is different in our culture as compared to western culture?

Ans. Development of Identity –

• In Indian context majority of adolescence are fairly dependent on parents, whereas in western culture adolescence are expected to be fairly independent
• Adolescents are expected to move away from the family to set up their own home in western context whereas in Indian context, parents exercise their control over them.

Long Answer Questions (3 Marks)

Q1. Describe self during Infancy stage?

Ans. Self during infancy –

• Infant doesn’t realize that he or she is separate and distinct from others example – ‘’if they bring hand in front of his face and looks at it, he does not realize that these are his hands’’.
• Around 18 months of age self-image recognition emerges.
• Infants begin to use personal pronouns like- ‘’I, me, mine’’.
• They also begin to recognize themselves in photographs by two years of age.

Q2. Why is adolescence a critical time for identity development?

Ans. Adolescence is a period critical for identity development because there is an enhanced focus on development of self. This is because of three reasonsThis is time when person is preoccupied with trying to know oneself. Towards end of adolescence, individual creates a lasting sense of selfhood and identity and can say, ‘’this is who I am’’. The individual identity is influenced by rapid biological changes and changing social demands.

Q3. Rinku and Tinku are twins. How will you say that their identity is different or not?

Ans. We all have different identity. If there are twins then also their sense of self would be different from each other. There are several reasons for it –

• Each one of us have a unique combination of genes.
• Each one of us have different experiences.
• Even if we have similar experiences, we respond to these in different ways.

Q4. In adolescence one can experience peer pressure. Explain this?

Ans. Adolescence is a period when there is a strong need for support and acceptance from their peers. Adolescent may tend to lean towards their friends as compared to their parents. Peer pressure can have both positive and negative effects.

• Positive effect – when adolescents progress in right direction and are aware of their career and healthy competition ahead.
• Negative effect – When they indulge in harmful behavior such as smoking, drugs or alcohol.

Very Long Answer Questions (4 Marks)

Q1. Explain the physical and biological changes occurring in boys and girls?

Ans. The period of adolescence is marked by universal physical and biological changes in the body. These changes lead to attainment of sexual maturity which is called Puberty. Following is the list of changes in girls and boys

Girls-

• Initial enlargement of breasts
• Straight pigmented pubic hair
• Age of maximum growth
• Menarche

Boys-

• Growth of testes
• Early voice changes
• First ejaculation of semen
• Age of maximum growth
• Voice changes

Q2. Explain how a family can help in the sense of Identity of adolescence?

Ans. During adolescence, identity formation is enhanced by family relationships. Where there is firm and affectionate parenting, it fosters healthy development of Identity. Here the parents often praise the child, show enthusiasm in his activities and respond sensitively to his feelings. However, adolescents try to spend more time with their peer group and sometimes have difference of opinion with the parents. The parents should understand that youth have their own emotions and should be respected for their decisions and should encourage their small accomplishments. This will also boost their confidence level.

Long Answer Questions (5 Marks)

Q1. Write the characteristics of self during early childhood?

Ans. Following are the five main characteristics of children’s understanding of themselves-

• They use physical descriptions of themselves and use simple words like- “tall or big’’.
• The clothes they wear or the toys / objects they have, their self – description involves that also.
• They describe themselves in terms of things they can do example- “I can ride a cycle’’, “I can count’’.
• Self-description is in concrete terms example- “I have a television’’.
• They often overestimate themselves Ex.- “I know all the poems’’, but may not remember them completely.
• They are unable to recognize that they can possess different attributes, example – they can be “good and bad’’, “mean and nice’’ at different points in time.

Q2. How does self, develops during middle childhood?

Ans. During this period, self-evaluation becomes more complex. There are five following changes –

• Child describes herself in terms of internal characteristics example- “I am good at making friends’’.
• Child description include, social description and identity.
• Defines themselves in terms of groups they belong to, example- “I am in the music Choir in school’’.
• Begin to make social comparison example- “I can run faster than Kiran”.
• Begin to distinguish between their real self and ideal self. Can differentiate between their actual competencies and those they want to achieve.
• The self-description become more realistic as compared to preschool child. This is due to the ability to see things and situations from the point of view of others.

Q3. Rahul is a youth and seems to be in a dilemma. Give him suggestions regarding this stage?

Ans. Dilemma and confusion are normal characteristics of adolescence stage. Also, Rahul should be made to understand that he can discuss his problems with his parents, friends and teachers. All people have different outlook to solve their problems, he should discuss his dilemmas with others and should exert control over his emotions.

Characteristics of this stage are –

• Adolescence likely to emphasize the inner aspect of the personality while describing themselves and they use words as – truthful, brave, sensitive, etc.
• In this stage, youth is busy in in developing his own identity and behaves like grown up people, but in several instances, they have been told that you are not grown up, you are not experienced and behave like a kid. So they feel that there is dilemma in there societal roles.
• Adolescence experiences fluctuating sense of self. They experience diverse situation and respond to different experiences. They describe themselves in a conflicting manner like- ‘’I am calm but gets very easily disturbed’’.
• In this stage adolescents have the “ideal self and the real self’’, but ideal self becomes more prominent now. They would like to develop Ideal self for themselves for example – a girl may want to be tall but is actually quite short.
• Youth are very conscious about their outlooks and are preoccupied with their image. This gives them a feeling of always being ‘on stage’, that they are always being noticed. This is the reason why most of the adolescence are over concerned about their physical appearances.

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