GPSC Prelims and Mains Notes, GPSC Test Series
Functions of attitude Attitudes serve four major functions for the individual: The adjustments function, The ego defensive function, The value expressive function The knowledge function. Ultimately these functions serve people’s need to protect and enhance the image they hold of themselves. In more general terms, these functions are the motivational bases which shape and reinforce … Read more
Social influence Social influence occurs when a person’s emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. In 1958, Harvard psychologist Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence. Compliance is when people appear to … Read more
Political attitude Political Attitude means the beliefs and values which underpin the operation of a particular political system. These attitudes were seen as including knowledge and skills about the operation of the political system positive and negative judgments about the system. These attitudes determine how people participate, whom they vote for and which political parties … Read more
Aptitude An aptitude is a component of a competence to do a certain kind of work at a certain level. Outstanding aptitude can be considered “talent”. An aptitude may be physical or mental. Aptitude is inborn potential to do certain kinds of work whether developed or undeveloped. Ability is developed knowledge, understanding, learned or acquired … Read more
Impartiality and Non-partisanship Impartiality and Non-partisanship Impartiality is a norm of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective standards, instead of on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the advantage to one person over another for unsuitable reasons. Impartiality is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally … Read more
Foundational values for civil services Values are the standards on which, we evaluate things. For every situation we don’t have time to ‘test’ the case on ethics theories such as utilitarianism. Values provide time saving short-cut in such situation. Under New public management (NPM), the concept of public services is fast changing. Bureaucrat has become … Read more
Empathy: Definition The term “empathy” is used to describe a wide range of experiences. Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. Contemporary researchers often differentiate between two types of empathy: “Affective empathy” refers to the sensations … Read more
Urban spheres of influence and rural urban fringe Urban spheres of influence Urban spheres of influence reflect centre-to-hinterland relationship, compared with the non-central region, the centre assumes more complex economic functions, and provides more economic activities. Famous theoretical contributions to this research field are the Central Place Theory (Christaller, 1933), the extension to the Central … Read more
Laws, rules, regulations and conscience as source of ethical guidance High ethical standards for the provision of services and the exercise of authority are a prerequisite if the citizenry is to trust the public service. The goal of these general ethical guidelines is to ensure that all State employees are aware of this. The ethical … Read more
Ethics in private and public relationships An inadequate way of resolving the problem consists in thinking that public ethics should be an exact equivalent of personal ethics. This is the type of solution that Aristotle gives to our problem. For Aristotle, the ethical perfection of man is developed and expressed completely and thoroughly within the … Read more