HCS mains psychology optional syllabus Frontier IAS

HCS mains psychology optional syllabus

HCS Syllabus:  Psychology HCS Mains Optional Syllabus

HPSC HCS mains optional subject syllabus

Part-I: Foundations of Psychology

1. Scope and Methods of Psychology

Relation of psychology with sociology and anthropology. Methods of psychology-observation, interview, questionnaires, experimental methods, test methods, scales, case study. Methodological problems of psychology.
General design of psychological research. Designs in experimental psychology.

2. Biological basis of Psychology: Nerves and synapes, transmission of neural impulses, synaptic transmission. Organisation of the nervous system. Division of nervous system – spinal cord, the brain. Hierarchical structure of the brain–central core, limbic system. Endocrine system in context of human behaviour. Central peripheral nervous system. Genetic influence on behaviour–genetic laws of inheritance, the structure and functions of chromosomes. Reflex action. Localisation of functions in human cortex. Characteristics of sleep and arousal. Stages of sleep. Neural mechanism in sleep.

3. Perception
Meaning, kinds and determinants of attention and vigilance. Perception of form, colour, depth, distance, motion. Theories of colour, vision and hearing. Geometrical illusions (types and theories). Theories of perception. Perceptual organisation. Person perception. Perceptual defence. Transactional approach to perception. Perception and personality. Figural after-effect. Perceptual styles, perceptical abnormalities.

4. Learning
Types of learning. Learning theories. Operant and Classical conditioning. Instrumental conditioning type (appetitive and aversive conditioning). Cognitive learning. Transfer of learning. Perceptual learning. Learning and motivation. Laws of learning. Factors influencing learning. Discrimination learning. Probability learning. Programmed learning.

5. Emotions and Stress
Characteristics of emotional behaviour. Expressions of emotions (emotional reactions). Physiological correlates of emotions. Role of nervous system and endocrine glands in emotions. Theories of emotions : James Lange, Cannon Bard and Schachter. Stress – Stressors (causes of stress)–conflict, change, lack of control, unpredictibility. Coping with stress.

6. MemoryNature of Memory. Methods of reproduction . Factors influencing memory. Stages of memory (encoding storage and retrieval). Theories of memory. Short-term memory. Longterm memory. Measurement of memory. Forgetting reminscence. Theories of forgetting. Causes of forgetting.

7. Thinking
Nature and elements of thinking. Images and thinking. Language and thinking. Concept formatiion. Creative thinking. Deductive and Inductive reasioning. Problem solving–Nature and scientific methods of problem solving.

8. Intelligence and Aptitude
Nature of intelligence. Theories of intelligence. Measurement of intelligence. Measurement of creativity. Constancy of I.Q. Aptitude. Measurement of aptitudes. The concept of social intelligence. Types of intelligence and aptitude tests.

9. Motivation
Concept of need, drive, arousal and incentive. Characteristics of motivated behviour. Classification of motives. Extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation. Theories to motivation: psycho-analytic theory, drive theory, need hierarchy theory, vector valence theory. Concept of level of aspiration. Measurement of motivation. The apathetic and the alienated individual. Incentives.

10. Personality
The concept and nature of personality. Development of self, culture and personality. Trait and type approaches. Determinants of personality. Theories of personality: Freud, Allport, Murray, Cettell. The Indian approach to personality–the concept of gunas. Measurement of personality: Subjective techniques, objective techniques and projective techniques.

11. Attitudes and Values
Definition of attitudes. Measurement of attitudes. Characteristics formation and development of social attitude. Theories of attitudes. Balance and cognitive dissonance theory. Attitude measurement. Theories of attitude change. Values. Types of values. Motivational properties of values. Measurement of values.

12. Development of Human Behaviour and Socialization
Effect of heredity, environment and cultural factors on behaviour. Nature, agencies and factors of socialization. Meaning, characteristics and formation of social norms. Meaning and determinants of social roles. Meaning and types of social status.

13. Statistics in Psychology
Frequency distribution. Graphical representation of data. Histogram and polygon. Uses of mean, median, mode. Measures of central tendency variability. Standard deviation. Correlation and its use in psychology. Percentile and percentile ranks. Method for ungrouped data.

Part-II: Issues and Applications of Psychology

1. Individual Differences
Psychological Tests and General Mental ability (intelligence). Types of psychological tests. Characteristics of a good psychological tests (s). Limitation of psychological tests. General mental ability (intelligence)–nature and theories of intelligence : Spearman, Thurston, Guilford, Jensen and Piaget. Heritability of intelligence.

2. Classification of Psychological Disorders
Classifying psychological disorders. Emperical approachs to classification : DSM system of classification. Recuring issues in classification.

3. Abnormal behaviourPsychological disorders. Concept of normalcy and abnormalcy. Causes of abnormal behaviour–biological, psychological and socio–cultural. Structural aspect of Freudian theory and defence mechanism.Neurosis–symptoms, aetiology and treatment. Phobic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, conversion disorder, disossiative disorder. Psychosomatic disorders–hypertension and peptic ulcers. Psychotic disorders – symptoms, aetiology and treatment. Functional Psychosis–depressive disorders, manic depressive psychosis, schizophrenia. Drug abuse – alchohal, narcotics, stimulants (amphetamines), hallucinogens (LSD), marijuana (hashish). Methods of assessing abnormal behaviour.

4. Therapeutic Approaches (Treatment of Abnormalcy).
Psychoanalysis. Behaviour therapy. Client centered therapy. Cognitive therapy. Group therapy.
Chemotherpy–Anti-psychotic drugs, Anti-anxiety drugs. Anti-depressent drugs. ECT.

5. Application of Psychology to Organisational and Industrial settings.
Personnel selection. Training. Work motivation. Job satisfaction. Worker‘s participation in management.

6. Groups
Nature, types and functions of group. Crowd, mob and audience. The concept of small group. Properties of groups. Theories of group behaviour. Measurement of group behaviour. Interpersonal relations. Leadership-Nature, types, qualities, functions. Theories of leadership (Trait theory, complex strait theory, interactional theory).

7. Social Change
Nature and characteristics of social change. Factors and theories of social change. Psychological basis of change. Steps in the change process. Resistance to change. Factors contributing to resistance. Planning for change. The concept of change-proneness. Meaning of social perception. Nature and importance of stereo-types. Nature, factors and theories of propaganda.

8. Psychology and the Problem of Social Integration
The problem of ethnic prejudice. Nature of prejudice. Manifestations of prejudice. Development of prejudice. Measurement of prejudice. Amelioration of prejudice. Prejudice and personality. Steps to achieve social integration.

9. Problems of Contemporary Society
Alcoholism and drug addiction. The socially deviant juvenile delinquency. Crime rehabiliation of the deviant. The problems of the aged.Success and failure of marriage. Divorce, separation. Parental fixation. Sibling rivalary. Special needs children (mentally retarded, blind, orthopaedically and hearing handicapped etc.). Approaches in dealing with them. Their physical, social, psychological and educational problems.