Course Information & Syllabus
Semester I
Paper I Introduction to Psychology
- Unit 1.Nature of Psychology
1.1 Definition of Psychology (modern)
1.2 Goals of psychology
1.3 Perspectives of Psychology
1.4 Psychology in Modern India
1.5 Study methods in Psychology
a) Naturalistic Observation
b) Experiment- Variables, groups, Importance of randomization, Experimental Hazards
- Unit 2. Biological Bases of Behaviour
2.1 The Neuron
2.2 The Synapse
2.3 Neurotransmitters
2.4 The Central Nervous System (CNS)
2.5 The Peripheral and Autonomic Nervous System
2.6 Endocrine Glands
- Unit 3. Sensation and Perception
3.1 Sensation
a) What is sensation?
b) Sensory Thresholds
3.2 Perception
a) Definition of Perception
b) Gestalt Principles of Perception
3.3 Factors Influencing Perception
3.4 Application: Make a list of your experienced illusions
- Unit 4. Motivation
4.1 Definition of Motivation
4.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
4.3 Physiological Motives
a) Hunger
b) Thirst
c) Sex
4.4 Social Motives
a) Achievement Motive
b) Aggression Motive
4.5 Application: Techniques of resolving frustration
Semester II
Paper II General Psychology
- Emotion
1.1 Definition of Emotion
1.2 Elements of Emotion
a) The Physiology of Emotion
b) The behavior of Emotion
c) Subjective Experience
1.3 Theories of Emotion
a) James-Lange Theory of Emotion
b) Cannon Bard Theory of Emotion
c) Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion
d) Lazarus and Cognitive- Mediational Theory
1.4 Application: Being Happy
- Learning and Memory
2.1 Definition of Learning
2.2 Classical Conditioning
a) Elements of Classical Conditioning
b) Pavlov’s Experiment
c) Generalization
d) Discrimination
e) Spontaneous Recovery
f) Experimental Extinction
2.3 Operant Conditioning
a) Thorndike’s Experiment
b) Skinner’s Experiment
c) The concept of Reinforcement –Primary and Secondary Reinforces,
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
2.4 Definition and Process of Memory
2.5 Types of Memory
2.6 Application: Techniques of Improving Memory
- Intelligence
3.1Definition of Intelligence
3.2 Measuring Intelligence
a) Binet’s Mental Ability Test
b) Stanford-Binet and IQ
c) The Wechsler Tests
3.3Individual Differences in Intelligence
a) Mental Retardation
b) Giftedness
3.4 Theories of Intelligence –Spearman’s G Factor, Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligence, Stenberg’s Triarchic Theory
3.5 Emotional Intelligence
3.6 Application: To make a list of strategies to improve your Emotional Intelligence
- Personality
4.1 Definition of Personality
4.2Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
a) The Divisions of Mind
b) The Divisions of the Personality
c) Stages of Personality Development
4.3 Trait Theories
a) Allport
b) Cattell
c) The Big Five
4.4 Assessment of Personality
a) Interviews
b) Projective Techniques – The Rorschach Inkblots. A.T.
4.5 Application: Know your Personality through SWOT Analysis
Semester III
Paper III COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY
- Unit 1: Introduction
1.1 Definition of counselling.
1.2 Goals of counselling.
a) Immediate goals.
b) Long range goals.
c) Major goals of counselling.
1.3 Professional and ethical issues.
a) Professional issues.
1) Licensing
2) The master’s degree in psychology.
3) Accreditation and specialization.
b) Ethical principles
- Unit 2 : Counselling Process :
2.1 Preparation for counselling
2.2 Counselling relationship.
2.3 Counselling content and process.
- Unit 3 : Counselling Interaction :
3.1 Counselling interaction.
3.2 Variables affecting the counselling process.
3.3 Counselling skills and portrait of an effective counsellor.
- Unit 4 : Counselling Interview :
4.1 Essential aspects of interviewing.
4.2 Non-verbal communication in interview.
4.3 Sharing of experience.
Semester IV
Paper V COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY
- Unit 1 : Theories and Techniques of Counselling :
1.1 Psychodynamic approach – Freud.
1.2 Humanistic approach – Client centred.
1.3 Cognitive approach – Rational emotive therapy.
1.4 Yoga and meditation.
- Unit 2 : Psychological Testing and Diagnosis :
2.1 Test use in counselling situations.
2.2 Test interpretation in counselling.
2.3 Non-test appraisal techniques.
- Unit 3 : Educational Counselling :
3.1 Counselling the elementary school -child.
3.2 Counselling at high school.
3.3 Counselling at college.
3.4 The role of teachers in counselling.
- Unit 4 : Counselling Applications :
4.1 Family counselling.
4.2 Pre-marital and marital counselling.
4.3 Career counselling.
4.4 Counselling drug addicts.
Semester V
Paper VII COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
- Unit 1 : Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
1.1 A Brief History of the Study of Cognition
a) Behaviourism
b) Gestalt psychology
c) Current trends in the study of cognition
d) Neuropsychological investigations
1.2 Paradigms of Cognitive Psychology
a) The information – processing approach
b) The connectionist approach
- Unit 2 : Attention And Perception
2.1 Selective Attention
a) Filter theory
b) Attenuation theory
c) Late – selection theory
d) Multimode theory
2.2 Bottom – Up Processes
a) Template matching
b) Featural analysis
c) Prototype matching
2.3Top-Down Processes
a) Perceptual learning
b) Change blindness
c) The word superiority effect
d) A connectionist model of word perception
- Unit 3. Reaction Time And Learning
3.1 Definition and types of Reaction Time
3.2 Determinants of Reaction Time
3.3 Definition and types of Learning
3.4 Performance as a function of what is learned (Determinants of Learning)
- Unit 4 : Psychophysical Methods
4.1 The Method of Limits
a) Determination of absolute threshold (RL)
b) Determination of difference threshold (DL)
4.2 The Method of Constant Stimulus Differences
a) Determination of absolute threshold (RL)
b) Determination of difference threshold (DL)
4.3 The Method of Average Error
Semester VI
Paper XII COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
- Unit 1 : Sensory and Short Term Memory
1.1 Sensory Memory
a) The icon
b) The echo
1.2 Short – Term Memory
a) Capacity
b) Coding
c) Retention duration and forgetting
d) Retrieval of information
1.3 Working Memory
- Unit 2. : Long Term Memory
2.1 The Traditional View of Long Term Memory
a) Capacity
b) Coding
c) Retention duration
d) Forgetting
e) Retrieval of information
2.2 The Levels of Processing View
- Unit 3: Thinking and Problem Solving
3.1 Classic Problems and General Methods of Solution
a) Generate – and – test technique
b) Means – end analysis
c) Working backward
d) Backtracking
e) Reasoning by analogy
3.2 Blocks to Problem Solving
a) Mental set
b) Using incomplete or incorrect representation
c) Lack of problem, specific knowledge or expertise
- Unit 4 : Reasoning and Decision Making
4.1 Types of Reasoning
a) Deductive reasoning
b) Propositional reasoning
c) Syllogistic reasoning
d) Inductive reasoning
e) Analogical reasoning
f) Hypothesis testing
g) Everyday reasoning
4.2 Patterns of Reasoning Performance
a) Effects of premise phrasing
b) Alternation of premise meaning
c) Failure to consider all possibilities
d) Content and believability effects
e) Biases
4.3 Improving Decision Making 