Psychology

Introduction to psychology

• Concept and definition of psychology.
• Nature and Scope.
• Branches of psychology.
• Application of psychology to society and social problems.

Methods in Psychology

• Characteristics of psychological studies, Observation.
• Survey method, Clinical and case study method. Experimental method.
• Application of the method.

Quantitative Analysis

• Measures of central tendency and dispersion.
• Correlation.
• Levels of measurement.
• Reliability and validity.
• Application in test construction.

Physiological Psychology

• Structure of neuron, nerve impulses, synapse and neurotransmitters.
• Central and peripheral nervous system-structure and neural control of behaviour. Hemispheric specialisation.
• Endocrine system and hormonal control of behaviour.
• Application of hemispheric knowledge to diagnostic purposes.

Development of human behaviour

• Individual Differences: Heredity and environment.
• Life span development.
• Role of early experience and mastering of developmental tasks.
• Sensitive or critical periods of development in human life cycle and its application.

Perception:

• Preceptual processes. Perceputal organsiation. Perception of form, colour, depth and time. Perceptual readiness and constancy.
• Role of motivation, social and cultural factors in perception.
• Application of knowledge of perception to skill development (e.g. for certain jobs like that of driving, airline pilots etc.)

Learning

• Classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
• Modeling and observational learning. Transfer of training. Learning and motivation.
• Application of the above to the improvement of academic performance in education.

Memory

• Physiological basis of memory. Memory and forgetting.
• Measurement of memory (Recall, Recognition, Relearning). Short term and long term memory.
• Theories of forgetting (Decay and Interference theories and Repressive forgetting).
• Application of Mnemonic devices etc, to improving memory.

Cognition and Language

• Concept of formation.
•  Nature and development of thinking.
• Language and thought and acquisition of language.
• Problem solving.
• Creative thinking and its applications.

Intelligence and Aptitude

• Definition and concept.
• Theories and models of Intelligence. Measurement of intelligence and aptitude. Exceptional intelligence.
• Mental retardation.
• Concepts of multiple, emotional and artificial intelligence and their application.

Motivation and Emotion

• Definition and concept of instinct, needs, drives and motives.
• Theories of motivation and their application (drive reduction theory, Maslow's motivational hierarchy). Social motivation: Achievement, power, affiliation motives and influence of early experiences.
• Physiological basis of emotion. Theories of emotion (James-Lange and Cannon-Brad theories, cognitive physiological theory).

Personality

• Concepts and Definition of personality.
• Study of personality (Trait, type and eclectic approaches), Development of personality (Freud, Erikson, Biological and socio-cultural determinants), Measurement of Personality (Projective tests, pencil-paper tests).
• Application of personality profiles in fitting a person to a job.

Adjustment and Stress

• Concept and definition.
• Factors affecting adjustment (frustration and conflict).
• Sources of stress and reactions to stress. Coping with stress. Application of stress management techniques.

Social Behaviour

• Socio-cultural factors and behaviour.
• Development of attitudes, stereotypes and prejudice, Measurement of Attidutes (Thurstone, Likert attitude scale and Bogardus Social Distance scale). Strategies for reducing prejudice and changing atitude.
• Person perception, implicit personality theory and integrating impressions. Application of person perception to impression management.

Application of Psychology

• Health and mental health (yoga, meditation and relaxation therapies).
• Education (Programmed learning,. self instructional learning and learning styles). Community (self help through group cohesiveness and leadership).
• Industry (Assessment centre approach in selection, recruitment and training).
• Environment (man-nature interaction, personal space concept, pollution reduction).
• Information technology (Application to commercial, educational and health areas).