UPSC Psychology Syllabus Topics

1. The Role of Psychologists: Prevention
There is a critical need for psychologists to become more active in the prevention of
mental health problems ( Pransky, 1991 ). In preventing CMI, regardless of the model
that is assumed, a first step forward is building better understandings of the conditions
affecting the nature, onset, and course of chronic mental illness (e.g., Albee, Bond, &
Monsey, 1992 ). Obviously, psychologists are well prepared to make substantial
contributions in these areas.
In order to better specify the breadth of the area of prevention and the roles that
psychologists can assume, we draw upon a useful framework characterizing
prevention as primary, secondary, or tertiary ( Caplan, 1964 ). Primary prevention
refers to broad efforts to decrease the incidence of CMI, or number of new
occurrences, through individual and community change. Secondary prevention refers
to decreasing the prevalence or number of cases of CMI at any given time. This is
accomplished through screening aimed at the early detection of mental illness and
providing crisis intervention with high-risk groups. Tertiary prevention refers to
decreasing the short- and long-term severity of symptoms of individuals already
affected by CMI. In practice, tertiary prevention interventions appear to be very much
like treatment. However, whereas the principal aim of treatment is to remedy present
occurrences of the illness, the aim of tertiary prevention is to prevent or reduce the
severity of future occurrences of the illness.
Over the long term, primary prevention efforts appear to promise the best payoff,
although they are generally the most difficult to implement. Such programs in the area
of CMI could focus on preventing individuals from developing CMI by helping them
become competent, healthy persons, characterized by their psychological and physical
wellness. Primary prevention programs, Cowen (1986) suggested, would have two
thrusts: a systems-level strategy, which would reduce the stress individuals experience
while providing them with ample personal opportunities for development, and a
person-centered strategy, which would strengthen individuals' abilities to effectively
cope with whatever stressors they faced. Thus, primary prevention efforts would be
broad-based, directed at alleviating social problems associated with the onset of CMI,
such as poverty, and, at the same time, fostering the development of personal
competencies in both healthy and "at-risk" individuals.
To illustrate the role of psychologists in primary prevention, we use the vulnerability
model as an example. The vulnerability model recognizes the interaction of both
biological and psychosocial factors in the onset of CMI. Psychologists could, perhaps,
have the greater impact by intervening with psychosocial factors. This could consist
of a twofold approach. First, psychologists could work to alleviate, where possible,
the stressful conditions in the environment that contribute to the onset of CMI.

2. Second, psychologists could work to promote the mental health of the population at
large and to increase peoples' resiliency in the face of stressful conditions that cannot
be eliminated.
Interventions at the level of secondary prevention generally require less time and
money to develop and thus are more readily implemented by psychologists. To
illustrate the role of psychologists in secondary prevention, we again use the
vulnerability model as a framework. Psychologists can identify people at risk for
developing CMI and attempt to reduce stress that might contribute to the onset of a
disorder by providing education, treatment, and support in crises. In addition,
psychologists can increase the competence of people at risk through skills training and
other means, enabling them to better cope with stress and thus avoid the onset of
exacerbation of symptoms of mental illness.
Interventions at the level of tertiary prevention generally require the least change in
professional practice to implement, partly because the roles of psychologists in such
interventions are much like the roles they already play in treatment. Using the
vulnerability model to illustrate, psychologists engaging in tertiary prevention, besides
treating current symptoms, would try to prepare patients to better cope with future
stress. For example, they might teach patients skills they could use to reduce the
impact of future stressors or strengthen patients in ways that make them more
resilient.
In conclusion, each of the models we have discussed contributes to our overall
understanding of CMI by focusing on different aspects of etiology and treatment.
Taken together, these models point to the fact that CMI is a problem with multiple
biological, individual, and social determinants and that in studying or treating it,
scientists and health providers must consider a broad range of factors. We have
suggested some of the many roles that psychologists can fill in the research and
treatment of CMI and in the development of prevention programs.
1) Artificial intelligence
2) Naturalistic Decision Making: DM as it occurs in real life settings (focus
research areas)
1) Experiences play a role in DM
2) Base rate problem: tendency of people to ignore relative frequency
of various events and instead rely on some statistics
3) Some researchers have argued that laboratory settings lack the kind
of contextual cues /info available while making decisions in naturalistic
settings

3. DM in uncertain env.. application of SDT
The purpose of environmentdesignistoaffordopgortunitiesforachievingone's
owndefinitionof qualityof life.The term'qualityof life'isusedtodenote
the subjective judgmentbyanindividual astothe degree towhichhisor her
needsinthe variousdomainsof life are met.These domainsincludethe degree
of self actualisation,health,familylife,social relations,dwellingplace,work
situation,sesvices,income level,security,environmental quality,social justice and
equality(Churchman,1993).Onlysome of these domainsare directlyrelated
to planninganddesigningissuesbutmanyare indirectlyrelated.
PUNISHMENT
 Teaches What not to do
 Decreasesthe likelihoodof occurrence of response
1) Punishment
a) Few general things about punishment
a) Should immediately follow response
b) Should be strong
c) Not be given in arbitrary manner ie should be consistent
d) Should be accompanied with reif for desired behr]
e) Should be avoided as it is an act of aggression which may lead to
frustration in the person being punished and may also lead to
modeling of aggressive behr(rebellious behr) become unconditioned
stimulus for behr so the child might become fearful of person
administering punishment, tendency to avoid the punisher rather
than the behr
f) People adapt to punishments which can weaken its effectiveness
g) Punishment generally has only temporary effect
h) Strong punishment can be used to prevent potentially dangerous
behr like playing with fire
b) Types :
a) Normal/Simple

4. b) –ve (omission of Reif).. ex time out
:
 Psychosocial rehabilitation is not a technique. It is a strategy operating at the
interface between the individual, its interpersonal network and the wider social
context.
 The standpoint of psychosocial rehabilitation has to be humanistic,
not humanitarian. The humanistic approach blends together an ethical and a
scientific position.
 The target of psychosocial rehabilitation is functional disability,not chronicity.
We have evidence that problems in social functioning can be observed at the
first onset of many mental disorders, raising the need for early rehabilitation
approaches. Even in acute conditions, such as the posttraumatic stress disorders
occurring in the aftermath of disasters, the role of rehabilitation has to be
recognized.
 The target of psychosocial rehabilitation are the psychosocial risk
factors leading to the development and maintenance of social disability related
to mental disorders. A growing body of methodologically sound investigations
shows the significant role in major mental disorders of social/ environmental
risk factors, such as migration (2), urban living (3), racial discrimination (4),
childhood traumas (5).
 The overarching goal of psychosocial rehabilitation can be summarized under
the heading of social inclusion. Therefore, attention has to be paid to
thesocial/interpersonal outcome indicators, as distinct from clinical outcome
(6).
Psychology and scientific method
PSY AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD (BARON) pg 20
 It is the adoption of scientific method that make psy a science
 Values and standards of scientific method
1. Accuracy
2. Objectivity
3. Skepticism
4. Open mindedness
5. Critical thinking.. it closely examines all claims and assumptions, carefully
evaluates existing evidence and cautiously assesses allconclusions.. ref pg 23
baron

5.  Psy has grown by following what is called a hypothetico-deductive model. The model
suggests that scientific advancement can take place if you have a theory to explain a
phenomenon. For example, physicists have what is called a Big-bang theory to explain
how the universe came to be formed Based on a theory, scientists deduce or propose a
hypothesis, that offers a tentative explanation of how a certain phenomenon takes
place. The hypothesis then is tested and proved true or false based on empirical data
that one has gathered.
 The role of theory in sci method.. fig 1.9 pg 21 baron
1. Scientists seek to do more than describe the world.. they want to explain it
Psychological principles underlying effective teaching learning process
1) Piaget : active learning-learning by discovering.. role of teacher is to facilitate learning
situations which creates disequilibrium in cognition. This disequilibrium should motivate
the child to discover and learn
2) Vygostky: ZPD, .. he puts teacher at the center of teaching –learning process… 1.
scaffolding
3) Motivation:
1. goal setting,
2. feedback..
3. deprived group
4) Memory:
1. spaced learning,
2. Audio visual aids
3. DEEP AND ELABORATE PROCESSING
5) Conditioning:
1. reinforcement,
2. programmed learning
6) Intelligence: individual differences, gifted, retarded
Influence of mediaonviolence
1) Desensitization
2) People mightlearnNew waysof aggression
3) Aggressionisanappropriate response anditis rewarding
# distance education

6. Parentshave a significantrole inthe adolescent'squestforidentityandindependence.
Parentingstylesaffectthe ease inwhichthe rolesof familymembersare adjustedtoacceptthe
gradual shiftto the teenagers'independence.The valuesandidealsof the parentssurprisingly
correlate withthe adolescentonseriousmatters,butformusic,dress,datingandsocial
patternsthe peergroupdominates.
Black’scross cultural trainingtechnique:traineeswatchfilms, participate inrole play,redci8eve
constructive feedback
REHAB OF THE OLD
1) Exercise in old improves cog functioning in old (Dubbert)
1. Improves self concept
2. Reduce anxiety
3. Reduce depression
4. Socialization
2) Cog remediation training to improve cog skills like memory , (it is computer
assisted version of cog rehab therapy)
3) Cog rehab training
Perceptual Readiness depends on how accessible categories are to the stimulated
organism. Accessibility is a function of the likehood of occurrence of previously learned
events, and one's need states and habits of daily living. Lack of perceptual readiness can
be rectified by relearning the categories, or by constant close inspection of events and
objects. Sensory stimuli are "sorted" to appropriate categories by searching for and
using cues. 4 mechanisms are proposed: "grouping and integration, access ordering,
match-mismatch signal utilization, and gating." Failure of perceptual readiness may
occur because of inability to learn appropriate categories or through interference of
accessible categories. These ideas may shed light on "perceptual defense."

7. POPULATION PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES
OF POPULATION EXPLOSION AND HIGH POPULATION DENSITY
Societal
Deindividuation : loss of individuality, disinhibition in a mob, anti social actions
1) perceived lack of resources. Leads to competition. Leads to prejudice and confliect
2) high population density : write about overcrowding, slums etc
Interpersonal
1) Competition: in a study by Uday Jain, subjects experienced more crowding under
scarce resource condition
2) Helping behr: decreases … may bo due to diffusion of responsibility
3) Interpersonal attraction: Baron.. students in double accommodation showed less
cooperation
Probability Learning
1) Learning through past experience about the probability of occurrence of an event and
hence reinforced
2) Probabilities are Subjective; calculated by heuristics
3) Emerged from probabilistic functionalism of Brumswick which states that behr is
understood in terms of probability of success
4) Exp : rats and a T maze, rats turned in the same ratio “probability matching” is set to
occur
5) Exp : Humphrey : subjects were asked whether the bulb would lit..response In the same
ratio
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY
Cox (2006) offers ten specific interventions to be considered in building teams, and
therefore team cohesion:
Acquaint each player with the responsibilities of other players.
As a coach, take the time to learn something personal about each athlete.

8. Develop pride within the subunits of large teams.
Develop a feeling of ownership among the players.
Set team goals and take pride in accomplishments.
Make sure that each player on the team learns his role and believes it is important.
Do not demand or even expect total social tranquility.
Avoid cliques, since they work in opposition to the goals and tasks of a team.
Develop team drills and lead-up games that encourage member cooperation.
Highlight areas of team success, even when the team loses a game or match.
Carron (1993) lists factors that can hurt team cohesion:
Disagreement about team goals
Rapid or frequent change in group members
Struggle for authority and decision-making power in the group
Poor communication among group members
Unclear task or social roles among team members
Role conflict
Lack of a clear vision by the team leader
Ongoing criticism of team members by the coach, blaming individuals
Clash of personalities among team members
Francis and Young (1979) posed a list of eight lines of questions that should be asked
early in the group forming stage. Answers to these questions will help leaders and team
members to overcome roadblocks in building a cohesive team.
What are we here to do?
How shall we organize ourselves with respect to the playing positions?
What are the roles of the coaches, assistants, captains, and team members?
Who are our fans, and who are we accountable to?
How do we work through our problems and are there meetings?
Hall, p. 13
In what ways do we need to work together to perform successfully?
What are the benefits of being a team member?
How is the team included in setting policies and sanctions for team members?
Athletes become a team through an evolutionary process (Anshel, 2003). It is a process where
RehabilitationprogramforAIDSvictims –include PRAYERandits effects.
SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY
1) Reduce self efficacy
2) Ex. Women not good at maths, women good for only womanly jobs like teachers

9. VALUE DEVELOPMENT
1) Communication (verbal & non verbal)
2) Demonstation: Obs Learning : ex Anna
3) Imitation: role models
4) Evaluation : societal approval and disapproval
5) Participation : role playing
6) Discussion
Techniques of value development
1) Conscientization : pricking one’s value system
2) Profitable association method :संगत, group tasks, work teams
3) IIM : intense identification method* : ex Ramakrishna paramhans and vivekanand
4) Token Task Method : reward for achieving group goals
5) Allegory: stories and anecdotes: ex. पाथेय कण
6) Ventilation: opportunity to vent off underlying feelings
Debates and discussions (in classrooms etc)
COG APPRAISAL OF STRESSORS
Stress occurs only when the person perceives the situation to be (Lazarus)
1. Threatening to their important goals (primary appraisal)
2. They are unable to cope with these dangers or demands
Fig pg 196 baron
Subjective wellbeing
1. People report high on subjective wellbeing.. perhaps humans have strong tendency
to be optimistic (Diener and Suh)
2. Genetic factors play a role. Some persons have an easy going, pleasant
temperament
3. Personality traits: low on neuroticism, optimistic, extraverted
4. Having goals and resources to reach them

10. 5. External conditions: married people happier, people satisfied with their jobs are
happier
6. Personal happiness does NOT decline with age
SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION
1) Below threshold Pn
2) Still a hypothesis/controverisal
3) Subliminal stimuli are just strong enough to activate the sensory receptors but not
enough for people to be aware of them
4) James Vicary: eat popcorn, drink cola (during movie) fraud
5) Gained limelight as it was preached that rock bands are using evil lyrics subliminally
6) Research has proved that it is of no value in advertisements (Moore et al)
7) Zazonc et al say that experiments using visual priming show measurable effects on our
cognition (baron pg 89)
8) Discuss Bar and Biederman’s experiment 1998.. same and different pictures shown at
same and different place
Entrepreneur syndrome,
Entrepreneur syndrome is common where a person who has built a very large and successful business and
during the process is forced, by the sheer volume of work, to employ people. The fun starts to go when they
become more involved in managing people, dealing with banks and are removed more from the day to day
operation of the business. This can create a feeling of loss or irrelevance. Loss, even though they still own the
business and are enjoying a well above average income from their success.
Some reconcile themselves with their situation and remain attached but not involved. Other may sell, take the
rewards and leave. Many stay and watch the business begin to decline.
This latter group will jump back in and with great vigor begin to rebuilt the business.
When the actions, of this last group, are analyzed we notice two key traits. There are many others but these are
the two most prominent.
First they employ the wrong people and get upset when they do not do what they want them to do. Second they
sabotage their business by over riding their employee's decisions, making changes to the business without
consulting the management, alienating customers and a number of other actions that shrink the size and viability
of the business.
In the end of the day they will say something like this. "The business got into trouble because we had the wrong
people. I got back in and was successful in re-building it".

11. Plasticity of Perception: basically nature vs nurture
1) Perception is plastic in the sense that it can be modified by ourexperience
2) Indication of sensitive period for visual perception.. Riesen reared animals with
translucent glasses on.. after removal, their form perception not normal.. similar with
cases of congenital cataract.. but improves with experience
3) Plastic changes in perception have been matched with plastic changes in brain
4) Modern view: involves both
5) Nature/innate
1. Studies on blind whose vision is medically restored or on neonates
2. CS: neonate showed clear preference for human face like figures(valenza
et al)… this suggests that some features of visual perception are present
since birth
6) Learned nature of perception
1. The famous kitten studies of Blakemoore and cooper ,, baron 122
Training for presonality development –
- Assertivenessdevelopment:behavioristtherapiesforitexist
- Role playing
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
2) Schedules of Reif (draw appropriate figures in each case)
1) Simple and compound (could be simultaneous or sequential combination of
2 simple schedules, concurrent if 2 schedules are independent of each
other).. concurrent : mathing law : the rat will distribute its behr between
alternatives in such a way to maximize the reif (it will match the schedules of
reif on both levers)
2) Simple: Continuous and partial
1) Continuous: every correct response rewarded. Extinction fast
3) Partial Reif effect : greater resistance to extinction, specially when put on
variable ratio reif schedule (reason : hope)… before the animal is switched to
partial reif schedule, animals are trained on cont reif schedule to establish
the desired learning
1) Interval Schedule : based on time elapsed from last reif

12. a) Fixed Interval :, scallop, ex. Salary, semester system
b) Variable Interval: high and steady rate of responding, ex.
Surprise test
2) Ratio Schedule : based on no. of responses since last reif
a) Fixed Ratio : rest(post reif pause), high rate, ex. :people
collecting reusables from garbage, salesman get reif this way
that is depending upon the number of items they sale, rapid
burst of activity later
b) Variable ratio : highest and steady response rate; max
resistance to extinction
Detectiontheory, or signal detectiontheory,is a meansto quantifythe abilitytodiscernbetween
information-bearingenergypatterns(calledstimulusinhumans,signal inmachines) andrandomenergy
patternsthat distractfromthe information(callednoise,consistingof backgroundstimuli andrandom
activityof the detectionmachine andof the nervoussystemof the operator).Inthe fieldof electronics,
the separationof suchpatternsfrom a disguisingbackgroundisreferredtoassignal recovery.
Cognitive dissonance theory
One the most popular and well-known social psychological theories, cognitive
dissonance theory explains that
people have a need to maintain cognitive consistency in order to retain a positive self-
image.[3][4] System
justification theory builds off the cognitive dissonance framework, in that it posits people
will justify a social system
in order to retain a positive image of that social system, which in turn could actually
cause more conflict and
dissonance within some people.[2]
Social identity theory
Within social identity theory, when people are presented with intergroup conflict that
threatens their social group
identities, people will justify behaviors like stereotyping and discrimination against
outgroups in order to maintain
their positive group image.[3] This is known as ingroup favoritism. System justification
theorists argue this
framework has not sufficiently addressed instances of outgroup favoritism in
disadvantaged groups, and that this

13. might be in part due to the scope of the theory. Therefore system justification theory
builds off social identity theory
to help account for instances of outgroup favoritism observed in some disadvantaged
group members. That is,
people with outgroup favoritism will hold more positive images of other groups
(outgroups) than the groups they
belong to (ingroups).[3][5]
Social dominance theory
This theory has widely been compared to system justification theory since they are both
system justifying theories.
Social dominance theory focuses on people’s motive to maintain a positive group image
by generally supporting
group-based inequality. And people will have a tendency to either uphold or undermine a
group-based hierarchy
depending on which will lead to a positive group image.[6][7] While this theory focuses
on the group-justification
motive, system justification theory differs in that it focuses on the system-justification
motive.[3]
Belief in a just world
This theory broadly explains that people are inclined to believe the world is generally
fair, and that the outcomes of
people’s behavior are subsequently deserved. This theory assumes that this arises from
people’s belief they have
personal control over their behaviors and outcomes. System justification theory, while
keeping the perspective that
people are inclined to believe the world is just, does not assume that it arises from the
belief of control over
people’s actions. Instead, system justification theory utilizes other processes that will lead
people to desire the
status quo as fair and legitimate.[3]
False consciousness
In order to account for the phenonenmon of outgroup favoritism that is a main component
of system justification,
theorists have derived heavily from the Marxist-feminist theories on the prevailing
ideologies as tools to preserve the
system. In particular, the concept of false consciousness, in which the dominant group in
societybelieves their
dominance to be destined, can help to inform why certain members of disadvantage
groups sometimes engage in
outgroup favoritism.[3]

14. Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a computer or machine that has been
created to "think" like a human. The idea behind it is that human reasoning can be
understood and defined based on input(your experiences) and output(your actions).
When a human makes a decision, they consider certain important variables. If you can
enter the variables into a computer with AI, you should get a logical response. TURING
TEST
DISCRIMINATION
In a sense itisopposite of generalization
One response toone and differentresponse toanotherstimulus
Exp onpg 145 morgan,fig4.5
Because the tendencytorespondistiedtostimulusthatispresent,discriminationprocessinICis
sometimesreferredtoasStimuluscontrol of behr
S+
andS-
terms
Exp : pigeonsreif foronlyone frequencyof light(learner“goesfor”forone stimulusand“not goesfor”
for the another,hence itissometimescalled“go-no-godiscrimination“)
Ex. We behave differentlyinfrontof prof andour friends
Discriminativestimulus:anystimulussuchasa stop signthat providesanorganismwithacue for
makinga certainresponse inordertoobtainreif
People readilylearntopayattentiontocuesinthe environmentthatreliablysignal certain
consequencesfortheiractions
Discrimination Learning
1) Useful in Explaining judgment, decision making, problem solving and concept
attainment
2) Continuity Theory (Fig) by Spence: development of gradient of excitation& inhibition to
correct and incorrect stimuli. Incremental approach. gradual accumulation of habit
strength
a) Pairing of stimulus with +reif creates excitatory tendencies
b) Pairing of stimulus with -reif creates inhibitory tendencies

15. c) Excitation and inhibition both generalize about stimulus dimension and
algebraically to produce net excitation/ inhibition
d) If net excitation, response tendency and vice versa
3) Non Continuity approach. All or none hypothesis. Focus on attention and info
processing/problem solving behr
a) emphasizes problem solving character of D.L
b) central idea is that learner tries out different hypothesis/strategies,
eventually the problem is solved all at once which enables the learning of the
habit
c) concept formation and attainment : 1) conditioning 2) cog learning
d) non continuity approach can describe
4) Transposition of relational responding: applying relational discrimination principles
applied in one problem to another situation. Exp : “choosing over the relatively dark
spots”(Ref Pg 20 PM).. gestalist views are relational
5) Comparison of continuity and non continuity
Cue reversal during early and late stage of learning process.. discrimination reversal (Ref CN
5/8/2011 or better PM Pg 23).. “over learning reversal effect
GLASS CEILING EFFECT
 Only 6 CEO are women in fortune 500 companies
 Indian women’s income in 2/3rd
of men’s
 Women are not alone in discovering the barrier; minority
males have experienced the same prejudicial treatment.
 Unstructured interviews havesex bias as interviewers are more
comfortable with guys (herriot).. ref PM
 Speciallyso in male dominated jobs
 Causes
1. Vandana and strog..pg 246 SS
2. SFP, stereotype of leadership is male supremacy
3. Difference in Nach expression..fearof success
4. Lack of informal networks..booze friends/mentors
5. Work-home adjustments

16. 6. Lack of self confidence
GROUNDED THEORY
1) Qualitative
2) Comparative analysis
3) INDUCTIVE APPROACH
4) CODES, CONCEPTS, CATEGORY, THEORY
5) A “loose”, less structured method of developing and testing theory
simultaneously than traditional, empirical methodologies. A system of
testing and retesting theories over a period of years
6) Anti-positivist
7) Usually involves qualitative data collection, particularly interviewing
8) Why use grounded theory approach
 You may be in an area where there is little or no theory in existence.
 You may not agree with existing theories.
 You may want to mix qualitative and quantitative data.
 You may want to collect a broad range of data beyond more structured
methods. SEARCH MORE YOURSELF