Rajasthan Public Service Commission

RAS Syllabus (Main): Psychology (Code No. 26)

Psychology Paper-I

1. Place of psychology in the family of social and behavioural sciences,. Nature, Scope and methods of psychology.

2. Nervous system; central and peripheral. Endocrine glands in context of human behaviour. Localisation of brain functions.

3. Attention and perception: Meaning, kinds and determinants of attention, Filteration,; Shifts; Division; Distraction, Fluctuation, Span of attention, Pattern recognition, Form perception, Figure-ground, Organizational principles of perception, Depth and Distance perception, Size perception, perception of motion, Illusion: Kinds, Theories, Factors, influencing perception.

4. Emotion: Characteristics of emotional behaviour, Expressions of emotions. Role of nervous system and endocrine glands in emotions. Theories of Emotion: James Lange and Cannon Bard.

5. Motivation: Needs, Drives Motives, and incentives. Characteristics of motivated Behaviour. Measurement of Need Achievement. Theories of Motivation.

6. Learning : Types of learning. Meaning. Theories of leaning. Classical and Operant conditioning. Insight. Trial and Error learning. Laws of Learning. Skill learning. Factors influencing Learning. Learning curves. Transfer of training. Kind. Theories and Factors influencing Transfer.

7. Remembering and Forgetting: Nature of Remembering Methods of Reproduction: Recall, Recognition. Relearning, Reconstruction, Anticipation and paired associate learning. Factors influencing Remembering: Type and Amounts of material, methods of learning, Nature of forgetting: Forgetting curves. Causes of Forgetting.

8. Thinking : Nature of Thinking. Symbolic processes. Concept formation. Problem solving. Reasoning. Creative thinking, Language and Thought.

9. Intelligence and Aptitudes: Nature, and determinants of intelligence and aptitudes. Theories of intelligence, Measurement of intelligence and aptitudes. Constancy of IQ. Types of intelligence and Aptitude Tests.

10. Personality: Nature and Theories of Personality: Trait and Type Theories; Freud's Psychoanalytical Theory, Determinants of Personality. Measurement of Personality.

11. Attitudes: Nature, formation, measurement and change. Theories of Attitude; Balance and Cognitive Dissonance Theory.

12. Abnormal Behaviour: Concept. Conflicts and frustration. Mental Mechanisms. Causes of Abnormal Behaviour. Motivation and Adjustment. Methods of Assessing Abnormal Behaviour.

Psychology Paper-II

Unit-I : Development Psychology: growth and Development, Principles and Stages of Development, Social, Emotional and Moral Development. Development Tasks.

Unit-II : Guidance and Counselling: Meaning, Scope, Need, Difference between Guidance and Counselling. Areas: Vocational, Educational, personal, Group Guidance. Techniques: Directive, Non-directive, Electric, Group Counselling.

Unit-III : Criminal Behaviour: Types of Crime. Understanding of crime. Causes of crime. Modern-Urban changes and crime. War and Crime. Measure s for Reforming criminals. Crime Detection methods. Prevention of crime. Juvenile Delinquency.

Unit-IV : Psychology Applied to Industry: personnel selection and classification. Workers and management. Job Analysis. Personnel Assessment Techniques. Job Satisfaction. Industrial Morale. Psychology of work and accident. Propaganda.

Unit-V : Psychology of Groups: Crowd Behaviour. Leadership: Types. Qualities. Functions. Theories. Group Behaviour. Group dynamics. Sociometry.

Unit-VI : Construction and Standardization of Psychological Test: Steps of Construction and Standardization of Tests. Types of Reliability; Validity and Norms, Functions and Limitations of Psychological tests.

Unit-VII : Statistics in Psychology: Graphical representation of data, Uses of Mean, Median, And Mode. Measures of Variability. Quartile Deviation. Average deviation. Standard Deviation. Concept of correlation. Uses of Correlation in psychology. Percentile and percentile ranks.

Unit-VIII : Phychophysical Methods-Psychophysics: Basic concept, problems of psychophysics. Classical Psychophysical methods- Method of Limits, Method Constant Stimuli and method of average error. Limitations of psychophysical Methods.

Unit-IX : Consumer Psychology: Interview, Mailed Questionnaire, Marketing, Motivation. Advertisement, Importance. Factors.

Unit-X : Psychology of Marital Adjustment: Success and Failure. Divorce. Parental Fixation. Sibling Rivalary. Broken home and family consequences.

Unit-XI : Special need children: Concept. Types; Mentally Retarded. Blind. Orthopaedically handicapped. Approaches in dealing with them. Hearing handicapped their special problems: Physical, Social, Psychological, Educational.

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