Alt Tag - ISC Class 12th Psychology Syllabus 2023: Have you ever wondered about your brain? How it thinks or process? The way it is thinking is normal or not? Well, you may find the answers to all these questions by reading Psychology. It is a subject that deals with behavioral patterns and actions associated with them, their psychological challenges, and the solutions. All these reasons make this an interesting subject. Students of ISC Class 12 choose this as one of their electives. If you want to pursue a carrier as a counselor or psychologist, consider it as one of the important subjects. Well, now let's take you through the present scenario that you might be more interested in. The 2023 exam for ISC Class 12 Psychology is scheduled for the 27th of March 2023. That would be a Monday. The paper code for this exam will be 855. To prepare for an exam effectively it is better to be aware of its syllabus. To help you with that we are presenting you the latest syllabus for ISC Class 12 Psychology 2023 Exam. You may download the pdf present at the tail of this article.
ISC Class 12 Psychology Syllabus 2022-23
The theory paper for Psychology will be of 3 hours. Check the detailed syllabus below:
PAPER - I (THEORY) – 70 Marks
| Section A | |
| 1. Intelligence and Ability | (i) Intelligence: what is meant by intelligence - theories regarding the nature of intelligence; how intelligence is measured - the concept of IQ, intelligence tests – Individual Tests, Group Tests. Levels of intelligence and associated characteristics. Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Intelligence: definition of intelligence (David Wechsler); what is meant by intelligence. Theories of Intelligence: Two Factor Theory – Charles Spearman; Primary Mental Abilities – L.L. Thurstone (seven factors); Raymond Cattell – Fluid and Crystallised Intelligence. Modern Theories: Information Processing; Triarchic Theory – Sternberg; Theory of Multiple Intelligence – Howard Gardner (eight intelligences). How intelligence is measured - the concept of IQ; Intelligence Tests – Individual Tests – Wechsler-3, Group Tests – Raven’s Progressive Matrices. Test details (Aim, history, description, scoring, and uses) should be included; Levels of intelligence and associated characteristics (from gifted to below average). Emotional Intelligence (EQ) - Characteristics of Emotionally Intelligent Persons (in brief). |
| (ii) Aptitude, Achievement and Interest: meaning of these terms. Reason for their assessment and means of aptitude assessment (different tools/ tests) used. What is meant by Aptitude - when aptitude needs to be assessed - the GATB (General Aptitude Test Battery); meaning and | |
| 2. Personality | (i) What is meant by Personality? Definition of personality – Allport |
| (ii) Theories of Personality: Type Theories, Psychoanalytic Theory - Freud’s structure of personality; psycho-sexual stages of development; Post Freudians (in brief); Humanistic - Rogers and Maslow; Traits - Allport, Cattell; Social Cognitive Theory– Bandura. Type Theory: Sheldon, Hippocrates, Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality: Freud's levels of consciousness, structure of personality - Id, Ego and Superego; principles on which they function; Psychosexual stages of development and fixation; defense mechanisms rationalisation, projection, reaction formation, regression, repression, displacement, sublimation (each to be briefly explained); Post Freudians: Erik Erikson, Horney; Humanistic theories of Rogers (concept of fully functioning persons) and Maslow (self-actualization). Traits: Allport (central, secondary and cardinal traits), Cattell (source and surface traits). The five factor model of Costa and McCrae. Social Cognition theory of Bandura (Identification and explanation of concepts in the theoretical framework). | |
| (iii)How personality is assessed: reports, inventories (MMPI), projective techniques - Rorschach Inkblot Test and Thematic Apperception Test, Behavioural Analysis. The use of Self Reports - inventories/ questionnaires in assessing Personality - an understanding of the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory); what is meant by Projective Techniques - how the Rorschach Inkblot and TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) are used (Test details should include procedure, scoring and results). Behavioural Analysis: Interview, Observation, Nomination, Behavioural ratings, Situational tests (in brief). | |
| SECTION B | |
| 3. Lifespan Development | (i) Meaning of Development, growth and maturation. Why is the study of lifespan development important? Context of development – Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory. |
| (ii) Infancy - motor, cognitive development, socio-emotional development. Motor Development – definition of motor milestone, reflexes- rooting, moro, grasping, babinski; cognitive development – Piaget’s Sensory Motor Stage; socio-emotional development – attachment (definition). Mary Ainsworth’s & Lamb’s strange situation test (four patterns of attachment). | |
| (iii)Childhood - motor, cognitive development and moral development. Motor development- gross motor and fine motor skills (definitions only); cognitive development – Piaget’s Theory (Preoperational and Concrete). Moral development – Kohlberg’s perspective Experiment on Moral Dilemma – pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional morality. | |
| (iv) Adolescence - physical changes, cognitive development; some major concerns. Physical changes at puberty (in brief); Cognitive development – Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage; Some major concerns – substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) – meaning of substance abuse and symptoms of drug abuse and alcoholism; eating disorders - bulimia, anorexia (meaning and symptoms). | |
| 4. Stress and Stress Management | (i) Meaning of stress - its basic nature. Strain and Eustress; Stress as a process - stressors (negative and positive events); the stages of GAS or the General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye's model). Cognitive appraisal of stress – primary and secondary |
| (ii) Common causes of stress. External/situational: major life events, minor hassles of everyday life, work-related causes, the physical environment. Internal/dispositional: Personality variablestraits and types. | |
| (iii) Effects of stress on health. Upsets the internal mechanism and balance - immune system affected, hypertension, heart problems, ulcers, diabetes, asthma (each effect to be briefly explained). Burnout- work related burnout. | |
| (iv) Stress management - effective strategies of handling stress. Effective strategies - relaxation training and yoga. Promoting positive health and well-being: Exercise, Diet, Self-Care, Life Skills, Assertiveness, Rational thinking, improving relationships, overcoming unhelpful habits, Social support, Stress Resistant Personality, Positive thinking and positive attitude. | |
| 5. Psychological Disorders and Psychotherapy | (i) Meaning of “Abnormal behaviour” - biological, psychological and socio - cultural perspectives. Principles of classification of psychological disorders with reference to DSM IV. Common features of abnormal behaviour deviance, distress, dysfunction, danger. Different views of "abnormal" behaviour - the statistical stand - the biological/medical approach - the psychodynamic perspective - the sociocultural dimension; why classification of disorders is necessary - an understanding of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – IV (brief explanation of each Axis). |
| (ii) Characteristics of some psychological, behavioural and developmental disorders: Anxiety - generalised, phobic, obsessivecompulsive; Mood - bi-polar, depression (causes and symptoms of all). What is meant by anxiety - different forms of anxiety disorders: generalised, phobias, obsession -compulsive disorders; Mood disorders- characteristics of severe depression, manic-depressive or bipolar disorder (causes and symptoms). Behavioural and Developmental DisordersAttention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Autism (definition and symptoms only). | |
| (iii)Schizophrenia – meaning and characteristics. Basic nature of Schizophrenia: symptoms positive and negative. | |
| (iv) Psychotherapy - Psychoanalysis; Clientcentred; Behavioural, Psychosocial Rehabilitation. What is meant by Psychotherapy - central features of psychodynamic therapies - free transference and counter transference association, dream analysis, resistance (explain briefly); the principles on which client-centred therapy has been developed. Behavioural therapies based on classical conditioning (flooding and systematic desensitisation) and operant conditioning (shaping and token economy) and modelling (explain briefly). Cognitive Therapy- A. Ellis’ Rational Emotive Therapy (explain briefly); Psychosocial Rehabilitation (explain briefly). | |
| 6. Social Thought and Social Behaviour | (i) Social Perception - attribution or the process through which people try to understand the reasons for others’ behaviour. Attribution- definition, biases in forming judgments. Explain with examples each of the following biases - fundamental attribution error or correspondence bias, self-serving bias, the false consensus effect, automatic vigilance. |
| (ii) Social Influence- how people try to change others’ behaviour; social norms; conformity and obedience - factors affecting them. Meaning and characteristics of a group; types of groups- formal and informal, primary and secondary and in-group and outgroup. Meaning of social norms - why people conform to social norms; factors affecting Conformity and Obedience. Asch's study on conformity; why and when people obey others - Milgram's experiment. | |
| 7. Attitudes | (i) Meaning of “Attitude” - how attitudes are formed and changed. What are attitudes - the components of attitude; the process of forming attitudes - how attitudes change: persuasion- definition and methods to change attitude and cognitive dissonance- definition and any three ways to reduce cognitive dissonance |
| (ii) Prejudice – meaning of “prejudice” and discrimination; the origins of prejudice; how to combat prejudice. An understanding of the meaning of prejudice and how it works in the form of discrimination - causes of prejudice: social learning, realistic competition, social categorization and stereotyping; ways in which prejudice can be resisted. | |
This was all about the chapter/units and the topics covered in theory which contributes 70% to the overall ISC Psychology syllabus 2023. The 30% is covered by the practical part. To get the complete theory+practical syllabus please click on the link below and download the ISC Class 12 Psychology syllabus 2022-23.