UGC NET Syllabus For Psychology Paper II and Paper III

Good preparation for any exam includes a detailed understanding of the syllabus. If you know the syllabus properly, you will focus only on the topics which are to be covered and not on the irrelevant ones. So, here we are providing the syllabus for the UGC NET Exam. You can check out the list of UGC NET syllabi for all subjects which are to be covered in the UGC NET 2022 June session. The examination is scheduled to be held from 15th to 20th June 2022.

Here is the syllabus of Psychology Paper-II. You can also download the syllabus and take a printout from the link provided in the above paragraph. Paper-II will have 100 questions and all are compulsory. The questions will be of Multiple Choice Type and each question will be of 2 marks.

UGC NET Syllabus for Psychology

Paper-II

Emergence of Psychology

Psychological thought in some major Eastern Systems: Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism, Sufism and Integral Yoga. Academic psychology in India: Pre-independence era; post-independence era; 1970s: The move to addressing social issues; 1980s: Indigenization; 1990s: Paradigmatic concerns, disciplinary identity crisis; 2000s: Emergence of Indian psychology in academia. Issues: The colonial encounter; Postcolonialism and psychology; Lack of distinct disciplinary identity.

Western: Greek heritage, medieval period and modern period. Structuralism, Functionalism, Psychoanalytical, Gestalt, Behaviorism, HumanisticExistential, Transpersonal, Cognitive revolution, Multiculturalism. Four founding paths of academic psychology - Wundt, Freud, James, Dilthey. Issues: Crisis in psychology due to strict adherence to experimental analytical paradigm (logical empiricism). Indic influences on modern psychology.

Essential aspects of knowledge paradigms: Ontology, epistemology, and methodology. Paradigms of Western Psychology: Positivism, Post-Positivism, Critical perspective, Social Constructionism, Existential Phenomenology, and Co-operative Enquiry. Paradigmatic Controversies. Significant Indian paradigms on psychological knowledge: Yoga, Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism, Sufism, and Integral Yoga. Science and spirituality (avidya and vidya). The primacy of self-knowledge in Indian psychology.

Research Methodology and Statistics

Research: Meaning, Purpose, and Dimensions.

Research problems, Variables and Operational Definitions, Hypothesis, Sampling.

Ethics in conducting and reporting research

Paradigms of research: Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed methods approach Methods of research: Observation, Survey [Interview, Questionnaires], Experimental, Quasi-experimental, Field studies, Cross-Cultural Studies, Phenomenology, Grounded theory, Focus groups, Narratives, Case studies, Ethnography

Statistics in Psychology: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion. Normal Probability Curve. Parametric [t-test] and Non-parametric tests [Sign Test, Wilcoxon Signed rank test, Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Friedman]. Power analysis. Effect size.

Correlational Analysis: Correlation [Product Moment, Rank Order], Partial correlation, multiple correlation.

Special Correlation Methods: Biserial, Point biserial, tetrachoric, phi coefficient.

Regression: Simple linear regression, Multiple regression.

Factor analysis: Assumptions, Methods, Rotation and Interpretation.

Experimental Designs: ANOVA [One-way, Factorial], Randomized Block Designs, Repeated Measures Design, Latin Square, Cohort studies, Time series, MANOVA, ANCOVA. Single-subject designs.

Psychological Testing

Types of tests

Test construction: Item writing, item analysis

Test standardization: Reliability, validity and Norms

Areas of testing: Intelligence, creativity, neuropsychological tests, aptitude, Personality assessment, interest inventories

Attitude scales – Semantic differential, Staples, Likert scale. Computer-based psychological testing

Applications of psychological testing in various settings: Clinical, Organizational and business, Education, Counseling, Military. Career guidance.

Biological Basis of Behavior

Sensory systems: General and specific sensations, receptors and processes

Neurons: Structure, functions, types, neural impulse, synaptic transmission. Neurotransmitters. The Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems – Structure and functions. Neuroplasticity.

Methods of Physiological Psychology: Invasive methods – Anatomical methods, degeneration techniques, lesion techniques, chemical methods, microelectrode studies. Non-invasive methods – EEG, Scanning methods

Muscular and Glandular system: Types and functions

Biological basis of Motivation: Hunger, Thirst, Sleep and Sex

Biological basis of emotion: The Limbic system, Hormonal regulation of behavior

Genetics and behavior: Chromosomal anomalies; Nature-Nurture controversy [Twin studies and adoption studies]

Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory and Forgetting

Attention: Forms of attention, Models of attention

Perception:

Approaches to the Study of Perception: Gestalt and physiological approaches

Perceptual Organization: Gestalt, Figure and Ground, Law of Organization

Perceptual Constancy: Size, Shape, and Color; Illusions

Perception of Form, Depth and Movement

Role of motivation and learning in perception

Signal detection theory: Assumptions and applications

Subliminal perception and related factors, information processing approach to perception, culture and perception, perceptual styles, Pattern recognition, Ecological perspective on perception.

Learning Process:

Fundamental theories: Thorndike, Guthrie, Hull

Classical Conditioning: Procedure, phenomena and related issues

Instrumental learning: Phenomena, Paradigms and theoretical issues; Reinforcement: Basic variables and schedules; Behaviour modification and its applications

Cognitive approaches in learning: Latent learning, observational learning. Verbal learning and Discrimination learning

Recent trends in learning: Neurophysiology of learning

Memory and Forgetting

Memory processes: Encoding, Storage, Retrieval

Stages of memory: Sensory memory, Short-term memory (Working memory), Long-term Memory (Declarative – Episodic and Semantic; Procedural)

Theories of Forgetting: Interference, Retrieval Failure, Decay, Motivated forgetting

Thinking, Intelligence and Creativity

Theoretical perspectives on thought processes: Associationism, Gestalt, Information processing, Feature integration model

Concept formation: Rules, Types, and Strategies; Role of concepts in thinking

Types of Reasoning

Language and thought

Problem solving: Type, Strategies, and Obstacles

Decision-making: Types and models

Metacognition: Metacognitive knowledge and Metacognitive regulation

Intelligence: Spearman; Thurstone; Jensen; Cattell; Gardner; Stenberg; Goleman; Das, Kar & Parrila

Creativity: Torrance, Getzels & Jackson, Guilford, Wallach & Kogan Relationship between Intelligence and Creativity