UGC  –  NAAC  ‘A’  Grade  

Psychology  Department  
 Ph.D.  Entrance  Exam  2018-­‐19  Syllabus  
 
Unit  1:  Cognitive  Psychology  and  Cognitive  Science    
Introduction  to  cognitive  Psychology  and  Cognitive  Science;  Cognition  and  Brain:  
Basic  Principles;  Behavioral,  Electrophysiological,  and  Neuroimaging  methods;  
Attention  and  consciousness;  Memory:  Visual  Memory,  STM  and  Working  
memory,  and  Long  term  Memory;  Language,  Brain  and  Cognition;  Speech  
Recognition;  Language  Development;  Reading  development;  Reading  process;  
Reasoning  and  Decision  making;  Gene-­‐Brain-­‐Behavior  Link.    
 
Unit  2.Psychological  Testing  Clinical  Assessmentand  Clinical  Assessment  
Functions,  origins,  and  application  of  psychological  testing;  Item  development  and  
item  validation;  Development  of  norms  and  the  meaning  of  test  scores;  Reliability  
and  Validity  of  tests;  Types  of  tests.  Principles  and  methods  of  clinical  assessment;  
Assessment  of  cognitive  functions;  Assessment  of  personality;  Assessment  of  
deviance  and  pathology.    
 
Unit  3:  Biological  basis  of  behavior    
Neurons;  Nerve  impulse  propagation;  Structure  and  functions  of  Nervous  system;  
Diversity  of  life;  Structure  of  genes;  Protein  synthesis;  Cell  division;  Mendel  and  
post  Mendellian  developments;  Evolution;  Behavior  genetics  –  Introduction  and  
Methods.  
 
Unit  4.  Research  Methodology  &  Statistics    
Variables;  Hypothesis;  Measurement  and  scales;  General  Principles  of  Research;  
Types  of  Research  Designs;  Sampling  methods;  Analyzing  and  reporting  results;  
Quantitative  methods;  Analyzing  and  reporting  results  -­‐  Qualitative  methods;  
computer  and  its  use  in  data  analysis  Probability;  Binomial  and  Normal  
Distribution  and  Hypothesis  Testing;  Correlation  and  Regression;  ANOVA,  
MANOVA  and  other  Multivariate  Statistics;  Nonparametric  Statistics.    
 
Unit  5.  Learning  Theories    
Functionalistic  Theories  (Thrndike,  Skiiner,  and  Hull);  Associationistic  Theories  
(Pavlov,  Guthrie,  and  Estes);  Cognitive  Theories  (  Gestalt,  Piaget,  Tolman,  and  
Bandura);  Biological  Theories  (Hebb,  and  Bolles).    
 
Unit  6.  Personality    
Psychodynamic  perspective  (Freud,  Jung,  Edler,  Horney,  Erikson);  Humanistic  and  
Existential  perspective  (  Erich  Fromm,  Carl  Rogers,  Maslow);  Cognitive  perspective  
(George  Kelly,  Rotter,  Bandura);  and  Eastern  perspective  (Indian).    
 
Unit  7.  Child  and  Adult  Psychopathology    
Attention  Deficit  Disorder;  Appositional  Defiant  and  Conduct  Disorder-­‐causes  and  
management;  Childhood  Anxiety  and  Depression  Disorders;  Enuresis,  Encopresis,  
Sleep  walking-­‐Causes  and  Management;  Learning  Disability;  Autism-­‐causes  and  
management;  Mental  Retardation-­‐Types,  Classifications-­‐causes,  prevention  and  
Management  2  Theories  and  Models  of  Anxiety  Disorders;  Theories  and  Models  
of:  Somatization,  Somatoform  and  Dissociative  disorders;  Theories  and  Models  of:  
Mood,  Schizophrenia,  and  Delusional  disorders;  Models  of  personality  disorder  
(Psychodynamic,  Behavioral,  Cognitive  and  Biological  models).    
 
Unit  8.  Psychotherapy  and  Counseling  Psychoanalytic  Technique;  Techniques  
based  on  Counter  Conditioning;  Techniques  based  on  Operant  conditioning;  
Techniques  based  on  Cognitive  Behavioral  Approaches:  Beck,  Ellis.  Personcentred  
and  Gestalt  therapies;  Family  and  marital  therapies;  Transpersonal  approach;  
Body-­‐centred  therapy,  Yoga  and  Holistic  approach.  Individual  counseling  –  
approaches  and  techniques;  Group  counseling  –  approaches  and  techniques;  
Counseling  for  career  planning  and  decision  making,  Life  skills  and  counseling.    
 
Unit  9.  Organizational  Behavior  and  Organizational  Development  
Introduction  to  Organizational  Behavior;  Leadership  and  Teams  at  work;  
Motivation  in  Organization;  Communication  and  Decision  Making.  Overview  of  
organization  Development;  The  Process  of  Organization  Development  -­‐  
Diagnosing  the  problems;  Designing  Interventions  and  Leading  and  Managing  
Change.    
 
 
 
Unit  10.  Organizational  Psychology  and  Human  Resource  Development    
The  field  of  organizational  behavior  (history,  subject  matter,  and  scope);  
Leadership  and  Teams  at  work;  Motivation  in  Organization;  Communication  and  
Decision  Making;  Training  and  development;  Need  Assessment,  Training  Design  &  
Implementation;  Evaluating  the  training  Effectiveness;  Performance  Appraisal;  HR  
Planning  and  recruitment;  Future  challenges:  Indian  &  Global.