F.Y.B.A. Syllabus

Revised Syllabi for Psychology Core Courses (Major Elective) at the F.Y.B.A. Brought into force   with effect from the academic  year 2016-2017

Code Semester Course Title Credits Marks
UAPSY101 1 Fundamentals of Psychology: Part I 3 100
UAPSY201 2 Fundamentals of Psychology: Part II 3 100
 
Objectives: -
 
1. To impart knowledge of the basic concepts and modern trends in Psychology
2. To foster interest in the subject of Psychology and to create a foundation for further studies
in Psychology
3. To make the students aware of the applications of Psychological concepts in various fields
so that they understand the relevance of Psychology in different areas of life.
Semester 1. Fundamentals of Psychology: Part I (Credits = 3)
4 lectures per week
 
Unit 1. The story of Psychology and thinking critically with psychological science
a) What is psychology? Psychology’s roots; psychological science is born; psychological
science develops; Contemporary Psychology: Psychology’s biggest question, three main
levels of analysis, and subfields; Close-up: Improve your retention and grades
b) The need for psychological science - Did we know all along? Hindsight bias;
Overconfidence; perceiving order in random events; the scientific attitude: curious, sceptical
and humble; Critical thinking
c) How do psychologists ask and answer questions? The scientific method; description;
correlation; experimentation; statistical reasoning in everyday life: describing data;
significant differences
d) Frequently asked questions about Psychology
Unit 2: The Biology of Mind
a) Biology, Behaviour and Mind
b) Neural Communication – neurons, how neurons communicate, how neurotransmitters
influence us
c) The Nervous System - the peripheral and central nervous systems
d) The Endocrine System
e) The Brain - The tools of discovery: having our head examined; older brain structures; the
cerebral cortex; our divided brain; right-left differences in the intact brain; Close-Up:
Handedness
Unit 3: Learning
a) How do we learn?
b) Classical Conditioning - Pavlov’s experiments; Pavlov’s legacy; Operant Conditioning -
Skinner’s experiments; Skinner’s legacy; Contrasting classical and operant conditioning;
Close-up: training our partners
c) Biology, Cognition, and Learning - Biological constraints on conditioning; cognition’s
influence on conditioning
d) Learning by Observation- Mirrors and imitation in the brain; applications of observational
learning; Thinking critically about: Does viewing media violence trigger violent behaviour?
Unit 4: Memory
a) Studying Memory; Memory Models
b) Building Memories - encoding and automatic processing; encoding and effortful
processing
c) Memory Storage - Retaining Information in the brain; the Amygdala, emotions, and
memory; Synaptic Changes
d) Retrieval: getting information out - measures of retention; retrieval cues
e) Forgetting - Forgetting and the two-track mind; encoding failure; storage decay; retrieval
failure; close-up: retrieving passwords
f) Memory construction errors - misinformation and imagination effects; source amnesia;
discerning true and false memories; children’s eyewitness recall; repressed or constructed
memories of abuse?
g) Improving memory
Semester 2. Fundamentals of Psychology: Part II (Credits = 3)
4 lectures per week
Unit 1. Thinking, Language and Intelligence
a) Thinking – Concepts; Problem solving strategies and obstacles; Forming good and bad
decisions and judgments; Thinking critically about: the fear factor- Why we fear the wrong
things. Do other species share our cognitive skills?
b) Language: Language structure; language development; close-up: living in a silent world;
the brain and language; do other species have language?
c) Thinking and Language: Language influences thinking; thinking in images
d) What is Intelligence? Is intelligence one general ability or several specific abilities?
Intelligence and creativity; emotional intelligence; is intelligence neurologically measurable?
e) Assessing Intelligence - the origins of intelligence testing; modern tests of mental abilities;
principles of test construction
Unit 2. Motivation and Emotion
a) Motivational Concepts - Instincts and evolutionary psychology; drives and incentives;
optimum arousal; a hierarchy of motives
b) Hunger - The physiology and psychology of hunger; obesity and weight control; Close-up:
Waist management
c) The Need to Belong - Aiding survival; wanting to belong; sustaining relationships; the pain
of ostracism; social networking
d) Cognition and Emotion - Historical emotion theories; cognition can define emotion:
Schachter and Singer; Cognition may not precede emotion: Zajonc, LeDoux, and Lazarus
e) Embodied Emotion - Emotions and the autonomic nervous system; the physiology of
emotions; Expressed emotion - Detectingemotions in others; thinking critically about: lie
detection; gender, emotion and nonverbal behaviour; culture and emotional expression; the
effects of facial expression; Experienced Emotion – Anger; Happiness; Close-up: Want to be
happier?
Unit 3: Personality
a) Psychodynamic Theories: Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective - exploring the unconscious;
the neo-Freudian and psychodynamic theorists; assessing unconscious processes; evaluating
Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective and modern views of the unconscious
b) Humanistic theories - Abraham Maslow’s self-actualizing person; Carl Rogers’ personcentred
perspective; assessing the self; evaluating humanistic theories
c) Trait Theories - Exploring and assessing traits; thinking critically about: how to be a
“successful” astrologer or palm reader; The Big Five factors; evaluating trait theories
d) Social cognitive theories - reciprocal influences; personal control; Close-up: toward a more
positive psychology; assessing behaviour in situations; evaluating social-cognitive theories
e) Exploring the self - the benefits of self esteem; self-serving bias
Unit 4: Statistics in Psychology: Understanding Data
a) The tables are turned: a psychologist becomes a research subject
b) Descriptive statistics: frequency distribution
c) Measures of central tendency
d) Measures of variability
e) Z-scores and the normal curve
f) Correlation
g) Inferential statistics

Book for Study
Myers, D. G. (2013).Psychology.10th edition; International edition. New York: Worth Palgrave Macmillan, Indian reprint 2013
 
Book for Study for Unit 4. Statistics in Psychology
Hockenbury, D.H., &Hockenbury, S.E. (2013).Discovering Psychology.6th edition. New York: Worth publishers

Additional Books for Reference
1) Baron, R. A., &Kalsher, M. J. (2008). Psychology: From Science to Practice. (2nd ed.).
Pearson Education inc., Allyn and Bacon
2) Ciccarelli, S. K. & Meyer, G. E. (2008). Psychology.(Indian sub-continent adaptation).
New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) pvt ltd.
3) Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. N. (2012). Psychology.3rdedi. New Jersey: Pearson education
4) Feist, G.J, & Rosenberg, E.L. (2010). Psychology: Making connections. New York: McGraw Hill publications
5) Feldman, R.S. (2013). Psychology and your life.2ndedi. New York: McGraw Hill publications
6) Feldman, R.S. (2013). Understanding Psychology.11thedi. New York: McGraw Hill publications
7) King, L.A. (2013). Experience Psychology.2ndedi. New York: McGraw Hill publications
8) Lahey, B. B. (2012). Psychology: An Introduction. 11th edi. New York: McGraw-Hill Publications
9) Schachter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M. (2011). Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers.
10) Wade, C. &Tavris, C. (2006). Psychology. (8th ed.). Pearson Education inc., Indian reprint by Dorling Kindersley, New Delhi 


Modified Pattern of Question Paper for Semester End Assessment implemented from 2016-2017For Psychology  courses at F.Y.B.A.

Duration of examination = 3 hours Marks = 100 (per semester)
All 5 questions carry 20 marks and are compulsory. There will be internal choice in each Question.
 
Q. 1 will have 2 essay-type questions A and B of 20 marks on any 2 different units out of the 4 units covered in the semester, in any combination like 1 and 2, 1 and 4, 2 and 4, and so on.
 
Q. 2 will have 2 essay-type questions A and B on the other 2 units out of the 4 units which are not covered in Q. no. 1.
Students can answer either A or B of question no. 1 and 2.
 
Q. no. 3 will be - Write any 4short notes out of 8, based on any 2 different units out of the 4 units covered in the semester, with 4 notes from each of the 2 units.
 
Q. no. 4 will be - Write any 4 short notes out of 8, based on any 2 different units out of the 4 units covered with 4 notes from each of the 2 units.which are not covered in question number 3.

Q. no. 5 will be Short answers .Any two out of four ; 1 question from each of the 4 units.Each question carrying 10 marks. 

2 Examples for semester 2 

Example 1			Example 2
Q.1	On units 1 and 3	Attempt either A or B. A. Essay-type on Unit 1. B. Essay-typeon Unit 3.	Q. 1	On units 1 and 4	Attempt either A or B. A. Essay-type question on Unit 1. . B .1) 5 marks theory question on stats. 2) Calculate Mean, Median, Mode, Range, SD and Z score. For 15 marks
2	On units 2 and 4	Attempt either A or B. A. Essay-type question on Unit 2. B.1) 5 marks theory question on stats. 2) Calculate Mean, Median, Mode, Range, SD and Z score. For 15 marks	2	On units 2 and 3	Attempt either A or B. A. Essay-type question on Unit 2. B. Essay-type on Unit 3.
3	On units 2 and 3	Write short notes (any 4 out of 8). Notes a, b, c, d from unit 2; e, f, g, h from Unit 3.	3	On units 1 and 2	Write short notes (any 4 out of 8). Notes a, b, c, d from unit 1 e, f, g,hfrom Unit 2.
4	On units 1 and 4	Write short notes  (any 4 out of 8). Notes a, b, c, d from unit 1; e, f, g, h from Unit 4.	4	On units 3 and 4	Write short notes (any 4 out of 8). Notes a, b, c, d from unit 3 e, f, g, h from Unit 4.
5	On all 4 units	Short Answers ( Any 2 out of 4) 1 Question from each unit.	5	On all 4 Units	Short Answers ( Any 2 out of 4 ) 1 Question from each unit.