ISC Class 12 Syllabus 2022 Psychology

PSYCHOLOGY (855)
CLASS XII
There will be two papers in the subject: 2. Personality
Paper I - Theory: 3 hours …70 marks (i) What is meant by Personality.
Paper II- Practical Work: …30 marks Definition of personality – Allport.
(ii) Theories of Personality: Type Theories,
PAPER - I (THEORY) – 70 Marks Psychoanalytic Theory - Freud’s structure
Part I (20 marks) will consist of compulsory short of personality; psycho-sexual stages of
answer questions relating to the fundamental development; Post Freudians (in brief);
aspects of the entire syllabus. Humanistic - Rogers and Maslow; Traits -
Allport, Cattell; Social/Behavioural
Part II (50 marks) will consist of two sections, Learning – Bandura.
A and B.
Candidates will be required to answer two out of Type Theory: Sheldon, Hippocrates,
Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality:
three questions from Section A and three out of five
Freud's levels of consciousness, structure of
questions from Section B. Each question in this part personality - Id, Ego and Superego;
shall carry 10 marks. principles on which they function;
Psychosexual stages of development and
SECTION A fixation; Post Freudians: Erik Erikson,
1. Intelligence and Ability Horney; Humanistic theories of Rogers
(concept of fully functioning persons) and
(i) Intelligence: what is meant by intelligence - Maslow (self actualization). Traits: Allport
theories regarding the nature of (central, secondary and cardinal traits),
intelligence; how intelligence is measured - Cattell (source and surface traits). The five-
the concept of IQ, intelligence tests – factor model of Costa and McCrae. Social
Individual Tests, Group Tests. Levels of Cognition Theory of Bandura (explanation
intelligence and associated characteristics. of concepts).
Emotional Intelligence (EQ).
(iii) How personality is assessed: reports,
Intelligence: definition of intelligence inventories (MMPI), projective techniques -
(David Wechsler); what is meant by Thematic Apperception Test, Behavioural
intelligence - theories regarding the nature Analysis.
of intelligence; Theories of Intelligence:
Two Factor Theory – Charles Spearman; The use of Self Reports - inventories/
Primary Mental Abilities – Thurstone; questionnaires in assessing Personality - an
Raymond Cattell – Fluid and Crystallised understanding of the MMPI (Minnesota
Intelligence. Modern Theories: Information Multiphasic Personality Inventory); what is
Processing; Triarchic Theory – Sternberg; meant by Projective Techniques - how the
Theory of Multiple Intelligence – Howard TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) is used
Gardner. How intelligence is measured - (Test details should include procedure,
the concept of IQ; Intelligence Tests – scoring and results).
Individual Test - Wechsler (WAIS-3), Group
Behavioural Analysis: Interview,
Test – Raven’s Progressive Matrices. Test
Observation, Nomination, Behavioural
details (Aim, history, description, scoring
ratings, Situational tests.
and uses) should be included; Levels of
intelligence and associated characteristics
(from gifted to below average). Emotional
SECTION B
Intelligence (EQ) - Characteristics of 3. Lifespan Development
Emotionally Intelligent Persons.
(i) Meaning of Development, growth and
(ii) Aptitude, Achievement and Interest: maturation.
meaning of these terms. Reason for their Meaning of development, growth and
assessment and means of assessment maturation; Why is the study of lifespan
(different tools/ tests) used. development important?
What is meant by Aptitude - when aptitude
needs to be assessed - the GATB (General (ii) Infancy - Cognitive development, socio-
Aptitude Test Battery); meaning and emotional development.
usefulness of Achievement tests; Why Cognitive development – Piaget’s Sensory
Interest is measured. Motor Stage; socio-emotional development

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– emergence of attachment. Mary 5. Psychological Disorders and Psychotherapy
Ainsworth’s & Lamb’s strange situation
test. (i) Meaning of “Abnormal behaviour” -
biological, psychological and socio -
(iii) Childhood - Cognitive development, Moral cultural perspectives. Principles of
development. classification of psychological disorders
Cognitive development – Piaget’s Theory with reference to DSM IV.
(Preoperational and Concrete). Moral Common features of abnormal behaviour-
development – Kohlberg’s perspective deviance, distress, dysfunction, danger.
Experiment on Moral Dilemma – pre- Different views of "abnormal" behaviour -
conventional, conventional and post the statistical stand - the biological/medical
conventional morality. approach - the psychodynamic perspective -
(iv) Adolescence - Cognitive development; the sociocultural dimension; why
some major concerns. classification of disorders is necessary - an
Cognitive development – Piaget’s Formal understanding of the Diagnostic and
Operational Stage; some major concerns – Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – IV
delinquency, substance abuse (drugs and (brief explanation of each Axis).
alcohol) – meaning of substance abuse, (ii) Characteristics of some psychological,
symptoms; eating disorders - bulimia, behavioural and developmental disorders:
anorexia. Anxiety - generalised, phobic, obsessive-
compulsive; Mood - bi-polar, depression
4. Stress and Stress Management (causes and symptoms of all).
(i) Meaning of stress - its basic nature. What is meant by anxiety - different forms
Strain and Eustress; Stress as a process - of anxiety disorders: phobias, obsession -
stressors (negative and positive events); the compulsive disorders; Mood disorders-
stages of GAS or the General Adaptation characteristics of severe depression, manic-
Syndrome (Selye's model). Cognitive depressive or bipolar disorder (causes and
appraisal of stress – primary and symptoms).
secondary. Behavioural and Developmental Disorders-
(ii) Common causes of stress. Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
External/situational: major life events, (ADHD), Autism.
minor hassles of everyday life, work-related (iii) Schizophrenia - meaning; main types;
causes, the physical environment. characteristics.
Internal/dispositional: Personality Basic nature of Schizophrenia -
variables-traits and types. characteristics of Disorganized Catatonic
(iii) Effects of stress on health. and Paranoid Schizophrenia (symptoms).
Upsets the internal mechanism and effects (iv) Psychotherapy - Psychoanalysis; Client-
balance - immune system, hypertension, centred; Behavioural.
heart problems, ulcers, diabetes, asthma
What is meant by Psychotherapy - central
(each effect to be briefly explained).
features of psychodynamic therapies - free
(iv) Stress management - ineffective and association, dream analysis, transference
effective strategies of handling stress. and counter transference; the principles on
Coping with stress: Ineffective strategies - which client centred therapy has been
defence mechanisms - rationalization, developed. Behavioural therapies based on
projection, reaction formation, regression, classical and operant conditioning and
repression, displacement, sublimation (each modelling.
to be briefly explained); Effective strategies
- relaxation training and yoga. 6. Social Thought and Social Behaviour
Promoting positive health and well-being: (i) Social bias
Exercise, Diet, Self-Care, Life Skills;
Positive thinking and attitude. Biases in forming judgements (attribution).
Explanation with examples each of the
following biases- the self-serving bias, the
false consensus effect, automatic vigilance.

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(ii) Social Influence- how people try to change (III) Method - (i) Sample of the Study
others’ behaviour; social norms; conformity (ii) Procedure followed (data-
and obedience - factors affecting them. collection, nature of raw data)
Meaning and characteristics of a group; (iii) Statistical Treatment of Data
types of groups. What is meant by social (iv) Results & Discussion
norms - why people conform to social (v) Conclusion
norms and why they digress; factors
affecting Conformity and Obedience. Asch's The practical work will be assessed by the
study on conformity; why and when people teacher and a Visiting Examiner appointed
obey others - Milgram's experiment. locally and approved by the Council.

7. Attitudes Mark allocation per study [15 marks]:
(i) Meaning of “Attitude” - how attitudes are Basic Concept 3 marks
formed and changed. Method (correctness of procedure) 4 marks
What are attitudes - the components of Results and discussion 4 marks
attitude; the process of forming attitudes - Viva 4 marks
how attitudes change: persuasion.
(ii) Prejudice – meaning of “prejudice” and A. Statistics
discrimination; the origins of prejudice; To study group differences in Examination results.
how to combat prejudice. Groups: Any two classes or two sections of the
An understanding of the meaning of same class with same subjects.
prejudice and how it works in the form of
discrimination - causes of prejudice: social Raw Data: Summated scores on all subjects in the
learning, realistic competition, social annual examination for each student.
categorization and stereotyping; ways in Analysis:
which prejudice can be resisted.
(i) Group analysis – Calculate mean scores (central
8. Applications of Psychology tendency) and standard deviations (variability)
(i) Educational (School) Psychology. for each group and make inter-group
comparisons.
How Psychology helps to facilitate learning
in school - students and teachers; (ii) Individual analysis – Calculate Z (standard)
individual problems: learning differences, scores for any two students from each class –
teaching and evaluation techniques, school one whose examination score is above the class
environment. Career counselling - how mean and one whose examination score is
Psychology helps in the choice of a career -
below the class mean. Interpret the Z score in
requirements of a field or job, testing
individuals, matching individual and standard deviation units and indicate the
field/job. percentage of scores that lie
above/below the subject’s score (use a table that
(ii) Organisational Psychology. gives the areas under the Normal curve
How Psychology helps to promote corresponding to given values of Z).
efficiency, well-being and profitability -
study of factors involved. Recruitment, (iii) Graphic Representation – bar diagram to depict
motivation, team building and leadership the mean scores of both groups.
skills, marketing and consumer behaviour.
B. Attitudes
PAPER II (PRACTICAL WORK) – 30 Marks
To study attitudinal differences regarding any one
Candidates will be expected to have completed two of the following – Fashion, Work/Lifestyle,
studies from those given below. Assessment will be Marriage.
based on a written report which should cover – Groups: Two generations (parents and children)
(I) Aim Or
(II) Basic concept: Definition of concepts used and
Gender differences (boys and girls) of the same age-
related theory. Identification of variables –
group (preferably from Class XI or XII).
independent and dependent.

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Tools: to construct a simple 5-point scale (10-15 C. Stress
items) with positively and negatively worded
To study the causes and effects of stress among
statements. school students.
Raw Data: Summated scores on all the statements Group: Class X or Class XI students
for each respondent. Tools: To construct two checklists - one indicating
Analysis: the potential stressors along with a 5-point rating
(i) Calculate mean attitudinal scores for each scale indicating their frequency of occurrence (very
group and make inter-group comparisons. often, often, sometimes, rarely, very rarely). The
(ii) Short, structured interview schedule stressors should include dispositional/internal
constructed and administered to 8-10 students variables (personality attributes, cognitive
in each group. The responses elicited can be appraisal) and situational/external variables (life
used to draw inferences to explain the inter- events, environmental pressures – physical, social,
group differences, if any. cultural and academic stressors).
The second checklist should indicate the effects of
stress (strain) – physical, psychological and
behavioural along with their frequency of
occurrence (on a 5-point rating scale).
Analysis: To determine the stressors and the effects
that occur with the most to the least frequency and
understand/explain each.

NOTE: No question paper for Practical Work will
be set by the Council.

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