ISC Class 12 Psychology Syllabus 2023-24
CISCE has released the Latest Updated Syllabus of the New Academic Session 2023-24, for class 12.
Class 12th Syllabus has been released by CISCE. It’s very important for both Teachers and Students to understand the changes and strictly follow the topics covered in each subject under each stream for Class 12th.
We have also updated Oswal Gurukul Books as per the Latest Paper Pattern prescribed by Board for each Subject Curriculum.
Students can directly access the ISC Psychology Syllabus for Class 12 of the academic year 2023-24 by clicking on the link below.
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ISC Psychology Class 12 Latest Syllabus 2023-24
(i) To develop an understanding of human behaviour: the nature of individuals and of members of social groups.
(ii) To develop an understanding of the methods of research and study employed in Psychology.
(iii)To develop an appreciation of the practical value of Psychology and its applications in daily life.
There will be two papers in the subject:
Paper I - Theory: 3 hours …70 marks
Paper II- Practical Work: …30 marks
| S.No | Unit | Topic | Sub-Topic | Marks |
| 70 | ||||
| 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, Culture Fair Tests. Levels of intelligence and associated characteristics (from gifted through average to below average). | Different views regarding the nature of intelligence: general or multifaceted; quality or process; modern emphasis on social context; Intelligence: definition of intelligence (David Wechsler); what is meant by intelligence - theories regarding the nature of intelligence; Theories of Intelligence: Two Factor Theory – Charles Spearman; Primary Mental Abilities – Thurstone; Raymond Cattell – Fluid and Crystallised Intelligence; Guillford’s Structure of Intellect Model. Modern Theories: Information Processing; Triarchic Theory – Sternberg; Theory of Multiple Intelligence – Howard Gardner. | |
| How intelligence is measured - the concept of IQ; Intelligence Tests – Individual Tests - Stanford Binet, Wechsler, Group Tests – Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Culture Fair Tests – Cattell’s Culture Fair Test. Test details (Aim, history, description, scoring and uses) should be included; Levels of intelligence and associated …70 marks …30 marks characteristics (from gifted through average to below average). | ||||
| (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 usefulness of Achievement tests; why and how Interest is measured - the SCII (Strong Campbell Interest Inventory). | |||
| 2 | Personality | (i) What is meant by Personality. | Definitions of personality – Allport, Cattell, Eysenck. | |
| (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/Behavioural Learning - Bandura and Rotter. | Type Theory: Sheldon, Kreshtmer, Hippocrates, Friedman, Charak Samhita of Ayurveda. Types and stereotypes - the usefulness and dangers of categorizing personalities, e.g. introverts and extroverts. 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; 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 and Social Learning theories of Bandura and Rotter (Identification and explanation of concepts in each 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. | ||||
| 3 | Lifespan Development | (i) Meaning of Development, growth and maturation. | Why is the study of lifespan development important? Determinants – interaction of heredity and environment, context of development. | |
| (ii) Infancy - motor, cognitive development, socio-emotional development. | Motor – milestones; cognitive – Piaget’s Sensory Motor Stage; socio-emotional development – emergence of attachment. | |||
| (iii) Childhood - motor, cognitive development and socio-emotional development. | Motor development; cognitive development – Piaget’s Theory (Preoperational, Concrete and Formal Operation); emergence of self – gender awareness, emergence of peer relationships; moral development – Kohlberg’s perspective – pre-conventional morality. | |||
| (iv) Adolescence - physical changes, cognitive development, socio-emotional development; some major concerns. | Physical changes at puberty; Cognitive development – Piaget’s Formal Operations Stage; Socio-emotional development - forming an identity, dealing with sexuality and gender identity; some major concerns – delinquency, substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) – meaning of substance abuse, symptoms and treatment; eating disorders - bulimia, anorexia. | |||
| 4 | Stress and Stress Management | (i) Meaning of stress - its basic nature. | Stress as a process - stressors (negative and positive events); results of overload; 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 variables-traits and types. | ||||
| (iii) Effects of stress on health and performance. | Upsets the internal mechanism and balance - immune system affected, hypertension, heart problems, ulcers, diabetes, asthma (each effect to be briefly explained). Relation between stress and performance - burnout. | |||
| (iv) Stress management - ineffective and effective strategies of handling stress. | Coping with stress: Ineffective strategies - defense mechanisms - rationalization, projection, reaction formation, regression, repression (each to be briefly explained), displacement, sublimation; Effective strategies - relaxation training and yoga. Effective lifestyles: stress cycles – distress and wellness. | |||
| 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. | 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). | |
| (Characteristics of some psychological disorders: Anxiety - generalised, phobic, obsessive-compulsive; Mood - bi-polar, depression; personality - anti-social, histrionic, avoidant, dependent, passive-aggressive. | What is meant by anxiety - different forms of anxiety disorders: phobias, obsession compulsive disorders; Mood disorders- characteristics of severe depression, manicdepressive or bipolar disorder; personality - anti-social, histrionic, avoidant, dependent, passive-aggressive (causes and symptoms). | |||
| (iii) Schizophrenia - meaning; main types; characteristics. | Basic nature of Schizophrenia - characteristics of Disorganized Catatonic and Paranoid Schizophrenia (symptoms). | |||
| (iv) Psychotherapy - Psychoanalysis; Clientcentred; Behavioural. Social Rehabilitation. | What is meant by Psychotherapy - central features of psychodynamic therapies - free association, dream analysis, transference and counter transference; the principles on which client centred therapy has been developed. Behavioural therapies based on classical and operant conditioning or Rehabilitation. | |||
| 6 | Social Thought and Social Behaviour | (i) Social Perception - attribution or the process through which people try to understand the reasons for others’ behaviour. | How people determine whether others' behaviour is a result of internal causes or external factors - biases in forming judgments (attribution). Explain with examples each of the following biases - the person positivity bias, motivational biases, selfserving bias, the false consensus effect, automatic vigilance, motivated scepticism, counterfactual thinking. | |
| (ii) Social Influence- how people try to change others’ behaviour; social norms; conformity and obedience - factors affecting them. | What is meant by social norms - why people conform to social norms and why they digress; 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” - the relationship between attitude, perception, belief and behaviour; how attitudes are formed and changed | What are attitudes - the components of attitude; how far attitudes determine behaviours: the process of forming attitudes - how attitudes change: persuasion and 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. Caste, community and gender stereotypes in the Indian context. | |||
| 8 | Applications of Psychology | with reference to: (i) Clinical and Counselling Psychology. |
Role of a counsellor and a clinical psychologist in dealing with individuals, couples, families and groups. | |
| (ii) Educational (School) Psychology. | How Psychology helps to facilitate learning in school - students and teachers; individual problems: learning differences, teaching and evaluation techniques, school environment. Career counselling - how Psychology helps in the choice of a career - requirements of a field or job, testing individuals, matching individual and field/job. | |||
| (iii) Organisational Psychology. | How Psychology helps to promote efficiency, well-being and profitability - study of factors involved. Recruitment, motivation, team building and leadership skills, marketing and consumer behaviour. | |||
| (iv) Crime | How Psychology helps towards: understanding criminals, rehabilitating them, preventing crime. | |||
2022-23 Reduced Syllabus
(for reference purposes only)
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