Kerala Plus Two Psychology (DHSE) cheat sheet

Intelligence is the global capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges; it is inferred from behaviour, not observed directly.

Psychometric approach (Binet, Simon, Terman) treats intelligence as a measurable set of abilities; information-processing approach (Sternberg, Gardner) focuses on how mental operations produce intelligent behaviour.

IQ formula: IQ = (Mental Age / Chronological Age) x 100 (ratio IQ); deviation IQ compares a person's score with the mean of the same age group using standard deviation units.

Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon (1905) built the first intelligence scale for identifying children needing remedial help; Terman's Stanford-Binet adapted it for American use.

Wechsler scales (WISC for children, WAIS for adults) give Verbal and Performance scores plus a Full Scale IQ; they use deviation IQ rather than ratio IQ.

Sternberg's triarchic theory: componential (analytical), experiential (creative), and contextual (practical) intelligence.

Gardner's multiple intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic (and existential as a debated ninth).

Charles Spearman's two-factor theory: a general factor (g) plus specific factors (s); Thurstone proposed primary mental abilities; Guilford's structure-of-intellect model uses content, operation, and product.

Aptitude tests predict future performance in a specific field; achievement tests measure what has already been learned; interest inventories assess preferences, not ability.

Self-concept is the totality of an individual's thoughts and feelings about being separate from others and having an identity; self-esteem is the evaluative component of that self.

Personality is the relatively stable pattern of behaviour, thoughts, and emotions that characterises a person across situations and over time.

Freud's psychoanalytic theory: id (pleasure principle), ego (reality principle), superego (morality); personality develops through psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital).

Defence mechanisms reduce anxiety: repression, projection, displacement, reaction formation, rationalisation, sublimation, and denial operate unconsciously.

Trait approaches: Allport's cardinal, central, and secondary traits; Cattell's 16 personality factors; Eysenck's extraversion-introversion and neuroticism-stability dimensions; the Big Five (OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism).

Bandura's social learning theory: observational learning, reciprocal determinism, and self-efficacy; Rotter added locus of control (internal vs external).

Humanistic views: Rogers' self-actualisation and conditions of worth; Maslow's hierarchy with self-actualisation at the top.

Projective tests (Rorschach inkblots, Thematic Apperception Test) use ambiguous stimuli; self-report inventories (MMPI, 16PF) and rating scales are more structured but depend on honesty.

Type approaches classify people into categories (Hippocrates' humours, Sheldon's body types), whereas trait approaches assume continuous dimensions on which people differ in degree.

Stress is the pattern of responses an organism makes to stimulus events that disturb its equilibrium and exceed its ability to cope; the stimulus is the stressor.

Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome has three stages: alarm (fight-or-flight arousal), resistance (sustained coping), and exhaustion (depletion of resources).

Appraisal theory (Lazarus): primary appraisal judges whether an event is a threat, harm, or challenge; secondary appraisal judges whether one has the resources to cope.

Coping is either problem-focused (changing the situation) or emotion-focused (regulating the emotional response); both can be adaptive depending on the controllability of the stressor.

Sources of stress include life events, daily hassles, traumatic events, work-related stress (burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, reduced accomplishment), and interpersonal conflict.

Effects of stress: physiological (increased cortisol, elevated blood pressure, lowered immune function), psychological (anxiety, poor concentration), and behavioural (sleep and appetite change).

Hardiness (Kobasa) has three components: commitment, control, and challenge; hardy people appraise stressors as challenges rather than threats.

Coping techniques include relaxation training, meditation, biofeedback, guided imagery, cognitive restructuring, and social support; exercise and time management reduce daily hassles.

Positive psychology emphasises strengths, optimism, and resilience; resilience is the ability to recover and maintain functioning after adversity.

A psychological disorder is a pattern of behaviour or psychological symptoms that causes clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning and is not merely culturally expected behaviour.

Classification systems: DSM (American Psychiatric Association) and ICD (WHO); both are categorical, atheoretical for diagnosis, and require consideration of duration, distress, and dysfunction.

Anxiety disorders: generalised anxiety disorder (persistent, excessive worry for at least six months), panic disorder (recurrent unexpected panic attacks), and phobias (specific, social, agoraphobia) - fear is disproportionate and leads to avoidance.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder: obsessions are intrusive, unwanted thoughts; compulsions are repetitive behaviours or mental acts performed to reduce distress; insight is usually present.

Mood disorders: major depressive disorder (depressed mood or loss of interest for at least two weeks plus other symptoms) and bipolar disorder (alternating manic and depressive episodes).

Schizophrenia symptoms divide into positive (delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, inappropriate affect) and negative (flat affect, alogia, avolition, social withdrawal); diagnosis requires at least six months of disturbance including one month of active symptoms.

Somatoform and dissociative disorders: somatic symptom disorder involves distressing physical symptoms without adequate medical explanation; dissociative disorders include amnesia and identity confusion or fugue.

Eating disorders: anorexia nervosa (restriction, fear of weight gain, disturbed body image) and bulimia nervosa (binge-purge cycles); both are more common in females.

Substance use disorders involve a maladaptive pattern of use causing impairment, with tolerance and withdrawal as physiological indicators; dependence is not the same as harmful use.

Psychodynamic therapy (Freud) uses free association, dream analysis, transference, and interpretation to bring unconscious conflicts into awareness.

Behaviour therapy applies classical and operant conditioning: systematic desensitisation (Wolpe) pairs relaxation with a graded anxiety hierarchy; aversion therapy pairs an unwanted behaviour with an unpleasant stimulus.

Cognitive therapy (Beck) targets distorted automatic thoughts and cognitive errors (arbitrary inference, overgeneralisation, magnification); rational emotive behaviour therapy (Ellis) disputes irrational beliefs with the ABCDE model.

Humanistic therapy: client-centred therapy (Rogers) uses unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence, with the client directing the session; gestalt therapy focuses on present awareness and integration.

Biomedical therapy: antipsychotics for psychotic symptoms, antidepressants (SSRIs, tricyclics, MAO inhibitors) for depression, mood stabilisers such as lithium for bipolar disorder, and anxiolytics for anxiety.

Electroconvulsive therapy is used mainly for severe, treatment-resistant depression and mania; it is given under anaesthesia with informed consent.

Group, family, and marital therapies use interpersonal interaction as the agent of change; self-help groups provide support rather than professional treatment.

Ethical requirements for therapy include informed consent, confidentiality with its limits, competence of the therapist, and the right to terminate treatment.

Effectiveness is judged by symptom reduction, improved functioning, and maintenance of gains; the therapeutic alliance predicts outcome across orientations.

An attitude is a learned evaluative tendency toward an object, person, or issue with cognitive, affective, and behavioural (conative) components; it is not the same as a value or a belief.

Attitude formation occurs through learning (classical and operant conditioning, observational learning), direct experience, and group or cultural influence.

Attitude change: the elaboration likelihood model distinguishes central (argument quality) and peripheral (cues such as source attractiveness) routes; cognitive dissonance (Festinger) motivates change when behaviour conflicts with attitude.

Prejudice is a negative attitude toward a group; discrimination is the behavioural expression of prejudice; stereotypes are generalised cognitive beliefs about group members.

Attribution: internal (dispositional) vs external (situational) causes; the fundamental attribution error overestimates dispositional causes for others' behaviour, and the actor-observer bias shows the reverse for one's own.

Social cognition includes impression formation (primacy and recency effects, halo effect) and schemas that guide encoding and recall of social information.

Pro-social behaviour is helping; the bystander effect (Darley and Latane) shows that helping decreases as the number of bystanders increases, explained by diffusion of responsibility.

Social facilitation is improved performance on simple tasks in the presence of others; social loafing is reduced individual effort in a group; conformity (Asch) and obedience (Milgram) show situational power over behaviour.

Conformity is a change in behaviour or belief toward a group norm; Asch's line-judgement studies showed that a unanimous majority produces conformity even on unambiguous tasks.

Obedience is compliance with an authority command; Milgram's studies found that proximity to the victim, authority legitimacy, and group support alter obedience rates.

Compliance techniques include the foot-in-the-door (small request first), door-in-the-face (large request refused, then smaller), and low-ball techniques.

A group is two or more interdependent persons who influence one another; group norms, roles, and cohesiveness shape member behaviour.

Group decision-making risks: group polarisation (discussion strengthens the initial average tendency) and groupthink (Janis) - a desire for unanimity suppresses dissent and produces poor decisions.

Group performance: social facilitation for well-learned tasks, social loafing in additive tasks, and deindividuation in crowds reducing personal accountability.

Intergroup conflict arises from competition for scarce resources (realistic conflict theory) and social categorisation favouring the in-group; superordinate goals and intergroup contact reduce conflict.

Leadership styles include autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire; transformational leadership inspires through vision, whereas transactional leadership relies on exchange and reward.

Environmental psychology studies the interaction between people and their physical surroundings; crowding is a subjective feeling of insufficient space, whereas density is a physical measure.

Noise above about 80-85 decibels sustained over time is a health hazard; chronic noise impairs concentration and increases physiological arousal.

Personal space is the invisible boundary around a person; it varies with culture, relationship, and situation and is violated when others intrude without permission.

Architectural design affects behaviour: territoriality, privacy regulation, and the design of institutions influence stress and social interaction.

Human-environment relationship includes resource use and pro-environmental behaviour; attitudes and social norms, not just information, predict conservation behaviour.

Health psychology applies psychological principles to health, illness, and health care; health-compromising behaviours include smoking, alcohol abuse, poor diet, and sedentary lifestyle.

Health-enhancing behaviours include exercise, balanced diet, adequate sleep, and stress management; the biopsychosocial model treats health as biological, psychological, and social.

Rehabilitation psychology helps persons with disability or chronic illness restore functioning; social support buffers the effects of stress on health.

Work and organisational psychology covers job satisfaction, motivation, and work stress; person-environment fit predicts satisfaction and performance.

Core helping skills: attending (eye contact, body posture), listening (paraphrasing, reflecting feelings), questioning (open vs closed), and summarising.

Observation is systematic and purposeful; it must be recorded and interpreted, and observer bias must be acknowledged and controlled.

Interview types: structured (fixed questions, comparable data), unstructured (flexible, exploratory), and semi-structured; a clinical interview also assesses mental status.

Psychological tests must be reliable (consistency), valid (measuring what they claim), and standardised (norms and uniform administration); test results are interpreted with caution and confidentiality.

Counselling ethics: informed consent, confidentiality with exceptions (risk of harm, legal requirement), non-maleficence, and referral when the problem exceeds one's competence.

Communication skills include empathy (understanding another's frame of reference), genuineness, and active listening; advice-giving is not the same as counselling.

Case study, survey, and experimentation are research methods; the case study gives depth but limited generalisability, and surveys require representative sampling.

Psychologists must avoid dual relationships and must keep records secure; they disclose limits of confidentiality at the start of the relationship.