Karnataka II PUC Psychology (KSEAB) study plan
Karnataka II PUC Psychology (KSEAB) · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
What is Psychology? & Methods of Enquiry in Psychology
Define psychology and distinguish it from pseudoscience and common-sense psychology by writing your own one-paragraph definition and listing three criteria that separate scientific claims from non-scientific ones.
List and explain the major schools of psychology (structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, Gestalt, psychoanalysis, humanistic, cognitive, and the socio-cultural perspective) and match each to one founder and one core assumption.
Describe the branches and applications of psychology (clinical, counselling, educational, industrial-organisational, sports, health, forensic, community) and identify which branch would handle three given real-life scenarios.
Compare the methods of enquiry - observation, experimental, correlational, survey, case study, and psychological testing - by stating one strength and one limitation of each in your own words.
Outline the steps of the experimental method and explain the roles of independent variable, dependent variable, control, and random assignment using a self-constructed example.
Your checkpoint
A hand-written or typed two-page summary sheet defining psychology, tabulating the eight schools with founders and core assumptions, and a comparison table of the six methods of enquiry with one strength and one limitation each, self-checked against the textbook without copying its wording.
Methods of Enquiry in Psychology & Human Development
Explain the ethical principles governing psychological research (informed consent, confidentiality, deception and debriefing, protection from harm, and the right to withdraw) and apply them to judge whether a described study is ethical.
Distinguish quantitative from qualitative enquiry and identify the type of data each method of enquiry typically yields.
Describe the stages of human development - prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age - and state one physical, one cognitive, and one socio-emotional change characteristic of each stage.
Compare the developmental perspectives of Piaget (cognitive stages), Kohlberg (moral reasoning), and Erikson (psychosocial stages) by summarising the sequence each proposes.
Explain the role of heredity and environment in development and give one example that illustrates their interaction rather than either alone.
Your checkpoint
A one-page development timeline charting Piaget's four stages, Kohlberg's three levels, and Erikson's eight stages side by side, plus a short written judgement (about 150 words) on the ethics of one hypothetical study you invent yourself.
Human Development & Sensory, Attentional and Perceptual Processes
Explain the processes of sensation and attention, distinguishing selective attention from divided attention and giving one everyday example of each.
Describe the structure and function of the eye and the ear, and trace the path from stimulus to sensory receptor to brain for both vision and hearing.
Explain colour vision (trichromatic and opponent-process accounts) and identify the phenomena each theory explains well.
Describe depth perception cues - monocular (linear perspective, interposition, relative size, texture gradient, motion parallax) and binocular (retinal disparity, convergence) - and classify a set of described scenes accordingly.
Explain perceptual constancies (size, shape, brightness) and identify common perceptual illusions and the factors that produce them.
Your checkpoint
A labelled diagram of the eye and the ear drawn from memory, plus a written table classifying ten depth cues you invent as monocular or binocular with a one-line justification for each.
Learning & Human Memory
Define learning and distinguish it from maturation and reflex behaviour, illustrating the difference with your own examples.
Explain classical conditioning using Pavlov's procedure and correctly label unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response in three new scenarios you construct.
Explain operant conditioning, including reinforcement and punishment (positive and negative) and schedules of reinforcement, and classify ten described consequences into the correct category.
Describe observational learning and the cognitive factors (insight, latent learning) that behaviourist accounts underplay.
Explain the stages and types of memory (sensory, short-term, long-term; declarative versus procedural) and the phenomena of forgetting, including interference and the curve of forgetting.
Your checkpoint
A conditioning worksheet you build and then solve yourself: five classical-conditioning scenarios fully labelled with UCS, UCR, CS, and CR, and ten operant consequences correctly classified, checked against the textbook with errors corrected in a different colour.
Human Memory & Thinking
Describe the techniques of improving memory (chunking, rehearsal, elaboration, organisation, mnemonic devices) and apply three of them to memorise a list of fifteen psychology terms you then recall without notes.
Explain the concepts of thinking, concept formation, and problem solving, and distinguish algorithms from heuristics.
Identify obstacles to problem solving (mental set, functional fixedness, confirmation bias) in described situations and state how each obstacle could be overcome.
Describe creative thinking and the stages often proposed for it, and distinguish convergent from divergent thinking.
Explain language and thought, including the basic units of language and the relationship between linguistic and cognitive development.
Your checkpoint
A written problem-solving log of five puzzles or reasoning problems you attempted, each recording the strategy used, any obstacle encountered, and how you overcame it, plus a fifteen-item recall test on memory-improvement techniques scored and dated.
Motivation and Emotion & Individual Differences and Intelligence
Distinguish needs, drives, and motives, and explain the motivational cycle from need to goal-directed behaviour to satisfaction.
Compare the major theories of motivation (instinct, drive-reduction, arousal, and Maslow's hierarchy) and state one strength and one criticism of each.
Explain the nature of emotion, the physiological and cognitive components of emotion, and compare at least two theories of emotion.
Define intelligence, describe the major approaches to intelligence (psychometric, information-processing, and multiple intelligences), and explain how intelligence is assessed.
Explain the concepts of mental age, intelligence quotient, and the normal distribution of scores, and interpret what a given IQ score does and does not tell you about a person.
Your checkpoint
A two-column comparison sheet covering four motivation theories and two emotion theories (strength and criticism for each), plus a short written interpretation (about 150 words) of a hypothetical IQ score that explicitly notes the limits of the measure.
Personality & Social Influence and Group Processes
Define personality and distinguish it from temperament, character, and mood using your own examples.
Compare the major approaches to personality (psychoanalytic, trait, behaviourist, humanistic, and social-cognitive) and name one key theorist and one central concept for each.
Explain the trait approach, including the contributions of Allport, Cattell, Eysenck, and the five-factor model, and describe how personality is assessed.
Explain social influence, including conformity, compliance, and obedience, and identify the factors that increase or decrease each.
Describe group processes - norms, roles, cohesiveness, social facilitation, social loafing, and group polarisation - and explain how groups affect individual behaviour.
Your checkpoint
A personality-approaches matrix with five rows (one per approach) and columns for key theorist, central concept, method of assessment, and one criticism, filled from memory first and then corrected against the textbook.
What is Psychology? & Methods of Enquiry in Psychology & Human Development & Sensory, Attentional and Perceptual Processes & Learning & Human Memory & Thinking & Motivation and Emotion & Individual Differences and Intelligence & Personality & Social Influence and Group Processes
Consolidate all eleven domains by rewriting from memory the key definition, one theorist, and one exam-relevant distinction for each domain.
Complete at least two full-length timed practice papers under exam conditions and score them using the marking scheme.
Re-study only the topics that produced wrong answers in the practice papers, and re-test yourself on each within forty-eight hours.
Practise structuring long answers: write three model answers of exam length with a definition, explanation, example, and evaluation in each.
Review the previous seven weeks' deliverables and correct every error you had marked, confirming each correction aloud or in writing.
Your checkpoint
Two scored timed practice papers with an error log listing each mistake, its domain, the corrected fact, and the date of successful re-test, plus three written model long answers.
Milestones
Week 2: Without notes, write the definition of psychology, list all eight schools with founders, and name the six methods of enquiry with one limitation each; score yourself and record any gap for week 8 revision.
Week 4: Correctly label UCS, UCR, CS, and CR in five new conditioning scenarios and classify ten operant consequences with at least eight of ten correct; below that, redo weeks 4-5 conditioning goals before moving on.
Week 6: State one strength and one criticism for four motivation theories and two emotion theories from memory, and explain the meaning and limits of an IQ score in under two minutes of speech.
Week 8: Score at least 70 percent on both timed practice papers, and confirm that every item in the error log has been re-tested successfully at least once before the exam.