UPSC IAS Main Written Exam 2013: Psychology Paper I

In the USPC IAS Civil Services Main Written Exam, candidates have to select an optional subject of their choice. Psychology is a popular choice among candidates. According to the annual report of UPSC, in UPSC IAS Civil Services Exam 2012, 1163 candidates had opted for the Psychology optional out of which 92 were recommended for the UPSC IAS Civil Services.

Paper I of Psychology optional consists of topics related to Foundations of Psychology . The Paper I of Psychology optional is of 250 marks. The duration of the exam is 3 hours. Candidates can find the question paper of Paper I of Psychology optional as asked in UPSC IAS Civil Services Main Written Exam 2013 on prepsure.com.

Psychology Paper I (2013)

SECTION – A

1. Answer the following, each in not more than 150 words:

(a) Critically evaluate the cognitive approach to the study of psychological phenomena.
(b) What is ethnocentrism? How is it reflected in psychological research?
(c) What factors contribute to the encoding of information into LTM?
(d) How do genes affect development?
(e) Describe different reinforcement schedules and indicate their effects on the strength of learning.

2. Answer the following, each in not more than 250 words:

(a) What do you understand by ‘effect size’ and ‘statistical power’? Explain their significance.
(b) Discuss the importance of early relationship for developmental outcomes in the light of researches by Bowlby and Anisworth.
(c) Compare template matching and feature detection accounts of pattern recognition.

3. Answer the following, each in not more than 400 words:

(a) The discipline of psychology has grown and developed through debate between those who held that it should be modelled on natural science and those who subscribed to the view that it has to follow the model of social science. What arguments you envision for or against these views? What position you would like to endorse and why?
(b) Bring out the key developmental challenges faced by adolescents in the cognitive and social domains.

4. Answer the following, each in not more than 250 words:

(a) Why our representations of the external world are not entirely accurate?
(b) Describe and evaluate the modal model of short-term memory.
(c) Describe the basic elements of observation and bring out the implications of the dimension of participation in observational research.

SECTION – B

5. Answer the following, each in not more than 150 words:

(a) What is the situationlist critique of trait psychology?
(b) Explicate Sternberg’s view of intelligence and bring out its implications for schooling.
(c) “Every function in the child’s development appears twice: first on social level and later, on the individual level.” – Vygotsky
Discuss the above statement and indicate your own position on this proposition.
(d) What are the processes of language production?
(e) How do novices differ from experts?

6. Answer the following, each in not more than 250 words:

(a) Bring out the role of left and right hemispheres in emotional experience.
(b) What is intrinsic motivation? Why it gets reduced if the person gets external reward for undertaking a task that he or she loves?
(c) Explain correspondence bias. Is it universal or culturally variable?

7. Answer the following, each in not more than 400 words:

(a) What is the role of social categorization in the formation of prejudice? Suggest some strategies to reduce prejudice.
(b) How the psychoanalytic view differs from physiological or cognitive view of dream?

8. Answer the following, each in not more than 250 words:

(a) What are the requirements to be met by psychological assessment tools for offering accurate and useful measure of psychological constructs?
(b) What makes a persuasive attempt effective? Discuss.
(c) Describe the Indian approach to personality as reflected in the principle of three Gunas.

Importance of Psychology Question Paper

To get a good understanding of the knowledge required for Psychology option of UPSC IAS Civil Services Main Written Exam, candidates must have a look at the previous years question papers of Psychology optional. It would be beneficial to arrange questions asked in previous years according to the topics listed out in the syllabus. Candidates will then be able to comprehend the level of expertise expected for each topic. Moreover, candidates will also be able to identify the most important topics.

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