Preparing for Psychology as an optional for UPSC mains
I think psychology, in addition to being an obvious choice for psychology graduates, is also a very good option for medicos as well as people from science and engineering; particularly because of the scientific nature of the subject. The knowledge of neurosciences will be an edge for aspirants with medical and/or biology background (minimum criteria here is studying biology till class 12). Another good thing about psychology is that the syllabus also is not as vast as geography or public administration. In addition, good reference material is available thereby enabling you to complete the subject reasonably in around one and a half months (in emergency) to three months (almost comfortably).
I had taken psychology as an optional for my mains exam so I've focused on strategies that can help for mains and not prelims. I am not sure about the guidelines for the prelims exam as I myself have not taken it. Thus, this article is meant as a guide only for psychology as a subject for mains exam.
Psychology is on the realm of the boundary between science and social science i.e. It is an 'arts' subject yet it shares many things with science – it is logical, it employs the scientific method of experimentation and rational approach to derive theories of immensely abstract things e.g. Motivation, emotions, values. The abstruce and abstract subject material brings in the features of social science into psychology.
So, if you feel you wish to go ahead with psycho, read the following section on 'how to go about it'.
a. Start with the NCERTs: Class 11 and 12 psychology textbooks (take the recent version) are awesome. They cover almost 60% of the mains syllabus. Start with the NCERTs slowly, underline important things and note down key definitions along with important case-studies/experiments on any topic e.g. Note down the 1$ -20$ experiment as a proof for cognitive dissonance.
b. Mukul Pathak Sir's notes: Mukul Pathak Sir is a teacher in 'Vajiram and Ravi' coaching institute. His notes are phenomenal. They are very well structured and contain a lot of vital information. Another good point is that he has followed verbatim the syllabus as has been given by the UPSC for psychology. His handwritten notes are easily available at almost any stationery shop in Mukherji Nagar/Rajendra Nagar in New Delhi.There are six registers that cover the entire syllabus for paper 1 and 2.
c. A standard reference : There are some concepts which need to be read elaboratively for deep understanding. Additionally, since the NCERTs as well as Mukul Sir's notes are mostly pedagogical, there is a need for a text book which explains psychology in a layman language as well as explains it with pictures, examples and interesting experiments. Two books could be suggested here - “Introduction to Psychology' by Baron or 'Introduction to Pscyhology' by Morgan and King (this book has a yellow cover). If you haven't read Morgan before, then I suggest you to read Baron since it has a summary section at the end of every chapter. The summary is superb and will help you during your revision. You might as well start reading the summary first followed by NCERT and Mukul Sir's notes.
These six registers, along with the NCERTs and one reference (either Baron or Morgan) makes your arsenal complete. Now, you've to read meticulously and complete the things. Note down the definitions in a seperate copy as it will help immensely to reproduce the same definition in the exam. Only one definition is enough (no need to learn multiple definitions as has been given in Mukul Sir's notes; take one definition either from Baron/NCERT/Mukul Sir's notes). Also, keep writing the various experiments/case studies which form the basis of a psychological phenomenon. e.g. Decrease in motivation for solving puzzles when a child is offered chocolates rather than when he used to solve it for personal satisfaction is an example for 'overjustification effect'.
I'll like to give you an additional advice which I benefited a lot from. This advice was written by Shubra Saxena (UPSC 2009 topper) on her blog. She adviced students to summarise every chapter in 2-3 pages so that these pages could be handy while you revise 1-2 days before the exam. These notes could also be helpful during the one or two hours that you've before the exam. Try and summarise each chapter in 2-3 pages, it definitely helped me and I'm sure this piece of advice is very practical.
Writing skills don't matter a lot in psychology. Try and recollect the important points; the task then is to present the recollected points in an organized way. Before writing any answer, think about the structure of the answer that you'll write. For example, if the question is “Should mentally challenged children be taught in special schools or the same schools as normal kids study?” and if it is a 60 mark question; then you need to think before you write. You can give the structure as follows:-
a. Explain who are mentally challenged?
b. Explain their constraints/problems/limitations?
c.Give points on as to why they should be taught in the same school (so that normal kids understand them and appreciate their problems, they don't suffer from inferiority complex, they'll add to the diversity of the class, more humane way of teaching).
d.Give points on as to why they should be taught in a different school (they have special needs which need to be dealt seperately, they'll feel inferiority complex when they go to normal schools, two mentally challenged kids will have higher probability of becoming friends rather than a mentally challenged kid and a normal kid)
e. Some solutions which if taken could help solve the problem (e.g. Ensuring a counseler in the school whose duty is also to look into the special needs of the child will help in diagnosing if anything is going wrong with the kid)
f. Final Conclusion (what do you think -after giving both the pros and cons, what do you feel? Should they be taught in the same school or in different schools?)
Thus, it can be seen that writing is not particularly difficult if you have knowledge (here, the definition of mentally challenged, types of mentally challenged, their psychological as well as medical limitations/barriers) as well as some analysis (which i think is very easy and nobody should be afraid of).
So, just get going with the NCERTs and Mukul Sir's notes along with occasional help from one reference (Barons or Morgan)